Chapter 309
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Blood pooled across the cold floorboards, seeping into every crack. Elira Blackthorn’s body convulsed under Carmen’s blade, her cries echoing like a wounded animal’s last howl. But the words that slipped past her bloodied lips struck harder than any scream could,”
“Now… now you know the truth about Riley.” Elira’s voice wavered, ragged with pain. “ Spare me .
Carmen froze. For an instant, her chest constricted, her breath lodged in her throat. Her eyes, already bloodshot, darkened further as if the wolf within her had clawed its way to the surface.
Her snarl ripped from her throat. “You dare lic to me? Riley was locked in Wolf prison five years ago. You expect me to believe she bore a child while shackled like prey?”
Her hand tightened on the knife. Rage consumed her, and the scent of her fury was sharp as steel.
“You mock her name even with your dying breath?!” Carmen roared, slamming Elira back against the bloodstained wall. “Riley is my reverse scale. I will not allow filth to drag her through the mud!”
Her red–rimmed eyes glowed like coals, veins standing out against her pale skin. She looked less like a woman and more like an avenging spirit, risen from the ashes of a slaughtered pack.
Elira stammered, her voice fractured by fear. “N–no… no trick. It’s true.”
“Lies!” Carmen lifted the blade, its tip aimed for Elira’s eye.
The dean screamed, desperation tearing her words apart. “If you kill me–you’ll never find Riley’s child! Only I know where the pup is!”
Carmen’s hand faltered mid–thrust, every nerve burning. Her wolf clawed at her chest, torn between the hunger for vengeance and the desperate need to protect Riley’s bloodline.
“What did you just say?” Carmen growled, her voice low, trembling with rage.
Elira’s lips trembled. “The pup carries Riley’s blood… but she was not carried in Riley’s womb. She was made in secret. Stolen from Riley without her knowing.”
The knife slipped slightly in Carmen’s hand. A sickening silence fell, so thick that only the pounding of Carmen’s own heart could be heard.
“Explain.” The command was sharp as an Alpha’s order.
Elira swallowed hard, her body quivering under the weight of Carmen’s gaze. Slowly, haltingly, she revealed the truth.
Two years ago, when Riley was locked in the depths of Wolf prison, her torment had gone far beyond the theft of her kidney. During that brutal operation, she had been injected with a cruel stimulant–forced ovulate, while under heavy anesthesia. Her eggs were harvested, not for her benefit, but for Scarlett and Dean Elira’s twisted survival.
Those eggs were implanted into a surrogate. A child was born–a little girl who shared Riley’s blood, yet Riley herself had never even known she existed. That child was not meant to be loved, not meant to live freely. She had been bred for one purpose : to serve as a living organ bank. When Scarlett’s frail body or
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Elira’s decayed , they planned to take whatever they needed from the girl, Heart , Lungi Kidneys f mattered little to them.
Carmen staggered back , her body trembling violently. A gush of blood sprayed from her lips , her wOH howling in anguish as if her soul had been clawed apart.
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Her eyes dimmed, shadows swirling within. “Beasts,” she hissed, the word breaking into a growf . “You are not wolves. You are carrion. Monsters lower than vermin.”
The pain twisted deeper when Elira spat out one more truth, her voice cracking as she rushed to save her own life.
“Do you know why Riley never recovered her strength after her kidney was stolen? Why her wolf still weakens, even now? It is not only the loss of the organ. From the day she was dragged back into Ebonclaw . Alpha Alaric himself ordered chronic wolf–poison to be slipped into her veins. Small doses, every day Enough to corrode her spirit, to keep her wolf chained, to make sure she would never rise against him . He feared her Alpha blood, Carmen. He feared what she would become.”
The words struck Carmen like silver knives. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor, shaking.
Her mind raced–memory after memory aligning with this cruel revelation. Riley’s constant weakness. Her body’s slow collapse. The way her wolf never fully emerged, never healed as it should have. The truth had been hidden in plain sight, cloaked beneath years of torment.
Carmen’s vision blurred. She saw Riley’s face, pale and weary, yet always carrying that stubborn spark in her eyes. She saw the girl who should have been celebrated as a daughter of Ebonclaw, who should have been raised in moonlit honor, condemned instead to misery, betrayal, and slow destruction at the hands of her own blood.
Hot, scarlet tears streaked Carmen’s face. Blood–tears, thick and metallic, fell like rain.
“Why?” she cried out, her voice raw, echoing like a wolf’s mournful howl under a cursed moon. “What crime did she commit, to suffer like this? She bore the blood of Alphas, and you-” Carmen turned her burning gaze on Elira “–you butchered her like livestock, drained her like a vessel, condemned her child to a fate worse than death!”
Her body shook violently. The wolf inside her clawed at her chest, demanding blood, demanding vengeance.
Carmen’s snarl grew feral, and she drove the knife into Elira’s flesh again and again, each thrust punctuated with her rage.
“Die! Die for what you’ve done to her!”
Elira’s screams filled the room, shrill and broken, until they dissolved into a wet, ragged whimper.
But when the dean gasped out her final desperate cry, Carmen halted once more.
“You’ll… never find Riley’s pup… if you kill me…”
The words slithered into Carmen’s fury, coiling tight around her heart. Her wolf raged to finish the kill, but her human side wavered/She could not–would not–risk losing the last living piece of Riley’s blood. Elira sensed the hesitation. Despite the blood dripping from her wounds, a mad, triumphant laugh broke
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past her lips .
“ Hahaha … I struck your weakness. You want that child.” Her face twisted, grotesque with pain and cruelty “Obey me. Take me to the hospital. Heal me—or you’ll never find where she is. The bastard pup will vanish forever.”
Her arrogance stank in the air, foul and heavy.
But Carmen only smiled. A smile colder than winter winds, sharper than silver claws.
She stood, walking into the adjoining kitchen. When she returned, her hands carried a pouch of coarse , white salt.
Elira’s eyes widened, her face draining of all color. She thrashed weakly against her bonds, terror flooding her scent.
“No–don’t! You wouldn’t dare-
Carmen said nothing. She tore the pouch open and, with merciless precision, poured the salt across Elira’s raw wounds.
The dean’s scream was inhuman, her body twisting and convulsing like prey in a snare.
“Talk,” Carmen said flatly, her voice colder than an Alpha’s judgment.
Elira writhed, sobbing, clawing at the floor until her nails split. “I’ll tell you–I’ll say everything–just stop -please-”
Carmen dropped the salt bag to the ground, her eyes blazing like a wolf staring down its speak. Where is Riley’s child?”
prey.
“Then
Elira gasped, desperate, shaking violently. “Not yet. If I tell you now, you’ll gut me where I sit. Let me live -let me take you to her myself. Then you’ll know I’ve spoken the truth.”
Carmen’s gaze cut through her lies, cold and unyielding. She could smell the deceit woven into Elira’s words. The dean thought she had found Carmen’s weakness.
But she forgot–wolves do not bow to prey. Wolves tear. Wolves consume.
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