Chapter 36 EVIL INTENT
Ginnie
The villa was too quiet.
Not the good kind of quiet—the kind that pressed against my ears until my thoughts grew louder than my breathing. Worse…sleep wouldn’t come, because every time I closed my eyes. I saw him.
Varkos.
Standing in the doorway like some knight in shining armor, he ordered me to rest. Looking at Lily like she mattered so much to him.
Gosh!
I hated this stupid feeling inside of me. The way my chest tightened when I thought of him, the way something soft and dangerous had begun to take root inside me, blooming where hatred should have lived instead.
Lycans and humans were never meant to feel this way about each other. Definitely not in Bleeding Rose where we were raised on blood and stories—stories of cruelty, and slaughter. Of why Lycans deserved nothing but fear.
Stop it!
Stop thinking about him, Ginnie!
I slipped out of bed quietly, careful not to wake Lily who was already fast asleep, curled on her side of the bed, one hand clutched around the edge of the blanket like it might disappear if she let go.
I silently tucked the blanket closer around her shoulders before standing up fully. My ribs protested as I moved, the pain was still there—wicked and brutal, but I ignored it.
I needed something cold to wash away the heat and confusion burning through me. Without hesitation, I quietly slipped out of the room, my bare foot echoing silently on the polished marble floor.
That was when my eyes landed on her.
Kenna.
She moved quickly, wrapped in a dark cloak that pulled low over her head. Her steps were deliberate—definitely not the movement of someone sneaking out to get air or unable to sleep.
What the fuck—
What was she doing out here at this hour?
I told myself to turn around, to mind my own damn business. Kenna was dangerous in ways I didn’t yet fully understand. She was Varkos’s future Luna…she was fuckin untouchable.
Damn it!
Before my brain could think twice I began to follow silently as she slipped through a side door at the far end of the hall. I paused for a moment, my heart pounding so loudly I was so sure the walls could hear it.
Then I pulled my shawl tighter around myself and followed.
The night air hit me like a slap as I stepped outside—but I kept to the shadows, every step careful not to dare to be seen as I tracked every one of her footsteps away from the villa.
Kenna didn’t look back.
She moved toward the treeline, the only thing dividing the estate from the forbidden woods. The Rogue territory.
Holy fuck!
My instincts screamed at me to stop, but my feet kept moving as I managed to stay far enough back that she couldn’t hear me, but close enough so that I wouldn’t lose her. Branches scratched at my skin as I followed her into the trees, the darkness swallowing us whole.
Voices reached me before my eyes sighted them.
Three figures stood in a small clearing ahead, my heart hammering as I peered closer to see who they really were.
Wolves.
Not shifted yet, but their posture gave them away. The way they stood was too still. Their eyes glinted gold in the moonlight, but not the kind that Lycan’s eyes did—
Rogues?
Kenna stood before them, her cloak lowered now, her face illuminated by the pale glow of the moonlight. She wasn’t afraid of them, if anything—she looked furious.
“You fuckin idiots,” she snapped. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
One of the rogues scoffed. “We did exactly what you asked.”
“No!” Kenna barked, “You failed miserably at what you were ordered to do.”
My breath hitched.
Asked?
“We were supposed to kill Alpha Varkos.” Another rogue stepped forward, “The plan was to weaken him…keep him distracted which you clearly didn’t.”
Kill… Varkos?
“Don’t you dare blame me,” Kenna’s lips curled in disgust. “Because he’s still breathing thanks to your failed attack.”
“He was stronger than you said,” the first rogue wolf growled, “the bastard ripped most of my men apart like we were nothing.”
A scream almost tears out of me, but I pressed a hand to my mouth, forcing it down in my throat as the pieces began to fall into place.
The attack on the Villa.
The exact timing of when it happened—it was all planned by Kenna.
“You gave us the guard rotations,” one of the rogue wolves growled, drifting me off my thoughts. “ The blind spots and the shift changes.”
“And yet what happened?” Kenna's voice was cold. Calculated, “You wasted all of it!”
My heart shattered against my ribs.
She did this.
It’s all been hers since the beginning…that note?
Motherfukin—
“You said the human girl wouldn’t matter,” another rogue said. “But he protected her, he protected the damn child.”
A bitter laughter tears out of Kenna, a sound that sends chills running down my spine.“Of course he did,” she said mockingly, “Varkos has always had a weakness for playing savior.”
“You surprised me, Kenna.” One of the rogue wolves hissed, “I thought you loved him so much, huh?”
“Love?” Kenna’s voice dropped to a low whisper as she spat the word like poison. “All I want from Varkos is his power…every damn thing he has should be mine.”
My lungs burned as I struggled to stay silent with all these spilling from Kenna’s lips. How could she?
“The plan changes,” Kenna continued, “We will do this more cleanly now.”
“How?” one of the rogue wolves asked.
“The wedding.” She replied, her eyes gleaming with pure evil intent, “ I’ll poison him on the night we’re finally bonded,” she said calmly. “ When everyone is watching and no one will suspect a thing.”
My head began to spin with every word she said.
Poison.
Wedding.
Varkos.
“He’ll die,” Kenna went on, almost like his death would mean absolutely nothing to her. “And Bleeding Rose will fall into chaos. That’s when we’ll make our move to overthrow the Blood Moon Pack.”
My hand trembled against the bark of the tree as I stood there, I wanted to run to Varkos, to warn him. To tear the truth from Kenna’s mouth and shove it down her throat.
THUD!
My foot caught on a loose stone the moment I shifted just slightly, the sound shattering the silence instantly.
Kenna’s head snapped toward the tree where I stayed hidden.
The rogues stiffened.
“Who the fuck is there?” one of them barked.