Author’s POV
13 YEARS AGO
In the dead of the night, not all were asleep. Agatha Blaine rose from her bed, and stepped out of the little home she shared with her young daughter. She had an appointment that she couldn’t have missed, unless she wanted to get on the wrong side of a man that should never be crossed.
All was quiet in Bloodbath, save for the occasional hooting of an owl and the chittering of mating crickets. There were still a few pack members wandering around in the dark of the evening without a care in the world, but none of them mattered to Agatha as much as the person on her mind whom she had to meet before midnight.
Midnight had become their perfect meeting time. After their first meeting had culminated in a desperate sharing of physical pleasure, they had chosen that time because of how perfect it appeared to them. A time where the dark could cover everything else and make it so that they appeared to be the only ones left in the world.
Or so, the woman believed.
She tightened her shawl around her face as she drew nearer to her destination. Heavens forbid that someone recognised her along the way and assumed . . . something other then what she deemed acceptable. She had chosen her best nightdress for the occasion, and disregarded underclothes. It was very unlikely that she was going to need them anyway. Although years had passed since she had felt almost consumed by the flames of desire the reignition of her once dormant passions had made her into a different woman. Now, she no longer looked at her body and mourned all the lines of age it has accumulated. Her breasts which sagged against her ribs, no longer proud and peaky as mountaintops, now appeared to possess a purpose once more.
She reached his tent, which stood proud in the midst of tall trees close to the outer borders of the pack. It had been there for weeks now, but no one had found it yet for some reason. A reason that Agatha knew all too well, but didn’t like to dwell upon lest feelings of guilt started to creep into her heart.
A light glowed from the inside, casting a deep shadow against the walls of the tent.
“Come in,” said a deep voice from the tent. The shadow shifted, and the door of the tent flapped open, beckoning her inside.
She went in, so eager that her heart almost swung out of her chest. Never in her wildest dreams would she have ever thought that a man so reverered would have ever taken an interest in her. As she settled on the floor in front of him, she released her shawl, letting it fall with a gentle rustle.
They looked at each other for a brief moment, nothing passing between then except for breaths.
“We will strike by daybreak,” he said in a single breath, still looking at Agatha even though she had taken her eyes to the floor. “If you plan on leaving, you should do that within the next few hours. We will not spare anyone.”
“I . . . understand. But what happens after that? What happens to us?” she asked, looking into his eyes again. She knew that their relationship was merely symbiotic, and once it came to an end, there would have been no going back. She had prided herself in being strong, but the little while she had spent with him, and changed a lot of things about her perspective.
He touched her chin with a finger. “Out little . . . encounter will have to end here as well, Agatha. I am showing you a huge mercy by even giving you this information.”
“Will you really kill all of them?” She moved her face away from his finger, even if it caused her heart to groan with great longing. “What about the children? The innocents?”
“Do you pity them now? You did not mind them dying as long as you got to live. Why do you pretend to care now?”
” . . . because I have a child.”
His face remained impassive. “It is too late. Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”
“Will it change anything if we leave together?”
“I have told my men waiting at the borders about you. But I made no mention of a child. If you insist on taking the child with you, that will be at your own risk, and I will not be held responsible for whatever happens to you or your child.”
“But-”
A growl rumbled in his chest, silencing the woman. “Too much questions, Agatha. I have told you all that you need to know. All that is left is for you to decide what you want to do with his information.” His eyes went down her nightdress wickedly, and he licked his lips.
She took notice of his desire, and although she felt sick to her stomach about what she was going to do to her child, she somehow convinced herself that the child had a better chance of survival staying back in Bloodbath.
As she took her decisions into consideration, she closed her eyes briefly so that she didn’t have to look into the eyes of the werewolf seated before her.
“I have given you information unfailingly, Daven. I thought that you would have at least . . . helped me.”
The Alpha’s hand went to her throat immediately. He didn’t squeeze, but the rage in his gaze was enough to send a wave of ice-cold fear through her body. “You do not order me around, Agatha. You made this deal on your own. Your life in exchange for information. Never once did you mention your child in all our negotiations, woman. Do not try to play me as a fool. I know the kind of person that you are-the absolute worst. You only care about yourself. Don’t pretend to be a good mother now.”
He started to squeeze slowly, and Agatha gasped, immediately trying to remove his powerful hand from her throat.
“Please . . . Stop,” she pleaded, her eyes watering from the gradual lack of air.
“You thought a few nights we spent together was going to somehow change my mind? You are no different than the concubines that warm my bed back home in Moongrowl.” She pushed her away from him. “Leave, before I change my mind.”
This time, Agatha didn’t protest. She left the tent immediately, understanding fully well that Daven Vinci, the Alpha of Moongrowl, was a beast that could not be tamed.
She didn’t go back home to her little sleeping daughter. Daven was right, she wasn’t a good mother. Her desire to live overcame whatever motherly instinct she might have possessed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered into the night, leaving Bloodbath behind.