Pack Ruin (The Splintered Bond #3)

29. Worth Any Sacrifice

29

Worth Any Sacrifice

FINNICK

A soft, feminine hand rested on my back as I retched into the toilet. I’d been violently ill on and off for days, ever since Stella’s visit to my room.

I’d felt my mate at the other end of our bond. Felt Flor’s shock, pain, and then her rage. I might have been able to live with that, but her anger had changed. Turned to something that might have been acceptance.

Or pity.

I sat up, my eyes closed. It was hard to focus. As soon as Stella had left the room, I’d shifted, and my wolf had tried to claw his muzzle to ribbons, to get rid of the taste of betrayal. It had taken all my strength to wrest control back from him, and hours to heal from the self-inflicted damage.

The next night, while I slept, he forced another shift, and I woke with a muzzle covered with blood from chewing at the locked door. My wolf had gone feral, and I was using every ounce of my training to keep from shifting, and fleeing to go to her side.

A cool cloth was pressed to my forehead. “Finny, what’s wrong?” Tana asked quietly.

I glanced at the door, and she rose to close it. I’d made certain to disable the cameras in my bathroom, but she turned the sink and shower on as well before she spoke again. The servants came in and out daily, and I didn’t trust any of them not to leave a bug in a stack of towels, though I checked every time they left.

“You’re sick. Shifters don’t get sick. Finny, what’s happened to you?”

I sighed, turned so I was sitting with legs crossed on the black tile—though not moving too far from the toilet, just in case—and stuck out my tongue.

“Finnick McDonnell, what are you doing?” Her outraged laughter was the only reason I’d had to smile in a week, and I took it.

“Showing you what happened.”

She moved closer as I stuck out my tongue again, her jaw dropping as she saw. “You’re… You’re mat—” I pressed a hand over her mouth before she could say the word aloud.

I rose on shaky legs to turn the heater on for more noise, then returned and sank back down. “Yes, I am. To the most infuriating, wonderful, strong, powerful female I’ve ever met.”

Tana’s eyes welled up as she threw herself at me, embracing me. “Oh, I’m so glad. So glad! But… where is she? Who is she? Mother… Oh, no. No. ”

“Oh yes,” I said, as her thoughts flashed over her face, her expressions showing she understood. “She can never come here.”

“Never,” Tana agreed. “And you… you can’t leave. But Finny, you have to.”

I sighed as she leaned against me, her presence calming my wolf slightly. “I’m going to. We’ll both go.”

Her whisper was shaky. “We’ll be rogues?”

“No. Father said the Mountain pack has a new Alpha. My friend, Brand. He hasn’t joined the Council, and…” I barely breathed the next words. “I’m not sure he will. They follow the old ways. And he’s… My mate is his mate as well.”

She breathed a word I hadn’t realized she knew.

“Tana!”

She ignored me. “That’s not possible. She can’t be your true mate, then.”

“She is, though. Mine, and his, and Glen’s. And do you remember Luke?” I knew she would. Luke had visited our pack years before, as a foster. He’d brought Tana a box of crayons and a coloring book of teddy bears. She’d been recovering from a punishment from Mother, for eating cakes away from the dining table. She’d been ashamed of the marks on her face and arms, but the two of them had spent hours together while she healed. Then Luke had gotten ill.

No one had understood what was wrong with him, though one of the doctors had suggested an unknown poison might be to blame. Luke, however, had hinted to me that he knew what was going on, and that suffering a dozen doctors’ questions and prodding was better than what would happen if he shared.

“She’s worth any sacrifice,” he’d whispered, just before he’d left. “And so is your sister. Don’t forget that. Good luck, Finn.”

As I gazed into my sister’s wide green eyes, so much like mine, I wondered if there was a limit to how much I would have to sacrifice to keep the ones I loved safe.

Love.

“I love Flor,” I whispered, shocked at the thought.

