Chapter 208

Ava

I sat by the fire, rubbing my hands together to ward off the chill that had set in since the sun had gone down. The warmth from the flames helped, but I couldn’t shake the cold sense of worry that was gnawing at my insides.

Chris had been gone for a while now, and I was starting to get concerned. What if he’d gotten lost in the unfamiliar forest? Or worse, what if he’d encountered some dangerous wildlife?

Just as I was about to get up and look for him, I heard footsteps outside and let out a sigh of relief upon picking up the familiar rhythm of his footsteps—but it also sounded like he was… dragging something?

Figuring that he had found a larger animal, maybe even a deer even though we couldn’t possibly eat the whole thing, I got up to help him. But then, the door suddenly banged open, and Chris burst in.

But he wasn’t alone.

To my shock, he shoved a young man inside, who fell to his knees. My jaw dropped as I recognized his face immediately.

“Patrick?” I gasped, my eyes darting between him and Chris. It was the guy who had given me his number at the bachelorette ball—I had never called him, nor had I even thought about him once since that night. What was he doing here, of all places? “What in Luna’s name is going on here?”

Chris’s face was grim as he forcefully shoved Patrick into a chair. “Sit,” he growled, his voice harsh and unlike anything I had heard from him before.

“Chris, what’s going on?” I repeated, rushing up to his side as he began to bind Patrick to the chair with some paracord from his backpack.

Chris quickly filled me in on what he had overheard in the forest. As he spoke, my blood ran cold. What were the chances that we had just stumbled upon some of Olivia’s cohorts here? And how the hell was Patrick, a man who I had never seen more than once, a part of all of this?”

“Anyway, I caught this bastard for questioning,” Chris finished, forcefully kicking one of the legs of Patrick’s chair. “He knows something, and we’re going to find out what it is.”

Patrick sat silently, his jaw set hard. Chris started firing questions at him, but Patrick remained stubbornly tight-lipped, not even flinching at Chris’s increasingly angry tone.

“Who else is working with Olivia?” Chris demanded. “What’s her plan? Why are you here?”

Silence. Patrick stared straight ahead, as if Chris wasn’t even there.

Chris’s frustration grew with each unanswered question. I could see the tension building in his shoulders, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Suddenly, he grabbed Patrick by the collar and dragged him toward the fireplace.

“Maybe this will loosen your tongue,” Chris snarled, pushing Patrick’s head dangerously close to the flames. The fire cast an orange glow on their faces, reminding me all too much of that night we had found Olivia abusing her Omega servants.

Patrick didn’t flinch or make a sound as his face inched closer to the heat of the fire, but I couldn’t handle it. Seeing Chris like this, so much like his sister… It was too much.

“Chris, stop!” I cried out, horrified. This wasn’t like him at all. I had never seen him so angry, so violent. I rushed over and put a hand on his arm. “This isn’t you. Let him go. We don’t do this.”

For a moment, I thought Chris wouldn’t listen. His grip on Patrick tightened, and I feared he might actually go through with his threat. But then I saw something flicker in his eyes—recognition, shame.

He released Patrick and stepped back, running a hand through his hair. Patrick fell to the floor, his hands bound behind his back, letting out a sigh of relief that he had clearly been holding.

“I’m sorry,” Chris muttered, not meeting my eyes. “I don’t know what came over me. I just... I need answers.”

I nodded, relieved. I crouched to help Patrick up, and he didn’t meet my gaze as I got him settled on the chair again. “It’s okay. We’re all on edge. But this isn’t the way. We’re better than this. We’re better than her.”

Chris had managed to catch a rabbit before finding Patrick, so I set about preparing a meal with some rice that hadn’t gotten soaked in my backpack. As I cooked, Chris kept hammering questions into Patrick, all to no avail. Our prisoner remained stony-faced, his eyes hard and his jaw set in grim determination.

My mind wandered back to Dedrick—back to the lethal dose of moonbite powder that he had either taken or been given. Clearly, keeping quiet wasn’t just a matter of principle, but a matter of life and death to these people.

We needed to make him feel safe if we were going to get any information out of him. Not threatened.

