“Leave them,” she rasped.
“What is it? Don´t you like your window anymore?” Mark asked gently and dismissed her request, throwing the window open.
“The world is ugly and it hurts. I don´t wish to see it anymore,” Cora said, making the other man blink at her stricken expression.
“I´ll let you get some rest,” he said and walked up to Steven who had ambled even closer almost involuntarily after the girl´s words. “She will be okay,” the healer said, laying a strong hand on his friend´s shoulder aiming to reassure. “Just give her some time.”
“Thank you,” the Alpha said with a resigned smile.
“Listen,” Mark insisted. “When I left Jen´s pack for yours after you became an Alpha, it was because she was lost and I thought I knew what kind of man you were.”
“You don´t have to...” Steven tried to stop him, thinking he was about to get rightfully accused, but the younger man barrelled on.
“Just... Thank you for not proving me wrong today.”
Steven swallowed hard and nodded, grateful for his friend´s kind heart. Before he realized it, he was left alone with Cora who had finally fallen asleep. Dull rays of sunshine poked their way through the morning mist and Steven, licking his lips and hesitating for a small second, slowly moved closer and sat on the bed by the Princess´ feet, patiently waiting for her to wake up. His hand found its way on her leg, his thumb running up and down the jut of her ankle bone trying to keep the nightmares at bay and soothe her restless mumbling. Sitting like that for hours, the weariness of the last few weeks caught up with him and he fell into a deep slumber, half sprawled over the Princess with his head resting heavily on her stomach.
When Cora woke up close to midday, an abject terror flooded through her when she felt the heavy weight pinning her down. Thinking for a moment that she was back in that dreadful cell, she started to hyperventilate, only calming down when Steven´s face came into view above her.
“Shh,” the Alpha soothed, resting a gentle hand on the sharp ridge of her cheek. “It´s just me.”
“Steven.” Her words came out as hiccupped coughs of air and an overwhelming rush of affection tore through him as she hugged him close.
“I know,” he said, voice filled with suppressed outrage. “We´ll find out who did this and I promise you they will pay.”
“Don´t...” Cora begged. “Don´t let this go on. Not because of me.”
“Alright,” the Alpha conceded, his voice dropping, although he had no intention of letting this go. Sure, Jen had thrown her in prison but since he could not actually punish his Queen, whoever thought it was okay to lay a hand on Cora would have to be enough to place his frustration on.
“Thank you,” the young witch said and stifled a yawn.
“You should get some more rest.”
“You don´t have to stay.”
Steven, on Cora´s dismissive tone, screwed up the courage to do something he wanted to do since he last left her room and placed an exploratory kiss on her mouth. Cora´s lips were dry under his but they quickly softened and plumped as he nipped at them, soothing the bite with his tongue afterwards.
“I’ll be right here,” he said and she threw him a doubtful smile, letting her eyes fall shut once again.
11. THIRD CHANCE
Cora, slowly but steadily, was healing up physically but the same couldn´t be said for her mental state. Her mind kept going back to a dark place, though she wasn´t sure which of the dirty dungeons she had spent her life in her subconscious got stuck on each time. The pack was keeping an eye on her constantly and, despite the fact that they were trying to be subtle about it, there was a certain someone who wasn´t satisfied with watching from behind closed doors.
“Let me do that,” Steven said and took the fresh bandages out of Mark´s hands.
“You need to clean the cuts before redressing the wounds,” the healer instructed, hesitating to surrender his place.
“I know,” the Alpha rolled his eyes exasperated. “Don´t you have anything better to do?”
“I´ll leave you to it, then,” Mark said, his voice trailing off in question. The Alpha stared him down until he finally gave up and took a hasty step back. “Just return everything to the infirmary when you are done,” he huffed.
Steven nodded and shut the door quietly after Mark´s exit. He walked up to Cora who was sitting at her wing chair, staring out of the window unblinkingly. The blood from the cuts had pooled in bright lines of red against her skin and the bruises mottling her face had faded into a sick yellow. The places where she´d been whipped though still needed careful tending, those wounds deeper and slower to heal.
