Chapter 37

The dungeon's musty air clung to my skin as Astor and I descended the winding stone staircase. Flickering torchlight cast eerie shadows on the damp walls, and I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched by unseen eyes.

Ugh, creepy. They probably kept the dungeons like this to demoralize prisoners—given the near-perfect state of the rest of the manor, anyway.

"Are you sure about this, Olivia?" Astor's deep voice echoed in the narrow passage. I struggled not to roll my eyes.

“I’m not a wilting daisy, Astor, I can handle a creepy basement,” I said. He was getting a little more protective, a natural reaction whenever for any Alpha spending enough time around a pregnant woman, and while it was better than snark it still wasn’t my favorite thing. I counted it as an improvement anyway.

“If you were a flower, you wouldn’t be a daisy,” Astor snorted. “Poison ivy, maybe.”

“And ivy chokes out weaker plants to expand its own growth,” I retorted. “Besides, it’ll be a few more months before my pregnancy makes me fragile, so save your worry for then.”

“Who said I was worried?” Astor smirked. I shot him a look.

“You did, just now, when you asked me if I was sure I wanted to walk into the spooky dungeon,” I deadpanned. He barked out a laugh but had the decency not to pretend otherwise, so I let it go.

“Besides, we’re the only two people on this case, and there must always be two officials in the room for an interrogation,” I said. “I’m not tucking my tail between my legs just because the scenery’s a little…medieval.”

Knowing I was about to step into a jail cell with an accused cannibal, though? A little more nerve-wracking. Granted her trial wasn’t over yet, so she might not be guilty of that crime, but she had openly admitted to the murder charge so she was a violent offender either way.

But she claimed to have knowledge about the missing Omegas, and we were out of any other leads, so…

We both knew, of course, that she was probably just offering up false information in the hopes of a lessened sentence, but we had to try. We owed it to our missing pack members to follow every lead we could, even if they turned out to be goose chases.

We were almost there when a familiar figure emerged from around the corner, flanked by two guards. My heart skipped a beat.

Rita.

Oh, shit, of course they’d let her out of her house to see her father. He was being banished from Eclipse at dawn, and once a person walked into the forest their loved ones never saw them again. It was only right to let his daughter say her farewells.

Her once-pristine appearance was disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. She looked pitiful, but with the image of her with my baby fresh in my mind, I found it hard to have pity.

For a moment, our gazes locked, and I saw a storm of emotions swirling in her tear-stained face.

"Well, if it isn't the new Luna," Rita spat, her voice dripping with venom. "Are you happy now that you've ruined my father's life?"

Desperation must have made her bold—only an idiot would speak to their Luna like that in front of two of said Luna’s sworn guards and her brother-in-law. I just shook my head; I didn’t have time for this, and besides, I knew the grief of losing a parent. It wasn’t surprising for her to lash out and place blame.

Still, these were the consequences of his own foolish actions. Deep inside, even Rita knew that.

I went to walk past her, deciding not to acknowledge her words. It wouldn’t do me any good, and frankly, I didn’t want to speak with her. She wasn’t worth the energy, not when I was focused on finding a lead.

Astor, apparently, didn’t feel the same. A low growl rumbled from his chest, almost making me trip in my surprise. Was Astor really going to step in just because of one half-baked insult?

Rita must have been surprised too, because her voice was tinged with shock and betrayal as she said, "I thought you were on my side?"

Astor rolled his eyes, looking at her like she was disgusting. “Sure, when you were our best option. But between an arrogant, immature and selfish girl and a hard-working woman who puts the pack first, who do you think should be Luna?”

My jaw dropped. Hold on a second—a week ago this man thought I was the scum of the earth! There was no way I’d changed his mind just by doing my job.

“Astor,” Rita sniffled, “how could you say that about me?”

“Pretty easily, since it’s true,” Astor shrugged. “The only thing you wanted was Elroy, you never gave a damn about the duties of a Luna. You would have been a puppet queen.”

I watched, stunned, as Rita's face crumpled. “You don’t mean that,” she whispered.

“Sure, okay,” Astor said, turning away totally unaffected. Tears streamed down Rita’s cheeks as she collapsed against the stone wall, her sobs echoing off the damp stones. Neither of the guards moved to help her up.

It must have been salt in the wound for a socialite darling like her, to be dismissed so completely. Maybe now she’d remember her place.

Eventually Rita’s cries faded behind us, and I had to ask. "When did you get such a high opinion of me, Astor?"

He glanced at me, then back to the hallway. “Mrs. Davis,” he said gruffly.

“My panic attack?” I asked, incredulous. Astor shrugged.

“That was part of it,” he said, voice low. “Not many people will sit and talk someone through a breakdown like you did for that woman, and for it to affect you so deeply… It made me realize you actually give a damn.

“Then you kept interacting with members of our pack, treating them with dignity and respect, trying to solve their problems. I kept seeing you care. How could I not have greater respect for you as our Luna?"

He looked at me then, gunmetal eyes trained on me. There was something about the way he looked at me, an intensity in his gaze that made me wonder if there was more to his newfound respect than he let on. I shook the thought from my head—I was looking too far into things because I wasn’t used to his brand of intensity, that’s all.

Frankly, the man probably barely respected me. Defending me had probably been more about his hatred of Rita than his liking of me—not that it mattered. As long as he was cooperating with the investigation, it didn't really matter how he felt about me personally.

And besides, Astor wasn't the one I'd come down here to get answers from.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself and reached for the heavy iron handle of the cell door. The metal was cold beneath my fingers, a stark reminder of where we were and what was at stake.

"Ready?" I asked Astor, my voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded, his jaw set in determination. "Let's see what this wannabe informant has to offer."

With a grunt, I pulled the door open, wincing at the loud creak that echoed through the dungeon. As we stepped inside, the musty smell of damp stone and unwashed bodies assaulted my nostrils. I fought the urge to gag, reminding myself of the importance of this meeting.

Time to find out if this criminal actually had anything worth that plea deal.