Chapter 147 Garish
❀ Maeve ❀
Hours after stuffing my face with the most delicious food ever to exist, I once again stood in front of the mirror, this time in my own room.
Wolves made really good cooks. Since they loved and worshipped all things meat, they’d come up with several tantalizing ways to build flavor.
The food in Veilmoor had been good, but not nearly as attentive. The main citizens there preferred blood anyway.
I’d taken a shower, giving great care to my hair and appearance. An easy pair of dark pants and a loose shirt hung off my figure.
Directly opposite Bastian’s and similar in size, my room held all my clothes and scant personal effects. Not even a pin had been moved since the last time I was here.
I sighed.
And Bastian was still nowhere to be found.
I’d reached out through the link a couple more times in case he came within mind-linking distance, but had no luck.
I was tired of being cooped up within walls. My time in Graves’ lab had done a number on me. It made even a safe haven like IronWolf claustrophobic and unbearable.
My mind strayed back to last night, at the lake.
The openness of the woods. The fresh smell of earth and cold air.
But could I risk moving around the pack like this? Red-eyed and reeking of vampire?
Yara had said no one would bother me. But their stares would. Their fear. Their wariness.
I was back to being a stranger in a place I should call home.
But I couldn’t let that make me hide away like some criminal, my only crime being born and ambitious.
I walked out of the room with my head high.
If I came across anyone, no matter their reaction, I’d ignore them and rein in the wrath.
But I met no one.
The fortress was nearly empty.
My sensitive ears picked up muted voices and footsteps on the lower levels. But on this level and higher, nothing.
I slowed my pace.
It wasn’t surprising. With the alpha feral, no one would risk themselves unnecessarily.
Speaking of, curiosity bade me to go to him. But why would I do that?
To commiserate over our shared circumstances?
While his ferality was secondhand, from the Crimson Amulet, my very blood carried mine.
He could decide to take it off and his sanity would trickle back in.
Me? More complicated.
I ran my hands over the stone walls, walking silently down the corridor.
If a witch had to die to formulate a potion that may or may not work for the curse, would I endorse that option?
My stomach tightened.
It wouldn’t get to that.
Sacrificing innocent victims for my gain had never and would never be my thing.
When that human boy flashed in my mind again, I pushed back the memory. I’d been under the influence of a truly twisted individual, so I chose to forgive myself—
In my slew of thoughts, my feet had carried me right to Alpha Mordane’s cell.
And he was looking right at me.
My whole body stiffened.
He had changed. His dark brown hair hung long and rakish over his eyes and framed his gaunt face.
Leaner than I’d seen him last, rags hung off him, riddled with holes and caked with long-dried blood.
Even in this state, sitting with his knees jutting and his hands clasped, he was still imposing in the shadows. Lethal.
His eyes glowed a bright, but vacant red.
The Crimson Amulet glowed along with it.
How low he’d sunk, hanging on to powers he obviously couldn’t control.
The powers of my mother’s essence kept him entranced. Enslaved.
He must have seen the fall coming—why hadn’t he given it up?
It wasn’t like there’d been an active war he needed the powers of a Crimson for, and being the Lycan alpha, he was plenty powerful enough on his own.
His irises moved, slow. So slowly it was almost imperceptible.
What was he seeing?
I frowned. Could he be experiencing visions like I had under the haze of the blood fog?
My eyes slitted on the amulet hanging from a gold chain around his neck. Whatever satisfaction he gleaned from the essence didn’t matter.
Fury coiled low in my gut as I glared with hate.
It had to be taken from him, dead or alive, and destroyed.
Else the Crimson stone would never stop coming for my head.
Until Lyssa’s essence was wiped from this earth, I would never know peace—
Alpha Mordane lunged at the bars.
The metal clanged so hard my sensitive ears rang. I jumped backwards, my heart in my throat.
Gaze still unfocused, he seemed to sniff in my direction, and then proceeded to let out a bloodcurdling roar.
His fangs dripped, mouth red and gummy as though he’d just gulped a mouthful of blood. His face twisted into something inhuman. Devilish. Hungry.
Terror, as I’d never known, dampened the wrath within me so swiftly I turned and fled without an ounce of shame.
The corridors blurred beneath my feet. All I wanted was to find Bastian’s chambers and curl up under his sheets.
If the man himself wasn’t here to protect me, a hearty dose of his scent would soothe me for the time being.
I moved quickly, hyperventilating—
“Oh. It’s you.” The voice was snide.
I stopped short.
Carmela stood before me, dressed in an elaborate dress of garish yellow. As usual. She was alone, chin lifted as though she belonged here.
Chest heaving, I narrowed my eyes.
Since when had she been allowed back into the pack?