“Come on,” Steven coached, lacing their fingers together. It took Cora a moment to come back to herself and understand what he was asking of her and, transfixed, she moved to the bed. Steven re-oriented her to face towards the door, her back to the window, so as to have more light to work with. He ran a thumb quickly over her cheek, a small caress, and ducked his head to meet her averted gaze. She finally looked at him and drew in a deep breath, resting her face on his collarbone.
“I need to take this off,” Steven said and started to lower her dress off her shoulders mindful of her ribs and the knife wound Mark had already tended to. Her back was a mess of dried blood but the Alpha´s interest was drawn to the older wounds, the ones that seemed to have healed years ago. His mind flashed to a night back at Cora´s first days with them when he had accidentally touched her bare shoulder. He realized what he had thought then as disgust was actually fear and maybe even shame. That wouldn´t do. He would stop her from feeling skittish around him. And he would surely try to make her realize she had nothing to be ashamed of. Making an effort to keep that thought at the forefront of his mind, he leaned down and pecked the skin above the biggest scar that started over her left shoulder and came all the way down her right hip.
“Stop,” his voice rumbled against her back when she started to move away. He kissed her then, quick and soft, long and warm, and she left a whimper against his mouth.
“Why are you not disgusted?” She asked, bringing her hand up and running her fingers through the stubble lining his cheek in reverence.
He buried his nose in the crook behind her ear and murmured, “I don´t have the strength to do anything more but crave for you.” Their lips sealed together again, moving in concert until Steven pulled back to let her breathe. “I need to take care of your back,” he said and she nodded, moving towards the edge of the bed to let him sit behind her.
“Who did this to you?” He couldn´t keep his voice neutral no matter how hard he tried.
“Many people over the years.” Her answer was full of a nonchalance the Alpha knew she wasn´t feeling.
“You know what I mean,” he growled, remembering Joe´s report. None of the guards had given him anything, not even a scent trail to follow.
“Why does it matter? It´s over.”
“I don´t want anything like this happening again,” Steven insisted.
“Then start by teaching your people forgiveness and kindness.” Cora hissed when she felt a wet cloth passing over her back.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I´m almost done.” He let the cloth drop on the floor and picked up the bandages Mark had left behind. He wrapped the white gauze around her torso and secured it in place with a safety pin, making sure it wasn´t too tight.
“Take a deep breath,” he instructed and she complied. “How are your ribs?”
“Better. At least I can stand up now.”
Steven placed a kiss on her temple and stood up, throwing Mark´s medical stuff haphazardly into the healer´s backpack in order to return them. The Alpha was surprised at his own actions. Since when had he become so affectionate? But the sight of her covered in her own blood, broken, couldn´t leave his mind and he felt by being kind to her he atoned for Jen´s actions. During his more lonely moments, he could even admit to himself that he was also indulging his own desire.
&nbs
p; He tried to get more information after she lay down on the bed, the covers tucked around her and her brown curls cascading on the pillow. “It wasn´t just my people though.”
“No, it wasn´t,” she agreed.
“But you don´t walk to talk about that either,” Steven surmised.
“What is there to talk about? I was born to follow orders. When I disobeyed them I got punished. It´s not so different from what happened with your sister.” She didn´t fail to meet his eyes this time, making sure her reproachful words would cut deep.
“How long have you been holding that in?” Annoyance started creeping back into him, something she had the unique ability to cause without warning. “You couldn´t think of anything more cutting to say?”
“Why do you always do this? Why do you become so defensive?”
“She´s my Queen,” a growl slipped into his voice.
“Yeah, well... She did this to me. No matter what is happening between you and me, you need to admit that.”
“What happened to forgiveness and kindness?”
“Forgive me for expecting an apology...” Her voice got quieter as she lost herself in her thoughts. The Alpha shook his head in disbelief.
