Chapter 17

Zara

How did Adrian get there? He should be a Rogue by now, he'd been banished ages ago.

Though come to think on it, why had he been banished? He wasn't the child of an Alpha, he was just the prospective son-in-law. Maybe to Kieran and Lucian that was close enough.

Maybe they wanted a chance at Chloe. She certainly had hoped to be chosen at the Mate Ball. But she'd been ignored just like the rest. Was Adrian here for her?

“Zara!” Adrian tossed the tray aside and grabbed my shoulders. He tried to pull me in for a hug but I shied away.

Did he think I'd welcome him with open arms? He couldn't be that stupid.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.

I looked over my shoulder. It would not end well for me if Kieran caught me talking with a banished wolf.

“I'm here to kill those monsters,” Adrian said. “Well, I'm part of the plan anyway.”

“Plan?” I asked, shocked. There was a plan to kill Lucian and Kieran?

Adrian nodded. “The other Alphas want them gone. They're too powerful, too dangerous. They have to be stopped. The Alphas are even willing to work with the Rogues to make it happen.”

“And you're the one to do it?” I asked, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice. Adrian was strong, sure, but he'd never even been strong enough to think about challenging my father. He wouldn't last two minutes against either twin.

Adrian shrugged. “Not necessarily.” He smiled. “This Mate Ball is the perfect opportunity, you see. There's so much chaos right now, we could have replaced the whole serving staff with Rogues and no one would notice.”

That was probably an exaggeration, but not much of one. Adrian had gotten this far, after all.

“I heard about what they've done to you,” Adrian said, and I almost believed the sympathy in his voice, the softness in his gaze. “They've made you their pet, parading you around in a collar in front of everyone. It's humiliating, and you shouldn't have to put up with it.”

I shrugged and looked away. If he hadn't rejected me, I'd be his mate. I'd have been exiled with him, maybe, or maybe he wouldn't have been cast out because he wouldn't have been a threat to the Alpha's takeover.

If he hadn't rejected me, I wouldn't have random moments of intense pain from the incomplete mate bond.

“You don't have to put up with it,” Adrian continued earnestly. He took my hand and pressed a small, glass vial into it.

“What?” I asked, staring at the bottle. Was he suggesting I wear perfume like the other women? Why?

“It's poison. A tincture of wolfsbane, hemlock, and a few other things. If you slip it into the Alpha's food, on the full moon, it'll stop them from transforming. You'll be free of them.”

I stared at the vial and nearly threw it into the stream. Wolfsbane was bad enough. It would sicken and possibly kill any wolf, even one as strong as an Alpha. But if it paralyzed a wolf's ability to shift, that was a certain death sentence. A werewolf could shift anytime they wanted, but they needed to shift on the full moon. If they didn't, or couldn't, their body would tear itself apart as the wolf tried desperately to run free. It was a horrible death.

I was desperate to be free of the Alpha twins, but I could not poison them. That was no way for an Alpha to die. I couldn't hurt them like that. I wasn't a murderer.

“No,” I told Adrian. “Get away from me. I won't do it.”

“Zara...” Adrian trailed off, looking around to make sure my raised voice hadn't drawn any attention.

“You're horrible!” I said. “You're a cheat. You want to poison them because you can't win a fair fight. They might be ambitious killers, but at least they give their victims a chance to fight back. To look them in the eye. You won't even do the job yourself, you want me to do it for you. Coward.”

Adrian growled, and then shrugged and shook his head.

“Just think about it,” he said. “You could be free, Zara. Isn't that what you've always wanted?”

It was, but not like that. Never like that. I shook my head and held out the vial, but Adrian walked away without taking it.

I knew I should have called out, told the guards he was there. But he would be killed, and I couldn't murder him anymore than I could poison the twins. So I watched him walk away from me yet again.

I tucked the vial in my dress. I'd get rid of it later.

I walked back into the ballroom just as chaos erupted. There was screaming from panicked guests and shouting from the guards. I heard the word 'Rogue' several times.

Adrian wasn't the only one to invade the Mate Ball. More Rogues had taken the opportunity to attack. No one seemed to know what to do. Guards and guests ran around in circles, some trying to escape and others trying to contain the mayhem.

I backed away from the crowd, intending to work my way around the wall and get into the hall. The best thing to do in a Rogue attack is to stay out of the way. I trained, sure, and I could fight. But I didn't train with the guards, and we'd only get in each other's way. I would be a liability and I knew it.

Someone grabbed my arm. I followed the tug, assuming for a moment that it was one of the guards trying to clear out non-combatants from the ballroom. Then I was yanked around and a knife pressed against my throat.

The Rogue backed up to the wall, bringing me with him. I stayed frozen, feeling the hard edge of the blade against the bottom of my collar.

The twins arrived moments later. They rushed across the ballroom, cutting through the chaos like an arrow through the air.

“Stop!” the Rogue ordered, “Move one muscle and she dies!”

Kieran stopped, and his eyes flickered to Lucian.

Lucian also stopped, but he crossed his arms and shrugged. His eyes were chips of ice as they glanced from me to the Rogue.

“Kill her, then,” Lucian said. “We don't care. But you'll lose your hostage, and you will not walk out of here alive.”

I stared at them. I knew I was nothing but a toy to them, but to hear him say it, to hear those words from my fated mate hurt something deep inside. It didn't matter that he didn't know, it only mattered that he didn't care. I felt my wolf whine in pain within me.

“I'll really do it,” the Rogue said. “Don't take one step!”

Lucian's eyes narrowed, and he took a deliberate step forward. My heart plummeted to my stomach as the knife pressed tighter against my throat.

I was going to die, and my fated mates were going to stand by and watch it happen.