Hollie struggled hard as Jasper dragged her deeper and deeper into the forest. About thirty members of the Black Blade pack followed him. The other half of the pack were dead.
She had heard Jasper ordering one of the cooks to mix Wolf’s bane into the drink. She had been in the dining hall with the whole pack when the drinks were served.
Jasper had insisted on her presence. “She’s one of us,” he’d declared. “Hollie is ours.”
So she was forced to join the pack in the hall. Her hands were tied behind her back, and she was forced to stand in a corner. Two lieutenants flanked her, and one of them pressed a gun to her side. It was a warning for her to stay silent.
Hollie watched in horror as half the pack ingested the poisoned drink. The poison took effect at once. In less than a minute, the poisoned members were on the floor, convulsing and forming at the mouth. They shifted involuntarily into their wolves, and the shift sent the poison coursing through their bloodstream straight to their hearts. Only the Alpha, Jake Carven, managed to retain his human form. That would buy him a couple more minutes. But that was it. Jake was dead.
Hollie bit down a cry when Jasper grabbed her suddenly and slammed her against a tree.
“This is the spot,” Jasper said, squeezing her neck.
He released her and Hollie gulped mouthfuls of air. She looked around and realized that Jasper had taken her back to the exact same spot where Kyle had first found her.
“Recognize the place, Hollie?” Jasper taunted. “This is where it all started. Where everything went wrong.”
Hollie shook her head. Everything was already wrong right from the start.
“You almost got away, Hollie,” Jasper said, circling her slowly. “Why did you run away? If you had just returned to the pack house quietly with me, everything would have been fine. Instead, your mate came and ruined everything.”
Jasper leaned in and sniffed her neck. “He mated you. So what?” Jasper laughed and addressed his followers. “This bitch committed treason against the Black Blade pack and was brought to this spot to be punished. She escaped, and her mate killed two of our best lieutenants.”
Jasper whispered in Hollie’s ear, “The Alpha wasn’t pleased at all. He was unhappy with the way I’d handled the matter. He said that I was incompetent, rash and stupid.” Jasper let out a bitter laugh. “He humiliated me in front of the lieutenants. The only way I could regain their respect was to show that I was better, stronger, smarter than him.”
“So you poisoned him?” Hollie said.
“Yes. I showed him what I could do. I proved that I could get rid of half the pack, just like that.” Jasper snapped his fingers. “Jake wasn’t so smart after all. I outsmarted him in the end.”
Hollie shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“My father made me what I am,” Jasper said, canting his head. He had a faraway look in his eyes. “I had to obey his every word, and do everything his way. But nothing I did was ever good enough. I kept trying to please him. I was his Beta, but I was really his unquestioning slave and attack dog.”
Jasper turned to Hollie and his eyes hardened. “When he humiliated me and said that he wasn’t going to back me up when the bears came for you, that was it. I knew it was time for him to go. He was of no use to me. Instead, he had become a hindrance to me.”
Jasper gestured at the remaining pack members. “We will now form a new pack. A leaner, meaner pack.”
Jasper smiled. “A new beginning, a brand new start. It started right here. So I will finish it here.” He pulled out a blade from his ankle holster. “You will die today, Hollie.”
“No! Help, help me...please...” Hollie looked around at her former pack mates in desperation. She recognized some of the cooks. These people had worked in the kitchen with her for years.
But when they looked away, she knew that no one would step forward to help her.
They had helped murder half of their pack mates. These people had no conscience. They simply looked out for themselves.
They had betrayed their Alpha and their pack to gain some benefit for themselves.
Hollie swallowed and closed her eyes. She couldn’t depend on any of them to help her.
But she knew who she could depend on.
In fact, she could already sense that he was near.
He had come for her. He would always come for her. He would never, ever give up on her.
Raising her head, Hollie screamed at the top of her lungs, “Kyle!”