SWNOVELS Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
"How do we get out of here, Ashley?"
With Cameron, I would just wake up, but now, with her blood, I'm panicked.
She ignores my question. "It's your fault anyway," she tells me. She waves her hand. "All of this."
She grabs a stone and tosses it into the water. "One little action can cause so many ripples..."
Okay, clearly a metaphor. "I'm pretty literal, Ashley, so why don't we save us both the aggravation. Tell me why we're here."
"Cameron devotes nearly all of his attention to his own pack so I'm going to assume when it comes to other packs and their politics that you're fairly useless."
That's insulting. But whatever. "Like I said... I'm here. You can talk in riddles or we can just lay out all our cards and figure out a way to co-exist."
She scoffs. "How would that work? Are you going to share your beloved Alpha with me?!"
Part of me wants to say, 'which Alpha?'
Oddly, the thought of 'sharing' would've made me blind with rage once upon a time. But I've since learned that love is...complicated.
"I wouldn't begrudge you or your daughter, Ashley. If that's what you're thinking. Cam wants you to get better." Deep down I know that. He resents the lies, and the heartache, but he doesn't hate this woman. "You've been married to Cam for years now, surely you know him."
A tear tracks down her face. "He'll never forgive me for this."
No, he probably wouldn't. But he hadn't rejected her outright. Which would've been one way to sever the bond between them. If he truly hated her, he could've done that the moment he awakened. Maybe he hadn't for fear of my condition, or maybe he didn't want to have to look his daughter in the eyes one day and admit that he had killed her mother. I don't know.
"I'm sure you have your reasons," I say.
"Please don't placate me or patronize me. She did that." The vehemence in her voice makes my blood run cold.
She skips another stone and it skids across the surface before sinking. There's a metaphor in that too, I think. Like we're here in this world...until we're gone.
Hmm.
"My parents invited her-which makes it all the worse, you know. We invited that evil bitch right into our home. I blame my father... he never got over her." "Oh?"
She points to the mountain. "Our lands ranged from Denali down to British Columbia. Our pack was strong. Cultured. Our ties to the land were steeped in conservation and our roles as protectors. Then he came."
"Who?"
"Come now, you know who... his stench is on you."
I don't think she means Cameron. "Eric?"
"We knew he was ambitious. We knew he wanted to unify every pack within his reach-and that's the problem...he keeps expanding his reach."
I can see where this is going.
"We could've bested him. My brother is fierce. Powerful enough to rival your two precious Alphas. But we were told not to fight. We were told to make peace." Ashley's eyes are dead when they swing to me. Defeated in a way that feels almost soulless.
"My pack," she says, "we practice the Old Ways. A Seer came-my father called for her... She told me my marriage would be the saving grace of my pack. She made it sound like it would be perfect. That when we met, he would take one look at me and forsake all else."
What she's describing sounds exactly like what happened when she met Cam.
Another chill goes up my spine.
"We believed. I believed. I wore my mother's gown. I was so happy thinking I could serve my pack and help us grow. I wanted to marry and start a family of my own. Per Adriana's predictions, we set out a lavish feast to mark Eric's arrival."
I file away the name Adriana.
She wipes the tears from her eyes. "We prepared for a grand wedding. And Eric...he prepared for war. We were so foolish. So stupid. He brought a force hundreds of wolves strong.
"He killed our guards, destroyed a thousand years of history when he burned our ancestral home and its archives. What's worse...he didn't even have to kill my father to claim his lands. The dishonor was so great, most of my pack deserted my dad."
I can imagine her in her dress, thinking it would be the best day of her life and then being tricked and betrayed and losing everything.
It's...tragic.
More tears fall.
"My mother-the one who actually raised me-did you know she took her own life?"
I gasp.
"Two years ago. I'd thought to find her here..." She looks around.
But this place is not heaven or some blissful afterlife. It's a trap-and the moment I think it, the truth of my statement resonates in me. This is a place for souls that are trapped between this world and the next. "I-I'm sorry, Ashley."
Her nasty look tells me she doesn't want my pity.
I try to piece together the timeline. Her pack was set up by some Seer-and instead of the wedding Ashley anticipated, Eric usurped her lands and everything her pack owned.
Was it any wonder she wanted revenge?
And in seeking revenge she sought out a coven for the spell that let her bewitch Cam and gain access to his pack's power and money. She funneled those resources back to her brother somehow, and they attacked Eric.
"Oooh, I can see the wheels turning in that little head of yours," she taunts me. "Have you figured it all out then?"
Some of it, maybe. "What was the price, for the coven to cast the spell?"
She shudders. "I had to give a gift I didn't even know was coming... my ability to see."
We're back to riddles again.
"That's the irony, you realize," she tells me. "That I should inherit the same abilities of the woman whose cursed visions led to all of this..." She casts her hand out, encompassing this space and the darkness and death looming in the distance.
"Mia," she chides. "Did you think it was just your bond to Cameron that allowed you to find me?" She purses her lips. Her smile is mean. "From one formerly moon-kissed girl to another..." "W-what do you mean?"
"Come now, you look just like her..."
"Who?"
"Our mother."