Chapter Seventy-Five - Willow

Patch sighed as we drove off the pack lands and onto the highway.

My body ached from my broken ribs and I hated how weak it made me look. I folded my arms over my chest to keep myself together.

I knew Chase was pissed at me but I couldn’t allow him to have his title stripped. We just now made it to a place where I could heal, and we could fall into our positions as Alpha and Luna.

I hated Patch for showing up here. Who had even told him about the pack fight? It’d gotten to him so quickly. I attempted to stretch out my legs and inwardly groaned at the pain.

It was time for some pain medication. I wondered if he’d give me any.

“I didn’t want this to happen,” he said.

I looked over at him with his elbow perched against the window seal. He looked out of the window with disdain on his face. “Yeah? Could have fooled me,” I said.

His dark stare moved toward mine. “It’s not my rule. It’s the court's rule. It was in place well before I got here.”

I turned away from him. I didn’t have time to listen to all of his lies. I needed to get myself together to plead my case to the courts. Though I was sure he made the final decision which didn’t look good in my favor.

“Did avenging your mother make you want to fight for all these years?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

Patch chuckled. “I’m good at reading people,” he said. “It’s how I knew Chase was lying to save his Luna. I applaud the man. He was going to take a whipping for you. I wouldn’t have taken his title. He is too good of an alpha to do that. So, tell me the truth, is your mother the only reason you want to fight?”

I looked over at him, my anger flaring up inside of me like a darkened flame. “No. It started my need to fight, however, when I started training my wolf fell in love. There is nothing like being able to defend your pack. To defend yourself. I knew from a young age that I was different. Stronger. More capable. It sucks that it’s been taken from me this way.”

Patch watched me sit back against the seat. “What else is different about you?” he asked. “You’re part of that family. What powers do you have, Willow?”

I didn’t dare open my mouth and tell him. “I wasn’t raised with that family. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You sure? How did a she-wolf take down Ian without powers?”

“You know him well?” I asked. “He’s not as strong as he looks.”

Patch grew quiet and didn’t speak the rest of the way to the courts. I must have fallen asleep because Patch shook me awake. “We’re here. Lunch is ready for us,” he said. “I know you’re hungry. I’ll have some medicine put out for you, too.”

Patch helped me out of the car, and I blinked back the sleepiness in my eyes. I’d never been to the courts before, but the place was bigger than I imagined it.

The driver led us into the house. The lobby was giant with a grand staircase and floors that sparkled like a movie.

“Do you need to go to the restroom?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He pointed toward the first door on the right down a long hallway. “It’s right there. Follow the food smell when you’re finished.” He stopped and looked back at me. “Don’t make a run for it. We’ll find you.”

I didn’t doubt that they would. Guards were standing randomly through the house. I used the restroom and found myself wandering the hallways toward the dining area. Pictures of the royal family lined the walls but none of them was of Patch. I vaguely remembered Chase mentioning he hadn’t been raised knowing he was of royal blood.

It didn’t sound much different than me.

Patch sat at a small table in the dining area with two plates of food out in front of him. I walked in and sat across from him.

“I was afraid you’d run,” he said, taking a sip of his beer.

“I might be blonde but I’m not stupid,” I said, picking up my fork. “Or do you think because I’m a she-wolf that I’m dense?”

He chuckled and picked up his fork. I noticed the rogue tattoo on his forearm and I stared at it. He noticed me and halted his eating. “It’s old, Willow.”

I smiled. “That tattoo haunted me for years. I looked for it whenever I went off pack lands with my father. When I went to college. I searched for it anywhere I went. It’s odd to know it’s more or less a family crest.”

“Ian wasn’t always bad,” he said.

“I’ve heard the stories, believe me, but they don’t change the fact that he murdered my mother.”

“Of course not,” Ian said. “Ian had a protective side. He attempted to protect his family.”

I watched him eat, wondering what all he knew about Ian that I might or might now want to know.

“Yeah? I suppose keeping them locked up in the rogue camp was a special way of loving them.”

“He was afraid that someone would take his family and hurt them because of their powers. It’s one of the reasons that he became rogue.”

I continued to eat, wondering who in the hell would go against him. “Did he have a reason to think that?” I asked. “Or did he just assume he was so special that someone would want him?”

“When he was small, some wolves took his mother as a science experiment. They drew blood and did the cruelest things to extract her power.”

I took a slow bite of my meal. “How did they know she had power?”

Patch shrugged. “I’m not sure to be honest. Maybe she didn’t hide them or someone saw her with them. I don’t know. But I do know Ian went on the run because of it. He started a rogue pack to protect his family from the wolves.”

I continued to eat, taking another sip of my drink, feeling the oddest feeling of lightheadedness take over me.

“Who were the wolves?” I asked as my mind began to swarm.

I noticed Patch move from his seat and I caught myself against the table. The light from the windows hit my eyes and I fought to keep myself upright.

Patch bent down beside me and took the knife from my hand. “The royals.”

Reality smacked me in the face. All of Patch’s thoughts fluttered over me. He had been placed in the rogue group to find out information about Ian.

He was part of the royals attempting to gain access to my family’s bloodline. I stumbled out of my chair, and onto my stomach.

Patch bent over me to grab my waist but I grabbed a fork that had fallen and reached back to stab him in the leg.

He howled and fell back onto his ass.

They must have slipped something in my drink or my food. I was dizzy, but it was subsiding. Several wolves from the kitchen stepped out, but I scurried up and toward the doors.

I had no idea of the layout or how to get out without being seen.

Patch’s deep laughter settled over me from several feet behind me. That fork wouldn’t last long. He was of royal blood.

So many questions raced in my head. Patch gave Chase the lead to bring the rogues out of the rogue camp.

Patch didn’t care which one of us he caught but I was the lucky one. I’d broken a rule that he didn’t care about, but it was an easy way to grab one of us.

I stumbled toward the wall and slipped into the first room I found. It was full of storage and chairs. I bent down behind one, trying to wash the dizziness from my mind when I heard Patch’s footsteps coming down the hall.

There was no way he wouldn’t smell me.

I closed my eyes and willed the dizziness to go away. It was the only chance I had at not becoming a science experiment.

My wolf mourned and attempted to reach out to Chase. But I was afraid that we were too far away for him to feel me this time.