Chapter seven

Hunter opens his mouth to speak, but he ends up not saying a word. His speechlessness triggers a hysterical laughter within me that leaves me weak, and unable to stand.

“You can't even lie. You don't have an excuse for your betrayal?” I ask, my voice trembling with discomfort and anger.

He stares at me, closes his eyes briefly, and heaves a deep sigh. “Lana, you have to eat. You are a healer, I'm certain you know that if you keep this hunger strike up, you will be too weak to be tied to a Silver Pole, and you'll gradually die.” He pleads with me, his voice filled with desperation, but I respond with an emotionless stare.

“I don't care if I die, Hunter. I’d rather die here than be that monster’s sex slave!”

“Lana, please, just fucking listen!” Hunter's voice roars with frustration and desperation, his eyes pleading for understanding.

“Alpha Damon doesn't care if you are willing to be his sex slave or not. He knows you’ll never degrade yourself to that. It’s a bait and you fell for it.”

I chuckle as he speaks, my miseries apparent in my delirious laughter.

“He doesn't care if you die here in the Silver cell, so you have to eat and make sure you survive. As he says, he already has his own mate, so if your chance at survival is being his sex slave. Then just be it, please. Remember what I told you, you can only survive here if you are obedient to Alpha Damon. If not, you will die before you know it.” Hunter says in a low voice, and I let out a guttural scream.

“How dare you tell me to be obedient. After all of this, you still tell me to be obedient to him?!”

“Lana, please!” Hunter yells back at me, but I refuse to let his shouts affect me.

“Come on, please. Just eat and have a bit of strength to put up with this. I will find ways to get you out of here, I promise.” He says, assuring me firmly.

I lift up my head to meet his unwavering gaze, and I'm certain he can see the emptiness in my eyes. It mirrors the hollowness of the promise he just made.

“I don't believe you, and I won't ever believe you until you tell me how I ended up here. I want to know what happens to me when I lose consciousness after eating the food brought by the maids. I want to know if the Black Pack Alpha is in this—”

“Does it matter?” Hunter interrupts, his gentle voice oozing with frustration.

I pause, caught off guard by his question. He stares hard at me as I grapple with its weight, and I keep mute when I realize that I have no available response.

Hunter sighs in defeat and briefly closes his eyes before he continues in a low voice. “You were brought here by some men, who claimed that they were your escort from the Red Pack. I had no idea that the maids were drugging your food until recently, but I'm trying my best to find out.” Hunter responds with a deep breath.

Examining him wearily, I challenge, “Do you honestly expect me to believe that? Are you saying Alpha Damon played no part in my abduction?”

“No, that's not his method!" Hunter declares, leaving me gasping.

“So why? Why did he send my brother that letter claiming I am his mate?” I ask.

“You are not Damon’s first mate.”

I scoff at him after the abrupt revelation. “Did you think I didn't know that already? The maids always sang it to my ears like a mantra. What I want to know is why he sent a letter to my brother, claiming that I am his mate! What kind of insane man threatens to randomly send his troops if I don't join the Black Pack?”

“He had a reason initially,” Hunter counters and my dry throat releases another delirious laughter.

“It will be strange if he doesn't have a reason for this, don't you think? I mean, I can't go through this pain and suffering just because he wants me to choose between being his sex slave and being tied to a Silver pole!” I scream at him with all my strength.

Hunter sighs again after my words, and he glances at me, his eyes showing emotions that I don't want to believe is real. “Half a month ago, Alpha Damon faced an assassination and his first mate got severely injured in his stead. At some point, she went into a coma, and they lost their mate connection.”

“When she's not getting better, we found a wizard who used her scent to trace you, with the assumption that you may be his second chance mate. That's why he sent the letter. She’s been getting better since you arrived, but he will still come for your blood sample to confirm if you are indeed his second mate, so please, just eat something.” He rounds off as I blink in disbelief at the prospect of Alpha Damon coming for my blood.

I..can sense the mate scent I once smelled on you…emanating from him. He doesn't need… to take my blood to know that I’m his second chance mate,” I stutter, feeling dizzy from pain and exhaustion.

“He will have to. The wizard also mentions that if you are his second chance mate, your blood will restore their mate bond.”

Hunter's words pierce my heart, causing an agonizing ache that consumes me completely. “So he is using me as a blood bank?” I inquire weakly and he nods subtly.

“But how can he do this to me? How can he use me to rekindle his bond with his first mate? How can he be so unfair to me? Is it my fault that he lost the connection with his first mate? I am his mate now; he's supposed to be protecting me, not her!” I ramble off as tears fall from my swollen eyes.

“It was your brother who sent assassins to Alpha Damon.” Hunter's revelation takes me by surprise, and I gasp in disbelief.

“What are you saying? My brother would never do that,” I retort, feeling incredulous that he’s trying to suddenly blame my brother.

