Braelyn’s scent soothed me when it shouldn’t have. I would still catch it inside my dreams and would awake, wondering if she’d been in my cell while I’d been sleeping. But she wasn’t because she hadn’t cared that her father sold us to the highest bidder. Braelyn had only cared about herself, and I needed to hold her at arm’s length.
“You were protecting yourself, you selfish bitch. You were always good at protecting yourself from everyone, weren’t you? You pretend to be so selfless, and the moment you fear repercussion, you go into self-preservation mode. It’s what you’ve always done. You are your father’s daughter, Braelyn. I just failed to see that truth when I let you past my shields and showed you who I was. The first moment you got a deeper look into the fucking mess that was me, you ran. When you saw inside my soul and glimpsed my pain, you abandoned me because you are nothing more than a self-serving bitch.” Braelyn’s eyes widened, and I pressed on, needing to strike her down. I hated that I’d opened up my soul to her, and instead of wanting to look deeper, she’d rejected me.
“You were always running from anything that made you choose between your father and us. You and me—we were written on a dying star that was burning out before we’d ever etched our names onto it. Now get fucking dressed and stay the fuck away from my son. I won’t let you ruin him as you did me. Do not embarrass me tonight. Try to pretend you’re a lady and not some spoiled bitch who knows nothing else but this fucking mountain you love so much. You’re nothing more than a silly girl raised in a bubble,” I sneered as I waved my hand around in the air, signifying her territory. “You wouldn’t know one thing about the world beyond these walls and past this mountain.”
I hated that I loved the fact that she didn’t care what the outside world thought about the packs. Braelyn was a breath of fresh air, yet she was also poison ivy that looked innocent enough until you rolled around in it.
Braelyn’s face dropped, and her scent turned to rejection and pain for a brief moment before it vanished altogether. Her mask slid into place, and she turned away from me, grabbing her heels while I took in her curves. I hated that I wanted to take the words back and remove the pain I’d glimpsed, but I also knew I wouldn’t do it. I needed to push her away. I needed to remind myself of who she was and why we were all here.
Braelyn drove me insane. She pretended she wasn’t aware of where my crew and I had been all this time. Fuck her. I could play stupid, too. It was probably a good thing she’d reminded me of the fake bitch she really was because for a moment, my guard had lowered, and I couldn’t afford to let that happen again. Especially since I was so close to figuring out where the children were being held for transport on this mountain. Several children had recently been taken from the surrounding packs and were traced to a server on this mountain that had uploaded their images to the web.
I’d find the children, and then I’d figure out how to deal with Braelyn. I’d had people scouring the mountain for days, searching for the missing children and for clues as to where they could have been hidden. Braelyn’s people were slowly being told what was happening and what had transpired under Harold’s orders. Eventually, her people would turn against her if it was discovered that Braelyn had anything to do with Harold’s actions. Pack rules were simple, and if broken, they’d turn against even those in which they were most loyal.
Some of her pack had already begun to switch loyalties, and Braelyn hadn’t noticed it yet. Lucas, one of her closest friends, was shocked by the news. He’d listened to our story, his anger building at the idea of what had happened right under his nose. In denial, he had defended Brae’s innocence, but I’d caught the hesitation burning in his eyes when I’d told him where Eryx and I were taken after Braelyn’s rejection.
Lucas’s mind had spun, and he’d hesitated when answering my questions, his turmoil palpable. Like us, he wasn’t able to prove Braelyn was innocent, and while it upset him, he’d still defended her. I’d listened as he’d told me how closed-off she’d become as if hiding part of herself from the pack. Harold had done the same thing, easily concealing his dark activities, appearing to be innocent of his crimes. It left us assuming Braelyn was as guilty as her father because she was hiding her emotions. Lucas admitted there were weeks where Braelyn would vanish, only to return with no proof of where she’d been or why she’d been gone.