Once the food was ready, I brought a plate to Patrick and untied one of his hands. He looked surprised at the gesture, his eyes wary.

“Why are you being nice to me?” he asked, eyeing the food suspiciously. “Is this laced or something?”

I shook my head, setting the plate on his lap. I picked a piece of rabbit up off of it and popped it into my mouth, making a point to chew and swallow in front of him. “It’s just food. You can eat it or not.”

Patrick stared at me for a moment before his eyes darted to Chris, who was eating and staring stonily into the fire. Finally, Patrick seemed to settle on eating as well.

As Patrick ate, I asked him about the bachelorette ball. His face fell, and he looked genuinely ashamed, unable to meet my eyes.

“Going home with you... it was part of the plan,” he admitted, glancing at Chris again. “I was supposed to sleep with you that night, keep you away from Chris. That’s all. I didn’t know about the rest of it, I swear.”

The revelation stung, even though I had suspected as much. Chris tensed, but remained silent, knowing that I was trying to coax information out of our hostage.

“So the whole moonbite scheme... That was Olivia’s doing?” I asked.

Patrick just stared at me, but his silence was all the answer I needed. Chris and I exchanged glances. This confirmed our worst fears: Olivia was behind it all, and her plans were more extensive than we had imagined.

“Patrick,” I said gently, leaning in closer, “I know you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared. I’m loyal to my employer.”

“Okay, fine,” I said. “But is Olivia loyal to you? You know what happened to Dedrick, right? Someone gave him moonbite powder, and it wasn’t us. And considering the fact that you’ve been sitting here with one free hand for the better part of an hour now and haven’t popped a capsule to avoid giving up information…”

“Then Dedrick was given it by force,” Chris finished.

Fear flashed in Patrick’s eyes, and for a moment, his tough facade cracked. Bingo.

I pressed on, sensing an opening. “Look. If you help us, we can protect you. You won’t meet the same fate as Dedrick. Just tell us what you know. It’s not too late to do the right thing.”

For a long moment, Patrick was silent, his internal struggle visible on his face. Then, he sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Look, um… From what I hear, there’s a mole in Moonstone pack,” he said. “That’s how Olivia gets her information. And that’s likely who gave Dedrick the poison capsule.”

Chris tensed beside me. “Who is it?” he demanded, taking a step forward.

Patrick shook his head vehemently. “I don’t know. And even if I did, why should I tell you?” He shot Chris a dark look. “You attacked my camp in the middle of the night and have me tied to a fucking chair.”

“Fair enough,” I said, abruptly rising. “You don’t have to tell us anything else.”

Chris’s eyes widened. “Ava, what—”

“I think we should all rest.” I began to gather the empty dishes and take them to the wash bucket in the corner. “Maybe a good night of sleep will do us all some good.”

Chris eyed me warily, following me over to the wash bucket. “Ava,” he hissed, grabbing my arm, “you’re being too nice.”

“You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” I looked up at him, giving him a pointed glare.

Chris opened his mouth, then closed it again, clearly unable to come up with a response. Finally, seeming to realize that I was right, he turned on his heel and got to work preparing a bunk for Patrick. He tied him to the bedposts, growling something about keeping an eye on him all night and the consequences of trying to run away or pull any stunts.

That night, once we were certain Patrick was asleep, Chris and I settled onto our own bunk. He promised to stay awake first, keeping watch for a few hours before we would switch.

Despite the warmth of the fire and Chris’s body next to mine, I felt a chill run down my spine. Our pack, our home, wasn’t safe anymore. It wasn’t just the blight that was affecting our lands; the enemy was among us, and we had no idea who it could be.

Eventually, exhaustion took over, and I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

But Chris never woke me up to keep watch.

The next morning, I woke to Chris shaking me urgently, his face contorted with fear.

“Ava, wake up. I fell asleep during my watch. Patrick’s gone.”

I sat up, blinking in confusion. “What? How? I thought we tied him up securely.”

We rushed to where we had left Patrick tied up. The bunk was empty, the ropes lying on the floor. There was no sign of him anywhere, not even a scent trail to follow.

Chris cursed, slamming his fist against the wall with enough force to make the whole cabin shudder.

“Dammit!”