Chapter 94
Jaspar Fox held the fourth seat at the High Table, and was more of an enigma than anyone else I had met. He was quite literally
covered in scars. They began on his face, a previous broken nose and some stitches to the cheek. All down his arms and back
were scars, rumors said there were even more beneath his pant line. Those particular words had been whispered by blushing
she-wolves, witnesses to this entire debacle. They were too afraid to attempt approaching him, but had no problem whispering
from the sidelines.
Jaspar was the only one who seemed completely disinterested in the entire meeting. Even as Marcus and Desmond spoke of
using my abilities for their own gain, he hadn’t batted an eyelash. His emotions reflected that relaxed demeanor, one that made
me wonder if he had ever truly cared about anything.
“I didn’t—” I began, but stopped as I met the frozen eyes of Desmond Deville.
I k****d a High Table member, the second to be exact. Desmond Deville was ranked just under Marcus Novak, which meant he
was wealthy and incredibly powerful.
My stomach twisted painfully, and I had but a moment’s notice before I was bent over, hurling up the contents of my dinner. My
nose burned and my eyes watered, but I couldn’t register the pain over my frantic thoughts.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t k****d before. Many rogues died during the battle, especially when I used my ability to subdue them. This,
however, was confirmation of what I was. A soul-eater. What good could come out of a gift so horrible? What was even worse
was how euphoric it felt, how strong and bloated with power I was. Disgust poured from my mouth in the form of acidic vomit.
Jaspar Fox waited patiently for me to finish. I stumbled into the connecting kitchen and rinsed my mouth with water, scowling
when I noticed the blank look on his face.
“Well, I’m sure you won’t deny it again.” Jaspar said evenly, glancing down at the three bodies on the floor. He prodded at
Desmond’s corpse with his foot and nodded, “Never thought I’d see a soul-eater at work before. Really, though. Did you have to
k**l Desmond Deville of all people?”
“It’s not like I had a choice, he attacked me.” I snarled back, finally finding my voice. “I never meant to k**l them, but they backed
me into a corner.”
“Be that as it may, what do you plan to do now?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. Jet black hair fell over his forehead,
grazing a scar on the side of his neck. “Where will you hide the bodies? Or perhaps you’ll confess and tell the truth, believing
you’ll be found innocent?”
I opened my mouth and closed it again before realizing he was right. I could tell the truth all I wanted, but then the world would
know what I could actually do. There was no way in h**l I’d be allowed to live freely after that.
“Kade.” I whispered to myself, glancing up at Jaspar. “My mate can help.”
“Can he? It seems he’s already quite busy. Searching for your lost mate must be proving difficult.” Jaspar mused, tapping his
chin with a finger. There was some subtle shift in his emotions, some decision had been made in his head. “Run to your mate,
Luna Aurora. I’ll clean this mess for you, but take care not to tell others of what happened here.”
Like any sane and rational werewolf, I scurried along. My heart raced with every twist and turn I made in the halls, convinced
some of Desmond’s men had found out the truth.
I barreled into Kade in the hallway, colliding with a wall of muscle that made my bones groan. My hands were shaking as I
shoved Kade inside the suite and buried my face in his chest.
“F*ck, sweetheart. I could feel you panicking from across the hotel.” He grunted, brushing back my hair until he found my paled
face.
Within seconds, I was scooped into his arms and surrounded by his rich, masculine scent. His arms formed a barrier around me,
and made me feel protected despite everything. I could still feel the throb in my chest as I worried for Alec. As much as I wanted
to curl up and stay in his embrace, I couldn’t. There was no way in h**l I trusted Jaspar Fox, and needed to tell Kade exactly
what had happened.
His eyes darkened as I told him the events in the last hour, ending with Jaspar Fox’s offer to help hide my mess. Kade pulled me
to my feet and placed his lips against my forehead in a swift kiss before tugging me along. I jogged a bit to keep up with his fast
pace, but I understood the need to hurry.
As we opened the door to the suite I had been attacked in, my mouth clicked shut. This had to be the right room—I still had the
note crumpled in my hands. The entire room was spotless. Even my vomit was gone, the carpet clean and white.
“That’s not possible, it’s only been ten minutes.” I scoffed, unable to believe the scene before me. There was magic and then
there was this. It brought an uncomfortable question to mind. If Marcus Novak kept white wolves as slaves, did the other High
Table members do the same?
“This isn’t good—we’re indebted to him now, and he’ll want repayment.” Kade grimaced, reaching out when a wave of guilt
washed over me. I let him thread his fingers through my hair, and looked up as he tilted my head. His gruff voice was unusually
soft, and it sent a little flutter through my chest. “None of this was your fault, sweetheart. If he were still alive, I’d hunt Desmond
Deville down myself. When Jaspar Fox comes knocking, we’ll handle it. It means he’ll hold up his end of the deal, which keeps
the rest of the High Table from finding out what happened.”
“You can be quite the optimist when you want to be.” I pointed out with a small smile, just enough to get a gravely laugh from
him.
“I have two roles to fill until we find Alec—which we will.” He replied with a snort.
Even though it physically hurt to be away from Alec for this long, I trusted Kade and knew that together we would bring him
home.
We had to wake early that morning, to meet with the others and plan out how we would successfully get the white wolves into
our territory.
Garrett looked impeccable as ever in his crisp suit, while Julian looked a bit bleary eyed. I couldn’t blame him, not even the
incredible coffee machine in our suite could wipe the cobwebs from my eyes. I was on my second iced mocha of the day, and
was already thinking about a third.
“Nothing I love more than early morning war plans.” Julian yawned loudly, stretching his arms wide over his head. Garrett cast
him a sour look which he dutifully ignored. “Especially with so much on the line.”
“We’re running on limited time.” Garrett snapped, his thick eyebrows furrowing. “This war, as you so eloquently put it, cannot wait
for your schedule to clear.”
“We’ve worked through some of the details so far, now it’s time to put things in motion.” Kade told me, cutting off any further
bickering that might come from Julian and Garrett. Despite Garrett’s put together appearance, he certainly wasn’t a morning
person either. “There’s orchards below the southern border to Marcus’s territory. We have some men planting supplies there in a
few hours. They’ll have to get themselves one mile away, to this abandoned railroad station in the woods. Marcus’s men rarely
leave the pack borders, but if they do, they always take the main road. They use vehicles for transportation and have always
stayed on two legs. There are a few backroads going through the forest, they’ll be used to get the white wolves farther away. The
next town over is almost an hour’s drive. Once they make it there, we’ll have them in an armored vehicle to the nearest airport.”
“You were busy last night.” I noted, staring at Kade a little starry eyed. I was near positive Kade felt the flash of guilt that crossed
my emotions, from the mess I had caused last night.
“You needed some time off.” He replied, his lips twitching. “Besides, I’ve never been a strategist. That’s always been Alec’s skill.
I’m not nearly as good as he is, but it’s nice to know I can handle my own.”
The second part of my High Table meeting began a few hours later. The anxiety in my gut chased away any remaining
exhaustion from my eyes.
We were escorted to the same room as before, and gathered in our own group at the center of the room. I counted the seconds,
hearing the dull tick from the clock across the room. Kade’s fingers traced small circles on my back, but I could hardly feel his
touch.
I was hyper focused on the men entering the room, the four men with grave looking faces.