Chapter 130: SHE HAS TO GO
COLE
I went quiet. Processing what she just admitted. That she’d done all of this because of me. For me.
"I was angry at you for a long time." I pushed my plate away. "Really fucking angry. Because of the choices you made. How you handled everything with the bond. The way it all went down."
I paused. Looked at her directly.
"But I get it now." I ran my hand through my hair.
"I understand how it makes you do stupid shit. Makes you make choices that don’t make any sense to anyone else. I understand what it’s like to want someone you can’t have. To be pulled towards someone no matter what."
She reached across the table and grabbed my hands tightly. I could feel the rough texture of her burn scars under my fingers.
"Is it still Lila?" Her voice was gentle now.
I nodded. Couldn’t speak.
"Do you know if she feels the same way about you?"
"No fucking idea." My voice came out rough. I pulled one hand back to rub my face. "She’s never said anything about it. Never acknowledged anything between us. Maybe it’s all in my head. Maybe I’m just as fucked up as you are."
Freya squeezed my other hand harder. "Cole, you need to cut that connection before it completely destroys you." She leaned forward.
"I’ve watched it eat at you for years now. Nia is good. She’s real and genuine. You could actually have something stable with her."
She let go of my hand. " Don’t make the same mistakes I did. You already have too many secrets. Don’t add this one to the pile."
"I know." I muttered. Pulled both hands back and ran them through my hair. "I know all of that. But knowing it and actually doing something about it are two different things."
"I’m serious, Cole." She pointed at me. " What you feel for Lila might just be obsession at this point."
I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. The conversation was hitting too close to things I was not ready to deal with right now.
"Ryker isn’t the one you should be worried about anyway." I changed the subject.
She frowned. "What do you mean? Who else would want me dead?"
"Victor." I said the name like it tasted bad. Picked up my coffee again. "He’s alive. He’s back. We suspected he didn’t actually die and we were right."
I took a sip. "He’s back in the area and from what I can tell, he’s specifically targeting Amaris for some reason."
Freya’s eyes went wide. "Amaris is Corvin’s new mate."
"Yeah." I set down my cup. "That’s the one."
She thought about that for a moment. I could see her mind working.
I looked at her directly "I need to ask you something. And I need the complete truth from you. The real truth, not whatever version you told everyone else."
She exhaled slowly. Like she’d been expecting this question. Maybe even waiting for it. "What do you want to know?"
"What actually happened that night?" I kept my voice steady. "The night Zoya died. The night I let you in through the back entrance of the pack house."
I watched her face. "Ryker and Rowan both think Corvin killed their mother. That’s what they believe. But you were the one holding the knife when I saw you. You had blood all over your hands and clothes."
She was quiet for a long time. Just staring at her scarred hands on the table.
"I knew she was losing it." Her voice was flat. "Becoming unstable. Erratic." She traced a scar on her hand. "I could see it in her eyes every time I saw her. Hear it in the way she talked. I knew she was going to explode eventually. It was just a matter of when."
She paused. Took a breath.
"When I tasted the poison in the wine at dinner that night, I knew that was the night." She looked up at me. "That she was making her move. Whatever she was planning was happening."
"So you killed her to stop her." I said it like a statement.
"Not exactly." She said it carefully. Still not looking at me. "I followed her. Watched her." She picked up her fork and set it back down.
"I found her in Ryker’s room. He was passed out unconscious from the drugged wine. She was standing over him with a pillow in her hands." She finally looked up. "She was going to smother him. Kill him to hurt Corvin. Take away what he loved most as revenge."
"And you tried to stop her." I leaned back in my chair.
"No." She shook her head. "I didn’t try to stop her. I just stood there in the doorway and watched. Waited to see if she would actually go through with it."
I felt my stomach turn. "What?"
"She stood there for what felt like forever, just holding that pillow over his face." Freya picked up her coffee cup with both hands.
"Her hands were shaking. She was crying. But she didn’t press down." She took a sip. "She couldn’t actually do it in the end. Couldn’t kill her own son. She just stood there crying and shaking, holding that pillow."
"So she didn’t actually try to kill Ryker." I said it slowly. Making sure I understood.
"No." She set down her cup. "She didn’t. I told Corvin she did, but that was a lie. She just stood there unable to do it." She pushed her plate away.
"But the fact that she had even thought about it, that she had gotten that far, meant it was only a matter of time before she tried again. Before she actually went through with it next time when she was more desperate."
She picked up the butter knife beside her plate. Turned it slowly in her scarred hands.
"So I killed her myself." She kept turning the knife. "Walked up behind her while she was crying and put my blade between her ribs." She set down the knife. "She didn’t even fight back. Just looked at me and bled out on the floor."
I sat there in silence. My mind was racing. Trying to process everything she just told me.
The truth was so much darker than anyone knew. Than anyone suspected.
"Why are you telling me all of this now?" I finally asked.
"Because you asked for the truth." She said it simply. Shrugged. "And because I need you on my side for what comes next. I need you to understand everything."
I looked at her carefully. "If you go back to Gravemoon, are you planning to sever the bond with Corvin?"
Freya thought for a long moment. Her fingers playing with the knife again.
"No." She said it firmly. "I’m not severing anything. I’m going back to be Luna." She looked me dead in the eye. "I’ve lost too much. Sacrificed too much. Gone through too much hell to not be Luna now. That position is mine and I’m taking it."
She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. Her nails dug into my skin hard enough to hurt.
"I need your help to make it happen." Her grip tightened.
I looked at her warily. "How? What do you need me to do?"
"This Amaris." She said it slowly. Deliberately. "She has to go."
I frowned. "What do you mean go? You mean send her back to her pack?"
Freya’s lips curved up. Not quite a smile. Her eyes went cold.
"Or maybe she goes the same way Luna Zoya went."
