Chapter 178
Third Person POV Brynn slowly shook her head and Luna Bianca nodded, a small smile curving on her lips. Ashton frowned, his hands gripping the edge of the study desk tightly.
"Brynn" Ashton rasped, feeling as though he was speaking from a distance, Brynn still looking uncertain "Can't you see that your mother is manipulating you? This is all she wants. Do you think she's going to let you lead? She's already tried to kill your father and now she wants me gone. Do you think you'll be safe?" he asked, causing Brynn to look sharply at her mother.
"Of course you will be" Luna Bianca assured her daughter, "I love you Brynn. You've always been my favorite. I would never harm you. I just want us to do this together. We don't need an Alpha to run the pack. We're stronger than any man and far more clever" she insisted, her voice rising higher and higher "together we can accomplish anything."
Ashton could feel his heart beginning to slow. He coughed, little spurts of blood spraying across the table. "Ashton" Brynn gasped, glancing wildly at her mother who had a smug expression on her face "Mother what have you done?" she demanded.
"Only what you were too much of a coward to do," Luna Bianca said dismissively "I'm getting rid of an obstacle standing in our way. Don't worry Ashton," she said with a smirk as Brynn's eyes slowly filled with tears "it will be over soon. I put a poison in your water. You only had to drink a few drops for it to take effect. I've never liked you and well, now I won't have to look at you anymore."
"You just said you wanted me to reject him" Brynn accused, hiccuping and staring at her mother indignantly "Why bother to poison him?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't have the guts to reject him. I know you too well daughter" Luna Bianca giggled, looking half-crazed "You've convinced yourself you're in love with him. You would have fought me every step of the way. Now you don't have to."
Ashton wheezed. Brynn squeezed his hand "Mother, where's the antidote?" she begged, her eyes welling with tears. They had their differences but she never would have wished Ashton dead like this. Her mother laughed. "There is no antidote," she said with bright eyes. Ashton looked at Brynn. For a moment, his vision wavered and he saw another girl who was opposite in appearance, who held his hand and whose eyes shone as she looked at him. She had a gentle smile on her face and her hair cascaded softly down her shoulders. A smile formed on his face as he stared at Blair. The girl whose mate he should have been all along. He felt regret deep inside of him. If he had only accepted his true mate, his life would have been different, and more richer than he could have envisioned. His own arrogance had proven to be his downfall. He reached out to Blair, his eyes softening. He could see a wolf behind her, a large black one, eyeing him curiously. The image shimmered and then was gone. He smiled, ignoring the look of pain on Brynn's face.
"I Ashton reject you Brynn Ryker as my mate" he whispered, causing Brynn to rear back and scream from pain as the mark on her neck began to disappear.
"Ashton" she screamed, sounding hysterical, her hand to her neck "What are you doing, what are you thinking?" Silence. Ashton gave one last regretful smile, before his head flopped onto the table and he passed away, his last thought of Blair and the life that might have been. Brynn wailed, while Luna Bianca reached out and slapped her. "Get yourself together," she said as Brynn dropped her hand, the mate bond severing, sending pain through her heart "And act like a Luna! There are plenty of other Alpha's out there. What we need to do is focus on what we are doing! I want you to ensure that the shipment from the Lunar Sky Pack is still going ahead as planned. Stop that crying" she said with a roll of her eyes "Anybody that is caught on our territory is to be killed and get those trackers hauling a*s" she hissed "Find your goddamn father or so help me god, there's going to be hell to pay."
Brynn sniffled. Ashton remained where he was. Her mother examined her nails, while Brynn collected herself. An omega came to the doorway and Luna Bianca waved her hand towards Ashton as the omega paled. "Get this cleaned up. I want his body gone and buried already" she quipped as Brynn clenched her hands into fists forcing herself not to cry again "he's stinking up the room" she giggled.
Brynn mind-linked her pack, forcing her feelings down. She woodenly turned to her mother. "I've instructed everybody on what to do," she said stiffly.
Her mother arched a brow "Good. Then may I suggest that you go and clean up. Change your clothes and put on some fresh makeup. You look horrible" she said cattily "I will go and check on the cottages and ensure everything's prepared for the shipment. If we're lucky, your father will be caught by the time I'm finished with everything" she added, while the omega dutifully fetched several others to help her drag Ashton out of the room, Brynn studiously not looking their way. "Yes mother," Brynn said quietly.
She turned on her heel and left the room, not meeting her mother's eyes. Luna Bianca gave a triumphant smile as Ashton was carried out by the omegas. "Soon this pack will be firmly under my control" she whispered gleefully to herself "My daughter is nothing but a puppet, dancing to my strings. Brynn might think that she's the Luna of the pack, but she is sadly mistaken" she breathed, sweeping out of the room and heading deliberately towards the cottages, her pace calm and steady "and soon Brynn will be doing everything I tell her to do, like the little i***t she is." She laughed out loud and proceeded to the outskirts of the pack, her spirits lifting, even as Brynn's were sinking.