That information alone left me sick, turning the facts over inside my head. Was she in on it and helping Harold with his human trafficking when she vanished? It explained her disappearance, which also coincided with shipments of those Harold had sold. Lucas confirmed she’d gone missing last May for three weeks, and I knew there’d been a large shipment of children at the same time. Lucas remembered this time well because he said Braelyn returned a little worse for wear and seemed troubled. But she was Brae, he’d said, and Braelyn always bounced back and went about business as usual, even if twisted shit was happening here.
Chapter Ten
Saint
I studied how Xariana and one of her fellow hunters sprayed luminol around the apartment in which we stood. The apartment was a series of small rooms with tables inside of each. I’d seen the setup before, knew it intimately. It was the perfect place to create snuff films that could stream their content out into the dark web, made to accrue revenue from the pain others endured.
My phone went off, and I peered down at the screen, watching the image of Braelyn flipping Phenrys off as she moved around her room back at the compound. It made my stomach churn. Pushing the phone back into my pocket, I watched as Eryx walked the alphas into the apartment.
I didn’t bother to ease their fear since I planned to watch and study their reaction to what they were about to see. The TV screens mounted on the wall were all showing static. But in the next few minutes, the alphas would learn the truth of what was happening on their pack’s land.
Xavier nodded, indicating the feeds would be up momentarily. My chest tightened with worry for Braelyn. In a matter of moments, I’d be condemning her in the eyes of her peers. I’d come back here to end this shit, and while it created hell for my mate, it had affected others in worse ways.
Xariana pushed her warrior braids away from her heart-shaped face, and Carleigh walked toward me, brushing against my side. I’d known Carleigh for ten years, working beside her in the hunt to end the trafficking ring that had exploited both of us to make money.
Carleigh had been a light at the end of a dark tunnel. She understood the pain I’d endured and hadn’t judged me because of it. We’d fucked, but there had never been emotions involved, at least on my part. Not like Brae, not like what had just gone down inside her bedroom. With Carleigh, it was just mindless sex to ease the ache and unleash my anger. But with Brae, shit was twisted as emotions unfurled and unleashed from within us.
“I miss you in my bed,” Carleigh whispered, her fingers rubbing circles on my palm.
“Do you now?” I didn’t get the rush of heat or need to slip away with her that usually happened when Carleigh was close at hand.
“Is your mate everything you hoped she would be?” she asked, causing my stomach to tighten at her words.
Was Braelyn everything I hoped she would be? More. Braelyn had floored me inside her room, fucking me hard, unleashing her pent-up anger. But that wasn’t something I wanted to admit to out loud, and not to someone I’d fucked merely for release.
“She’s Braelyn,” I announced, turning as the alphas began sitting on the far side of the room, where they’d have a front-row seat to the multitude of monitors Zayne had set up. “She was untouched,” I admitted, and Carleigh’s green eyes slid toward mine.
“But she isn’t now?” she asked, and I smirked. “You took her to your bed even after suspecting she is involved in her father’s operation?” Carleigh’s lips jerked into a smirk as her fingers slipped through mine, tightening around my hand. “You deserve better, and you know it, asshole. She’s not worthy of you.”
“And you are?”
I countered, wondering why my body wasn’t reacting to her touch.
“I didn’t say I wanted you, now did I? I simply stated the truth. Braelyn threw you away, and we both know you deserve better than that. I’m available later, in case you were wondering. I could use some mindless orgasms.”
“I bet you could,” I teased, nodding to Xari, who moved toward the light switch. “I won’t be available, though. I have a mate to punish for her wicked ways. I quite enjoy my role as her mate and tormentor at the moment.”
“You intend to keep her?” Carleigh asked, her eyes sliding over Ezekiel and Enzo before briefly returning to mine. “She’s poison, Saint. You told me that yourself. Plus, if Braelyn is part of her father’s endeavors, she’s dead. Can you knowingly fuck her and slit her throat if she is guilty? Because that is the cost for selling people, Saint. We’ve all agreed, and the compact only works if we all keep the promise we made to punish those who’ve profited from the trafficking. If she’s at fault, I will be the first in line to call for Braelyn’s blood, just so you’re aware.”
