Page 30 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
“Maybe not. But my child could be and I don’t need you as my wife to do that.”
My eyes flashed with fury over what he suggested. His went wide before his entire face turned red with promised violence.
“Did you whore yourself out to a wolf?” he bellowed and the entire room fell silent. His accusation came out of nowhere that I didn’t have time to mask my expression immediately as his words registered. I managed to get my mask in place, but it was too late. Reed had seen that his words struck a chord. “Grab her.”
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Let her go!” My father yelled but some of Reed’s men stepped in front of him to stop him from getting to me.
Reed’s fierce gaze did a quick inspection over me before narrowing in on my jacket. Stepping forward, he began yanking it off by my lapels, but he didn’t have to get it far before he found what he hunted.
“You mated with one!” His voice wasn’t questioning. He was accusing me. “Your own kind wasn’t good enough you had to go spread your legs for a beast.”
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” I goaded. I knew it was coming but it didn’t prepare me for the sting that lit up my face as Reed backhanded me so hard that his goons lost their grip on me as I tumbled to the floor.
Not one to miss an opportunity, I withdrew my gun but before I could take aim, a hand gripped the gun twisting it out of my grasp. Glancing up to see which of his goons I hadn’t seen move, my mouth fell agape over who I saw.
“Eric?” I asked wondering if Reed knocked me harder than I thought.
“A werewolf?” he spat with disgust. He looked up at Reed. “I was suspicious but now that I know it’s true I can say without a doubt that she’s mated to the Alpha.”
I couldn’t hide the betrayal that pierced my heart. He just gave Reed his biggest bargaining piece against Gideon. “You bastard!” I lunged at Eric who quickly stepped back as Reed’s goons intercepted me.
“Take her to the holding cell along with her father,” Reed told the men gripping my arms. I wiggled and writhed. I wasn’t going to make their job easy.
“You can’t do this, Reed. My father has done nothing to deserve being dethroned and you know it. You’re just after the power but you’ll never keep it. They’ll see the slimy little weasel that I’ve known you to be all these years.”
Reed followed after his men as I continued my jabs at him all the way to the holding cell where I was thrown none to gently onto the stone ground after being disarmed.
“I should have known something was going on between you two when I tried to help you escape. I didn’t understand whyhewas in such a hurry to get rid of you.”
“Gideon wasn’t trying to get rid of me.”
Reed chuckled. “Not him, the one we kidnapped.”
“Adam?” I felt my blood run cold. What the hell was he talking about?
“That’s it. Yeah, he came to us with the idea. Said Gideon would trade you in a heartbeat for him. I’d get what I wanted; you, and he’d get what he wanted, you gone. It never occurred to me why he was so desperate to get you out of the way. It was because even then you were drawing the Alpha’s attention. Were you already fucking him then?”
“Yeah, and then I fucked him while you waited for our arrival that day.” It wasn’t entirely true. We hadn’t had actual sex but oral was still a type and seeing Reed turn the shade of a plum was worth it. I thought his head might explode. “And then you told me how amazing I smelled. It was him you scented.”
“You fucking whore!” He charged at the bars, but I didn’t even flinch. “Oh don’t you worry. He’ll get what’s coming to him. He has no idea how many wolves are against him. With him out of the way his second takes control and all my problems go away. You’ll have nowhere to go. Our people will shun you after letting that monster between your legs. Luckily, I still have use for you. Maybe if you do a good job, I might even take pity on you and allow you by my side to regain some of your tattered reputation. But not until you give me at least an heir,” He shrugged. “Maybe a spare.” He nodded to his men who left the room. “I’ll be seeing you soon. Right now, I have an Alpha to kill.” He withdrew his gun and for a moment I panicked until he released the magazine. The bullets were strange. They seemed to move. “One bullet is all I need and it’ll pump enough silver in to take down even an Alpha within seconds, no matter where I hit. I hope you enjoyed your time with him because you’ll never lay eyes on him again.” As he left, I panicked for a whole new reason.
“Gideon,” I whispered.
12
Ipaced around the cell. It had been a little over an hour since Reed left. His guys hadn’t been that thorough in disarming me. I had a knife shoved in my boot. It was thin which is probably why they missed it.
After a failed attempt of using the knife to pick the lock, I burned the coursing anxiety by pacing.
“Will you sit down, Isabel,” my father grumbled. He wasn’t even looking in my direction but could feel the energy radiating off of me.
“I can’t. I need to get out of here to warn Gideon. Adam is his Beta. He trusts him explicitly. And then Reed…”
“Gideon didn’t get to his position and maintain it by not seeing threats coming. He knows about Reed.”
“I just…” Groaning, I gripped my stomach feeling physical pain at the idea of being away from him. “How did Reed know to look for the mated mark?”
