Chapter 164

Kayla & Nicholas

Kayla

I sped out of Bluemoon territory without a second thought, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. The road blurred before me as I pressed down on the accelerator. All those nasty comments about my pregnancy faded to background noise compared to what Henry had just told me.

Vanessa. My former best friend. The woman who’d betrayed me in every conceivable way.

First, she’d slept with Liam. Then, she’d ripped my wedding dress to shreds the night before my wedding to Nicholas. And now? Now, I had discovered that she might be the one who was responsible for poisoning my father and putting him in a coma two years ago.

“I’ll kill her,” I muttered, swerving around a curve in the road. “I swear to the Goddess above, I’ll kill the bitch with my bare hands.”

The rational part of my brain knew I should have waited for Nicholas, should have told him where I was going at the very least. But I couldn’t stand another second of inaction. Not while Vanessa was probably laughing at how easily she’d fooled us all.

After nearly an hour of driving, Nightshade estate came into view. The guard let me through the gates with a confused expression on his face. “Luna Kayla,” his voice crackled through the gate speaker. “I wasn’t expecting—”

The moment the gate opened, I sped right past him. I screeched to a halt on the front lawn, not bothering to park properly, and slammed the car door behind me. Without hesitating, I stormed down the forested path toward the edge of the property where Liam, Vanessa, and Isabella were being kept under house arrest.

As I approached the little shack in the woods, I noticed that the guard stationed outside the cottage was doubled over, breathing hard.

“What happened?” I demanded, stopping in front of him.

He straightened quickly, his eyes widening when he recognized me. “Luna Kayla! I—I was just chasing off a rogue wolf that tried to come onto the property. Managed to drive it away, but it gave me quite the run for it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You left your post to chase it? Alone?” I asked.

The guard looked down, properly chastised. “I didn’t want to risk it getting near the prisoners, Luna.”

“Well, be more careful next time,” I snapped. “Get another guard to help you on your shift. You can’t afford to leave this area unattended, not even for a minute.”

“Yes, Luna,” he nodded, backing away. “I’ll find someone right away.”

I watched him jog down the path toward the main house, my eyes narrowing. Finally, I turned on my heel and made my way toward the shack.

My hands balled into fists as I continued up the path. My blood pounded in my ears, drowning out the chirping birds and rustling pine boughs.

I wanted answers. I wanted justice. Most of all, I wanted to feel Vanessa’s face beneath my knuckles, to make her hurt even a fraction as much as she’d hurt me, hurt my father, hurt our pack.

The cottage door was slightly ajar. Strange. The guards usually kept it locked.

I slowed my approach, my instincts suddenly on high alert. That was when I heard it—an unfamiliar male voice coming from inside.

“—don’t care about your excuses,” the voice was saying. “You promised results, and I’ve seen nothing.”

I froze, then carefully moved closer to the door, pressing my back against the wall beside it.

“I was working on it!” Isabella’s voice replied. “My main assistant, Mason, got too full of himself and tried to fight Kayla for control of Bluemoon. Now he’s imprisoned, and in case you haven’t noticed, so am I. There’s not much I can do from here.”

My eyes widened as I recalled the male wolf who had stabbed me during a spar. He’d been in the cells beneath Bluemoon since then. I hadn’t realized that he might have been connected to Isabella, but now…

“Pathetic,” the male voice spat. “You had one job—destabilize Bluemoon from within. Make them vulnerable.”

“And I would have succeeded if that wolfless bitch wasn’t so goddamn lucky all the time,” Isabella hissed. “My stepson follows her around, watching her every move. I tried to separate them, but it’s no use. They’re fucking obsessed with one another.”

The man’s voice lowered to a dangerous growl. “Fine. I’ll handle it myself. But until I can get you out of here, you’d better behave. Draw less attention to yourself. When the time comes, I’ll need you ready to move.”

“What about Vanessa and Liam?”

“Collateral damage if necessary.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. Who was this man? What were they planning? I needed to see his face.

Carefully, I peered around the doorframe, trying to catch a glimpse.

When I saw him, my stomach turned into a black pit. It couldn’t be.

