Ellie POV
I watched almost in slow motion as the bone snapped and tore through my wrist. I bit hard on my wrist, refusing to give him any satisfaction.
“Tell me what I want to know,” Cortez sneered at me as he poured more wolfsbane onto the wound.
“I can’t give you what you want,” I glared at him, unable to hold back my scream as he jammed my wrist back into place.
“I believe you can,” Cortez smiled before turning his attention to Rolfe, “Maybe you just need a motivator, huh Rolfe? Why don’t we give the Luna a reason to talk?”
Cortez picked up a knife from the side table before slicing across Rolfe’s arm. I watched as his face contorted in pain, but like me, he would try not to let it show. That was until Cortez brought in one of his witches.
“I want the cure, Luna. Now you either give me what I want, or you watch as my witch friend here sucks all of the air out of your dear uncle’s lungs.”
The witch lifted her hands in front of Rolfe’s face as his features contorted. His cheeks swelled in as the air from his lungs was sucked out of his body.
“You know what,” Cortez smiled at his witch, “Let’s push the pressure higher,” Doing another movement with her hands, the witch started pushing air into his body. Rolfe tried to scream from the pain, but no sound came out, “Do you know what it’s like? To have so much pressure in your body that your brain feels like it’s going to explode at any moment,” he grabbed my face as he forced me to watch as Rolfe screamed even louder, “The sheer pain of feeling every one of the cells in your lungs burst, of feeling your entire body push against itself.”
Cortez laughed as Rolfe screamed again, “I don’t think she gets it,” the witch spoke.
Cortez looked down at me, “I don’t either. Why don’t you increase the pressure?
The witch smiled back before moving in front of Rolfe again to start the spell. Rolfe’s pain increased as his cry echoed the room. I couldn’t let him go through this.
“Stop!” The witch froze at my outburst as tears started to form behind my eyes. But I refused to shed them, “Stop. I’ll heal you, just stop torturing him. Please.”
Cortez knelt in front of me, “Now that’s what I wanted to hear,” he said smiling before telling the witch to leave and turning his attention back to me, “Now, where is the witch who cursed me?”
I sat there, shocked.
How could he know?
I have only told one person about Aurora. Axton would not betray that information to Cortez. Would he?
Mate did not tell anyone! Raelynn cried, Someone must have been listening.
But no one else was in the room, Raelynn. So how does Cortez know that Aurora isn’t dead?
I don’t know. But it wasn’t mate!
A realization went through me as I thought about who, The spy.
What spy?
The spy Michael talked about. He said that a spy within the pack was the one who wanted me and Axton apart. They were working with Cortez to destroy the Alpha’s family.
Then they must still be there. But who is it? she asks.
“She’s dead, you told me that yourself,” I started but I just received a punch in the face instead.
Cortez pulled back, “Now we both know that the witch who did this to me is somehow still breathing. I want to know where she is.”
“I don’t know where she is,” I lie through my teeth. I will not put my brother’s mate and pack in danger.
Cortez just stood there and smiled, “You know, having the witch reversed whatever curse she placed on me was plan B. I could always go back to plan A.”
“And what was plan A, huh?” I spat, “Torture me until I heal you myself. I told you before, I can’t, and I won’t heal you.”
“Oh, I wasn’t going to have you heal me, darling,” he placed his filthy hand under my chin, “We both know that you have no gifts at all. Now your daughter on the other hand-”
My growl cut through the room, “If you go anywhere near my child, I will kill you.”
Cortez just laughed, “Tell me where the witch is, or I go pay a visit to that sweet little girl of yours. The choice is yours.”
He stood up straight, looking between me and Rolfe, “You know what, I will give you a few minutes to think about your decision,” he said as he headed for the door, turning around just long enough to say, “I hope you make the right choice.”
When the door finally closed, I immediately started tugging on my restraints again. I pulled against the silver as hard, but I just couldn’t move, “It’s no use. I tried to break the chain for hours. They won’t budge.”
I looked up from the chair, stilling pulling as I took in Rolfe’s appearance. Blood splattered his clothes and skin as bruises and cuts covered every inch of him. He looked like he had been tortured for days.
“How were you captured, Rolfe?” I asked him.
He lifted his head up, enough for me to barely make out his eyes, “I was on patrol near the north border. I got hit with some sort of needle and I was out before I could even call for help. They didn’t have a scent. There was no cross breeze or movement. It came out of nowhere. I never saw it coming.”
