Chapter 26 TRAITOR
XAVIER'S POV
The car screeched to a halt, the tires biting into the gravel of the driveway with a violent spray of stone.
I didn't wait for the engine to die. I was out of the door before the vehicle had even finished settling on its suspension, my blood humming with a cold, predatory frequency.
I didn't knock.
I didn't announce my arrival.
I lifted my boot and kicked the door with the full weight of my Alpha strength. The frame shrieked, wood splintering like dry bone as the entire door was ripped from its hinges and sent skittering across the room.
Almost immediately, a piercing, high-pitched scream tore through the air.
I stormed into the living room, my gaze immediately locking onto the scene of domestic filth before me.
There she was—Ivana. The little slut Adrian had traded a diamond for. The main reason he had discarded Avrielle like yesterday’s trash, the reason he had broken his vows.
She was currently scrambling to drag her silk gown back over her shoulders, her face a mask of panicked vanity. Adrian was standing right there beside her, fumbling with the buckle of his trousers. The air in the room reeked of their cheap lust and the heavy, floral perfume she used to mask her scent.
"Good day Alpha! We...we weren't expecting..." Ivana started, her voice trembling, but I didn't even look at her. She was a non-entity, a fly buzzing in the presence of a thunderstorm.
I ignored her completely, my focus narrowed down to Adrian. Before he could even form a greeting or pull his dignity together, I lunged.
My hand shot out, wrapping around his throat like a steel band. I didn't just grab him; I used his own momentum to fling him across the room. He hit a mahogany bookshelf with a sickening thud, several heavy volumes tumbling onto his head as he collapsed into a heap.
Ivana let out another shrill scream and bolted from the room, her bare feet slapping against the tile as she disappeared into the back of the house. I didn't care where she went. She could run to the ends of the earth, and it wouldn't change the fate of the man cowering on the floor.
I walked toward him, my movements slow and deliberate, the silence of the room punctuated only by the sound of my breathing. I bent down, looming over him as he struggled to push himself backward, his heels digging into the rug.
He wiped a smear of blood from his split lip, his blue eyes wide and dilated with a terror that almost smelled sweet.
"What... what did I do, Uncle?" he asked, his voice shaking so hard it was barely a whisper. "Why are you doing this?"
A snarl ripped from my throat, the sound more wolf than man. "Save your pathetic pretense for someone else, Adrian. If I were you, I’d start confessing." I snarled.
"Tell me exactly why you orchestrated the ambush on the road. Tell me why you sent vampires to bleed my mate."
Adrian’s eyes flickered, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
"Ambush? What... what ambush?"
"Uncle, I...I haven't left this house in days! I’m being framed! I wouldn't dare move against you!" He crumbled to his knees, his hands clasped in front of his chest in a gesture of supplication that made me want to vomit.
"You must be mistaken. I’m your nephew! I wouldn't dare!"
Suddenly, a dry, bitter laughter began to tickle the back of my throat. I laughed out loud, a harsh, jagged sound that had no joy in it. It was the sound of a man who had seen too much treachery to believe in family ties anymore. I reached down and grabbed Adrian by the hair, jerking his head back until he was forced to look at the ceiling.
"You think I’m a fool?" I yelled into his face. "You think I haven't tracked the money? You think I haven't smelled the rot on you for years?"
Just then, the sound of measured footsteps echoed behind me and I didn't need to turn to know it was Kaiden.
I let go of Adrian’s hair, shoving his head away as I straightened to my full height.
Kaiden walked into the room, his expression stoic. He held a cream-colored envelope in his hand and without a word, he handed it to me.
I tore it open, the paper ripping with a violent rasp. My eyes flew over the elegant, handwritten script inside. The ink was dark, the handwriting precise—the kind of penmanship that belonged to someone who planned their crimes with meticulous care.
'I’m paying you a good amount, and you better make sure the job is done properly.'
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. I turned my gaze to Kaiden, the paper crinkling in my tightening grip. "Where did you find this?"
"In the trash bin Adrian specifically asked the servants to incinerate this morning," Kaiden replied, his voice level. "Luckily, the fire hadn't been lit yet."
I slammed the letter into Adrian’s chest, the paper fluttering to the floor as he scrambled to catch it. "You know nothing, do you? Then explain this! Explain why your handwriting is ordering the execution of my woman!"
Adrian shivered, his teeth chattering as he stared at the letter. "It’s... it’s not what you think! Uncle, please! This was... this was a letter I was trying to send to the vendor! The one doing a proposal surprise for Ivana! It’s a misunderstanding! I was talking about the flowers... the arrangements... I wouldn't dare harm Avrielle!"
He was panicking, his words coming out in a frantic, disjointed stream. He was trying to find an exit, a lie big enough to hide behind.
"I loved her once, remember? I just wanted her gone, out of the pack, not dead! Please, Uncle, stop this! I heard those rumors about the 'Shadow Market,' but I never..."
The words died in his throat, but they rang in my head like a funeral bell.
I froze.
I had heard those specific terms before.
The Shadow Market.
The Vendor.
Only one person uses that word that I know.
It wasn't just the words, It was the way he said them—a specific cadence, a slip of the tongue that felt like a cold hand wrapping around my heart.
I stared at Adrian, hoping against hope that I was wrong about the feeling settling in my gut.
I didn't turn around. I couldn't look away from the wreckage of my nephew’s face.
"Kaiden," I said, my voice sounding like it was coming from a great distance. "Escort him to the manor. Throw him in the deepest cell in the dungeon. He is not allowed to speak to anyone. He is not allowed to see anyone and he is certainly not allowed to be released until I personally give the order."
"Uncle, no! I’m innocent!" Adrian yelled, his voice rising to a frantic shriek as Kaiden stepped forward. He began to struggle, flailing his arms as Kaiden grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and the arm, pinning him with effortless ease.
Kaiden was a seasoned warrior; Adrian was a pampered pup who had never known a real fight.
"Uncle, please! Think of our bond! You raised me! You can't do this!"
I didn't listen.
I stood there, rooted to the spot, as the sound of his struggling and his pathetic pleas faded down the hallway and out the front door. The house grew silent, save for the ticking of a clock and the heavy thrum of my own pulse.
I bent down and picked up the letter from the rug. My fingers were trembling—not from fear, but from a burgeoning, horrific realization.
I flipped the page to the back, checking the bottom corner where the parchment met the seal.
I had been looking for a signature, but I was looking for something else now. Something subtle.
If I was right, there should be a stamp. A tiny, embossed mark that only members of the Inner Circle used.
My heart constricted, a physical pain blooming in my chest as my thumb brushed over a small, raised seal in the shape of a serpent’s coil.
I was right.