Chapter 27 A Deal With The Enemy
Landon’s POV
Victor Sinclair was barely inside my room door when I moved.
In one terrifying, swift motion, I was already off the bed despite the pain shooting through my wounds. My hand shot out and locked around his throat before he could even utter a word, slamming him back against the nearest wall with enough force to rattle the door.
“You have the fucking guts to walk into my house after trying to kill me?!” I growled, my sharp claws already extended, pressing into his skin just slightly above his neck. One flick of my wrist, and I could rip his throat out and watch him bleed out on my floor.
“I should guy you right here and paint the walls with your traitorous blood!”
Victor’s eyes widened for a split second, but the bastard didn’t even bulge, he just stared right back at me, breathing shallow against my crushing grip.
Owen stood frozen near the door, ready to intervene if things got out of control, but I didn’t need him. This was personal.
“Any last words before I end you?” I growled, tightening my grip on his neck until his face started turning an ugly shade of red.
“K…kill me,” Victor forced out a choked laughter, the sound barely audible through the entire room. “And you sign your own death warrant, Alpha.”
I dug my claws deeper into his neck now, drawing fresh blood that ran warm over my fingers. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
“Royce! Royce Bennet,” he gasped for air, the life slowly leaving his body, but his gaze stayed locked on mine. “I…I work for hun now.”
The name hit me like ice water straight down my spine. Royce Bennett — the ruthless Alpha of the Shadowfang Coalition, a massive alliance of packs far stronger than the Silver Moon pack.
No one had ever known about his whereabouts for years, quietly expanding his influence while I ruled with an iron fist. If this bastard was speaking the truth, this was no bigger than me…it was the start of a war I wasn’t ready for.
“Royce sent you to kill me?” I demanded, loosening my grip just enough for him to speak clearly.
“Yes..” Victor replied, a weak cough spilling out of his mouth as he wiped blood from his neck with the back of his hand. “The wolfsbane arrows were meant to make you suffer slowly before I would end you, but I failed…”
“… However, he still has plans for the Silver Moon. Because he wants your territory, your power… everything you’ve built.”
I shoved him harder against the wall, my claws digging in deeper, more wicked than before, “And you think telling me his name saves you? I’ll rip your spine out and send the pieces back to him as a fucking warning.”
“You can’t kill me, Landon.” Victor’s lips curled into a sly smirk, desiring the pain. “Royce knows I’m here and if I don’t walk out of this house alive…he’ll burn the Silver Moon pack to the ground. Starting with your previous little family.”
The more he uttered those words, the more my blood ran cold. And the fucking son of a bitch knew.
“I’m quite aware that my daughter has been locked away for days now, without food or water,” Victor continued, his voice gaining strength now that he had me listening. “Starving your own heir’s mother…how pathetic and wicked can you be?”
“Shut the fuck up, you bastard!” I barked.
But that didn’t keep him quiet, if anything he leaned closer, close enough that I could feel his ragged breath on my skin. “Release Isabella and in exchange, I’ll feed you every piece of information you need to know about what Royce is planning.”
“You expect me to trust a traitor who already tried to murder me?” I hissed, my claws still pressed firmly against his neck.
Every instinct in me screamed to kill him, to pay no attention to his shit, tear his throat open, and watch him bleed to death slowly on the floor. But the cold, calculating part of my mind knew he was right.
Killing Victor now would bring Royce Bennett and his entire coalition down on us like an avalanche. We weren’t ready for that…at least not yet.
“Trust has nothing to do with this, Alpha.” Victor’s voice cut through my haze of thoughts. “If you let me live, I will give you the information you need to survive Royce. You kill me, and your pack falls within weeks, it’s just that simple.”
For a moment, I said nothing, just stared at him for a while. My wounds throbbed with every heartbeat, a painful reminder of how close this bastard had come to ending me.
And then—
The unwanted image of Isabella starving just a wall away made something ugly twist deep in my chest, but I shoved it down hard.
She’s nothing but a filthy rogue!
The daughter of this traitorous bastard.
“Fine,” I growled, and then slowly, I released my grip on his throat and stepped back. “I’ll release your daughter…but if you dare think to betray me again, I won’t hesitate. I’ll hunt you down and give you a very painful death.”
“Smart choice.” Victor replies quickly, wiping more blood from his neck with casual indifference., “I’ll contact you in two days with the first piece of information.”
With that, he turned toward the door, but paused in the hallway, glancing back at me. “One more thing. My daughter… She really doesn’t know anything, treating her like filth won’t get you any answers because there are none.”
I didn’t utter a word in response. Instead, I just watched him walk out, every instinct screaming at me to go after the bastard and rip out his throat.
“Alpha…”
Owen’s voice shattered through my thoughts, taking a step closer towards me. “Are you sure we can trust this traitor?”
“No,” I admitted coldly, sitting back onto the bed, instantly pain shot sharply through my side, but I ignored it. “But we buy enough time to strike. Double the guards on every border, and watch every movement closely.”
Ownen nodded once and turned toward the door, but then he stopped. “W…what about the rogue, do you plan on releasing her?”
“Yes,” I shoot back, the tone of my voice leaving no room for his argument or challenge. “I will release her myself.”
Before Owen could open his mouth to speak, I was already striding past him. I walked down the short hallway to her room, the one right beside mine. The two guards stood at attention the second I approached the door.
“Open it.”
Without hesitation, they opened it, the heavy bolt sliding back with a loud clang. Then, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“What the—!”
The sight hit like a blow.
Isabella lay unconscious on the cold stone floor, curled into a corner near the bed. Her face was pale, cheeks still bruised from the slaps.
She wasn’t moving.