Hunter ignores my skeptical tone and continues. “His first mate got harmed instead of him because of your brother. It was your brother who turned him into the monster he is now. Yes, Damon has always been cruel and inconsiderate, but when he found his first mate, he became a slightly better person. He started taking into consideration what others would feel because of his actions. Most of the time, he even apologizes if he rudely talks to someone, which was very surprising for everyone here. He was changing to be a better person, and he would have completely changed for the better if your brother hadn't sent assassins to kill his mate. The demon you are seeing now was made by your blood brother, Matthias Ragnar. Whoever Alpha Damon is right now was born from your brother's ruthless actions, and that is the truth.”

I shake my head vigorously, denying the possibility. “No, no. It can't be my brother. I know him enough to affirm that he would never intentionally harm someone unless it was in self-defense during a war.” I rebuke firmly. “My brother isn't as cruel as you just claimed. He's the sweetest person I've ever known. He would never send assassins to harm anyone. The Matthias I know will never do that,”

Hunter lifts up an eyebrow at me and saunters closer to me. For a moment, I assume he believes me, but when he gets in front of me, he laughs out loud, gazing at me like I'm a fool. “You think the world of your older brother, don't you?” He asks, and I nod my head feebly.

“Yes, and my opinion of you is not as high as. I can't accept that my brother is as calculated and wicked as you and Alpha Damo—” Hunter’s throaty laugh interrupts me, and he stares at me, as he continues laughing hysterically.

“You know, your habit of seeing good in people is so amusing, but it's also a problem. I know you are a healer, and you feel you can cure everyone but some people are born wicked. Alpha Damon and your brother. You failed to see the malevolence in your blood brother. You close your eyes fully to see how wicked and callous he truly is."

I continue shaking my head as he speaks. I won't believe a word from him. I will never believe that my brother is anything like he assumes he is.

“I know my brother is a philanthropist, unlike every other alpha. He may also want to get rid of the Black Pack like every other Alpha, but he will never stoop so low.”

“You can deny all you want but that's the truth. It was your brother who made Damon into the monster he is now. On the day you arrive, Alpha Damon has already prepared to send his troops to the Purple Pack to eradicate them. If he had, he wouldn't have stopped. And then, you wouldn't get to be a blood bank,” Hunter retorts upon my denial.

That's when I realized that, no matter what I say or do, I will never be able to clear off my brother’s name. No one will believe that it wasn’t my brother who sent the assassin to the Black Pack Alpha because my Pack is the strongest among the seven Packs. None of the remaining Alpha will dare to send assassins to the Black Pack Alpha. But my brother isn’t that kind of person.

If he had truly sent assassins after Damon, he would have kept me in the dark. He won't tell me about the letter or even let me know that something is going on. In fact, he wouldn't have halted my inaugural ceremony and stopped my career, which he knows I love the most.

Yes, Katarina knows I'm headed to the Black Pack, but I instructed her not to tell him in my letter. So, there's no way my brother knows I'm here or deliberately left me here to pay for his sins like Hunter is trying to confuse me into believing.

Upon realizing this, I lift my head up at Hunter, denying his accusations firmly. “Matthias would never harm another person unless it’s a war or he had to do it,”

“Then, don’t you think he had to do it? Killing Damon will make his influence in the werewolf land twice as strong. He can become the Alpha King if aspires to be.”

“Anyone with a brain can figure that out, Lana, I mean, it is a common military strategy. Alpha Damon would have done the same, like every other Alpha in the werewolf land. So, what makes you think your brother is different?" Hunter asks with a hint of mockery in his voice before his tone softens.

“Lana, life is not a bed of roses. Beneath everyone’s smiling face is a wicked and callous mind. You might wish them well, and they wouldn't even want to see you live.”

“Even if your brother had really sent the assassins, I didn't blame him because I would have done the same if I were in his shoes, but do you know what I wouldn't do?” Hunter inquires, and I stare at him, confused because I could never guess what a good-for-nothing like him would have done.

When I don't respond to his question, he chuckles darkly and resumes. “I wouldn't have sent you into the lion’s den just because you are his mate. I would have done everything I could to keep you in the Red Pack until I confirmed the death of the Black Pack Alpha, Damon Blackthorne, but your brother miscalculated. So, not to face his wrath, he sent you here as an offering. And let me tell you, sending you here is your brother’s biggest mistake.”

“Keep your eyes on her, and make sure she doesn't kill herself. If anything happens to her, you will answer to the Alpha,” I listen to his strong, cold voice informing the dungeon guards.

Hunter’s words ring in my head, and it tears my heart apart.

Had my brother really sacrificed me?

Katarina is the only one who knows where I am headed. Did she divulge it to my brother, and did he abduct me knowing my route, intentionally bringing me here to pay for his sins like Hunter says?

My heart races with uncertainty as I think of these questions, and an overwhelming sense of betrayal deepens the confusion within me.