“I can´t tell whether you have a secret agenda or you´re just so naive. Do you really expect a Queen to apologise? This is not how the world works.”
“You better decide what I am then before you kiss me again. Unless that´s how she chose to repay me. By pimping out her brother.” Cora was angry, the throbbing pain in her side making her temper more volatile. Steven was the one who didn´t understand, not her. From the frown that creased his forehead, she figured out immediately she had touched a nerve but his blatant faith and willingness to defend his sister against everything were what was causing her caustic words and not any actual ill feeling towards him. She wouldn´t apologize for them until he acknowledged that Jen was in the wrong.
“Shut your mouth,” the Alpha barked from his place near the door, his claws slipping out and cutting his palms open where he drew them in a fist. Cora looked at the red drops littering the floor and felt her airway tighten up, the clarity of her thoughts disappearing at the sight of blood. Steven watched her panicking with blistering curiosity before letting out a rueful laugh. “You are all talk but, when it comes down to it, you are nothing but a scared witch in the wolf´s den.”
Cora´s head snapped up. “You are right, I am scared. But you can´t even begin to fathom what it is that ticks me off.” She gathered her courage and, in a decisive voice, she told him to go.
“This is the second time you ask me to leave,” he warned. “Careful... Next time maybe I won´t come back.”
“I didn´t even expect you to come this time so...” She waved a hand towards the door, a clear sign that she wasn´t going to change her mind. Steven pressed his lips together in an angry line and kept his posture straight as he turned to leave. He froze on the doorway when he saw Jason standing there, his hand raised in a fist, ready to knock.
“Sorry,” the Beta said sheepishly, conveying with his eyes that he had been listening in again.
“What is it now?” Steven asked pettishly.
“I´m here for her actually,” Jason shrugged and pointed at Cora. “Jen wants to see her.”
“Look at that,” the Alpha turned to the girl once again. “You might get your apology after all.” His tone was full of sarcasm but he still walked over to the bed and helped her sit up and walk the small distance to the council room.
Only Jen, her parents and Joe were waiting for them, the rest of Steven´s pack somewhere close -from what he could tell- but still out of the way. In the middle of the room, a man was sitting on a chair, his hands cuffed on its legs. He was dirty, his clothes torn and his boots muddy. An ugly gash was marring his face making him look menacing but his full of hate scent told the Werewolves that he needed no scar to be considered ominous.
“Who is he?” Steven asked stepping into the room, Cora and Jason remaining close to the door.
“With all of last weeks´ upheaval I forgot to mention something more important,” Jen said and looked between her brother and his Beta. “This man is responsible for the Bay Valley fiasco. He is the one that fed us the wrong information.”
“How long has he been working for you?” The Prince asked, slipping into his role easily.
“Almost five years. We never had a problem before.”
“It was an honest mistake,” the man rasped and immediately fell into a coughing fit. Steven´s nose twitched visibly having caught a very specific scent. The man was Magic. The male Alpha looked at his sister who nodded imperceptibly, having drawn the same conclusion. With potions able to cover a person´s scent circulating among the Magics, it wasn´t difficult to fool a Werewolf -even an Alpha Queen- for years if the potion was used systematically. The days the man spent in their dungeons had apparently made him unable to up the dosage of whatever he had been taking.
Steven ignored the stranger and tilted his head towards Cora. “What do you want with her?” The whole room, apart from the prisoner who was rooted to his spot, turned their attention to her.
“Do you know him?” Jen asked the young Magic who remained frozen by the door. “Step closer.”
“I don´t need to,” Cora managed to choke out. “I could never forget his figure or his voice.”
“Who is he?” Moira asked.
Jason nudged Cora with his elbow and she jumped out of some terrible memory, colour creeping up into her face. “His name is Angus but they call him Angel. He is Larson´s deputy commander.”
“I feared as much,” Jen sighed.
“Who is that bitch? Come around so I can see you!” The man demanded.
