Chapter 29

Billie

The weight of what had just happened seeped into my bones, settling with a similar kind of heaviness that the silver locket had cast upon me. The locket that Catrina had put around my neck. I saw the callous smirk on her face so clearly, as if she'd only just hung it around my neck, that it seemed impossiblethat that woman was lying lifeless on the floor.

I'd shifted into my human form so that I could pull a cushion off of the chaise lounge from behind Muriel. Pulling the cushion cover off, I wrapped it around Muriel's bleeding arm. I didn't know if it would help, given that the reason Muriel looked so pale and her breathing was still shallow was because of the type of blade she'd been wounded with. But it still felt better to do something for her until we could get her to Helen.

With heavy steps, David approached Catrina's body. I cast my gaze over his profile, taking in his anguished face.

His words sliced through the tense air as his blue eyes flew to Gavin's chocolate-hued wolf. "What have you done?" His voice shook with emotion.

Gavin shifted into his human form. His tall, muscled form stood staunchly over the black wolf. His face, neck, and chest were crimson, just as his wolf's had been. He looked like a warrior returning from the battlefield. I met his gaze, catching a glimmer of torment in his hazel eyes, a reflection of my own inner turmoil.

"She would have killed me," Gavin said levelly. "She forced my hand. You both did."

But David didn't seem to hear any of Gavin's words as he dropped to his knees, his hands trembling over the black wolf. A guttural cry rose from his throat. My heart tripped over itself as David's scream reverberated up into the lofty ceiling.

The fact that the Dalesbloom Alpha was on his knees with his head hung low seemed surreal. Wooziness moved through me again, and I felt as if I could be dreaming as I never could have imagined the proud Dalesbloom Alpha on the hardwood floor of the Hexen Hunting Lodge.

But then … I'd never imagined Catrina dead. My throat tightened as my insides knotted. I stared, feeling hollowed out as I watched David's hands quivering over his daughter's mangled body. Her body was still in its wolfish shape. Catrina had died in her wolf's form and so would remain that way.

From outside, the snarls and thuds of fighting suddenly subsided, too. A shiver crawled down my spine as I heard footfalls echoing from the tiled vestibule.

Lothair, the Inkscale Alpha, appeared in the doorway, his obsidian gaze taking in David grieving over Catrina's mauled body.

"David," Lothair uttered, his serious expression and tone calling the Alpha's attention. "Grieve for your daughter later. After all, it wasn't Catrina that we attained the horn for."

Lothair's eyes shot to Muriel, sitting between me and Aislin. My grip tightened on my friend's arm as the dragon shifter's onyx eyes seemed devoid of feeling. I gritted my jaw, narrowing my gaze at him, hating the way he reduced Muriel to her horn as if she wasn't a person in her own right.

Aislin's hackles rose, too. She'd stayed in her wolf form to heal from the deep gash that Catrina had put in her leg and shoulder. I still scented fresh blood from her, which meant her wound must be deep.

Gavin had turned toward the dragon shifter, his body angled between David and Lothair, ready to shift should the need arise from either direction.

But as I registered Lothair's words, surprise tumbled through me. He said it wasn't Catrina who had wanted to get Muriel's horn. But with the killing of her fated mate, Joseph, and her ceding the power she'd have gotten from embracing their connection, it had pointed to her wanting her Lycan form.

David's resolve hardened his expression as his attention went to Muriel. "You're right, Lothair." Cold steel rang in his voice. "Besides, Catrina would have wanted me to take up the power she hoped to share with me." The craving in his tone made me want to shrink away, but the need for answers rang louder.

I stood up from beside Muriel, getting into an alert stance and forced David's attention to me. "You promised me if it was a good exchange you would give me answers," I reminded him. I had no intention of handing over Muriel, but he didn't need to know that. "Tell me what happened to my parents, or you'll never get past me."

David smirked, and Lothair threatened to come toward me.

But Gavin"s low voice rumbled, "Don't move a muscle, Lothair, or I'll have my teeth in your neck."

Lothair's onyx eyes flashed to Gavin, and he clenched his fists but remained still.

David's gaze locked on mine. I held my breath as I wondered whether he was finally going to give me answers. His cloudy eyes fell to Muriel again and to the cut on her arm. "The first blood that blade tasted was Rebecca's."

Shock skittered through me. David was talking about the blade he'd cut Muriel with. When David had cut her earlier, Muriel had said that the blade had "seen murder."

As I stared at David's cloudy eyes, I realized he'd sunk into a reverie. Perhaps it was the shock of Catrina's death, but my demand for answers about my parents had conjured thoughts of the past to him. Confusion whirred through me, though. I hadn't asked about Rebecca.

Rebecca had been Colt and Catrina's mom. She'd passed away shortly before I'd come to live with the Hexens. But I'd assumed her death had come about through illness. In fact, I distinctly recalled Colt telling me she had been ill. My gaze swept over to my adoptive brother, whose body had frozen, where he still kneeled by the fireplace. The lines of his face were rigid with shock as he listened with rapt attention to David, too. Colt hadn't heard this truth from his father either. The shock rooting his body was vibrating through me. Colt had no idea that his father had killed his mother.