“I’m so sorry. You never should have been brought into this mess,” I tell him.
“It’s not your fault, my dear,” Rolfe tells me, “But, you need to decide whether to tell him where the witch is or not.”
“I can’t tell Cortez where she is. I can’t do that to her,” I say as I continue to pull on the metal.
“Ellie, I know you want to protect her, but you must also protect Zea. Nothing is more important than a child,” his look says it all.
I knew Rolfe had lost his mate and child when he was still beta. Rogues had attacked the pack when Axton’s father was still alpha. He lost his family and I know he would give anything to have them back.
“I know,” I nod as my wolf agrees, “But Axton is coming. He will find us.”
“I know he will. He has been searching for seven years, and never gave up, but so has Cortez,” Rolfe reminded me, “I don’t want anything to happen to Zea or this witch. You need to make your choice.”
“If Cortez is looking in the wrong place, then that buys Axton time,” I tell him
“Are you telling me to give Cortez a false name?” he asks me, doubtful that it would work, “Do you think Cortez would buy it?”
I shake my head slightly as I pull again against my wrist, “Doubtful. I’ve tried it before and it didn’t work out to well for me.”
“When?”
“Around the time when Cortez first captured me. He wanted to know what pack I had come from. I didn’t want to lead him back to Axton even though I had believed Axton had rejected me, so I told him I was a rogue and I had been kicked out of the Hollows Pack,” I told him, “He spent every minute for the next week, filling my blood with wolfsbane.”
“Them just tell him the truth.”
“I can’t. I need to buy more time. The second the wolfsbane is out of my system, I can link Axton,” I say.
“You know the witch, right. That’s why you want to protect her. Do you actually know where she is?” he asks me.
I give up on the restraints as I talk to him, “She is my brother’s mate. I cannot send Cortez after her.”
A look of shock crossed his face as he nodded his head, “She is protected within Moonstone then. Save your daughter.”
He met my eyes as the door flew open, “Has the decision been made?”
I nod my head as I decided what to do, I just hope I have the strength to last long enough for Axton to get to me.
“Good then, what will it be? Witch or daughter?” Cortez smiles.
I look him straight in the eyes as I reply, “Neither.”
He just stands there. The look that crosses his face isn’t shock or anger though, it’s disappointment, “Well I was hoping for a different answer, but I expected this from a Luna. Protect all,” he shook his head, “Very well. Did s
he tell you?”
He turned to the side as he asked Rolfe the question. I watched as a smirk took other both their features, “Of course she did.”
Cortez moved around Rolfe as he undid his chains. Rolfe stood up from the chair. His wounds coming into the full light as the magic started to peel away. There wasn’t a scratch on him.
He was the spy. The spy that had been in the pack for years, the spy that wanted me dead seven years ago.
It was Rolfe.
Chapter 29
Ellie POV
I stared at him as I tried to connect the pieces on how he could do this to his own family. He has always been there for us. He protected me before he even knew who I was. Why would he want to hurt Axton and the pack?
I could hear Cortez chuckling as I just stood there watching Rolfe, “I guess she didn’t see that one coming,” he smirked, “Since I have what I wanted, I’ll give you some time to talk. I have a witch to go torture.”
He opens the door, but before he closes it behind him, he says one more thing, “Oh, if it turns out you were lying. I’ll be paying your daughter a visit next.”
With that he leaves us alone. I watch Rolfe as he moves around the room, stopping at the table full of knives. He picks one up and starts to rotate it in his hands as he moves to sit in the chair he had been tied to.
“I’m sure you’re trying to figure out why I did it, right? Why do I hate the pack, why do I hate Axton so much that I would want him dead,” he smiled as he leaned forward in the chair, “Do you want more time, or should I just tell you now?”
I thought about the past, about everything that happened before I even got to Black Moon Pack. There was nothing that I could remember. Black Moon has always been a strong pack with Axton’s father as Alpha. There wasn’t even a single rogue attack since-, “Your mate.”
Rolfe smiled like I had won a prize, “Yes, my dear. My mate.”
“How can you blame Axton for what happened to her? He wasn’t even born yet,” I say.
“She would never have been there if it wasn’t for Axton!” Rolfe yelled as he stood up and moved in front of me before slamming the knife he had been twirling around into my leg. I tried not to scream out, but I couldn’t stop the pain from spreading through my body. More wolfsbane seeped into my veins, burning me from the inside out.
