Chapter Forty Five

Chapter Forty Five

THORAN'S POV

A COUPLE SECONDS BEFOREHAND

My mind was still occupied by thoughts of Yvonne's betrayal when Kaida reached out to be through the mate bond. ‘Thoran.’

I answered her without turning to face her. Elara was busy with her monologue. Why did every villain feel the need to rant about their plans or who they were? I thought to myself. ‘Yes, Luna mine.’

‘We were right. Elara does not know everything.’ I fought the urge to let my surprise show on my face.

‘She doesn't?’ I had been so focused on Yvonne that I wasn't paying attention to the Witch's words.

“No, she doesn't.” My mate affirmed. “She knew about the attack, that was a general announcement. But she doesn't know about the mindlink or the fact that we split the group into two.’ She said pointedly. I understood what she was trying to say. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized that we had made the right call.

I kept my eyes on Yvonne, after Elara's speech, I decided to give her a piece of my mind. But Yvonne was adamant. She was more focused on the fact that I had banished her than the evil decisions she had made against the pack. I was tired of her excuses, and let her know just how disappointed I was with her. I had felt guilty about her exile before, but all of it was gone now once I saw that Yvonne had no intention of changing.

Now, as my gaze returned to Elara, I shot her a knowing smirk. “You were right about one thing: I do indeed need to be careful about how I treat my pack members.” I spared Yvonne a brief glance. “If you were up to date with your spy, then you would have known that I had already began to work on that.” The surprise on Elara's face was amusing and satisfying to witness.

“How about a monologue of our own?” I asked Kaida. “Or would it be a dialogue now since there's two of us?” I added with a smirk. Without shifting my gaze to Yvonne, I addressed her. “We grew up together, Von. Did you forget? I know you, just as much as you know me.” I pointed out. “I know that the anonymous tip came from you.” I didn't need to look at her to see the surprise registered on her face. “At first, I wanted to believe that you were trying to help the pack in your own way, but then I reminded myself of how toxic you had become, and it dawned on me exactly what you were trying to do. So, I informed Kaida and she suggested a brilliant plan to set a trap for your spies and it worked.” I said returning to Kaida's

Kaida took my hand and squeezed it comfortingly. “Once we figured out what they were trying to do, Thoran had them thrown into the dungeon. I remembered that during my time there, a guard had slipped up that it was sound proofed. So, from then on we made sure to only send you the information that we needed you to hear. It was so easy too, we were even worried that you would find out the truth. Guess you aren't smart.” Kaida state, her voice full of mockery.

I couldn't help but feel sad once again as I faced my childhood friend once more. “I was really hoping that you would be different, Yvonne.” I paused briefly. Your father, the late Elder Collins died by my hands. I am sorry that you had to find out the way you did. I should have informed you gently, with tact. But I didn't, and whether that's what pushed you to become as you are is what I do not know, which is why I let you remain in the pack for that long.” My face hardened. “But, you've become just as worse as he was, so I'm washing off every guilt that I had ever felt towards you. You will pay for the part you have played in bringing harm to my pack.”

I saw a mix of emotions flicker across Yvonne's face: Anger, hatred, surprise and finally, sadness. But, it was too late, she had made her bed and now it was time to lay on it. I faced Elara once again. “Kaida, do you want to do the honours.”

Kaida grinned pleasantly. “With pleasure.” She responded as the witch's gaze turned to her. “There's something your merry band of spies forgot to mention.” She laughed mockingly. “Actually, I guess they didn't know.” Her eyes became cold and devoid of emotion. “As we speak, another attack against your precious rogue pack is taking place.” Kaida taunted. “We didn't plan one attack, Elara. We planned two. So you don't have to be jealous, rest assured, you can die knowing that you'll be reunited with your rogues in hell.” She spat, her voice full of hatred.

Elara, who had worn an expression of shock on her face, now screamed in rage. The screams sounded like a hundred screams were happening at once. Kaida and I watched, bewildered, as huge wisps of black smoke swirled around her; her face changed from one of youth to a ragged old woman, but her appearance changed as abruptly as it had come. They would have concluded that they had imagined it if they had not both witnessed it.

In a fit of rage, she lashed out, instinctively, I moved to shield Kaida with my body, so it took me a minute to realize that she wasn't trying to harm us. No. Her rage was fully focused on Yvonne. “No!” I yelled as Yvonne began to choke. I tried to get to her but Kaida tightened her arms around me. She was afraid that I would get caught up in whatever Elara was doing.

“You stupid bitch!” Elara yelled at her. “You should have done a better job of gathering information!” Suddenly a light wisp of smoke began to flow out of Yvonne's mouth causing the ex-third-in-command to wither before our very eyes. Elara flung Yvonne's shrunken body towards us as soon as she absorbed her essence. She let out an evil laugh as she became stronger.

Kaida and I knelt beside Yvonne. My heart was heavy and a tear fell down my cheek as I took her hand. “Th–Thoran, I'm… S–Sorry.” With that, the light left Yvonne's eyes as she passed on.