Claire P. O. V
I caught my reflection in the car window. Damn, I looked rough-completely worn out and lifeless. Like I’d been up to no good all night and couldn’t shake the weight off my chest.
On top of that, I never expected to walk so damn far from Lake Terara, straight into the forest without stopping, and then keep pushing forward until I was deep into the mountains. My legs were killing me. It felt like I was walking through hell just to escape.
“What are you staring at?”
Christopher Gale had been sitting next to me from the moment we got in this car, leaving The Silber Fire Pack behind-Ethan’s territory.
“Isn’t this whole place just mountains? Nothing interesting about it,” he added, his tone flat.
“Would The Moon Fall Pack even be considered a modern pack if it weren’t tucked away in the mountains like this?”
“Damn, you’ve got a sharp tongue.”
“I’d take the mountains over city life any day.”
“So, your dream is to live miles away from what you call ‘real life’? You have no idea what fashion and fun even mean,” he accused. I just smirked in response.
“What’s so funny now?”
“Nothing, really. Just ironic. You’re talking trash about living in the wilderness, but aren’t you out here too?”
Instead of snapping back, Christopher Gale let out this loud, obnoxious laugh that echoed through the car. It was the kind of laugh that made you want to cover your ears and punch something.
“Fine, laugh it up. You’ve got nothing to say because you know I’m right.”
“I gotta hand it to you-you sure can talk a lot of crap.”
“I just say what’s on my mind. It’s not like I matter anyway, right?”
I glanced at Christopher Gale again, and to my surprise, he was already looking at me-sharp eyes, a smirk that sent chills down my spine. Not that his face wasn’t already intimidating as hell. He wasn’t the kind of guy you’d ever call ‘good.’
“I don’t know what your endgame is, dragging me along like this.”
“Because you were mine from the start.”
“Oh, really now?”
“And Ethan Randall stole you from me, demanding more than what I was willing to offer. That’s just greedy, don’t you think?”
I almost laughed out loud. Almost. Instead, I just smirked, watching his expression shift slightly in confusion.
“What’s so damn funny?”
“Oh, nothing.”
My tone was dripping with sarcasm, and it made the wrinkles on his already-aging face deepen.
“I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier to just kill me the first time you saw me? Then parade my corpse around as a trophy?”
“Too boring. They wouldn’t believe I actually got you.”
That caught me off guard. Was he obsessed with me? Or was it something else? Either way, it was unsettling.
“But it must’ve been a real pain in the ass, huh? Trying to capture me after your biggest rival snatched me first? So bad that you had to send your entire squad of shadow warriors?”
“You know about them?” he asked, intrigued.
Gotcha. I was bluffing, but judging by his reaction, I’d hit the nail on the head. I didn’t actually know if what I said was true, but I’d seen warriors like Ethan’s before-ones that lurked in the shadows, striking without mercy and vanishing into the dark. Just like the assassins who slaughtered my family at the church dormitory that night.
“Ever since I killed your parents, the shadow warriors have been my most loyal followers. Their devotion, their pride-it all belongs to me, and there’s nothing more valuable than that.”
I blinked rapidly, my breath hitching. So he was admitting it? That he was the one who murdered my parents? That he’d been hunting me down ever since?
Everything Ethan told me-it was all true. And now it was clear why Christopher Gale was so hellbent on dragging me back to The Moon Fall Pack alive. He wanted to put me on display in front of everyone who had once sworn allegiance to my parents, only to kill me right in front of them. Just to break them, make them submit to him completely.
Wow. What a twisted, brilliant plan.
While he had already built his reign of terror, forcing Andara Spectra to flee from the pack, this psycho was still fixated on keeping me as his living trophy.
“Yeah, you’re right. Nothing’s more impressive than that,” I echoed his words mockingly.
“Relax. We’ve still got a long ride ahead, my dear niece,” he sneered.
Niece? What the hell? Since when did murderous psychopaths start claiming family ties? Was this some kind of sick joke?
Like he said, it was gonna be one hell of a long, exhausting journey.
A I really regret what happened to Ethan’s Warriors. I’m sure they died in vain just because they were protecting me.
But more than anything, I was more curious about who let this old man into The Silver Fire Pack? Could it be that they did it themselves? No. That sounds like… bullshit.
Because even though they really wanted to get in, the commotion should have happened since this afternoon and all the warriors should have tried to help their comrades, instead of being trapped with me in the cabin house. Was there a traitor who helped them? Oh, of course. Maybe there is, but Ethan doesn’t know, but who? Is it Chen Lien?
Huh, It seemed very impossible for Chen Lien to do that. Because even if he wanted to, killing Ethan directly would be much more profitable for him than telling Christopher Gale that I was in that Pack and let them take me away in this manner.
With all those possibilities, it seems impossible that Chen Lien is the perpetrator. Then, who?
My mind kept racing to what could have happened, and it could have been someone close-no, wait, did that mean Lucy Torrance?
Oh no. This sounds like a fucking joke, there’s no way Ethan Randall’s fiancee like Lucy would be capable of such a betrayal. Or maybe she is?