Chapter 300: Dug Her Grave III
The other woman shook her head with a frown on her face. "That’s not how it works, Dahlia. Even if she was a human, if Alpha Damon slept with her, his scent would be so strong she wouldn’t smell like a human at all. But she does."
I made a mental note to ask this stranger for her name. Anyone that was willing to speak sense to Dahlia was an automatic candidate for Darach’s inner circle.
"So you’re admitting that you have no real concrete evidence to accuse me of this?" I asked, drawing Dahlia’s attention back to where it should have belonged― on me, and not on the poor woman who was this close to getting her intestines ripped out by Dahlia’s own fingernails.
"Gertrude didn’t catch the faces of the people responsible, she can’t give concrete details about what they were wearing, and now there is no scent either," I listed off one by one, counting on my fingers as Dahlia’s face got increasingly darker.
The crowd began to whisper as they watched, and the woman from just now merely folded her arms across her chest, her sapphire blue eyes watching us keenly.
"Is she even sure those people entered my room and not a different room― or should I be afraid for my own security, if strangers could easily enter my room without warning?" I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Or am I supposed to be convicted based on hearsay, like how you and your father tried to push the blame of Alpha Darach’s condition onto an innocent man?"
At the mention of the shitshow that happened during the council meeting, the volume of the crowd’s murmurings increased drastically. They looked back and forth, conflicting emotions strewn across their faces.
After all, one of the men in question was their previous alpha, a man many of them respected. Yet, the other man was their current alpha, someone who their loyalties should lie with.
One wrong thing said could result in their expulsion from Thunderstrike. And although many of them did not look up to this new alpha of theirs, it was evident that the wendigo attack brought Darach’s faction more good than harm― his reputation had turned a lot for the better.
That was something Dahlia had caught onto as well. She took a step back, her eyes scanning those that surrounded us, her hands clenched tightly into fists.
"Have you all lost your brains?" Dahlia growled, sneering at me even though her words were addressed to everyone else. "She could be using a scent blocker! That’s why Damon Valentine’s scent isn’t lingering on her in any way!"
"And why would you even consider scent blockers?" the woman who spoke up just now said again, one eyebrow raised as she stared questioningly at Dahlia. "You have no need for it― heck, none of us do. It’s only used by pack deltas when they’re going undercover, and not something anyone can so easily get their hands on."
"She was the alpha’s daughter, after all," I said with a shrug. "Perhaps her father had told her one too many secrets when he was still the alpha. Not too sure why he would, though, considering how no one outside the alpha’s inner circle should know, and Dahlia wasn’t his beta, was she?"
"Most certainly not," a man at the back said, his voice far away but the volume of his shout easily carrying his words to the front.
"Alpha Damon’s visit to Thunderstrike also wasn’t a publicized fact," Kyle said, frowning. "With all due respect, Dahlia, you shouldn’t have known of his arrival to Thunderstrike at all."
"That is my house!" Dahlia snapped back. "Why wouldn’t I know of the people coming in and out?"
"Correction, that is now Darach’s house," I retorted. "He is only allowing you to stay there out of the goodness of his heart. Yet, it seems like that kindness is rather misplaced."
"Misplaced indeed," someone else said. "She probably only knows that Damon Valentine is coming over because she’s still in contact with him!"
"Do you think she is scheming to take over Thunderstrike? Overthrow Alpha Darach?"
Whispers began to fly, and even though most of the muttering couldn’t be deciphered word for word, the meaning of it was clear― they were starting to wonder if Dahlia had betrayed Thunderstrike for Fangborne. After all, everyone knew just how obsessed she was with Fangborne’s alpha, and how much she wanted to be his luna before their wedding went bust.
"She seems to know a lot of Thunderstrike’s secrets as well," someone said. "Especially after Alpha Thorton― no, Thorton Elrod shared such sensitive information with her all the time."
"Scent blockers are common knowledge," Dahlia hissed in retaliation. Panic was starting to flare across her face, and I watched as Gertrude took a subtle step back. "Unless you live under a rock, even a pup would know what those are!"
"That makes sense..."
"Scent blockers have indeed been around for generations..."
Well, that didn’t go as planned. It was a good try, though. However, I wasn’t finished. I set my eyes on Gertrude, my smile a little too wide to be friendly.
When she met my eyes, I watched as she visibly swallowed the bile in her throat, beads of perspiration quickly filling her forehead as her line of sight shifted left and right.
"Even if Damon did visit Thunderstrike―" I said, and all at once, the murmuring crowd fell silent.
How wonderful a feeling it was to be able to command attention with such ease. It was no wonder the Elrods had such a thirst for power. It was an intoxicating sensation.
"―isn’t it a little odd that Gertrude here is watching my — or worse, Alpha Damon’s — every movement and reporting it back to Dahlia Elrod?"
Realization struck everyone like a bolt of lightning, their faces lighting up with realization the very second I pointed it out. No one here was an idiot― I didn’t need to say everything so plainly. I merely planted the seed of doubt, and their wild imagination was enough to fertilize and water the plant until it grew large enough to shadow Dahlia whole.
"My my, Dahlia," I said with a tut, shaking my head as I watched Dahlia’s face oscillate between scarlet and sheet white. "Is Gertrude actually a spy you’ve planted in the mansion? Who are you to intrude on the privacy of the Alpha’s personal guests?"
"Easy," a new but familiar voice chimed in, and everyone spun in the direction of the speaker. "Her loyalties lie elsewhere, and not with the Alpha."
