Chapter 107

~NESSA~

"Perfect."

I stood at my apartment window, watching the chaos unfold below. Students streaming out of the community center, phones out, already spreading the news across campus.

Zayne Pierce had asked out Nessa Lawrence. His mate had publicly rejected him. The scandal would be legendary.

My phone buzzed.

"It's done," I said before the caller could ask.

"The bond is severed?"

"Severing as we speak. Arlina invoked formal rejection in front of at least fifty witnesses. Pack law makes it binding."

"And Pierce?"

I glanced back toward the community center. "Devastated. Confused. Exactly as planned."

"Good. Phase two begins immediately. I want Arlina isolated, vulnerable, and desperate within the week."

"She's already there. The severed mate bond will destroy her mental state. Give it three days and she'll be hearing voices, losing control of her powers."

"The voices are your doing?"

"A little gift from my family's grimoire. She thinks they're remnants from your experiments, but they're actually me. Planting suggestions, feeding her paranoia, pushing her toward the breaking point."

The voice made a satisfied sound. "Your people were always talented with mental manipulation."

"We had to be. Your scientists made sure of that when they used us as test subjects." My voice stayed pleasant but the old rage simmered underneath. "Before they murdered everyone."

"Ancient history."

"Not to me." I turned from the window. "My entire clan was wiped out in your experiments. Men, women, children. All in the name of creating better hybrids."

"The research was necessary—"

"The research was genocide. You experimented on witches because our magic made us valuable test subjects. And when the experiments failed, you disposed of us like trash." I sat down, crossing my legs. "Do you know who led those experiments?"

"I wasn't involved in that phase—"

"Arlina's parents. Arlina's biological parents." I smiled at my reflection in the dark window. "They personally oversaw the torture and deaths of forty-seven members of my family. Including my mother, my father, and my younger sister."

Silence on the other end.

"So yes," I continued, "I'm more than happy to help you recapture Arlina. But my reasons are my own. I want revenge on the daughter of the people who destroyed my family."

"As long as she ends up in our facility alive, I don't care about your motivations."

"She'll be alive. Broken, but alive." I checked my nails. "The spell on Zayne is permanent, by the way. Even if they figure out it's compulsion, breaking it will take weeks. By then, the mate bond rejection will be complete and irreversible."

"And Pierce himself?"

"Collateral damage. Once Arlina is secured, I'll make sure he has an unfortunate accident. Can't have loose ends."

"You've thought this through."

"I've been planning this for years. Ever since I learned who Arlina's parents. That their hybrid experiment actually survived." I stood and started pacing. "Do you know what it's like, watching your family die in those labs? Hearing their screams through the walls? Knowing no one was coming to save us?"

"I can imagine—"

"No, you can't. You're the ones who did it to us." I took a breath, steadying myself. "But Arlina will understand. Before the end, I'm going to make sure she knows exactly who her parents were. What they did. How many lives they destroyed to create her."

"Will that break her faster?"

"It'll destroy her. The guilt alone will shatter whatever's left of her sanity." I smiled. "And then I'll watch her suffer the way my family suffered. Watch her powers tear her apart from the inside. Watch her beg for death."

"Don't kill her before we extract her powers—"

"I won't. I need her alive long enough to feel every ounce of pain I'm going to inflict." I checked my watch. "The spell on Zayne should keep him docile for another few days. After that, he'll start fighting it, but by then it won't matter. The bond will be dead."

"What about the Alpha? Edward Pierce is investigating you."

"Let him. My identity is airtight. Nessa Lawrence exists in every database that matters. He won't find anything." I grabbed my coat. "And even if he does, I'll be gone. This apartment is temporary, my appearance is temporary. By the time they figure out who I really am, Arlina will be in your facility and I'll be vanished."

"Where will you go?"

"Somewhere your organization can't find me. I'm helping you recapture Arlina, but after that, we're done. I don't work with the people who murdered my family."

"Fair enough. As long as the job gets done."

"Oh, it will. Arlina Morgan is going to pay for her parents' sins. And Zayne Pierce will pay for being stupid enough to fall for my spell." I headed for the door. "I should go. I need to maintain appearances for a few more days. Make sure no one suspects the sweet transfer student."

"Keep me updated."

I hung up and stared at my reflection in the hallway mirror.

Nessa Lawrence. Pretty, perfect, uncomplicated Nessa Lawrence. The girl who didn't exist before six weeks ago and wouldn't exist after this week.

My real name was Mira Ashenheart. Last surviving member of the Ashenheart witch clan. And I'd spent five years planning this revenge.

Five years researching Arlina. Learning her weaknesses, her fears, her relationships. Five years perfecting the compulsion spell that would turn her mate against her. Five years preparing to make her suffer the way my family had suffered.

And it was working.

The look on her face when Zayne asked me out. That devastation, that betrayal, was just the beginning.

Soon she'd be hearing voices. Losing control of her powers. Her wolf would retreat completely, leaving her defenseless.

And then I'd strike. Not to kill, not yet. But to break her so thoroughly that death would be a mercy.

Just like what her parents did to m

y family.

"Enjoy the pain, Arlina," I whispered to my reflection. "You've earned every second of it."