Chapter 310
Chapter 310
Chapter 310
Carmen’s blade gleamed darkly beneath the dim light, its edge hovering over Dean Elira Blackthorn * chest. Blood already slicked her clothes, pooling on the floor, but still Elira’s trembling lips clung to life through words.
“I’ll give you two choices,” Carmen growled, her voice low, trembling with the force of her fury. “One – tell me exactly where Riley’s daughter is, and I will grant you a swift death. Two–you refuse, and I’ll carve your body apart the way I carved Caden’s. Even if you never speak, it won’t matter. If I tell Lucien Duskgrave, the Alpha Prince of Stormridge, he’ll find the child no matter how deep you bury her p>
The dean’s gaze wavered, trapped between terror and the primal instinct to cling to life. She trembled, lips moving soundlessly before she rasped out, “If I tell you… you’ll really spare me p>
Carmen’s laugh was low and hollow. “I’ve slaughtered enough that the authorities would hang me a hundred times over. Do you really think I fear mortal chains? But yes–do as I say, and you’ll find mercy p>
Hope flickered in Elira’s eyes. Faced with survival, she gave up the secret. Her words spilled, broken but clear: Riley’s daughter had been born of her stolen blood. Eggs ripped from her while she lay unconscious, fertilized and forced into a surrogate. A child, two years old now, abandoned in a village far from Ebonclaw territory, hidden but not protected.
The truth settled in Carmen’s chest like poison. Riley’s agony was already unbearable, yet it had been deeper still–her body stolen not just for her organs but for her bloodline, her legacy twisted into a living harvest.
“I told you,” Elira whispered hoarsely. “Now… let me go. You promised p>
Carmen’s lips curled into a smile so cold it could have frozen the marrow of any wolf. “You did one thing right, at last. And for that…” She pressed the blade down, plunging it through the dean’s heart in one clean thrust. “I’ll grant you swiftness p>
Elira’s eyes widened, betrayal flooding them. “You… lied p>
Carmen tilted her head innocently. “I promised mercy. I never said mercy meant sparing your life p>
The second strike shattered the dean’s heart into ruin. Her scream cut off mid–breath, collapsing into silence.
When the room stilled, only the stench of blood and the weight of secrets lingered. Carmen rose, her boots splashing through the crimson puddle. She left their bodies for carrion, her wolf pacing beneath her skin, howling in anguish.
By dawn, others would find Dean Elira Blackthorn and Caden’s corpses. By then, Carmen would already be gone.
The roads blurred beneath her as she drove, rage and grief pulling her forward like a storm wind. Elira’s final revelation replayed in her skull, each word another cut: Riley’s stolen bloodline. Riley’s lost child. Riley’s silent suffering.
And then the cruelest truth of all–Elira’s whispered confession about Alpha Alaric. From the very day Riley had been dragged back into Ebonclaw, her own father had ordered chronic wolf–poison to be administered. Doses so small they would not kill, but relentless enough to weaken her spirit, chain her
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wolf, corrode her strength day by day.
That was why her wolf had never healed even after her kidney had been restored. That was why the remained frail, her Alpha wolf stifled beneath invisible chains. Her father, the one who should have shielded her, had been the one slowly murdering her soul.
The truth broke something inside Carmen. Hot tears welled in her eyes–red, thick, streaking down her cheeks like blood itself. “Riley… gods, what else have they stolen from you p>
Her wolf howled in grief, the sound echoing inside her ribs like a dirge.
By the time Carmen reached the remote village, the horizon had dipped into twilight. She followed the directions Elira had gasped out, her heart pounding with each turn of the road. When she finally stopped before a crumbling house without so much as a boundary wall, she caught the sharp scent of cruelty in the
air.
A scream pierced the dusk.
“Filthy brat! You dare steal from your brother? You’re nothing but swine–eat pig slop and be grateful!” Carmen’s head whipped toward the voice. A small figure, no more than two or three years old, was hurled from the doorway like discarded trash. The child hit the dirt hard, curling up and wailing.
“Momma, Ldidn’t steal! He dropped it, and I was so hungry p>
But her cries were cut off as a heavyset woman stormed after her, a chicken–feather whip raised high.
“You dare talk back, mongrel? Born without honor, without blood! I should never have taken you in. You shame my house, you shame my son p>
The whip cracked down. The girl screamed, her tiny body curling tighter, her voice breaking. “Momma, please! I won’t do it again! I’m sorry, I’m sorry p>
The blows fell harder, again and again, her skin splitting, blood soaking through her thin, ragged dress.
Carmen’s heart clenched. The child’s face–those eyes, that fragile jawline– it was Riley reborn, smaller, softer, but unmistakable.
Her wolf surged forward, eyes blazing crimson.
In two strides she was there, her hand snapping up to catch the descending whip. The woman turned, startled, glaring at the intruder.
“Who the hell are you? Stay out of this, girl. She’s mine to discipline p>
Carmen smiled, though there was no warmth in it, only cold death. “Tell me, is this child’s name really what you call her? ‘Bitch–spawn p>
The woman’s eyes narrowed, suspicion flickering. “How do you know that? Who told you p>
Carmen’s smile widened, sharper, hungrier. “So it’s true. I’ve found her p>
The woman opened her mouth to retort, but the words never came. A flash of steel, the bite of Carmen’s knife, and her belly split with hot pain.
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Her eyes bulged in horror, staring down at the blade buried deep in her gut. Carmen’s wrist twisted. grinding the steel cruelly inside her.
Touch Riley’s blood again,” Carmen whispered, her voice low, guttural, dripping with the snarl of her. wolf, “and your precious son will grow up without a mother p>
The woman’s scream split the night.
And in the dirt behind her, Riley’s daughter sobbed, the wolf–blood of Ebonclaw shining through her
tears.
– f
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