Chapter 42: She isn’t dead
Kaden’s POV
We arrived back at the packhouse. The doors flew open, and the entire staff stood there with wide eyes, staring at the dead body of Rebecca in my arms.
Could I even call it a dead body anymore?
"Logan, get the healer. Now," I ordered, my voice cutting through the quiet room.
Logan nodded quickly and ran down the hallway. Just then, Kane walked out into the main hall. The moment his eyes landed on Rebecca, a huge look of relief washed over his face. I frowned at him, my chest tightening with anger. There was something he was totally hiding from me. He knew something I didn’t know.
I ignored him for now and carried Rebecca into the large living room, carefully placing her down on the carpet. A second later, my guards pushed Stephanie and the masked helper into the room. One of the warriors ripped the cloth off the man’s face. He was just a young, random wolf from the lower ranks. Both of them were forced to their knees on the floor.
I stepped over and stood tall right in front of the maid.
"You better start talking right now, or I will make you talk," I threatened, my voice dangerously low. She knew exactly what I meant. I would use my Alpha command again, and it would rip the words right out of her throat.
But she didn’t cry. She didn’t even look scared anymore. She looked up at me with flat, stubborn eyes. "Rebecca is innocent," she said clearly. "She didn’t kill Queen Helen."
I spat on the floor in pure rage, stepping closer until my boots almost touched her knees. "How the fuck do you know that?" I snapped.
"Because she told me," Stephanie answered, her voice shaking but firm. "And I believe her."
I scoffed loudly, running a frustrated hand through my hair. "You are a complete fool," I growled. "But that still hasn’t answered my question. What the hell did you do to Rebecca’s body? Why is she like this?"
Before she could answer, the door swung open, and the pack healer walked in, with Logan right behind her.
"Check this body," I commanded, pointing down at Rebecca.
The healer hurried over and knelt by Rebecca’s side. She touched her pale neck, checking for a pulse, and frowned deeply. She looked up at me, her face pale. "Alpha... she is dead. There is no breath. No pulse."
"Then why isn’t her body changing?" I yelled, my patience completely gone. "Why isn’t she smelling? A normal wolf would start to rot by now!"
The healer looked confused. "For how long has she been dead?"
"Tomorrow morning will make it two days," I barked.
The healer frowned again. She closed her eyes and placed both of her hands flat onto Rebecca’s chest. A soft, green light began to glow from the healer’s palms, her magic sinking deep into Rebecca’s skin. For a long minute, the room was completely silent. Then, the healer’s eyes snapped open, wide with shock.
"Alpha... you are right," she gasped, breathing heavily. "She isn’t dead. I... I can feel her heartbeat in the spiritual realm. It is like her soul is locked away, but her body is being kept alive by something else. I can’t explain it."
My eyes widened. My heart stopped for a split second, and then it started hammering against my ribs like a wild animal. I didn’t even know what I was feeling. Relief, confusion, shock, and a strange, sudden hope all hit me at once. So many emotions were tearing through my mind.
She was alive. My breeder was alive.
The shock quickly turned right back into burning anger. I snapped my head toward the maid, getting up on my feet and looming over her like a monster.
"You have three seconds," I roared, my Alpha aura flaring so hard the windows rattled. "Speak!"
Stephanie swallowed hard, but she didn’t break down. She gripped her own hands tightly and finally spoke. "Yes! Rebecca is not dead!" she shouted over the sound of my roaring aura. "In fact, she doesn’t even know what I did! I decided to help her without even telling her. I knew if I told her, she would never agree to it!"
I stepped even closer, my shadow completely covering her. "What did you do?" I growled impatiently.
"I gave her sleeping pills," Stephanie confessed, her voice shaking but clear. "I lied to her and told her it was just a painkiller. Rebecca drank it without knowing what it really was."
I frowned deeply, my mind spinning. Sleeping pills? What kind of regular sleeping pills could keep a wolf completely cold, still, and looking dead for almost two days? It didn’t make any sense.
Before I could demand more answers, the healer spoke up. She was still kneeling by Rebecca’s body, looking at her hands in shock.
"Alpha, I think I know what these sleeping pills are," the healer said, attracting my attention. "It is a special kind of pill that stops the heart completely. It makes a wolf look and feel totally dead for three days. It is incredibly hard to find and almost impossible to get. How did a simple kitchen maid get her hands on something this rare?"
I turned my hard glare back to the maid. The anger inside me burned hotter. "How dare you," I hissed, my claws sliding out again. "You deceived me. You tried to sneak my breeder out of my territory."
Stephanie looked me straight in the eyes, a flash of anger crossing her own face. "I pitied Rebecca!" she shouted, no longer caring about my Alpha power. "She was suffering here. I wanted to save her from you, to save her from the way you treat her! That is why I did it! The plan was simple... you think she is dead. Throw her into the woods and I take her body, but you weren’t doing that... and I had to steal her body before she wakes up!"
Hearing her say she wanted to save my property from me made my wolf want to rip her to pieces. But under all that anger, a heavy realization hit me.
If I had left Rebecca with her people, she could have been thrown to the forest, and wild creatures would have eaten her.
And then I realized, what if I had just thrown her body to the woods? Then I would think Rebecca had been eaten by a wild creature, not knowing she is alive miles away from me.
