Chapter 107
Aria’s POV
CRYOT
My next session started two days later.
This time, I passed out completely in the treatment chair.
Usually I’d have those flashbacks from the past, but this time I couldn’t remember a single thing.
When I woke up, Otto was by my side as usual, cleaning the treatment table. Isla was sitting on the couch, wearing this strange little smile as she stared at me.
“You’re awake. How do you feel?” she asked with that fake sweetness.
1 had nothing to say to this woman. So I ignored her completely.
Right now the only thing on my mind was whether Malik had shown up like we’d planned. As I fixed my hair, I kept stealing glances at the treetops outside, hoping to catch sight of him.
“What are you looking at?” Isla asked again.
I rolled my eyes. She hated me enough to wish me dead, yet here she was playing nice. “You clearly don’t want to talk to me, so why bother? Just cut the crap.”
She gave me a cool little smile. “Your unnecessary hostility really hurts my feelings, Aria. I’ve told you a hundred times–everything I do is for you and Grayson’s own good. But again, I’m asking because I was wondering if you were expecting a certain friend.”
My head snapped toward her, my heartbeat spiking.
“What do you mean?” I demanded.
Resting her chin in her hand, she beamed at me. “We caught a suspicious man in the trees outside earlier. He was staring through the window like a total pervert while you were in treatment.”
I shot up to my feet. “Where is he? What did you do to him?!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, darling Aria, I was getting there. At first, I thought he was just some disobedient little thief. But then I took a
closer look–wasn’t he that new friend of yours? Oh Aria, you’re young and restless, I get it. Staying faithful in a relationship must be so damn hard for you. So for you and Grayson’s happiness, I decided it was best to… take care of him.”
Tunged for her, but Otto was faster. He blocked me with a sharp growl. “Stay away from her!”
“No–you stay away from Malik! He’s my friend!” I yelled.
“So his name is Malik?” Isla’s smirk widened. “What a brave young man, daring to seduce Alpha Grayson’s girlfriend. Looks like he’s gotten
tired of living.”
“Screw you! It’s not like that between us. Now where the hell is he?!”
Otto’s voice was icy. “Down in the courtyard, awaiting to be executed. But I suggest you stay away from that place. It’s bad for your recovery
to see too much blood.”
Fuck. FUCK!
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Chapter 107
I shoved past them and dashed into the hallway. The Red Stone Pack soldiers stationed outside saw my panic and immediately called out, “Is something wrong, Miss Collins?”
I got no time to stop. So I shouted back while running, “Where’s Grayson?”
“The Alpha is in an important meeting upstairs. He told us not to disturb-”
“Tell him this is more important than any damn meeting! Get him to the courtyard, NOW!”
I took the stairs three at a time, bolting through the doors into the courtyard. The open square was now ringed with people. I pushed through, shouting at them to move.
And then I saw him.
Malik, on his knees, with terror written all over his face. A goddamn executioner stood by his side, an axe poised at my friend’s neck.
That cruel son of a bitch Otto was actually going to behead Malik!
“Stop!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Stop, STOP RIGHT NOW!”
Malik saw me and thrashed wildly against his restraints, but his mouth was stuffed and no sound came out.
The executioner wasn’t Red Stone Pack’s soldier. He just spared me a single cold glance before raising his axe high, the blade glinting as it angled toward Malik’s neck.
Shit! I was too far.
I wasn’t going to make it!!!
My hand moved on instinct, reaching into my pocket. My fingers closed around the gun Grayson had given me. I didn’t think twice. I just pulled it out and fired.
BANG!
The bullet slammed into the executioner’s shoulder. He staggered, the blade grazing Malik’s hair as it fell. Close, but not close enough to kill.
Oh, thank God.
I rushed forward, shoving the executioner aside before yanking Malik to his feet and ripping the gag from his mouth.
He doubled over, coughing hard, shaking all over. “F–Fuck… I thought I was dead for sure…”
“You’re okay,” I said, but my voice was also trembling. I was just as shaken. One second later and he’d have been dead for sure.
