Chapter 85

Chapter 85
Claude

So Maddox had Jesse.

The words felt like a heavy stone dropping into a deep well. I just stood there, staring at the hunter, while my brain tried to make sense of it. 

I had been telling myself that Jesse was just hiding. His rogue friends convinced me of that. I thought he was out there somewhere in the deep woods, probably hating me, but at least he was free. 

It was easier to believe that he just didn't want to be found. But now? Now the truth was staring at me.

Maddox had him. That crazy and dangerous Alpha had my mate. Probably in a cage.

But I wasn’t going to just take this guy's word for it. Hunters lie, right?. They lie to survive, and they lie to cause trouble between packs.

"How do you know?" I asked, my voice sounding hollow. 

"Why should I believe a word you say? You could have stolen that photo. You could be trying to start a war between Revelle and the Variant Pack just for the fun of it."

The hunter, who was still slumped against the wall, amd smacked his dry and cracked lips.

"I’ll tell you everything," he spoke. "But I’m serious about that drink. My throat feels like I’ve been swallowing sand. Give me some water, and I’ll give you the story."

I looked at Eric. I didn't want to be nice to this man, but I needed him to talk. 

"Get him some water," I muttered. "Now."

Eric left the room and came back within seconds with a tin cup. The hunter grabbed it with shaky hands and downed the whole thing in one go, water even spied down his chin and onto his dirty shirt. 

He let out a long sigh of relief and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Better," he said. He straightened up as much as he could. 

"First off, let’s be formal. My name is Dorne Morretti. I work for REIN."

I knew he worked for REIN. It was obvious in ways I couldn't explain. They weren't just a bunch of guys with shotguns and a grudge. 

They were an organized, high-tech group of hunters who made it their life's mission to track us down and "study" us, which usually meant cutting us open.

"I don't really give a damn crap about your resume or your name, Dorne," I snapped as I towered over him. 

"Get to the point. Stop wasting my time with your titles. How did you meet Jesse? Where did you meet him? Where was that picture taken?"

"It was in Grayridge.  About a month or so ago. As for the picture, it was taken outside grayridge." He said.

"You know, your boy was smart, I'll give him that. He was posing as a human. He was living in the small town, keeping his scent down, just trying to blend in. I met him at a local bar... something called the Hollow Lantern... what a cheesy name, rigt?"

I frowned. Jesse, in a human village. I knew that of course. I had gone there go find him myself.

"Go on." I ordered.

"He told me a real sad story," Dorne continued with a smirk. 

"He said his name was Jesse and that his parents had been killed by rogues. Said they burnt his house down and left him with nothing. He acted the part of the grieving orphan perfectly. I actually felt bad for the kid. I even invited him to join up with us, to become a hunter for REIN. I figured with that kind of motivation, he’d be a natural at killing wolves."

I stood there in the damp cold of the basement, my hands clenching into fists. I listened to Dorne speak, and the more he talked, the more I wanted to hit him again. But I held myself back... for now

"See, that's the thing," Dorne said as he leaned his head back against the wall. He had this smug look on his face that made my skin crawl. 

"I knew the whole 'my family was killed' story was total bullshit. I knew Jesse wasn't some poor human kid looking for a job. I knew exactly what he was the second I saw him."

I narrowed my eyes. "How? If he was hiding his scent, how did a human like you know?"

Dorne let out a dry, raspy laugh. "Because I didn't find him by accident, Alpha. Maddox came to me. He sought me out. He gave me a job, and he paid me a lot of money upfront just to start the hunt. He told me exactly who I was looking for and tasked me with finding Jesse and delivering him right to his doorstep."

I felt like someone had punched the air out of my lungs. I actually had to take a step back.

"A werewolf? An Alpha... working with a hunter?"

I couldn't believe it. It was the ultimate betrayal. For an Alpha to hire a human, a member of REIN, no less to hunt down one of our own? It was sick. It went against everything we were. 

Maddox was even more of a monster than I thought.

"What's the matter?" Dorne mocked, seeing the look on my face. 

"Surprised your kind can be just as dirty as mine? Money talks, Claude. It doesn't matter if you have fur or not."

"Keep talking," I growled. "How did you get him?"

"It wasn't easy," Dorne admitted, rubbing his neck where I had bruised it.

"Jesse was a tough nut to crack. He was suspicious of everyone. And that annoying, bitchy sister of his, Rhea? She was always hovering. She made things ten times harder."

I frowned. Sister? He was probably talking g about Maddox’s crazy sister called Rhea. Why Jesse wa swith her in that bloody town still remained a mystery to me.

"Yeah, yeah. Jesse and Rhea, they were acting like siblings to blend in. But back then, she was just a thorn in my side. I had to spend time earning their trust. I had to act like I cared about them. I played the mentor. I told Jesse he had a future with REIN. I promised him safety and a way to fight back against the 'monsters' that killed his family."

I felt a wave of nausea. This man had sat across from Jesse, looked him in the eye, and lied to him. He had used Jesse’s trauma, the very trauma I helped cause, to lure him into a trap.

"So how did you do it?" I asked. "How did you finally grab him?"

Dorne’s eyes lit up, like he was proud of his work. "I staged a fake alert at our base. I told the team that a group of rogues had been spotted nearby. It was the perfect setup. I hand-picked a small team to go out and investigate, and of course, I made sure Jesse was part of it. He wanted to prove himself. He wanted to help."

He paused, a dark grin spreading across his face. 

"Once we were far enough away from the base, in the middle of nowhere, variant wolves attacked us... or them atheist. I didn't want any witnesses, so I had to take out the other hunters on my team. My own buddies. I shot them down right there in the dirt! It was exhilarating!"

"Jesse was so confused, so shocked... it was easy to get the drop on him after that. I knocked him out, tied him up, took a picture and called Maddox to tell him I was delivering  his prize."

I stared at him in total horror. "You killed them? You killed your own people? For money?"

"Maddox promised me more than I’d make in ten years at REIN," Dorne said, shrugging like he was talking about the weather. 

"Friends are great, but they don't pay the bills, do they?"

I looked at Eric, who looked just as disgusted as I was. This man was a parasite. He had murdered his comrades and sold my mate to a psychopath, all for a pile of cash.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

Dorne just laughed. "Maybe. But I'm the only monster who knows exactly where Maddox is keeping your boy. So, are we going to keep talking about my morals, or are you going to get me out of these chains?"

I looked at the photograph of Jesse again. He had been betrayed by everyone. By me. By this hunter. By the world. I had to get him out. I didn't care what it cost.