William Straud. One of the two chairmen of the guild, in the flesh. Was he really conspiring to take Bluemoon down? To take us down? My mind raced, and I began to move, suddenly realizing that I needed Nicholas here after all.

But I must have made a sound, because suddenly William’s head snapped toward the door, his cold eyes locking directly onto mine.

…

Nicholas

I hadn’t expected to run into Anna during my brief walk, but it was a pleasant surprise. She’d been taking her son out for some fresh air, and when she asked if I’d like to hold him, I hadn’t hesitated. I loved babies, and couldn’t wait to have my own someday.

“He’s going to be a strong wolf someday,” I said as I lifted him toward the sky, listening to his delighted little giggles.

Anna smiled. “As long as he’s healthy and happy, that’s all I care about.”

I nodded, settling him back in my arms. My mind drifted then to Kayla and our own child, still barely more than a spark of life inside of her. The doctor’s warnings echoed in my head. Abortion.

Would we have to resort to that? If it came to that, I wouldn’t hesitate; I’d never put a pregnancy above Kayla’s life, especially not one that wasn’t even guaranteed to make it to term.

But that didn’t make it any easier.

“I’m worried about Kayla,” I admitted, my voice dropping. “The pregnancy… it’s going to be harder on her because she has no wolf of her own. And because I’m an Alpha…”

Anna’s expression softened. “Nicholas, plenty of wolfless women have had healthy babies before. Even with Alpha mates. They just need more support, more care during the pregnancy. Kayla is strong. She’ll be alright.”

I sighed, handing the baby back to her. I didn’t know if I believed that, but it was kind of her to say. “Thank you for the reassurance. It helps to hear it from someone who’s been through her own pregnancy.”

“Anytime,” Anna said, settling her son against her shoulder and patting his back gently. “Kayla was kind enough to offer me shelter when no one else would. The least I can do is offer her support in return, so if you two need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

I nodded gratefully and left Anna. With that, I strode back toward the main house, rehearsing what I’d say to Kayla. How I’d reassure her that everything would be fine, that we’d face this together.

But as I rounded the corner to the front door, chaos greeted me. A car was screeching out of the driveway, and Henry was running down the front steps, breathless.

“Wait! Kayla!” he cried, waving at the car. When he saw me, he raced over. “Nicholas! Thank the Goddess you’re back.”

“What’s happening? Was that Kayla?” I asked, turning to look at the car that was now disappearing down the road, tires screeching in the wind.

Henry doubled over, panting slightly. “She’s going back to Nightshade. She’s furious.”

“What? Why?”

With a grim look on his face, Henry told me everything. He mentioned surveillance footage from the day Kayla’s father had gone into his coma, and the potential culprit.

Vanessa.

My blood ran cold. “And she went to confront her? Alone?”

Henry nodded, clearly distressed. “I’m afraid the issue with the pregnancy is clouding her judgment right now. She was already emotional after reading those nasty comments online, and then when I told her about Vanessa…”

“Fuck,” I growled, already turning away. “Okay. I’m going after her.”

I sprinted to my car, jamming the key in the ignition and peeling out of the driveway. The tires squealed as I pushed the engine to its limits, racing toward Nightshade territory.

My mind raced even faster than the car as I sped down the winding roads. Kayla, stubborn and impulsive as always, rushing headlong into danger. And now with her pregnancy making her vulnerable…

“Goddammit, Kayla,” I muttered, swerving around a slower vehicle. “Why can’t you ever wait for me?”

But I knew the answer. Because she was Kayla Sterling. Because she’d spent her entire life proving herself, fighting twice as hard to earn half the respect. Because she never, ever backed down from a fight.

It was why I loved her. It was also why she constantly terrified me.

I reached Nightshade territory in record time, barely registering the blur of trees as I sped down the familiar roads. The car Kayla had taken sat on the front lawn as if she had slammed on the brakes and taken off running without a second thought.

She’d gone to the cottage where Vanessa, Isabella, and Liam were being held.

Growling under my breath, I made my way toward the cottage, already planning the scolding I would give her for running off like that. But then, I froze.

I heard screaming coming from inside.

Kayla’s screams.