“If Braelyn is guilty, I will end her life myself. I am aware of the agreement since I was the first to stipulate the rules with Xavier. Don’t mistake me wanting to fuck my mate for feelings of love. She lost that from me when she refused to stand up against her father. Braelyn is mine to put down if she’s guilty.”
“You called me here for a reason. What would that reason be?” Carleigh countered, her tone sharp and filled with pain.
Smiling, I grabbed her hand, bringing it to my lips to brush them over her knuckles. “You’re one of a kind, Car, you are. You were there for me when I was lost and couldn’t find my way out of the dark hole they’d put me in. You will always have a part of me that no one else will. I can’t change that Braelyn’s my mate, though, and you know it as well as I do. Braelyn broke my trust and destroyed me. We both know that even if she isn’t part of this operation, and that’s a big if, it will never be the same between Braelyn and me. I don’t know if I can ever forgive her for her part in what happened to me and the others, but she’s mine either way. Either to put down or to see if I can salvage what little there is between us. You, you’re the best fucking tracker I know. I brought you here, Carleigh, because there are children someplace on this mountain, and we have to find them before winter sinks its claws into this place. They won’t survive until spring thaw comes, and you’re here to help us find them.”
“Can you honestly say you’ll be able to rip out Braelyn’s heart if she willingly sold you and the others into slavery?” she asked, watching me closely.
My cheek pulsed with the reality that I wouldn’t be able to do it. However, Eryx would put her down in a humane way, and I could live with that. I hated the idea of Braelyn knowing what had happened to my crew and me. But the chances of her not being involved in her father’s business were slim at best. My heart clenched with the reality that I’d returned to find her untouched and everything I’d ever wanted, only to end up murdering the woman custom made for me by the wolf god, Fenrir.
Eryx stepped up, smirking at Carleigh with amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Carleigh, come to make Saint’s mate jealous?” Eryx folded his heavily tattooed arms over his chest. “Or did you come to ride us both again? I did enjoy our last night together before we started back to this shithole we called home.”
“That depends,” she purred, tracing a blood-red fingernail over my arm.
“On?” Eryx asked, narrowing his stare on her finger.
Carleigh laughed, her eyes growing hooded with memories of us double-teaming her on our last night together. “If you can convince Saint to play with us, or not,” she said in a husky tone. “You know I want him, but he’s hung up on his silly little mate. Convince him, and I’ll take you both on again.”
Eryx snorted, shaking his head. “They’re ready for us, Saint.”
I smirked, starting toward the alphas and Lucas. “Gentlemen, you’re aware that we asked you here today to discuss pack matters,” I started as Lucas held up his hand.
“Why isn’t Braelyn here? If this is about pack business, she should be here.” His blue eyes scanned my face carefully.
“What we’re about to show you is related to our previous conversation about Braelyn. You’re here to help me determine if she was involved in her father’s business or not.” I held his stare until he nodded his head and dropped his gaze. “Harold was into some shady shit, and I need to know if you or anyone else was a part of his trafficking ring.”
“Trafficking?” one of the older alphas asked.
“Yes. Harold trafficked wolves, humans, and creatures that he or his people could easily subdue and sell into slavery,” Eryx stated, watching the alphas for any sign of guilt.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” one demanded, his eyes sliding over the other men and women inside the room slowly with new interest.
“Harold was selling creatures for monetary gain. He sold me and others into slavery, where they used us for shit that would make torture look fun.” I hated the tic that started in my jaw as my throat tightened with the admission of being used and helpless.
“Fuck off,” the alpha snapped, standing up as the lights turned off and the luminol started glowing, revealing blood splatter all over the walls, tables, and floors. “What the fuck?” The alpha sat down slowly, as if in shock.
