Chapter 112
Elowen's POV
"I was protecting you—"
"Bullshit!" The word exploded from me. "You were protecting yourself. Your status. Your comfortable life."
I crouched down until we were eye-level. This close, I could see the fine lines around her eyes, the gray roots beneath her dyed hair. She looked older. Smaller.
"Let me make something very clear," I continued, my voice low and deadly. "The man I love is upstairs drowning in grief because of what you two did. My best friend's mate is dying. And you're sitting here, playing the victim?"
"Elowen, please—" Jessica's voice cracked. "You don't understand the pressure—"
"Pressure?" I laughed bitterly. "You want to talk about pressure? Cindy is losing her mate!"
Drake spat blood onto the floor near my feet. "Your precious twins deserved it. Acting like they own everything—"
"They DO own everything!" I shouted. "It's their pack! Their birthright! And you—" I whirled on my mother. "You betrayed your own pack!"
"I had no choice," Jessica whispered.
"There's always a choice." My voice dropped to ice. "You chose wrong."
I turned back to Drake. His face was a mess—blood streaming from his broken nose, lips split, eye swelling shut. Good.
But it wasn't enough.
"Make him suffer," Juno growled. "Make them both suffer."
I walked slowly toward the desk, my mind racing with images. Casper's haunted eyes when he looked at his father's body. Cassian's crushing grief, the way his hands had trembled as he helped carry Austin's corpse.
And me. Years of being belittled, ignored, treated like I was worthless.
"You know what's funny?" I said conversationally, picking up a silver bookmark from the desk. Long, thin, sharp. "I used to be terrified of blood. Remember, Mother? When I was seven and scraped my knee? I cried for hours."
"Elowen—"
"I was weak," I continued, testing the weight of the bookmark. "So weak. Afraid of everything. Afraid of you, actually." I looked at Drake. "Afraid of disappointing you. Afraid of being alone."
"Baby, please—" Drake started.
"Shut your goddamn mouth!" My hand tightened around the bookmark.
I thought of Casper's broken sobs I just heard through the bond. The emptiness in Cassian's eyes as he stared at nothing.
The way they were both suffering now because of the two people in this room.
"I'm not weak anymore," I said softly. "I'm not afraid anymore."
"Liar," Juno said, but there was approval in her voice. "You're terrified. But you're doing it anyway. That's what makes you brave."
She was right. My hands were shaking. My heart was racing. The sight of Drake's blood made my stomach turn.
But I thought of all the people suffering because of Drake's greed and my mother's cowardice.
I grabbed Drake's hand—the one not pressed against his bleeding shoulder—and slammed it down onto the chair's armrest.
"Wait—" he started.
I drove the silver bookmark straight through his palm, pinning his hand to the wooden armrest.
Drake's scream shattered the silence. The silver sizzled against his skin, smoke rising from the wound. The smell of burning flesh made me gag, but I forced myself to stay calm.
"Don't throw up," Juno advised. "It'll ruin the moment."
"Oh God," Jessica gasped. "Oh God, Elowen, what are you—"
"What I should've done months ago." I looked at her coldly. "What you should've done—protect the people who matter."
Drake sobbed, trying to pull the bookmark out with his other hand. "You fucking bitch! You crazy fucking—"
I walked around to his other side. On the desk was a silver pen—heavy, expensive, with a sharp tip.
"Stop!" Drake begged, his voice breaking. "Please, Elowen, please—"
"Did you stop when Casper turned into a beast?" I asked quietly. "Did you stop when you heard Alpha Austin was dying?"
"I didn't mean—" His eyes were wild with pain and fear. "I didn't think—"
"That's the problem." I grabbed his other hand. "You never think. You just take. And take. And take."
I drove the pen through his other palm, pinning that hand to the opposite armrest.
His scream was louder this time. Both hands trapped. Silver burning through his skin. Smoke rising like prayers to a dark god.
My hands were shaking. Blood splattered on my sleeve. I wanted to run, to hide, to be anywhere but here.
But I thought of Casper's desperate eyes. Cassian's hollowed-out expression, the way grief had carved itself into his features. All the people I loved suffering.
I thought of myself—the scared girl I used to be, the strong woman I needed to become.
For them. For all of them.
"You're—you're a monster," Jessica whispered, her voice breaking. "You've become a monster."
I turned to look at her. She was pressed against the wall, her face white as paper, her eyes wide with horror and disbelief.
"You made me into this," I said quietly. "Every time you told me I wasn't good enough. Every time you chose your reputation over your daughter. Every time you looked at me like I was a disappointment." I paused. "You created this monster, Mother. So don't act so fucking surprised when she bites back."
Jessica began to sob—ugly, choking sounds that might have moved me once. But not anymore.
I stood in the center of the room, my heart pounding, my hands bloody. Drake whimpered and sobbed. My mother stared at me like I was something inhuman.
Maybe I was.
"Now," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "Does someone want to tell me what I need to know? Where's the antidote? Who else is involved?"
Drake sobbed. Blood dripped from his pinned hands, pooling on the expensive hardwood floor.
Jessica's lips trembled. "Elowen, if you let us go—"
"You're not going anywhere," I cut her off. "Not until everyone is safe. Not until you tell me everything."