Chapter 47 Her Mother's Truth
LISA'S POV
Viktor's claim that he was there when my mother died sent ice through my veins and I got distracted. The distraction cost me everything. Viktor's massive jaws closed on my shoulder with huge force and pain exploded through my body like fire. I felt my bones crack under the pressure and blood poured hot against my silver fur.
But even with the pain, my mind raced with what he had just said. If Viktor was there when my mother died, then her death was not random violence from Silver Creek rogues like the pack had always claimed. It was a personal, carefully orchestrated assassination by Viktor himself.
The rage that flooded through me was simple and powerful at the same time, it felt natural. My silver wolf erupted with energy I did not know I possessed, the same power that had emerged when I completed the mate bond with Ryan years ago but amplified a thousand times by righteous fury.
I broke free from Viktor's hold with strength that surprised us both. He dealt with my shoulder but I ignored the pain and attacked with speed that seemed impossible even for a silver wolf. My movements blurred as I struck again and again, each blow landing with all the anger I had been carrying.
Viktor, clearly surprised by the sudden power surge coursing through me, shifted from offense to desperate defense. He backed away trying to protect vital areas as I pressed my advantage relentlessly. I did not just fight anymore. I overwhelmed him completely.
Every strike carried the weight of my mother's death, my father's guilt that had poisoned our relationship, my own years of suffering exile and rejection. The pain of being sent away as weak when I was actually being hidden. The loneliness of three years in the human city. The constant battles since returning home.
All of it poured into my attacks with fury that would not be denied.
The battle turned decisively in my favor. Viktor was bleeding from dozens of wounds now and his movements had slowed dramatically. I saw some loopholes in his defense that would have been unthinkable minutes ago and I used that to my advantage, every single one without mercy.
I got Viktor pinned finally, driving him to the ground with force that knocked the air from his lungs. My jaws closed around his throat, mirroring exactly the position he had held Ryan in earlier. I could feel his pulse jumping rapidly against my teeth and I knew one bite would end him.
I should kill him for everything he had done. For my mother, for Emma, for every pack member who suffered because of his ambitions. Justice demanded his death and my wolf howled for it.
But something stopped me. Not mercy because I felt none toward this monster. Strategy stopped me because dead men tell no secrets and Viktor clearly knew things about my mother that I desperately needed to understand.
I shifted back to human form, maintaining my hold on Viktor's throat with my hand replacing my jaws. He shifted as well under the pressure and I pressed harder when he tried to move.
"Tell me everything about my mother's death or I end you here," I said, my voice cold and deadly calm. "You had better speak so I can let you live long enough to face proper justice. Stay silent and I rip your throat out right now."
Viktor stared up at me, defeated and bleeding from multiple wounds that painted his skin red. After a long moment, he laughed bitterly and the sound carried no humor. "You think killing me brings you closure? You do not even know the real story."
"Then tell me," I demanded, pressing harder until he gasped.
"Your mother was not killed because she was a silver wolf," Viktor said, his voice strained but clear. "She was killed because she knew the truth about the prophecy, about what silver wolves actually represent. The stories everyone believes about silver wolves uniting packs and rogues? They are lies, a comfortable fiction to hide the real purpose."
I forced myself to stay focused despite the words threatening to overwhelm me. "What real purpose?"
"Silver wolves are not meant to unite packs and rogues," Viktor continued, his eyes holding mine with intensity that promised truth. "They are meant to destroy the boundary between them entirely. To eliminate the artificial division that has kept our kind separate for centuries. It is meant to tear down the power structures that benefit Alphas and pack leaders while keeping rogues as outcasts."
"The Alphas and pack leaders across all territories could not allow that knowledge to spread," Viktor said, something like satisfaction creeping into his voice despite his defeat. "Your mother wanted to fulfill the prophecy's true purpose. She was gathering support, building coalition of wolves who believed in eliminating the pack and rogue distinction. So they stopped her."
"Who stopped her?" I asked, though dread was already filling my stomach.
"A coalition of Alphas from multiple territories," Viktor said, watching my face carefully. "They hired me to eliminate the threat she represented. Paid me very well to make it look like random rogue violence so nobody would question too deeply."
"Which Alphas?" I demanded, shaking him hard enough to make his wounds bleed faster.
Viktor smiled then and it was cruelest expression I had ever seen. "Including your father, Lisa. Alpha Marcus was part of the coalition that ordered your mother's assassination. He loved her but he loved his power more and he could not allow her to destroy the system that gave him authority."
My world shattered completely. The revelation that my own father was involved in my mother's murder broke something fundamental inside me. Everything I thought I knew about my family, about my father's grief and guilt, was built on lies.
In my distraction and shock, Viktor made a desperate move. He threw something hidden and a massive explosion erupted from his body, some kind of device he had concealed that I had not detected.
The blast threw me backward violently and I crashed into pack members who had been watching the fight. The air was filled with smoke and screams echoed as everyone nearby was thrown by the force.