“Finn?” Tana’s eyes filled with fear, but not because I’d accidentally admitted my love. “Flor? The one Mother’s been ranting about, the wild girl from Southern? Father said she was dirty and foul-smelling, and she cut a male’s head off with a steak knife.” My hand went back to her mouth until she calmed.

“Be nice. That stinky Southern killer is your sister-in-law now. I actually think you’ll get along like a house on fire.”

I didn’t know her eyes could get wider, but they did. “Really?”

“No. I think if the two of you were left to your own devices, you’d burn down at least one house. Maybe a whole pack.” I tugged at her hair, and she made a grumpy face before she got up to brush it at my sink.

“I’d burn this one,” Tana muttered. “Then we could leave.”

I opened my mouth to tell her about the plan I’d made. I’d exchanged encrypted emails with an Italian Enforcer just the day before, hinting that I had information on the death of the missing Heir. I’d made sure the pack knew that I would provide far more than information if Tana were taken to safety, ideally to Brand.

Before I got the chance to tell her, I heard a knock at my bedroom door. It was one of the maids. “Your father has requested your presence in the lower levels.”

I nodded and shut the door, grabbing a clean shirt from my closet and rinsing out my mouth. Tana had turned off the sinks and shower, so I breathed my instructions in her ear.“Stay here, Tana. I have no idea where Niall is, and he’ll take any opportunity to get you alone.” She nodded, her chin trembling.

Niall had been absent—I assumed busy in the lower levels—all week, while I had been “indisposed.” But I’d glimpsed him in the hall outside our private wing the evening before. If I was working in the lower levels, he’d take the chance to get his hands on my sister. I didn’t think he’d enter my room, but I couldn’t be certain.

“Don’t leave my bathroom. Don’t make a sound. Lock the door after I go, and if you have to, you know what to do.”

Her eyes flicked to the sink. I’d taped a short blade, no bigger than a pocketknife, to the back of the fixture, inside a sturdy holder. It wasn’t silver, but the blade was coated with an extremely strong powdered sedative that worked on shifters, at least for a while.

“Good luck,” she whispered. I knew I’d need it.

Father met me at the entrance to the lower levels, impatience in every line of his face. He handed me a set of the white coveralls that indicated what kind of work we would be doing.

Bloody work.

I slipped them on without speaking. The color white had been Mother’s idea. She said it was more effective for our prisoners to see their blood on the fabric, and resulted in quicker and more comprehensive information. Unfortunately, in my experience, she was right.

“We think you were poisoned,” Father said. “We questioned the ones who would gain the most, but they were… not forthcoming.”

“Niall? He’s not that much of an idiot.”

“We both know he is.” Father’s thin lips curled into a smirk as he opened a white bag, checking on the contents. The stench of silver swirled through the air, but there was also… peanut butter? I focused on what he’d just revealed.

“You have no intention of letting him mate with Tana, do you?” I blinked, my mind putting together hints and clues. “That was a threat to keep me in line. You’re going to send her away. Italy, or… No. Russia.”

If I cared about pleasing my father, I would have been happy at the look he gave me. “Nicely done. I’ve already brokered the deal with the Alpha of Novosibirsk. She leaves on her birthday.”

I had to force myself not to react. I’d heard stories about that particular Russian Alpha. His father had died in the war twenty-two years ago, and he’d been making noises about getting revenge ever since. He was at least forty, and had a reputation for brutalizing young shifters, males and females alike.

“The Russians who attacked Northern this month. That was one of your plans?”

“Hardly. We’d been in contact with that rabble, of course. Keeping an eye on them. But that Ivan fellow was a wild card. No, we’ve been playing a deeper game. All I need is to ensure that I am lawfully elected as the permanent Head of the Council. Then every piece will fall into place.” His eyes closed for a split second. “The Long Hunt will be over.”

The way my father whispered those words revealed more emotion than I’d almost ever heard him express. Longing and wistfulness, like a dream just out of reach. A dream of power.