Cora lingered at Jason´s side. It was time to fish or cut bait; she either played dumb and retreated to her room or let everyone know who she really was. She liked to think she wasn´t a coward though so, with a few decisive steps forward, she entered Angus´ field of vision.
“Well, well, well... If it isn´t our elusive Princess,” the man crooned the minute he laid eyes on Cora.
“Your Princess? You admit it then? You are a spy,” John said testily.
“It would be foolish to deny it now,” Angus smirked, his eyes always on Cora. “You have enough damning evidence.” He bared his teeth in a feral grin. “I received news that you had finally disappeared but who would have thought they brought you inside their own home?”
“What are you talking about? What have you been reporting back? You never had any sensitive info,” Jen asked.
“I haven´t. I´ve been simply biding my time.” Angus finally turned to Jen and the serenity in his voice made everyone tense.
“For what?”
“For her.” He gestured with his head towards Cora. “Do you really think your daddy would put you in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere with only two guards? You surprise me, you didn´t use to be so stupid.”
“I don´t know what that means,” Cora said, turning to Jen in panic. A wrong word would send her back in that cell and, although she knew from the moment she saw Angus that was inevitable, she would prefer to be punished for her actual crimes.
“I believe her,” Steven said and the girl whirled around to stare at him in gratitude.
“What was Larson´s plan?” Jen kept on interrogating the traitor, fixing her brother with a death glare which he just reflected back at her double force.
“You will see soon enough,” Angus quipped, too breezily for a man in his position.
“He is not going to give us anything,” Joe stepped in. “We are losing our time.”
“You are right.” Jen nodded at her uncle who walked up to the prisoner drawing a dagger from inside his right boot. Angus laughed a raucous laugh that lit up his face.
“You are going to kill me and leave that filthy spawn walk among you?”
Jen raised her hand in a stopping gesture and Joe paused. “She hasn´t done anything to warrant death.”
&nbs
p; “Really? How about murdering one of your own in cold blood?” Angus grinned blissfully.
“This is stupid,” Jason intervened. “He is just trying to stall. Get it over with.”
No one agreed with his assessment though as the more experienced Werewolves noticed Cora´s odd silence and the way she was staring at the man, the unspoken words between them threatening to suffocate the entire room. They knew then that Angus was speaking the truth and Jen, a streak of ruthlessness always in her, asked “Who did she kill?”
“We had a prisoner once,” the man shrugged, smug and infuriatingly unashamed. “She was quite infatuated with him. A young man, couldn´t have been more than twenty. Alan was his name, if I recall correctly.”
Everyone froze at the sound of that name and turned to Cora. The Princess had lowered her gaze to the floor, tears running down her cheek and biting her lips to contain her sobs.
“One day,” Angus continued, “she picked up a knife and drove it straight into his heart. The poor guy was pretty defenceless too, all tied up to the wall.”
Cora shook her head fiercely but didn´t deny anything.
“Tell us that he´s lying,” Steven´s voice, wrecked, broke the silence. “Tell me that he´s playing with us.”
Cora drew in several deep breaths until she could speak. “It´s true.”
Jason gasped but Cora ignored him and Steven´s wordless cry and turned her focus on Jen. “I had to...”
“Shut up,” Jen´s tone was clipped, clearly in anguish upon the reminder of her mate´s death. Angus was still smiling contentedly, clearly understanding the damage he had just caused.
“Joe´s knife seems too merciful for you.” The Queen was gone and a rabid Alpha was standing in her place. “Take her out of my sight.”
“Wait!” Cora´s words slipped out almost panicky but she charged on. “You need to let me explain,” she begged but it was all in vain. She had just admitted killing someone they had all loved deeply and missed every second of their lives. There weren´t any flimsy excuses to be made, nothing that could save her anymore as, this time, it was Steven and Jason, grabbing an arm each, that dragged her to the dungeon as Joe´s blade slid through Angus´ throat.
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