The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 92: Chapter 92

NOAH
The smell of blood wafted up in the air like fumes, circling my nose, brushing past Logan’s head. The fucker looked turned on, a sinister pleasure lighting in his eyes when he drew in a breath and filled his lungs with her pain.
Trevor stood still. Not a single muscle moved. Hands clasped, fingers entwined, eyes cold and calculating as he pondered the words she had spilled a moment ago. The truth had slipped from her chapped lips, blood filling the cracks and pooling around her feet. Crimson puddles on the chair kept her warm, and her white blouse was painted with the truth that had been forced from her.
“Noah.”
I was in the middle of enjoying the view, watching her body slump in defeat against the leather.
“Yes?”
Drops dripped from the blade, staining my father’s beloved carpet. The flame had burned down to its last flickering breath.
“I know what you learned in the Academy. Maybe it’s time you put some of that power to use,” he said. I guess I’d found his breaking point.
His gaze remained collected, but rough edges were forming around his irises.
“If it’s too much for you, feel free to wait outside.”
I twisted the iron over the fire, making use of what little heat was left.
The pleasure filled me. Maybe I was no better than my little brother. Hell, I knew I wasn’t. I was just better at hiding my excitement, while Logan had no shame over his.
I turned, ready to stake the bitch and get the last pieces of the puzzle out of her. Just as I raised the blade, fingers tightly knotted around the shaft, Trevor stepped in front of Olivia, his fingers circling my arm, pulling it down.
“She already admitted to sending the tape.”
“Yet the answer to how she got it remains a mystery,” I reminded him.
“I—”
Olivia spat on the floor. A spatter of blood prickled her arm and dripped in a line down her lips.
“I seduced him.”
Of course she did. It was the one weapon she had in her arsenal. The girl was a good fuck—easy, compliant, desperate for power. Of course, Landon got inside her.
“How’d you get into the folder?”
She looked at me, eyes tired, but there was a tinge of that fierce fire behind the fog of exhaustion. That primal part that wanted to fight.
“I was riding his dick and asked him what the password was. It came out in a song. He was glad to give it to me.”
Her head fell back, eyes still locked on mine.
“That’s good. Smart,” I said, part of me admiring her dedication to the plan.
“Now that that’s all out in the open, I just have one more question for you. What the fuck did you do to Maddie’s wolf?”
Logan and Trevor both turned, their faces contorted in grimaces of confusion. I pulled my arm out of Trevor’s grip, and his head snapped to Olivia.
Despite inching closer to death with every minute her wounds remained uncared for, the wolfsbane spreading through her body and worsening her condition to a critical point, Olivia still managed a dry chuckle and smiled with her red-stained teeth.
Two loud bangs shook the door. The handle turned. Another bang sounded like someone threw their body against it. Finally, embarrassingly late, the door broke open, and two guards with my dad on their heels walked in.
“What on earth—”
He looked at Olivia bleeding out in the chair.
“Get her to the healers. You three don’t move. Make sure nobody enters.”
“Alpha, Clara is on her way—”
He pulled the guard in by his collar.
“Nobody enters. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Their heads fell in a salute, and one of the guards lifted Olivia in his arms and carried her out. Her arms flung down her sides. It looked like her body finally admitted defeat, knowing I couldn’t touch her. The door shut. The lock turned. I was prepared for a scolding, maybe a question or two. All of which I’d pretend to hear and care about. And then I would leave this office, find Olivia in whatever cozy room the healers had her in, and I would dig the rest of the information out of her with my bare hands.
Trevor wasn’t wrong. I could’ve made it easy and carved the truths from her mind. But that bitch kidnapped, hurt, scared, and belittled Maddie. The pain I had caused her with the knife was merciful on my part. The things I wanted to do were much worse. Much messier. Much less humane.
My father turned. His head hung heavy. Stubble had grown for days. Hair a mess, like a crow’s nest. It looked like his life choices had officially caught up with him.
“You look like shit,” Logan eloquently acknowledged.
Dad scoffed, his shoulders shook, and he ran a hand through his thinning hair.
“Thanks, son.”
Logan turned to me. Both of us were in shock and unsure who the man was who walked in. He looked like our father. A little rougher around the edges and older than I remembered him. But that attitude was not his.
Whoever this demon was, possessing my dad, slumped back in the chair behind his desk. The rugged look he was sporting aged him ten years. I wondered if it was Volkov or his new fuck buddy that was causing most of his new white hairs.
“Clara has been walking around all day. Visiting families. Speaking to the warriors. Putting out the fire Maddie’s… tape caused.”
The fire?
What fucking fire?
A fire could swallow every house in this pack. Force every person to relive their greatest agony. Plead to a deity they’ve never heard of.
A fire was harmful. Merciless. Licking the skin of its victims and leaving ashes where hearts once beat.
Fire was Maddie fighting in the Ring.
Not a fucking sex tape.
“I don’t know how to make her stop,” he whispered, looking down at his hands.