Chapter 21 The Corrupted Friend
EMMA'S POV
I woke in a stone chamber that smelled like centuries of death and decay, my body was aching in places I could not name and my mind wrapped in thick fog that refused to clear. Viktor sat beside me, his presence both terrifying and strangely comforting in ways that made my skin crawl with wrongness.
"Easy, Emma," he said softly, almost kindly, his hand stroking my hair like a father soothing a frightened child. "You are safe now. I am helping you embrace your true nature, the strength your weak pack never allowed you to claim."
My wolf stirred inside me, stronger than I had ever felt her, but something was fractured in our connection. She felt distant, separate, like we were two beings instead of one soul sharing a body. I tried to speak, to demand answers, but my tongue felt thick and my thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind.
Viktor lifted a syringe, the liquid inside glowing faintly in the dim chamber light. "Just one more dose. This will make you powerful, Emma. Stronger than you ever dreamed possible."
The needle pierced my arm before I could protest. Fire raced through my veins, my wolf howling in response but not in pain. In pleasure and it surprised me. My human mind recoiled in horror as my wolf began responding to Viktor's presence the way pack wolves responded to their Alpha.
"No," I whispered, the word barely audible. "What did you do to me?"
"I gave you purpose." Viktor's smile was gentle, patient, the expression of someone who genuinely believed he was helping. "Your wolf recognizes true strength now. She knows who deserves her loyalty, who can lead her to greatness instead of keeping her leashed and small."
I tried to fight it, tried to wrestle my wolf back under control, but she was slipping away from me with each passing second. The drug he had been injecting made her stronger while making my human consciousness foggy and distant, like I was drowning in my own mind while my wolf swam free.
Viktor's hand cupped my face, tilting it up to meet his gaze. "I am forming a pack bond with you, Emma. Not a mate bond, nothing so intimate, but a connection that will let me guide you, protect you, help you become everything you were meant to be."
The bond settled into place like chains disguised as silk ribbons. Not forced exactly, because my wolf was accepting it willingly, seeing Viktor as the Alpha she had been waiting for all her life. But I was screaming inside, my human mind trapped and helpless as my wolf pledged loyalty to a monster.
"There," Viktor said, satisfaction clear in his voice. "Now we can proceed with the plan."
He explained it all while I sat frozen, unable to make my body obey my desperate commands to run, to fight, to do anything but listen. He would send me to escape back to Lisa, back to Moonstone Pack where everyone would welcome me with open arms and grateful tears. But I would not be myself anymore. My wolf was dominant now, feral and loyal to Viktor, my human consciousness locked away like a prisoner in my own skull.
"You will act normal at first," Viktor continued, pacing the chamber like a professor explaining a lesson. "Frightened, traumatized, grateful for rescue. They will bring you into their inner circle, share their plans, and trust you completely." His eyes gleamed with cruel intelligence. "And when I give the command, when the moment is perfect, you will attack Lisa. Your wolf will tear out her throat before anyone can stop you."
No. The scream built in my chest but it could not escape my lips. I tried to reach for Lisa through our blood connection, the bond formed when she had saved my life years ago.
But the drugs were too strong, my wolf was too dominant. My human mind was drowning in fog that grew thicker with every breath.
Viktor gave me final instructions, commands that settled into my wolf's consciousness like programming, triggers that would activate when he wanted. I watched helplessly through my own eyes, I felt like a passenger in my own body, as he prepared me for the false escape.
"Remember," he said, adjusting my clothes to look torn and dirty, adding fake bruises to my skin with practiced efficiency. "You love Lisa. She is your best friend, your sister in all but blood. That love is real, Emma, Let it show. Let them see how grateful you are for your rescue." His smile turned vicious. "Let them never suspect that love will be the weapon that destroys her."
A small part of my human consciousness clung to one desperate hope buried deep where Viktor could not reach it. Lisa was smart. Lisa had always been perceptive, she always noticed when something was wrong. She would see through any deception. She would notice that my eyes were wrong, my scent was off, my wolf was not quite mine anymore.
She had to notice. I just knew she had to.
Viktor released the chains binding me to the wall, and my wolf surged forward, eager to begin the mission her new Alpha had given her. I tried to fight for control, to make my body refuse, but I was a ghost haunting my own flesh.
"Go," Viktor commanded, and my wolf obeyed.
I ran through the ruins, my paws making strides through the forest, heading straight toward Moonstone Pack territory where warriors would be waiting to rescue me. I ran with speed I had never possessed before, the drug enhancing my physical capabilities even as it destroyed my free will.
As I ran, my human consciousness managed one clear thought before the fog swallowed me completely and everything went dark. The thought was terrible, inevitable, a nightmare I could not wake from.
I am going to kll my friend. I am going to kll Lisa, and I cannot stop it.