Page 58 of The Renegade Mate

She frowned, a look of uncertainty quickly flashing across her face.

“Brock has no intention of letting me go. Just like he has no intention of sticking around and playing to your whims. You can’t be this naïve, Hayley, not if you hope to survive.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed. “Brock is good to me. He listens; he understands me in a way Jem never did. He gets me what I need.”

I made my voice go soft. “Jem loved you. More than the Pack, more than me. Did you know he was giving it all up? He wanted to train me and Ryan, so we could take over. Then he was going to leave with you. Go someplace quiet where it was just you and him, and he could devote all his time and attention to you.”

Her face paled. “You’re lying!”

“He was going to give up everything, Hayley, just to find a way for you to be happy.”

She stared at me for a moment, her eyes haunted, then she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. The bond was impure, just like your bond with the Three Rivers is impure. The only way is to cut it out, sever it, for the sake of the Pack.”

My hair stood on end. Impure? That was exactly what Seth had said to me when he’d kidnapped me, that my bond was impure and had to be broken. And Arabella had said something about feeling like she was only pure when she was on ripple.

I felt a cold shiver go through me.

“Are you using ripple, Hayley?”

She grabbed the bars, pulling herself up close to them. “At the Meet, just give up your claim. That’s all you need to do, Mai. Then you’ll be free.”

I stepped toward her and asked again, “Hayley, are you on ripple?”

“It’s magical, Mai,” she whispered. “It lets me see the truth. It cuts out all the noise. All the doubts. I know what I have to do when I’m on it.”

Fuck!

“Where are you getting it?”

She stared through me, not really seeing me. “Brock’s so good to me. He takes care of me, Mai. Not like Jem. Brock sees the real me.”

“Does Brock give you ripple, Hayley?”

Her eyes focused on me, and she looked so confused for a moment. Then she stepped back. “Give up your claim to the Three Rivers. You’ll have the chance at the Meet. Take it. Break your bond. Or I’ll do it for you.”

Only a werewolf, or their Alphas, could break their bond with their Pack. Seth had tried to break my bond with the Three Rivers Pack. He’d used witch magic, though. Hayley was an Alpha. She had the power to break my bond, and now that she had me here, she could do it at any time. The thought sent ice skating down my spine, and I could feel panic trying to erupt from my chest. I had to distract her before she realized that she could sever my bond now and still take me to the Meet to banish me.

“You need that, don’t you? The public spectacle?” I knew why Brock wanted it. It would be a powerful message if I renounced any claim, and then he could kill me for my insubordination. But I had a feeling it was different for Hayley. I stared at her, stoking my anger so I wouldn’t feel the fear creeping along my limbs and she wouldn’t smell it. “You always did need everyone to adore you, didn’t you? Always wanted everyone’s eyes on you, everyone whispering about how perfect and powerful Hayley is. You need me to renounce the bond in front of everyone so that they’ll all know that you won. Do you honestly think it’ll show them how powerful you are, and they’ll love you for it?”

Her gaze faltered for a moment, but she quickly masked it.

“That was always your weakness, Hayley. It’s why you could never truly be happy with Jem. Because you couldn’t stand sharing him with anyone else, not even his own family.” I stepped closer to the bars, making sure she felt the full weight of my words. “Even if he had taken you away, it wouldn’t have made you happy, would it? Because deep down, you crave adoration; you need it like you need ripple. It’s insatiable, your desire for validation. You want to be Alpha not for the good of the Pack but so that everyone will bow down to you, to constantly remind you of how cherished you are.”

I tilted my head, my voice dripping with contempt. “That’s what makes you such a shit Alpha. A true Alpha stands at the helm, not to be served but to serve. They lead to support and love their Pack, not the other way around.”

Hayley’s face contorted with rage, her hands clenching into fists.

I wasn’t done. “If you truly believed in your cause, in your leadership, you wouldn’t hide behind this facade. You’d face me at the Meet, a one-on-one challenge.”

Her face was inches from the bars, her voice a venomous whisper. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You’re not going to goad me into fighting you, Mai. I’m not giving you any chance to wriggle out of this. You will renounce your claim in front of everyone at the Meet tomorrow, or the first person I execute will be Sofia.”

Chapter thirty-five

Mai

The sensation of the cool leather seat pressed against my skin. My wrists and ankles chafed from the tight bindings that held me. The muffled rhythm of tires crunching on gravel played like a somber tune, filling the otherwise silent atmosphere of the moving car.

As they’d bundled me into the back of this car, I’d caught a glimpse of other vehicles. There seemed to be between ten and fifteen in total, all packed with enforcers. It was a show of force and unity and a reminder of the power Hayley and Brock now had.

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