Chapter 19 Poisoned Whispers
Clara’s POV
“Fuckkkkk!!!”
The word rips out of my throat before I can stop it. I paced the dimly lit room, my boots slamming loudly against the old wooden floorboards.
That stupid rogue bitch was beginning to make Landon go soft!
The thought alone sent a fresh wave of rage burning hot through me. How dare she? After everything Landon had done to break her, after he’d collared her like the worthless animal she was, now she was carrying his child?
“Clara, calm down.”
A quiet, smooth voice echoes behind me, cutting through my thoughts instantly. I turned around, and my gaze immediately landed on him.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep pacing the room like that.”
Derek Lawson leaned against the far wall across the room, his arms folded tightly over his chest. The moment our eyes locked onto each other, a sly smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, those dark eyes watching me with that familiar mix of amusement and hunger.
The man my brother had banished years ago for betrayal. Landon thought he’d destroyed Derek’s life, sent him into exile, but he thought wrong.
Derek had survived…because I had found him and saved his life, and since then no one knew about us. Not Landon. Not even the pack.
Our secret meetings in this hidden cabin on the edge of forbidden territory were the only thing keeping me from completely losing it these days.
“Calm down?” I hissed, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “You don’t understand, Derek. That whore is pregnant with Landon’s child and he’s starting to have a soft spot for her…I can see it in his eyes when he looks at her now.”
“…Soft!” I barked, still pacing the room like a caged animal, “How pathetic is that!”
Before I can open my mouth to speak again, Derek pushes off the wall and starts walking toward me. His large hands slide around my waist instantly, pulling me flush against him.
“Shh,” he murmured, his lips brushing mine now. “Take a deep breath, my fierce little wolf.”
Before I could respond, his lips pressed against mine in a kiss that was both hungry, demanding — nothing gentle about it. His tongue pushed past my lips, one of his free hands fisted into my hair, tilting my head back so he could deepen the kiss.
The other free hand gripped my thighs immediately, squeezing hard enough to make me gasp into his mouth. I tried to struggle for half a second, rage still burning hot inside me, but Derek knew exactly how to melt me.
My body betrayed me stupidly, softening against him as a low moan escaped my lips the second he deepened the kiss even more.
Then—
He pulls back just enough to speak, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “That’s better. Now tell me what’s really got you this worked up.”
“It’s that filthy rogue my brother brought home,” I began, my nails digging into the fabric of his shirt. “If Landon keeps her… if he lets that child live, it changes everything. Our plans…everything we’ve built over the years will be destroyed because my idiot brother is thinking with his cock instead of his head.”
Derek’s eyes darken the instant finish speaking, his hand reached for my cheek, stroking with his thumb, almost tenderly. But I could still see the calculating wickedness behind them.
“Everything you said is right, baby” he said softly, “Her pregnancy is going to be a serious problem for both our plans. Come on…I mean that rogue bitch carrying Landon’s pup? It threatens everything for us!”
I open my mouth to respond, but his mouth swallows the words as he kisses me again, slower this time. His lips trailed down my neck, sucking at the sensitive spot that always made my knees weak.
“You’re right to be angry, Clara,” he whispered against my skin. “Your brother banished me for daring to question his rule. And now he’s easily letting a traitor’s baby inside his own house? It spits on everything the pack stands for. Honor. Strength. Purity.”
His hands trail lower down, slipping under my dress to caress bare skin. It forces a shameless moan out of me, my body pressing closer for more.
“Getting rid of that baby,” Derek continues, his voice dropping to a filthy, persuasive whisper. “It would restore the pack’s honor and remind Landon what real power looks like. No weakness or weakness for filthy rogues…”
“…You’d be protecting him from himself, my love. Protecting the future we both want…where I’m ruling the entire kingdom with you beside me, not playing second to some filthy slave and her bastard child.”
I moaned softly as his fingers began to trail lower to my thighs now, a mix of jealousy and rage twisting together inside me.
Derek was right about one thing
I had always been loyal to a fault to Landon, and now this…Isabella was stealing his attention.
Making him soft!
“You can do it, baby,” Derek’s voice cuts through my thoughts as he pulls back slightly, those dark, seductive eyes locked on mine. “We both know you’re the only one smart enough to achieve this. Slip something into her food, or push her down the stairs when no one’s looking.”
“Make it look like she intentionally wanted to lose the baby,” he continues, that same sly smirk at the corner of his lips widening more now. “Say yes, Clara. Say you’ll handle it, for both of us.”
For a moment, I said nothing. Just stood there, staring at him as he’d just given me the best idea ever.
“Yes,” I finally said, “I’ll do it. I’ll get rid of that baby.”
Triumph flashed in his eyes instantly, and in one swift motion, he lifted me clean off the floor like I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively as he carried me to the bed and dropped me onto the mattress.
Before I could struggle to push myself up, he climbed on top of me, caging me in with his powerful body. His hand gripped my jaw, forcing my head up so I had no choice but to meet his intense gaze.
“Now,” he growled, his voice filled with lust and desire, “I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll forget you were ever angry.”
Without hesitation, his mouth crashed down on mine again, and his hands began tearing at the fabric of my dress.