“L–Listen to me,” he gasped. “The equipment–it’s wrong. I figured it all out. It’s not for treating nerve toxins. They fucking lied! Those two equipment may look similar but are used for totally different purpose. The one you are using is used to-”
He didn’t get to finish. Because an angry bark çame behind us:
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Otto stormed toward us looking totally furious, Isla hurrying behind him with a deep frown.
Otto snatched the axe from the executioner and pointed it at me. “I’m disciplining a member of my pack. Who the hell are you to interfere? Step aside now.”
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“Not happening,” I snarled, keeping Malik safely behind my back. “He’s committed no crime. You just want to kill him to cover your own tracks!”
“He committed the crime of seducing you into betraying Alpha Grayson. You should be grateful he’s the only one being punished, not both of you,” Isla said loudly.
I shook with rage. “You lying bitch! You’d love it if I betrayed Grayson, wouldn’t you? That way you could ruin my name and crawl your way back to him. Well, too bad, because Malik is just a friend. He’s here to help me find out the truth about my treatment!”
Both of their expressions shifted at once. Surprise, maybe even fear.
Just as I thought. They hadn’t even bothered interrogating Malik after capturing him, so they had no idea what he knew.
“What truth?” Otto gritted after a long pause. “I was giving you proper treatment. You and Grayson both saw the progress-”
“No, Alpha Otto, you never planned on curing Aria,” Malik said loudly, straightening up. “Your real goal is to kill her wolf!”
That was news to me. So even I was shocked.
Otto’s face twisted with anger and panic. Isla suddenly snapped her head to Otto and hissed, “Kill him.”
“Stay the fuck away from him!” I shouted.
Otto suddenly lunged at us, raising the blade high in the air. I fired three shots at him—but damn it, all of them missed.
That’s when another gunshot rang out from our back–Bang!
Otto screamed in agony and dropped to the ground, the axe skidding away.
Grayson strode in from the building, with a gun in hand, his face like ice. A squad of Red Stone soldiers flooded in behind him.
Relief hit me like a wave. He made it.
“This is the second time I’ve caught you attacking Aria. You really do have a fucking death wish!” Grayson growled as he came close.
Otto clutched his wound, groaning the ground. “I–I wasn’t attacking your little girlfriend… I was…after the other guy-”
“That’s Aria’s good friend!” Isla cut in quickly. “You’ve seen their pictures, remember? He’s the one holding her while her whole shoulder was out there naked. That’s the guy right there! They are definitely cheating on you!”
“Bullshit!” I snapped. “He was treating my shoulder injury!”
“And he’s been peeping at her through the window. They probably planned to meet here. Grayson, young girls like her are easy and slutty. One second without looking and they are banging in your bedroom without you knowing! The best way is to kill the man and end it once and for all!”
“We’re innocent!” Malik cried out loud. He locked eyes with Grayson, crawling closer, his urgent. “Please believe me, Alpha Grayson. I care only about my patients and whether they get proper care. And as far as I can tell, Aria’s treatment here is killing her as we speak.”
Otto let out a bloody, rasping laugh. “Fucking bullshit. You…you haven’t even graduated from the med school yet. You aren’t even a real healer. And you dare–dare say my treatment’s wrong?!”
“Graduated or not, I know it’s wrong when I see it. The book Warriors, Their Wolves, and Related Disorders makes it clear: Aria’s symptoms don’t match nerve toxins at all. And I’ve seen it the equipment you’re using–it isn’t for curing her. It’s for hypnotizing her, invading her mind, and slowly killing her wolf with microcurrents!”
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Chapter 107
A deathly silence fell upon us.
Shock was etched on everyone’s face.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, a terrible chill crawling up my spine.
So their plan… was to kill my wolf?
I’d thought about poison, sure, but never this.
Yet just think about it. If they succeeded, I’d be a werewolf without a wolf. The most horrifying fate in our world–worse than paralysis, even
worse than madness.
I’d be a freak that everyone despised. A useless body with no soul.
Yes… Yes. That’s exactly what Isla wanted.
More effective than killing me outright.
She wanted me to lose my scent, everything that drew Grayson to me. I’d become so boring and dull and unattractive in Grayson’s eyes that
our passion would die on its own.
“You–You fucking evil woman!” I trembled, my voice breaking, “How could you do this!”
And I raised my hand to slap her. Hard.
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