“How?” I spit out. I tried to sound strong still, but the more the wolfsbane spread, the more it sounded like a whimper.
Rolfe smiled again as he removed the knife. Wiping the blood off the blade against my leg, he told me, “When Axton’s father met his mother, there was a brewing war between the packs and the rogues. Rogues wanted the packs dead and the packs wanted the rogues dead. So, when news that the new Luna of Black Moon was pregnant spread, the rogues took it as an opportunity to wipe out one of the strongest packs in North America.”
“They kidnapped her,” my voice came out smaller than I wanted it to.
I knew this story. Axton’s mother had told me it after that fight with Axton about the rogue that had crossed the boundary line. Rogues had taken his mom because she was mated to an alpha and he was scared that it would happen to me to.
He was terrified of losing us, Raelynn whined. Her voice was so cut off from me that I barely could feel her presence at all.
“Yes, they took her. My brother, Axton’s father, was so blind with grief and anger that he decided to go after the rogues without backup. When I warned him that we should wait for our pack warriors to get back from the Crescent Moon Pack, he told me there wasn’t enough time,” Rolfe said, “You see, the rogues having a Luna was one thing, but a pregnant Luna? The pain of that death wouldn’t just be felt in the pack, but it would destroy the alpha line within the pack. That type of pain would break the pack so far down until it no longer exists.”
“What does that have to do with your mate?” I asked.
“My mate was the beta female. She was the Luna’s best friend. I tried talking her out of coming with us, but she refused to hear it. She believed Axton’s father was right in not waiting. So, he led us off to find his mate, only it was an ambush. My mate died in my arms because Axton’s father was to blind to see the ambush coming. He led my mate and fifteen other pack members to death because Axton’s mother was pregnant. If it weren’t for Axton, then he would have waited that extra hour for the warriors to get back. We would have been prepared. My mate would not have died!”
“It’s not his fault. He couldn’t have seen the ambush coming. I knew him, he wouldn’t have risked his pack members’ lives if he wasn’t sure that he would win.”
“But he didn’t win. When we realized it was an ambush, I watched as my brother made a choice. Stay on the battlefield and help defend his pack members, or rescue his mate,” he said as he lowered himself down to look me in the eyes, “He chose wrong.”
He plunged the knife again into my leg, leaving it there as he stands up to leave the room. He opens the door before turning around to look at me, “I wonder what choice Axton will make.”
Chapter 30
Axton POV
I raced back to the pack house as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, I knew I was too late. Again. My wolf growled in the back of my mind as I entered the house. The broken-down door and the claw marks on the wall drew me back to seven years ago. It was almost identical.
I was about to follow the marks up the stairs when a small creak stopped my movement. I looked toward the closed kitchen door as another squeak sounded from that direction. Pushing the slightly ajar door open, I took in the scene of the kitchen.
My shoes squished as I stepped onto the floor covered in water and noodles as I growled down at a dead rogue who seemed to have the skin covering his face burned and scarred.
I could smell Ellie’s scent all around the kitchen. She was always smarter on her feet when it came to attacks than any other.
I heard another light creak come from the cupboards near the sink. Bending down to the doors, I pulled the cabinets open to reveal my little girl, “Zea, it’s me,” I tell her as I pull her out past the cleaning supplies and into my arms. I hug her close as she cries gently against me, “It’s okay baby girl. You’re safe now.”
I pulled her back slightly, so she could see my face, “Sweetheart, are you okay? Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head quickly, telling me she was fine as I used my right hand to wipe away the tears that she had shed. I give her a light smile as she sniffles again, “The bad man took mommy.”
My heart broke as she said that. He had Ellie. He drew my focus to the border and used his army as a distraction, so he could kidnap my mate. That’s why they retreated instead of attacking. He didn’t need to attack the pack, he knew I would be there instead.
“Sweetheart, did he see you, when you hid under the sink?” I asked her quietly.
She shook her head again at me, “No, I wanted to help mommy, but she told me not to come out. She didn’t want me to heal her.”
I hugged my daughter closer to me as I tried to call to Ellie through the link. I could feel her mind there, but it was like she was standing in fog and my call was echoed back to me.
I was so focused on Zea and trying to call for Ellie that I almost didn’t notice Walker and Reid come bursting through the kitchen door behind me.
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