Chapter 178

Kayla

Nicholas stayed for dinner that night, although not for no reason. Henry was still out there somewhere, searching for the person who knocked me unconscious and took my mother’s journal, and we needed to be close in case he captured the fucker.

Furthermore, we couldn’t leave my father. Not when I still needed to find out what he knew. And especially not when a sudden departure might tip him or the guild off to our knowledge of Luporath and ruin everything.

But as we sat down at the dining table, my father taking the head of the table in his wheelchair, the tension was almost thick enough to choke on. Nicholas sat beside me, his knee bumping mine beneath the tablecloth. My father pretended to be occupied with filling his own glass, although I could see the way he occasionally glanced at me, then at Nicholas, distrust and something else flickering behind his eyes.

He was trying to figure us out. And we were doing the same.

Ava bustled about, serving the roast she’d prepared. Her usual cheerful demeanor seemed strangely forced tonight, which was no wonder. Henry told Ava everything, and although I trusted her not to breathe a word to my father, she was on edge. She wanted to know who had knocked me out, too.

“I heard about your speech today,” my father finally said, breaking the strained silence. He cut into his meat with deliberate precision, not looking up as he continued. “Or rather, the lack of one.”

Nicholas took a sip of water, his expression remaining neutral. “News travels fast, doesn’t it?”

“The guild has ears everywhere,” my father replied. He looked up, spearing a piece of meat on his fork, and popped it into his mouth without breaking eye contact with Nicholas. “You’ll never get the chairman position if you walk out on important speeches, you know. Shows a lack of commitment.”

I gripped my fork tighter, feeling a flash of anger on Nicholas’s behalf. But before I could speak, Nicholas squeezed my hand under the table.

“Some things are more important than speeches,” he said calmly. “Kayla needed me.”

My father’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he glanced at me. “Was something wrong, honey? You should have told me if you were upset.”

I didn’t want to reveal what had really happened in the basement until we knew more, of course, so my hand moved instinctively to my belly. “Horrible bout of morning sickness,” I explained with a shrug. “I passed out earlier while going through some boxes in the basement. Lucky for me, Nicholas came just in time.”

“Very lucky indeed,” my father muttered. I could tell he didn’t believe me.

I leaned over and pressed a kiss to Nicholas’s cheek, determined to sell our story. “He’s a good husband,” I said, loud enough for my father to hear. “No husband would ever let his wife feel afraid and alone and in pain.”

My words hung in the air between us, laden with meaning only my father and I could fully understand. The subtle reference to what he had allegedly done to my mother—what I now suspected he’d done—made his shoulders stiffen almost imperceptibly.

He said nothing, but the way his knuckles whitened around his fork told me my barb had found its mark.

So it was true; all of the entries my mother had written about him. Saying that he had turned arrogant, selfish. That his pursuit of Luporath and the power it provided had changed him. Late nights spent quietly arguing about it, my mother telling him to let sleeping dragons lie while he insisted that he needed the artifact to achieve his dreams.

I wondered what happened to her after those entries finally stopped.

The rest of the meal continued in uncomfortable silence, broken only by Ava’s occasional attempts at small talk. I picked at my food, my stomach churning with anxiety rather than morning sickness.

To think that my own father, the man who I had pined for for two years, may have had a hand in my mother’s death…

“Kayla,” Henry’s voice suddenly filled my mind, startling me enough that I nearly dropped my fork. “We found the intruder. You and Alpha Reynolds will want to come see who it is.”

I took a deep breath, trying to hide my reaction to the Mindlink. “Nicholas,” I said, pushing back from the table. “I just remembered we need to check on that thing with Henry.”

Nicholas caught on immediately, nodding as he stood. “You’re right. It can’t wait.”

My father frowned. “Dinner isn’t over.”

“Pack business,” Nicholas said firmly. “I’m sure you understand, Mr. Sterling.”

My father stiffened when Nicholas didn’t refer to him as “Alpha”, no doubt grinding his molars over the way he’d lost his title during his coma. But we didn’t wait for him to speak before we excused ourselves and hurried out of the house.

