Chapter 106
Adrian Valehart.
I entered that room behind my mother as if entering a boxing ring.
And I knew, from the very first second, that nothing she had to say to me would be simple.
Nor easy.
Much less bearable.
The room was empty, which meant that what she had to say was serious.
“What do you want?” I said at once, slamming the door behind me. “Spare me your drama. I'm in a hurry.”
She turned slowly, with that smile that always made me want to break something.
“Adrian... dear...” she sighed, as if she were truly moved to see me. “I don't know how long you've known each other, but if I had known that all you had to do to enter the competition to become Supreme Alpha was to put that filthy woman's neck on the list... I would have done it a long time ago.”
The blood rushed hotly up my throat.
And I took a step forward.
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
She smiled even more. Provoking was what she did best.
“What are you up to?” I asked, losing my patience. “You can't compete, you can't support anyone but me, you can't interfere in the trials. So why are you here?”
She took a step toward me, standing tall, elegant, and disgusting.
“Can't a mother support her son? Congratulate him for honoring the family?”
“You didn't come here to congratulate anyone,” I growled. “You only know how to honor yourself.”
“Watch what you say.” Her eyes narrowed. “You've always been ungrateful. Everything I've done in my life has been for the sake of our lineage. For you. I kept this family breathing. I prepared you for this since you were little.''
“Prepared?” I laughed without humor. “Prepared my ass. You manipulated everyone you could. That's what you do.”
She growled softly. I growled back.
We looked more like two animals about to fight in the middle of a closed room than civilized people solving problems.
But then... something in her gaze changed.
It wasn't sweetness. My mother didn't have that.
But it was something close.
Maybe, inside that snake, there really was a heart beating.
“I'm here,” she said, sitting in an armchair as if it were a throne, “because there are things you need to know. Even though you're the ungrateful bastard that you are.”
“You wouldn't be here if you weren't going to gain something from it,” I retorted.
She stopped smiling. She crossed her legs, as if she were about to tell me the time of my death.
“I contacted the elder of the D'arven family.”
What? That still existed?
“The oracle was granted to me,” she added.
“Wasn't that forbidden?” My voice came out dry. “Granted only in extreme cases, such as war between clans?”
“And what do you think?” She raised her eyebrow. “Isn't the dispute over the throne of Supreme Alpha a war? It's even more than that, Adrian. It's the war that defines all wars.”
She stood up, running her fingers across the table, drawing lines in the dust. She grimaced as she spoke.
She behaved as if she were holding enormous power in her hands.
“What I discovered could change everything,” she murmured.
And I understood that maybe... just maybe she was serious.
She wouldn't go there to bluff, not at the board meeting, not in front of all those people.
“Then just say it,” I demanded.
“No,” she said immediately, shaking her head as if I were a stupid child. “Not until you agree to do what I want.”
“Tell me what you want,” I growled.
She spoke.
And I refused before she even finished.
“That's... out of the question,” I spat, heading for the door. “I'm not going to do that. There's no chance.”
“Adrian.” Her voice changed. It became firm, serious. “Do you know why Serena ran away? Do you know why she abandoned everything, hiding with that insignificant human?”
I stopped.
With my back to her, facing the door, listening.
“You think she ran away because of Sofia, don't you?” Elenna continued. “But that wasn't the only reason.”
I turned sideways, just enough to see her over my shoulder.
“What story are you going to make up now?”
She smiled.
“Do you remember the story I used to tell you when you were little?” The story my mother used to tell me? About the True Alpha?
I laughed at her, really laughed.
“I already know that,” I replied. “I know Sofia is a True Alpha. Even though she's mixed race.”
But she kept that amused smile on her face.
“I'm glad you know at least that, dear,” she hissed. “The tip of the iceberg.”
I turned and stared at her.
I feel something cold form inside me.
"I don't think you'll understand anyway... since you were born a man. You never had to worry about anything. Who your father would force you to marry, who he would sell you to. Being born and raised to be sold as a perfect breeding cow, you don't know what that's like, do you? Puppy.''
I felt my fingers tingle.
“Where are you going with this?” I asked.
She stood up, walked slowly around me, as if enjoying her own narrative.
“Pure females are only seen as wombs. As instruments. They always have been. Since before you were born. And it's still like that today...”
That conversation was taking a strange, uncomfortable turn.
“That's how it was with me.” Elenna smiled without humor. “Or did you think I loved your father?”
“Let's just say that Serena's father knew she would give birth to a true Alpha. Females with this gift showed signs from birth, and he wanted to use that to strengthen his clan, his pack.”
She continued, as if she were enjoying it.
"The Hines family's plan was simple: to use her as a breeder, as all the other clans did, but not in the ‘conventional’ way. Serena's father wanted her to become pregnant by her own older brother... and then she would become Andrew's fiancée... but she would never marry him. He would “die” in an accident. And she would miraculously appear pregnant, giving birth to a true Alpha. Pureblood. Controlled. Belonging only to the Hines family. A monster born under their control.''
What the hell was that? Was that true?
“Serena found out everything before the engagement, before she was forced to do it,” Elenna concluded. “And she ran away. She married that human in the hope that her child would inherit nothing. Unfortunately for her... Sofia inherited everything.”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to believe it.
This wasn't right.
It couldn't be right.
“Then...” she gave a sad, almost theatrical smile, continuing, “When they found out that a child had been born to her, a half-breed, and that inside her was a True Alpha, they went after her. Serena refused to hand her over. And she died for it.”
That...
“Her older brother?” I asked. “Hadn't he been found dead?”
Elenna raised her eyebrow.
As if she had been waiting for me to get to that point.
“You don't think he died for nothing... do you?”
I took a deep breath.
Burning.
Feeling everything burn inside.
Her words kept going back and forth in my head.
“So, my son... are you ready to hear the rest now?” she said, coming up to me. “Or would you rather wait until they find Sofia and put her in the reproduction line?”
I stood still.
My heart was beating like a drum.
And the only thing I could think was:
What the hell is this? And what's going on?