“As I was saying, Harold was into some shady shit. You’re about to watch videos that we obtained from his library. Harold worked with Carlson and other area alphas to sell orphans, misfits, and anyone else who wouldn’t be missed. He fucked up, though, when he started selling humans, which caught the hunters’ eye. That began their search for those taken, and it was how they found my crew and me at one of the many places Harold owned. He was profiting from porn, snuff films, and the more sinister ones that featured children raped and murdered.” I stepped back, leaning against the wall, close enough to be able to scent their guilt if they so much as released a whiff of it.
Sian and Zayne started the monitors up as Carleigh leaned against the wall beside me, but her presence didn’t offer comfort. Nausea pushed against the back of my throat, burning it as my gaze moved to the Jane Doe on the monitors, as Harold sliced away her skin in small patches.
Of all the victims Harold had, he enjoyed Jane Doe’s pain the most. The look in his eyes was pure evil as he removed more of her skin, dragging the knife blade over the bloodied muscle beneath it. I knew that pain intimately since he’d done the same to me on multiple occasions. I’d escaped, though. There were nearly a hundred videos of Jane Doe, and one was already cued up in the feed. She was his favorite, having tortured her from the time she was a child. That’s why I believed Jane Doe was still out there, and I wanted to save her.
My gaze met Xavier’s, and a pained look filled his eyes while his hands shook with rage. He’d been trying to find and free Jane Doe since he’d started this gig, ending the trafficking of creatures. Sure, Xavier was a hunter who policed the otherworld creatures, but Jane Doe had been his focus for the last few years, and the trail had gone cold a year ago. He feared Harold had grown tired of his pet and that she’d been murdered or sold to someone who wasn’t into sharing their victims.
Slowly, my attention shifted back to the monitors showing children and women tortured and mutilated by their tormentors. The entire wall was covered in monitors, showing off Harold, in all his glory, as he raped and tortured his latest victims. There was no denying it was him since he hadn’t even bothered to hide his face from the camera. He’d barely left the mountain to be recognized, and when he had, he stuck to the darker territories where those of his ill-likeness welcomed him with open arms.
I nodded to Xari, and she flicked the light on so that I could take in the alpha’s expressions. Each one looked horrified as pain filling their eyes. Swallowing down relief, I jutted my chin for Zayne to kill the feeds to the monitors.
“This is what the alpha did to fe
ed his people. He streamed some of the sessions live, and then the subject was auctioned off if they survived the torture. Others were filmed and then sold for purchase on the dark web. When Braelyn rejected my mating rite, Harold sold me to Bella Donna, a woman who enjoyed hurting men.” Pointing my fingers to the monitors, I lowered my voice, “That is why I returned, not to claim Braelyn as my mate properly. I returned to find out how deep this shit goes. There’s also a secondary place somewhere on this mountain that Harold held his victims. This feed,” I nodded to Zayne, who brought up the image of children held in chains within a dimly lit room, “is a live stream of those he has available for purchase, and the numbers on their chests are current bids for their lives. They’re here, on this mountain, but we haven’t been able to locate them.”
“You think Braelyn is a part of this?” one of the alphas asked, and Carleigh nodded, her eyes smiling as she caught mine. “Braelyn wouldn’t do this. She’s not like that.”
“Or she’s good at hiding it,” Carleigh offered, and my anger rose at her need to charge Braelyn with the crime.
“We don’t know if she is or not. I know for Harold to do this on the level he has, it would be hard for his daughter not to have been involved. We’ve found no proof of guilt yet, but we also haven’t found any to suggest she is innocent.” I gave Carleigh a look of warning to back off.
“No way,” Lucas stated. “No fucking way would she do this? Braelyn works her ass off with us. She takes care of the pack, and she’s earned our respect because of it. She would sooner cut off her own hands than hurt our people.”
“And yet she threw away her mate? She lied to the pack about Saint, and she allowed her father to sell him and his friends. Braelyn committed the worst crime she could by lying to her pack about her true soul mate,” Carleigh injected, her anger rising at what had been done to me and the others. “Did you know she knowingly denied her mate?”
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