Chapter 68

Harper’s POV

I never could have prepared myself for those words, nor for the glint of hate in Lucas’s eyes as he said them.

My entire body grows heavy as he glowers at me, accusing me of something so awful and evil. I thought he knew me better than that. I didn’t think Lucas was someone who would ever accuse an innocent person of something so vile as trafficking wolf souls. Was I wrong?

My eyes bounce from Lucas to the other men in the room. Brandon narrows his eyes on me, Mason averts his eyes, and the older men merely stare.

I struggle to breathe as my eyes slide back to Lucas’s gaze. Still as cold and loathing as before.

“Wh-what?” I finally manage to croak. My voice cracks, and the crack travels right down into my chest, lodging itself in my heart.

“We have evidence that you, Harper,” he bites my name out, making me flinch. “Have been helping Logan create fake mate bonds for people without their consent, which is a crime. I also have proof that your clinic out in the human world was a front for smuggling and trafficking supernatural creatures and the wolf souls that Logan sold.”

Can a person’s chest cave in? Because I think mine is about to give out and crush my lungs.

“I didn’t…”

I try to look at Logan again, but he’s still staring at the ground. Is he not going to defend me? He knows I didn’t help him, yet he’s staying silent.

The weight of what’s happening hits me like a brick, and I have to swallow back the bile that claws at my throat.

“It’s not true, Lucas! I’ve never done anything like that! What proof do you have?” I demand, even as my voice shakes, and my eyes fill with tears.

“Don’t,” Lucas growls, dropping my chin and making me stumble back. “Don’t call my name like you know me.”

It’s like he was trying to rip my heart in two. I’ve only known him for a short time, but I thought…

My teeth sink into my tongue until the tangy copper taste of blood fills my mouth. The mark on my shoulder starts to burn, and I gasp, reaching for it. It turns hot and painful, like someone has poured acid on the area.

“I’m disappointed in you, Harper. I thought you were better than this,” Lucas growls, motioning to someone behind me. The mark burns hotter, sending pain splintering up my neck. My vision fills with stars as the pain grows.

“I have all the proof I need. Locations, times, and testimonies. They all link to Logan and your clinic.”

But they can’t.

Before I can move or protest again, hands clamp down on my arms. I look back to find Mason standing there with a dark scowl on his face. The disappointment I see there causes another kind of pain. We were just starting to like each other.

I want to protest, to tell them that this isn’t right, but Mason drags me back and shoves me to my knees beside Logan. I whimper as my knees crack against the hard floor.

“Lucas, I—”

“Enough!” He roars, and my body trembles. I shrink into myself and lower my head as the heavy Alpha presence rams into me like a thousand pounds on my shoulders.

“Alpha, you should send these two to the prison for questioning,” someone says. He’s one of the older men in the room. An elder.

If the elders are here, that means Lucas is looking to them for guidance or assistance. It could mean they know more about what’s going on, or it could mean that Lucas wants them to witness whatever is about to happen.

Neither sounds good to me.

“There could be more going on with their schemes that what is told on paper,” another elder says. He walks closer and stares down at me with disgust. “They could have partners or even a whole group of people helping them from the outside or, Goddess forbid, from within our own pack.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” I tell Lucas, hoping he can see the truth in my eyes.

“Save your lies for someone else,” the elder in front of me says as he lifts his foot and plants it in my chest, shoving me back. I tumble to the ground, crying out when my head bounces off the hard floor.

A growl echoes through the room, but I can’t see who it came from because my vision blurs as the back of my head begins to throb. Hands pull me back up, but I squeeze my eyes closed. Something wet drips down the back of my neck at the same moment a wave of dizziness hits me.

I sway on my knees, feeling sick to my stomach as Lucas glares down at me.

Suddenly, I wish I was back in that garden with Lucas. Everything felt right at that moment, until I ran away because I was afraid.

“What would you have me do, Elder Tarn?” Lucas asks, “She will continue to deny her part, and he will only stay quiet.”

“Torture them, if you must. Getting answers about just how widespread this trafficking ring is, how it works, and where it operates is more important than anything else right now,” the elder says, and I freeze. “We will need to warn other packs if this is a large-scale scheme they’re running.”

Torture?

My eyes immediately move to Lucas, and I notice he looks a bit hesitant. The slightly pale pallor to his skin has me hoping he won’t do as the elder says, then he nods.

He NODS.

He’s willing to let me be tortured for information that I don’t have. Panic sets in, stealing my breath and scrambling my brain.

Scrambling forward, I grab a hold of Lucas’s arm.

“I didn’t do anything!” I cry, trying to calm myself. It doesn’t work. My entire body trembles as I beg, “Please don’t do this, Lucas! I’m not part of any of this!”

Lucas yanks his arm out of my grasp and takes several steps back as men grab me by my arms again. Then, I remember the mark.

“I’m the one—”

“SHUT UP!” Lucas roars, grabbing me by the neck. His eyes are wild, telling me that he’s not in his right mind. There’s something wrong about the way his eyes look. Something crazed. “I won’t listen to your lies or excuses anymore.”

He won’t listen, and even if I told him about the mark, he wouldn’t listen.

He shoves me back and snarls, “Take them away.”

Mason pulls me, but when I fight to stay, he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder. Brandon grabs Logan and drags him out of the room, muttering something under his breath.

Mason doesn’t listen to anything I say as he carries me down the stairs. He doesn’t flinch as I pummel his back. He doesn’t react all the way to the basement, and when he pulls open a cell door, he sets me on my feet and points inside.

He still won’t look at me, and when I grab his hand, he jerks it back and pushes me into the cell.

The lock snaps into place, echoing loudly in the silent prison.