Chapter 79

Chapter 79


I tried to tell myself I was wrong. I really did. I kept thinking, Maybe Rhea didn’t see the portrait. Or, Maybe she forgot what it looked like. But I’m not a moron. 

The signs were right there, staring me in the face with my own eyes. Rhea grew up in this house, right?

She walked these halls every day until she left and came back. There was no way she didn't know about this painting. She had to know it was a perfect copy of me.

And yet, she never said a single word. Not once.

All those nights we spent traveling, all those times I thought we were just two rogues against the world, it was a total lie, wasn't it? 

This was the reason Maddox wanted me so bad. This person in the gold frame meant something to him. He was important. 

Probably important to Rhea, too.

It made sense now. I remember the day she rescued me from Jackson and his men. I thought she did it because she was a good person. Even then, she seemed a bit obssessed, like she knew me.

I thought she was just seeing a fellow werewolf rogue in trouble. But she didn't see me at all, did she? She saw this guy, whoever the hell he is.

"Is that all I am?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "Just a walking memory?"

I felt a lump in my throat, but I forced myself to swallow it. I didn't have all the answers, and standing here staring at a dead guy wasn't going to give them to me. I needed to hear it from Rhea.

I needed to get down to those dungeons, get her out of those chains, and make her look me in the eye. I needed her to explain why she turned my whole life into a game.

Suddenly, a heavy thud of boots hit the floorboards further down the hall.

My heart jumped into my mouth. I scrambled back, looking for anywhere to go. There was a small decorative pillar near a large vase, and I squeezed myself behind it and my back pressed against the cold stone. I held my breath so hard my lungs started to sting.

Two guards appeared the corner. They weren't walking fast, they were just strolling. That was good, it meant no one had noticed I was gone. 

"I’m telling you, I still can’t believe it," one of them said. His voice was deep and gravelly. 

"I saw him through the doorway when the nurse went in earlier."

"I know, right?" the other one replied. I heard a low whistle. 

"It’s almost like... I don't know. Like reincarnation or something. I actually had to rub my eyes. I thought I was seeing a spirit."

"The Alpha is losing his mind over it," the first one muttered as they passed my pillar. 

"He hasn't been this focused on anything since the funeral. If this kid is really the soul of Gale come back to us, things are about to get real weird around here."

Their voices faded as they moved down the opposite corridor. I stayed frozen behind that pillar for a long time, even after the sound of their boots was completely gone.

Gale. So that was his name. And they thought I was his reincarnation? Is that what everyone was whispering about? 

No wonder people acted like they’d seen a ghost when I walked by. No wonder they stared at me from the corners of their eyes. 

They didn't see Jesse, the rogue leader who fought to keep his friends alive. They saw Gale.

They all knew him. Every person in this pack probably had a memory of the guy who owned my face.

I leaned my head against the pillar and closed my eyes. It was a sick joke. Maddox wasn't just obsessed, he was trying to bring back a dead man using my body. 

And Rhea... Rhea was the one who led me right to him.

"I have to get out of here," I breathed. "I have to find her."

I stepped out from behind the pillar and looked both ways. 

I had to find the stairs to get out of the packhouse. I had to find Rhea and find out exactly how much of our "friendship" was built on the ghost of Gale.

\---

I was trying to be quiet, but things were not going as planned.

I hadn't gotten anywhere when my foot slipped on the edge of the rug and hit the base of the pillar with a dull thud. In the silence of that hallway, it sounded like a drum. Shit!

The two guards stopped mid sentence. They turned around slowly and their eyes locked onto the shadows where I was hiding.

"Who's there?!" one of them barked.

I didn't wait. I bolted. I pushed off the pillar and tried to sprint back the way I came, but I hadn't gone ten feet before the second guard cut me off at the intersection. I skidded to a halt and my chest heaved. I was trapped.

"Easy now," the first guard said, catching up. 

He held his hands out like he was trying to calm a spooked horse. It was insulting. 

"Don't make this harder than it has to be. Just come back to your room. You shouldn't be out here."

I didn't move. I dropped into a low fighting stance, my heart hammering against my ribs. 

"Let me go. I’m not going back into that box."

"Look at you," the guard said, almost sounding sorry for me.

"You’re small. You’re tired. You’re going to lose if you fight us. Just give up."

I bared my teeth at him. "You think so? I’ve taken on three of your Variant wolves at the same time and left them face down in the dirt. I can definitely handle two of you. Do you really want to find out how hard a rogue hits?"

It was a bluff. Mostly. I was a leader for a reason, and rogues have to be twice as tough just to survive the winter, but I was shaky and my wrists still hurt. I hoped the "scary rogue" reputation would make them hesitate but they didn't. They just looked at each other and moved in closer and tightened the circle.

"Last chance," the guard warned.

"Go to hell!" I snapped.

I lunged forward, aiming for the guy on my left, but I never even got to throw a punch. 

I felt a sudden, sharp rush of air behind me. Before I could even turn my head, something heavy and hard struck me right in the back of my skull.

"Argh!"

The world didn't just go dark, it shattered. White hot pain exploded behind my eyes, and my legs turned into jelly. 

I even put my hands out to stop the fall. Everything distorted, spinning faster and faster until the blackness swallowed me whole.

When I finally started to drift back, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It wasn't the dusty, floral scent of my guest room. It was sharp. Winegar? And something else, something heavy and masculine.

I groaned, clutching my head as I sat up. My vision was blurry, but as it cleared, I realized I wasn't in my room anymore. 

This place was huge. It was a royal bedroom, easily three times the size of the other one. The bed was massive, covered in dark furs, and the furniture looked like it cost more than a whole village.

Was this... Crap! Was this Maddox’s room?

The thought sent a jolt of pure panic through me. I scrambled to the edge of the bed, my head spinning so hard I thought I might throw up. I turned around, looking for the door, but my breath hitched in my throat.
Maddox was there.

He wasn't standing or hovering. He was sitting in a large leather chair by the fireplace, calmly sipping from a glass. 

The firelight cast long, flickering shadows across his face, making him look even more like a king than usual. He didn't look angry. He looked... satisfied.

He set the glass down on a small table and looked me right in the eye.

"I see you've met Gale," he said. His voice was smooth, like he had been waiting for me to wake up just so he could say those words.

I couldn't even find my voice. I just stared at him, my heart sinking into my stomach. He knew. He knew I’d seen the painting. He knew I’d found the secret he was trying so hard to hide.

"What... what is this?" I finally managed to stutter out. "Who is he? Why am I in here?"