Chapter 76

Lucas’s POV

I set another possibly fraudulent testimony aside and look at the men in front of me who hold one of Logan’s partners, “Take him away.”

Other than Logan, none of the people I’ve interrogated have outright said that Harper is guilty, which makes me believe more that she isn’t. They keep mentioning her clinic’s storage, but they never use her name.

“Do you think they’re trying to shift the majority of the blame to Logan and Harper?” Mason asks once my warriors drag the protesting man out.

“I believe so, but Logan hasn’t given us anymore information than what he originally stated. He still claims that he and Harper were working together, but I don’t believe it,” I mutter on a sigh. I pinch the bridge of my nose between my fingers, hoping it will alleviate the headache pounding against my skull.

Mason leans against my desk and sighs also, staring out the window, “Then maybe we should let her out of her cell. You could confine her to her room.”

I’d thought of that but so had the elders. I got an unpleasant reminder from Elder James stating that none of the prisoners should stay in the cells unless they’ve been proven innocent.

“Goddess only knows where that wolfless woman would run and hide,” Elder James had said on the phone last night.

And I wouldn’t blame her at all if she did run and hide.

As Alpha, I could ignore the Elders’ requests and advice, but I also know that going against the Elders would cause unease in the pack. When pack members are uneasy, balance and safety tend to tip in a negative direction.

Not only that, but the Elders have already warned me that they’re ready to contact the council if this doesn’t all go by the book.

It leaves me with only one choice, which is to leave Harper in her cell.

“Not before we prove she’s innocent,” I mutter, standing. My body tightens, and I stretch to loosen myself up. Being hunched over paperwork for hours on hours has turned me stiff, but I know that’s nothing compared to what Harper is going through.

I have no right to complain.

“We’re getting closer,” Mason says. “I can feel that she didn’t do this. We just have to find someone who will admit it, and—”

“And we’ll go through everyone Logan knows until someone fesses up,” I growl, shoving away the mental image of Harper in a cell. She should be free, spending time with me while tracking down the truth about her awful mate.

A knock sounds at my office door just before Jenna walks in. The dark look on her face tells me something is wrong before she even speaks.

“What is it?” I ask, moving around my desk. My chest tightens at the thought of something being wrong with Harper.

“It’s Logan,” she says, glancing at Mason. “The guards brought him to the medical wing, and he isn’t looking good. For some reason, he’s not healing. We don’t think he’ll last too much longer.”

“Good riddance,” Mason mutters, shaking his head.

“No,” I tell Mason. “If he dies, we might not get the truth out of him.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have tortured him so badly,” Jenna snips, glaring at me. “Who’s next? Are you going to hurt Harper like this too?”

Mason stiffens next to me, but Jenna doesn’t stop glaring.

“No,” I growl. “I don’t think she’s guilty.”

“Healer Jenna! Healer Jenna!”

We all turn toward the door in time to see one of the male doctors stumble through. He’s panting and pale, and freezes when he locks eyes with me.

“L-Logan might not l-last the night,” he stutters, bowing his head.

Gritting my teeth, I push past Mason and Jenna then past the doctor and into the hallway. If I’m going to get the truth out of Logan, it has to be now. Once he dies, there will be no one to easily or quickly prove Harper isn’t guilty.

All his friends will buckle down on their absurd lies, thinking they’re safe.

What they don’t realize is that I’m two seconds away from ripping the world apart to prove her innocence.

I hear Mason call after me, but I ignore him. I have to get to Logan before he dies. Somehow, I need to convince him to give up the truth.

When I enter the medical wing, everyone goes quiet. One of the male doctors points down the hall toward the patient rooms, and stutters, “R-Room three.” I nod in appreciation before quickly closing the distance between me and room three.

There, laying bloody and beaten on the hospital bed, is Logan. His chest rises and falls slowly, his breath sounding raspy and broken. Something rattles, and I realize it’s him. There’s something broken in him that makes a rattling sound when he breathes.

“Logan, it’s time to end this little game of yours,” I tell him as I stop at his side.

It takes a minute for him to open his eyes, and even then, he only manages to open the one that isn’t swollen shut. If his healing was working correctly, he would be mostly healed by now, since the interrogators haven’t been to visit him in nearly a day.

“I haven’t played any games.”

His lies pull a growl from me, and I move closer to lean over him.

“You know Harper never helped you, and you still decided to pull her into this mess by lying and accusing her of being your partner,” I remind him. He blinks up at me like I hadn’t said anything, which only serves to irritate me further.

My wolf stirs within me, the first sign of him in two days. His anger simmers beneath the surface, but he knows he can’t do anything right now to help Harper.

It almost seems like I can’t either.

And it’s driving me crazy.

“Tell the truth,” I bark, letting my Alpha command seep into my words.

There’s a physical effect on Logan, and I notice how his eye flashes gold as his body tenses up. Not many wolves can dismiss or ignore an Alpha command, especially when they’re this weak.

“I d-didn’t mean for it to go this far,” Logan admits. He closes his eye again before he speaks again, “I was Sierra’s fated mate before she rejected me. When I returned back to the pack last year…” he breathes deeply, coughing roughly.

“When I returned, we met at a dinner our parents hosted. She gave me no chance to prove myself or to even really speak with her before she pulled me aside and rejected me.”

He wipes at the blood that drips from his mouth, but I can’t find it in me to be sorry. He’s trying to hurt the woman I’ve fallen in love with. I’ll never forgive him for that.

Even so, I find myself helping him up to drink some water so he can continue talking.

“I still loved her, though,” he chuckles bitterly. “My mate hated me and chose you. So, I chose to use your mate to drive a wedge between you and Sierra.”