Chapter 137

Helen POV

Justin rented a car when our time in paradise had clearly come to an end. We didn’t get to mate, we didn’t even get to talk through all of our problems. I felt stronger though, as if I had gotten a week’s worth of rest and my body and wolf were both rejuvenated.

My mate appeared to be in the same condition, his eyes lit with a new fire.

He sat the little vial between us, the precarious opal-like liquid swishing around as he pulled the classic car down the mortal world’s highway. I missed our pack and the trees, especially the river, but I also needed to know what happened with Ezequiel.

Justin said Randy was going to take care of him but it didn’t explain anything to me.

Why would he turn on us and lead the pixies to their death? He had been given leniency with his sister staying in the pack but for him to betray that trust, it just didn’t add up. I thought of him a lot on the silent, dreary trip back to the pack.

My eyes flutter shut with his name still stuck on my mind.

I woke up in a dark, familiar dungeon, the Huntsman’s old face framed right in front of me. he leaned forward in his chair, his eyes drawing down the chain around my throat that I was sure had gotten tighter since the last dream.

“Why am I here again?”

He looked over me thoughtfully before replying in a smooth voice, “Your mate is lying to you.”

My brows pinched in hesitation. “What are you talking about?”

“He claims his father is dead, Helen. Can’t you tell that he’s just trying to play this game without you?”

“Killing off our pack and those poor pixies isn’t a game to me. Maybe it is to you, because you’re the damn devil, but other than that, I don’t think you understand the war you’re staring with us. We will not go down easily, Huntsman.”

His eyes lit up. He was enticed by that promise. “I know, Luna. You don’t have to threaten me, I can feel every corner of your mind and the hatred that resides there. You cannot hate more than me, though.”

I rolled my eyes. He spoke as though it was a competition, like I wanted to be dragged here in my sleep just so I could be sized up to this evil, filthy man. I had to get new information, not just fresh bruises out of this exchange.

I settled on the cold floor, trying hard to ignore the lingering tightness around my throat.

“Why do you think Justin is lying to me?”

His eyes went completely white and my breath hitched. I tried to remain calm but he looked like he was glowing now, a murky vision coming between us, one that he forced into my unwilling mind.

I could see Justin in our little oasis, speaking to his father—who looked very much alive.

“What the hell?” I hummed, cocking my head. I could spot myself in the background, asleep and whimpering in my light dreams. Justin stood in the way of his father from being able to look at me. I appreciated that gesture, but it wasn’t a good thing completely. “He does know his dad is alive…”

The Huntsman nodded calmly, ripping the vision from my mind. He still sat before me now but with a wide, churlish smile splayed over his lips. He pursed his lips at last in admiration of his work.

“Seems like poor little Helen isn’t on as good terms as she may think. Your mate met his father in the flesh and they exchanged a few choice words about alliance and betraying you.”

My heart sunk. “Wha—what?”

“The Alpha King is trying to betray you, Helen. He hates his own son. Do you think he would want more Lycan’s in the world? He faked his death because he could smell me coming, but I see everything. I saw him hand your mate that vial of super poison. If you take it, it won’t just make it impossible to have pups.

“It will kill you.”

I hissed a breath, loosing my composure. “N—no. You’re lying! You just don’t want me to take it because you know if I do, you won’t be able to mess with my dreams anymore.”

He sat back, shrugging off my claim completely. “Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is clear, Luna. If you can’t trust me then okay, go ahead and test the poison. See what happens. But if you ask your mate if he met his father that night, and he lies, then can you really trust that the poison is safe?”

My lungs ached and were raw, the tight collar on my throat not helping. “He is my mate. He would only lie to me if he had to protect me.”

Again, he seemed rather dismissive. “Then go ask him yourself.”

He swung his leg out, his sharp, steel-toe boot ramming right into my already throbbing temple. I slumped over, feeling the chains release while I coughed up warm, irony blood. It splattered over my lap as I broke awake in the car.

Justin had pulled over, standing outside my door with worry dripping off his face. He ripped off his shirt and dabbled it across my cheek and my swelling eye, patting the blood off as it came.

“We have to do something about the Huntsman invading your dreams,” he grumbles. “And we have to do it soon. You’re going to break every bone in your face, mate. It’s no longer safe for us to hold off on this.”

He held the bottle between us and I hesitated. I didn’t want to undermine Justin at all, but as my mate, he should tell me the truth and not try to argue with me when he knows that his father is alive.

I leaned forward, holding a wrist to my lip that oozed blood from my throat and it trailed down my chin. “Justin, where did you get the super poison?”

His eyes went cold. “Why do you ask?”

I could only shrug at first, not wanting to accuse him of anything, but that vision looked too realistic to be false. Then again, he was able to drag me to his hellscape in my dreams and effect wounds on my body in reality.

He had powers I couldn’t comprehend. But what I saw in the last vison looked too real.

“Where did you get the poison from, Justin?”

He stood up straight. “You will take it. It’s the only way I can keep you safe. Whether we have pups one day or not is unimportant. I want to know you’re safe and alive—that’s all I care about.”

My body trembled. If he wasn’t guilty of something, why was he fighting me so hard on this question? It’s an easy answer. He either found the damn thing, made it himself…

Or the Huntsman is right and my mate and I are on worse terms than I originally thought.

“Justin, please.”

He hung his shoulders and looked exasperated from my accusation. “I—it was given to me—I just—”

I stood up, reaching for my mate but he took a cautious step back. I realized then how wrong I was to stick up so much for my mate. He was clearly hiding things and if they were for my benefit or not, it ached all the same.

“What if your father laced it with nothing but wolfsbane? Then what, Justin?”

He didn’t look surprised that I knew it was from his father but more so hurt that I said it out loud. “I don’t know, mate. I really don’t, but I need to protect you somehow. I cannot beat the Huntsman. You need rest after the first time he attacked you. I have to buy us some time.”

He held out the bottle and I looked at it for a long moment without a clue on what to do with it.

Juden would do anything to hurt his son, including the idea of killing me. He has tried and come close before. How could we trust this would be different?

I hummed a noise in disgruntled obedience and took the vial.

Justin didn’t trust me still, but I trusted him with my life.