Chapter 109 : Trap

THEO.

I stare at Maxine, my heart caught in my throat. She still looks pretty much the same in all the ways that matter. Same warmth in her eyes, the same kindness in her smile. But there is something off now. Something that’s covering it, much like the layer of frost on the trees.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, cupping my face and looking into my eyes.

It’s so startling to see them blue, even though this is closer to what she looked like before. I find that I can’t meet her gaze for longer than ten seconds, and it’s not because it’s new to me or that I don’t like it, but because of the power that lies beneath them. I think it’s just too strong for me.

“Am I different?” she whispers. “Are you scared of me?”

The question rocks me to my core.

“No, of course not.” I hold her face with both of my hands. “Your eyes are blue now. And your hair is pure white. Like the ancient White Wolves. I read that they all looked like this, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.”

“I didn’t know how it happened.” Now worry is thick in her tone. “I just felt so broken after your heart stopped beating. I made my way back to the Unclaimed camp. I was going to kill Draco.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Did you do it?”

She shakes her head silently. “But I could have. I wanted to.”

Her voice falters with doubt and sadness. I just hold her against me. I want to tell her that it’s alright, that she had every right to feel that way because I would have ended his sorry ass if the situations were reversed. But Maxine is not like me. She’s not vindictive. She’s not violent. And I can tell that this new identity is going to clash with what she believes in.

But I will be with her whatever happens.

I hold her against me. For how long, I don’t know. My strength comes back fully after a while. I want to tell her that we should probably keep going, or at least find the Unclaimed she’s freed so we could all survive together.

However, Maxine suddenly straightens up and looks at me. “I can feel someone. Jonathan… I think he’s here.”

I don’t know how she knew that and I don’t get the chance to ask. She gets to her feet and I follow her. She seems to want to assist me, but when she sees that I’m okay, she just takes my hand and starts to walk nimbly around the forest. I don’t know if she’s going by scent because I smell nothing but the distant smoke from the Unclaimed, but I just trust her.

And of course, she doesn’t steer me wrong. We arrive at the mouth of the forest and there he is.

Jonathan stands beside the small truck that he drives, looking slightly disheveled but more so afraid. His clothes are crumpled in weird places. He doesn’t smile when he sees us. He just flinches.

“Hey,” I say cautiously.

“Hey,” he says equally as cautious. “How did you find me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, looking at Maxine. An understanding passes between us. No one else has to know. Not yet. “Did you come here to look for us?”

Jonathan nods, his eyes running over Maxine. “You look different. What happened?”

“It’s a long story, but we can talk about it later. Where do we go?”

“To Ajax,” he says after a pause. “We have to plan our next course of action. Things are getting bad, and I heard that the Unclaimed have all been released. There might be some consequences to that, and we need to prepare.”

He opens the door to his truck and Maxine and I get into the backseat, settling next to each other. Jonathan gets in, and he wastes no time. He just starts the engine and drives.

The silence is unbearable. Maxine is just looking out the window, but I can tell that it’s getting to her too. Jonathan also seems to be bothered by it. He keeps tapping the steering wheel. I don’t think we’ve ever been truly alone since the death of the Overseer, but even then we didn’t really have time to talk. I just remember that he asked us to hear him out when we come back, and we never had the chance.

As though sensing my train of thought, he glances at me through the rear-view mirror and says, “It’s because of my mother.”

The statement catches me off-guard. “Because of your mother what?”

“She has cancer,” he continues as though he couldn’t hear me. “Stage four. Pretty far along. None of the Human made medicines have helped her so far, and I’ve never had the money. When I left her eight years ago to go to the Werewolf facility and get changed, they paid me. I gave it to my father. It helped her survive for a couple years. But it wasn’t enough. Ambassador Finnegan… she took pity on me. She gave my mother her brand of medicine for cancer. She kept giving it, for eight years. Now my mother is well, but I will always be indebted to the one who kept her alive. To the one who approved it.”

“The Alpha Supreme,” Maxine says.

Jonathan nods. “Yes. He easily made it happen. He could easily take it away.”

Something about that strikes me the wrong way. Only then do I realize that he’s taking us to one of the pretty neighborhoods. A single house stands tall beyond the hill and I immediately know.

The Alpha Supreme’s mansion.

He stops the car and all of a sudden, guards swarm the truck. Jonathan leaps out of the truck and runs away, and before he can run, I see the despair and regret on his face, concentrated in a look of anguish and tears running down his cheeks.

He looks back at us for a single second, and I see it. I can almost hear it.

“I’m sorry.”

His mother is at stake. He had to choose, and he made that choice clear.

I don’t even blame him. I don’t think I can. We’ve all been played. Tiny little pawns moving across the board that belonged to the Alpha Supreme.

The guards pull us out of the car, binding us in silver chains that sizzle when touched. Maxine is pushed to the ground and gagged. The same is done to me.

It’s a trap.

Jonathan led us into a trap.