Chapter 6 Six

Chapter 6

“Where do you think you’re going, Ella?”

The voice cuts through the quiet like a blade.

My heart stops. My breath catches in my throat.

I freeze, my hands still gripping the edge of the wooden barrel I’ve been trying to climb into. The wagon stands a few feet away, waiting in the darkness near the south gate, just like Cole said it would. The moonlight barely touches the ground, but I can still see the shadow that steps out from behind the wagon.

My stomach twists.

“Alpha Sam,” I whisper.

He stands there tall, broad, his face half hidden in the dark, but I can still see his eyes. They’re cold. Watchful.

I don’t know how long he’s been there or how much he’s seen. My pulse beats so loud I’m sure he can hear it.

“Did you really think you could run from me?” he asks, his voice calm in a way that makes it sound even more dangerous.

I can’t find my voice. I can’t even move.

Behind him, I see Cole standing in the shadows near the gate, his face pale. His eyes meet mine for a second before he looks away.

He sold me out.

The truth hits me like a slap. I bite my lip hard, trying not to cry.

Sam takes a step forward, his boots crushing the gravel beneath him. “You should have stayed where I left you,” he says quietly. “At least then, you’d still be breathing without shaking like a thief.”

“I wasn’t running,” I lied weakly. “I just needed air.”

Sam lets out a dark laugh. “Air?” He tilts his head. “You needed air… inside a supply wagon headed for another pack?”

He takes another step toward me, and the scent of his cologne hits me clean, sharp, and painfully familiar.

“Please,” I whisper, backing away slowly. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He studies my face for a long time, his eyes narrowing as if he’s searching for something. “You always say that,” he murmurs. “You said it when you defended your father. You said it when you claimed that the bar owner tried to touch you. And you’re saying it now.”

Tears sting my eyes. “Because it’s true.”

His expression flickers, something dark and uncertain passing across his face. For a second, I think I see guilt. Then it’s gone.

“Cole,” Sam says without looking back, “you can leave.”

Cole’s voice trembles when he speaks. “Alpha ”

“Now,” Sam growls.

Cole hesitates, his eyes darting between us. Then, with one last guilty look in my direction, he turns and walks away, disappearing into the woods.

I’m left alone with Sam. The silence stretches so tight it feels like it might snap.

He walks closer until he’s standing right in front of me. His scent surrounds me. His heat seeps into my skin.

“Why, Ella?” he asks, softer now. “Why do you make me do this?”

“I didn’t ”

“Don’t lie to me!” he snaps, and I flinch. “You think I don’t know what you’re hiding? You think I can’t smell the fear on you? You’ve been hiding something ever since that night in the woods.”

My lips part, but no sound comes out.

“What are you talking about?” I whisper.

Sam’s eyes darken again, just like they did that night. His hand shoots out and grabs my wrist, pulling me against his chest.

“You smell like me,” he says quietly, his nose brushing my neck. “You always smell like me.”

My whole body goes stiff. He’s too close. Too close.

He drags in a deep breath, his body tensing. For a moment, it’s like he’s remembering something he shouldn’t.

Then he jerks back, shaking his head hard as if fighting a thought he doesn’t want to believe.

“No,” he mutters. “No, that’s impossible.”

“Sam…” I whisper, my voice breaking.

His eyes meet mine, stormy and full of something raw confusion, pain, anger all at once. “Go back to your cell,” he says finally. “Before I forget what’s stopping me.”

I swallow hard, blinking through the tears. “What’s stopping you?”

For a long second, he doesn’t answer. His jaw works like he’s fighting with himself. Then he turns and starts walking away.

But before he disappears into the trees, he stops.

Without turning around, he says quietly, “You should’ve asked Cole who really sent him to help you.”

The ground seems to shift beneath my feet. “What?”

But Sam doesn’t respond. He walks away, his figure swallowed by the shadows.

I stand there, frozen, his words echoing in my head.

Who really sent him to help you.

The meaning sinks in slowly.

Cole wasn’t acting alone.

Someone else wanted me out of that dungeon. Someone powerful enough to order Sam’s Beta to betray him.

But who?

The realization sends a chill racing down my spine. I look toward the woods, half expecting someone to step out, watching me.

But there’s nothing, only the sound of the wind and the soft creak of the empty wagon.

I sink to the ground, my body shaking.

And that’s when I noticed something on the floor where Cole had been standing earlier: a silver ring, engraved with the symbol of the Alpha’s crest.

Cole doesn’t wear jewelry.

Only one person in this pack owns a ring like this.

My blood runs cold as I pick it up and whisper, “Gemma…”

Sam’s Gamma. His right hand. The woman who’s hated me since the day I arrived.

She’s the one who told Cole to help me.

But why would she want me free… unless

A twig snaps in the dark, cutting off my thoughts. I jerk my head up, heart racing.

A pair of glowing eyes stare at me from the trees too low to belong to a wolf, too bright to be human.

I stumble backward, clutching the ring in my palm,I could hear my heart hammering in my chest.

The eyes blink once. Then they move fast, inhumanly fast straight toward me.