Once we were safely beyond earshot, I filled Nicholas in on Henry’s message as we made our way toward the old barn at the edge of the estate. Henry was waiting for us outside as we approached, and his face was grim.

“He’s inside,” he said without preamble. “You’re going to want to see this for yourself.”

He.

Nicholas pushed open the heavy wooden door, and we stepped into the dim interior of the barn. One Bluemoon warrior stood guard over a figure tied to a chair in the center of the space. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the recognition I felt when I saw that face was like a knife stabbing my throat.

“Liam?” I choked out.

He looked up at the sound of my voice. A nervous laugh escaped him as he caught sight of us. “Long time no see.”

Nicholas strode forward, grabbing Liam by the collar of his shirt. “What are you doing here? How did you get out of the Nightshade prison?”

Henry stepped forward. “We found him skulking in the woods a few miles away next to a burn barrel. Something was on fire inside it.”

My blood ran cold. “The journal?”

Liam’s eyes darted to mine, a flash of something like guilt crossing his features before he masked it with a sneer.

Nicholas shoved him back into the chair with enough force to make it creak ominously. “Start talking. Now.”

“Or what?” Liam challenged, even though fear flickered in his eyes.

Nicholas leaned in close, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “Or I’ll let my wolf decide what to do with you. And trust me, he’s not feeling particularly merciful right now.”

A tense silence followed as Liam considered his options. I could see the calculation in his eyes, weighing the threat against whatever loyalty kept him silent.

Finally, he slumped in the chair. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” I demanded, stepping closer. “Starting with how you got out of prison.”

The fight seemed to drain out of him all at once. “Your father helped me escape Nightshade,” he admitted. “I was coming here for my next orders when I found you in the basement, reading that journal.”

“So you were the one who hit me.”

“I panicked,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “You weren’t supposed to find that journal. Your father told me to burn it, which I did.” He nodded toward Henry. “That’s what was in the barrel when you caught me.”

“Who else is involved?” Nicholas barked.

Liam hesitated, earning himself a threatening step forward from Nicholas. “William Straud,” he blurted out, flinching away. “Who else did you think?”

“And he employed you, Isabella, and… Vanessa,” I hissed.

Liam nodded. “Your mother took a poison pill to kill herself rather than give up Luporath’s location. Your father went a little crazy with grief, started taking silverbite to numb the pain. He became a liability. William couldn’t risk him exposing everything, so he had Vanessa put him in a coma to keep him quiet and put an end to his addiction.”

My knees weakened beneath me as the horrifying truth sank in. Nicholas’s steady hand at my back was the only thing keeping me upright.

“Why wake him now?” Nicholas demanded.

“You,” Liam said simply, nodding his chin toward Nicholas. “Shortly after you became Alpha of Bluemoon, the guild figured out what happened to Guildsman Gray. Gray had tried to get the prisoner—Grace, I think her name was?—back and didn’t make it out alive. It didn’t take any geniuses after that to figure out that you and your ragtag little team of buddies were on Luporath’s trail.”

He paused, licking his bruised lips, then went on, “William gave me the order to reveal the antidote and thus wake him up without alerting you. The plan was supposed to be simple: he would take Bluemoon back, and thus get you away from Luporath.”

“And William?” I choked out. “What does he want with Luporath?”

“Power,” Liam said flatly. “He wants to be the most powerful Alpha in the world. The supreme ruler. And with Luporath’s magic, he could be.”

The pieces clicked into place with sickening clarity. It all made sense. Everything my mother had said in her journal had been true. All of it.

Nicholas turned to me, his eyes burning. “Your father. We need to—”

Just then, the creak of the barn door interrupted whatever he had been about to say. We all turned as it swung open, revealing two figures silhouetted against the twilight sky.

My father stepped inside, no longer bound to his wheelchair, standing tall and strong as if he’d never been injured at all. And beside him, a man whose face had seared itself into my memory.

William Straud.