But even as I wondered why on earth David had committed such a crime, an inkling of intuition dawned. Sickness moved through me as insight stirred. Rebecca hadn't been the only one killed with the murderous blade David had used on Muriel. He'd said the first blood that the blade had tasted had been Rebecca's. My throat threatened to close up as I suddenly didn't want to hear who else he'd killed with that blade.

But my heart punched my chest, forcing me to get answers. "Did you kill my parents with that knife, too?"

David's eyes gleamed. "Yes."

My voice broke as I demanded, "Why? What did they ever do to you?"

David let out a hollow laugh. "Your mother never did anything .…"

At his admission that she'd been innocent, and still, he'd killed her, my chest felt as if it had been shredded.

His cold voice continued, "I knew Rebecca had been meeting someone." David's expression twisted with resentment. "So, one night, I followed her. She drove to Pioneer's Creek. There, I saw her and your father. I caught them in your father's car, carrying on like a pair of teenagers." Bitterness cloaked his face, and he added, "I gutted them both then and there."

Horror punctured me. My father had been having an affair with David's wife. Icy terror shook through me as I pictured David following his wife like the hunter he was. The prey mounted on the walls of the gallery seemed even sicker trophies as I understood for the first time what a truly lethal predator this man was.

I took in the obsidian-eyed dragon Alpha, realizing that was where he came into this plan. Lothair must have offered David the chance to regain the power that he'd lost by killing his fated mate by sharing the Lycan ritual with him. That was the reason David coveted Muriel's horn and had long wanted to partake in the ritual.

But there was still a part I didn't understand. "What happened to my mother?" I asked, my heart squeezing.

David's expression clouded with anger, "I needed to make it look like your father had fled. So, I went to get his passport from your house, but you woke up in the night, and when your mother roused, she noticed me."

Astonishment tumbled through me as I pictured a woman getting up in the Mundy's cabin, her baby crying, only to find a trespasser in her home.

My chest constricted as I thought of my poor mother. In a moment, I imagined her fear and her fierce need to protect me. Hollowness swooped through me as I hated that this man had ended her life for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd taken her innocent life so as to keep his own crimes secret.

Needing to understand everything, I said, "So that's how you took me in. You didn't know how else to cover your tracks?"

David's face became sour. "Yes," he growled. "You were my punishment. You were a daily reminder of my wife's betrayal. A reminder of the man who she'd betrayed me with." His cold stare wandered over me, and he added, "I should have smothered you in your sleep before giving you a home."

A home?

Fury fired through me. How dare he ever call what he'd given me that? He had given me shelter and food but nothing more. I had lived most of my life starved of any affection because of the jealous rage that had led him to take the life of his mate and my father. And not only them, but to steal away the life of my innocent mother and then rob me of my pack and the place my body, soul, and wolf belonged.

Shaking with rage, my wolf couldn't contain herself. My sandy wolf pounced through the air, a red haze coloring everything. The only thought pulsating through me was that I needed to end David just as he'd snuffed out my parents' lives.

But before I'd reached him, the chocolate hues of Gavin's wolf careered toward me, his much larger body forcing me back so that we fell onto the floor at the edge of the room.

My heart drummed as I scrambled up onto all four paws. The massive brown wolf was already blocking my way. The flews of my muzzle pulled back as I bared my teeth, trying to weave past Gavin"s wolf and get to my prey.

But as my eyes sought David, it was Colt who captured my attention. In a blur of motion, his skin became clothed in black fur, and he launched himself toward us. For a moment, I thought he was coming for his father, too. But I realized his focus was on the dark brown wolf in front of me. Protectiveness stole through me to defend Gavin, and my wolf let out a growl, my body tautening as I prepared to jump at him.

But the reddy-brown wolf, the other side of Muriel, in a lightning-fast movement, leaped at Colt's black wolf. In a clash of claws and jaws, the two wolves met, whirling into a heap as they struggled together.

Outside, the boom and rumbles of renewed fighting broke out, too. My heart pounded in my wolf's sandy chest as I thought that the dragons and wolves outside must have resumed their fighting when they heard our scuffle from inside.

But the booming sounds of battle increased, and I scented new wolves. Their scent was like fresh mountain air, and hope shuddered through me. Eastpeak had come down from the mountain. The realization that we had backup seemed to clear my mind of the red fog of anger I'd been blinded by. My gaze went to Muriel as I thought of Everett and his being part of Mythguard. My friend was going to be kept safe.

Standing flank to flank with Gavin's brown wolf, who seemed to realize that I'd gotten my beast's need for vengeance under control, we turned to our opponents. Lothair was running to the grand double doors, and in a blur, his dragon ripped out of him as he propelled himself up into the dawn air.

My wolf growled with satisfaction. With Everett and the Eastpeak Pack, we were going to crush our enemies. David's black wolf bolted out the door while Colt's wolf followed. Gavin's wolf and I sprang through the double doors of Hexen Manor, too. My wolf was still eager to confront David after hearing his confession. Instantly, the sight and sounds of wolves leaping, clawing, and snapping assaulted me. The shriek of dragons and their wingbeats crashed above like thunder. For a moment, my breath shallowed. But the warmth of the brown wolf beside me filled me with strength. With every muscle tautening, I launched myself into the fray, my claws and teeth soon crimson with Dalesbloom blood.