Chapter 463
Four hundred and sixty five
Zachary POV
My head felt like it was splitting in half.
I woke up gasping for air, clutching my skull as a violent pain pounded against my temples. The room spun wildly, making me feel like I was strapped to a runaway roller coaster. I stumbled out of bed, staggering down the hallway of the estate, and threw open the bedroom door where Mina was sleeping.
“Mina!” I groaned, gripping the doorframe. “Wake up. Something’s wrong. My head-it feels like it’s going to cave in p>
Mina stirred, rolling over with an irritated sigh. “What is your problem, Zachary? Let me sleep. We need our rest p>
“I’m not joking,” I panted, wiping cold sweat from my forehead. “I feel sick. Burning up p>
She climbed out of bed, glaring at me. “You’re just panicking because of the tribunal. Stop acting like a coward. Drink this, calm your nerves, and go back to bed p>
She poured a glass of murky water from a pitcher on her nightstand and shoved it into my hand.
I swallowed a large gulp. The second the liquid hit my tongue, my throat burned like molten iron sliding down my esophagus.
“What the hell did you put in this?!” I choked out, throwing the glass against the wall, where it shattered into pieces. I clutched my throat, coughing. “You bloody witch! What did you do to me p>
She didn’t flinch.
“You ungrateful, spineless fool,” Mina spat. “You wouldn’t even exist without me. I am the only one holding your pathetic life together, and all you do is scream and throw tantrums p>
“You wanted to kill me,” I stammered, my vision blurring at the edges as a terrifying hallucination flickered in the corners of the room. Shadows writhed along the walls. I screamed, swatting blindly at the empty air. “What is she doing to me?! Why is my mother in this room p>
“Zachary, stop whining in the dirt,” Mina mocked, turning her back on me to pack a small bag. “A dead person has more backbone than you. Good luck surviving what’s coming p>
Before I could drag myself up to stop her, she slipped out of the room and vanished down the stairs, and my body began to tear itself apart from the inside out.
The fever spiked instantly. A burning pressure wedged itself deep into my left ribs, right over my heart, as if an iron spike were being driven into my flesh. I crawled to the bed and remained there, dragging myself upward just as my pack councilmen pushed their way into the room.
“Alpha Zachary?” my second-in-command asked, stepping back in shock. “What’s wrong with you p>
“I’m dying,” I gasped, clutching my chest. Tears streamed down my face. “Something is inside me. My wife and mother did something to me. Please, get it out of me p>
Something ripped through the estate walls, slamming straight into my chest.
I dropped to my knees, dry-heaving as the reality of what I had done crashed down on my shoulders.
I tortured Veronica and destroyed my own family.
The councilmen stared at me in horror, exchanging uneasy glances. They looked at each other, seeing a pathetic wreck instead of an Alpha.
Left alone in the dark, my mind spinning into madness, a desperate urge took over. I needed Veronica. I needed her forgiveness, or I knew I wouldn’t survive the night.
1/4
Four hundred and sixty five
I grabbed my phone with trembling fingers and dialed her number.
The number you have diated is switched off
I switched contacts, dialing her father, Alpha Gregory. It rang three times before a click answered.
“If this is another sick game, Zachary…” Gregory’s voice boomed through the speaker.
“Please!” I sobbed. “Please, Alpha Gregory. I’m dying. I need Veronica. Tell her to come home. I need her forgiveness. Please, I’m begging you p>
“You’re begging?” Gregory sneered, venom in his tone. “After what you did to my daughter? After you let that monster torture her? Don’t you ever call this number again p>
“No, wait! You don’t understand!” I screamed into the dead phone as the line went pitch black. I threw the phone across the room, curling into a tight ball on the mattress as my head spun like a top.
Hours blurred into agony. Sometimes I screamed, sometimes I hallucinated, my hands tearing at my skin. At one point, my servants dragged in a block of ice and dumped it directly onto my burning head just to keep my brain from exploding.
By morning, I couldn’t even lift a finger. I lay paralyzed on the sheets, staring blankly at the ceiling, waiting for death.
The bedroom door creaked open. Footsteps approached the bed.
I rolled my eyes sluggishly, seeing Charlie standing over me.
“You look like hell, Zach p>
“Charlie…” I rasped out, a whimper escaping my lips. “Please help me. I don’t want to die. I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see myself dead. They’re coming after me. Please p>
Charlie didn’t move an inch. “You brought this on yourself, Zachary. Your mistress and your mother built a house of cards out of dark magic, and now it’s collapsing right on top of you p>
“I didn’t know!” I choked out, tears spilling hot down my temples. “I swear to God, I didn’t know what Mina was doing! She twisted my mind! You have to help me, Charlie. I need… I need Veronica. I called her father. I begged him to let her come home. If she forgives me, maybe this curse will break. Tell her to come back p>
Charlie sighed.
“You think after everything you put her through, after you let that monster lock her in an attic and poison her, you think she’d ever set foot in this house again p>
“I’m dying, Charlie!” I sobbed, my voice cracking into a high-pitched break. “She has to! She’s my wife p>
“She was your prisoner,” Charlie corrected, leaning down until his eyes burned into mine. “Even if you crawled on your knees to the ends of the earth, Zachary, Veronica would rather throw herself off a cliff than look at you ever again. She is free p>
I let out a scoff.
“Why are you so defensive? Are you fucking her now p>
He ignored me.
“You need to ask Alexander for forgiveness p>
I stared up at him, my chest heaving, the agony in my ribs flaring red-hot.
“Are you going to tell me he’s some kind of saint now? That bastard killed my father p>
“He didn’t kill your father, Zachary,” Charlie said, his tone dead serious. “Your mother and Desmond murdered Edward. She framed Alexander, and she used you as a pawn to secure the Iron Wells throne for a cult. Alexander is innocent p>
2/4
Four hundred and sixty five
The word echoed in my skull, tearing at every belief I had held since I was ten years old.
If Alexander was innocent… if my mother was the monster… then everything I had fought for was a lie. Every cruel choice I made was all for nothing.
If I accepted that Alexander was innocent, I had to admit I was the villain. I had to bow down to the man I had spent my entire life hating and trying to destroy
But if I held onto my pride, I would die right here in this bed, rotting away in my own filth while the cult took everything.
Charlie straightened up, adjusting his jacket.
“Don’t leave me,” I pleaded. “You’re all I’ve got p>
“I won’t leave you, my friend,” he said. “Cooperate with the council, Zachary. Take the DNA tests, and face whatever’s coming. It’s the only choice you have left p>
I lay there trapped between the burning desire to survive and the hatred of a truth I couldn’t bring myself to swallow.
OCED
Admins2