Chapter 88 The Trap
Maddie POV
We set everything in motion at breakfast.
Elara sat across from me at the table nearest to the door where the most people could hear us and then she leaned in like she was trying to keep her voice down but not quite managing it.
"So you're actually going to take it to the Alpha?" she said.
"I don't have a choice," I said, loud enough for the two girls sitting beside us to catch it. "I have the evidence. I might as well use it."
"What kind of evidence are we talking about?"
"Physical," I said. "Something that traces back directly to whoever set up that wolfsbane trap. I found it near the third marker after the trial and I kept it."
Elara nodded slowly. "And you're going to present it publicly?"
"Tomorrow morning," I said. "In front of the whole pack if I have to."
We dropped the conversation after that and moved on to talking about training schedules like nothing happened. By the time we left the dining hall I had already caught one of the girls at our table pulling out her phone.
"That'll reach Simone before second period," Elara said quietly as we walked out.
"Good," I said.
We spent the rest of the day in classes and training and I kept my expression neutral the whole time even when I saw Simone watching me from across the training field with that careful look she got when she was calculating something. I didn't acknowledge her.
I just went through my drills and acted like I had somewhere to be after.
That night Elara and I got back to the dorm early and turned the lights off by nine so it looked like we were asleep. We weren't. We sat on opposite sides of the room in the dark and waited.
It took about two hours.
The door handle moved at a quarter past eleven and then the door opened slowly and a figure slipped inside. Elara hit the lights.
Simone stood in the middle of the room with her hand still on the door frame and for exactly one second she looked caught and then her face smoothed out into something almost bored.
"Simone," I said, standing up from my chair. "Looking for something?"
"I was checking on you actually," she said. "I heard you weren't feeling well."
"At eleven at night," Elara said flatly. "With gloves on."
Simone looked at her hands and then back at us like the gloves were completely normal. "I run cold."
"You broke into my room," I said. "So let's skip the part where you pretend you didn't and get to the part where we talk about the wolfsbane trap you set at the third marker of the obstacle course."
Something shifted in her eyes but her expression stayed calm. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Your father does," I said. "You told him all about it on the phone two days ago. You said the wolf didn't die but it sent a clear message. You said accidents happen to wolves who don't know their place."
She was quiet for a moment and then she smiled and it wasn't a nice smile. "That's a serious accusation coming from someone with no proof."
"I have enough."
"Do you," she said, tilting her head slightly. "Because from where I'm standing you have nothing except the word of your little friend over there and that's not going to hold up against anything.
But you know what I do have?" She paused. "I know what you are, Maddie."
The room got very still.
"I know you came here claiming to be wolfless," Simone continued, keeping her voice even. "I know that's not true. And I know that lying about your nature to gain entry into a pack college is grounds for immediate expulsion and a formal review by the Alpha himself."
"Go ahead," I said.
She blinked. That wasn't the response she expected.
"Tell him," I said. "Walk up to Alpha Hawthorne right now and tell him everything you think you know about me. See what happens."
"You're bluffing," she said.
"I'm not," I told her. "You came here tonight because you're scared of what I might have on you and that fear made you sloppy. You broke into my room with gloves on and two witnesses saw you do it.
Whatever you say about me after this is going to look exactly like what it is, a desperate attempt to shift attention away from yourself."
Her jaw tightened.
"Get out of my room," I said.
She didn't move right away. She stood there looking at me with something in her eyes that went past anger and settled into something quieter and colder. Then she stepped back toward the door and pulled it open.
"This isn't over," she said.
"I know," I said.
She left and Elara locked the door behind her and then turned to look at me. "That was either really brave or really stupid."
"Probably both," I said, sitting back down.
We didn't say much after that. Elara eventually climbed into bed and fell asleep but I stayed in my chair going over what just happened.
Simone backed off tonight but I hadn't missed what was in her eyes before she walked out and it wasn't defeat. It was patience.
She was going to come back at me harder and she was going to pick a moment when I least expected it.
The threat was bigger now than it was this morning and I knew it.
I pressed my fingers against the mark on my neck without meaning to and sat there in the quiet of the room thinking about Calix and his father and the white wolf image behind the cabinet that he mentioned to Elara who mentioned it to me.
I needed him and I was tired of pretending I didn't and that was the most frustrating thing about all of it.