To be elected the Head of Council, he would have to obtain a majority of votes from the other members of the Council. Even if he could make a case that he had authority over Southern while Luke was in a coma, that was only two Alpha votes. Somehow, he’d have to convince the Hilliers.

Oh, fuck.

The silver tools in his bag. The white clothing.

“How?” If he expected me to assist in “questioning” the Hilliers, I would need to find some argument to stop him. “How are you planning to get the votes? You know torturing the Hilliers will only result in a bloody war. They’ll never give you the position.”

If Northern’s shifters felt their Alpha’s life end, the response would be fierce and immediate. Northern would come in force for revenge, though we outnumbered them. They wouldn’t be alone. The Mountain pack was slow to anger, but this would do it.

“As if torture would work on either of those stubborn fools,” Father spat out, pressing his hand to the keypad. “Bradley and Margarette are confined, yes. They are being investigated. But we’re not animals. We don’t torture our peers.” My shoulders relaxed slightly, until he continued. “We merely kill them when the moment is right.”

I was glad he had his back to me as we entered the locked hallway. It gave me time to mask my reaction. “Why the delay?”

“Brand has taken his father’s seat, and his power. We felt Mountain’s bonds to the Council break. But somehow, Samuel is still alive. Not that the Council has been informed officially. But we have satellite images of him sitting outside after the fight.”

“What?” That was impossible. But when I thought about it… I’d felt an odd disturbance in my bond with Flor, only a few hours before Father had informed me of Brand’s ascension. If I hadn’t already been in my room, recovering from the fictitious “poisoning,” I would have collapsed from the maelstrom of sensations. It wasn’t possible to take the Alpha power of another shifter without also taking his life, not without the help of the Council, backed by all their respective packs.

We’d all learned the hard way that if a former Alpha was left alive without transferring the power, the new Alpha ruled in name only unless the Council stepped in—or unless the old Alpha could be found and killed. My thoughts went to Luke, wondering how he was managing to hold on. Wondering where in the hell Calvin Callaway was.

“Samuel’s alive? How did they pull that off?” I muttered.

“We’ll ask the new Alpha, if he answers the summons to Council.”

“Council? You’ve called a meeting.”

“We’ve invited Brand to come here within the week to discuss Alpha Hillier’s competence to rule, and ordered him to bring the rogue Northern Heir, Glen, as well as the Southern trash mate as well. Can you imagine her as Alpha Mate at that pack? At any pack. It’s an offense to all decency.”

As if he knew anything about decency.

I hummed, my mind already calculating a way to use this information. “Brand is a new Alpha, though. They did this in the old ways, not at a Council meeting. He won’t have made connections to all his wolves. He’ll need to stay at Mountain for months to receive their pledges of loyalty.” If he came to Eastern before that, he wouldn’t be strong enough to stand against my parents. At least, not against Mother’s dominance.

“True. But I made certain he understood that if he wants a chance to vote on my election as permanent Head of the Council, or be a part of the decision on what befalls the Hilliers, he’ll come immediately.”

Ahead of us, a door opened, and I heard someone sobbing inside the cell. “Who?”

“A Southern shifter,” Father said, his tone guarded. “We have two of them. Your mother’s pet project. She asked for your help with one of them. But let’s make a quick detour.”

I didn’t ask for more information, since he already had a hand on the keypad to one of the larger cells, only one door down from where I’d been tortured after my return. When we entered, though, I gasped.

Margarette and Bradley were bound with silver chains at their wrists and ankles, lying side-by-side on what looked like a towel, laid on the floor, obscuring the place where the metal drain sat in the center of the room. This wasn’t a prison cell; like the one I’d occupied, this was one of the wet work rooms.

There was no bed here, nor furniture of any kind. In fact, other than the towel, there was only an empty water bottle and, in one corner of the space, a metal bucket with a lid and a bare roll of toilet paper.

They struggled to sit upright as Father approached, Bradley putting himself between him and Margarette.She began cursing my father out, while Bradley sat silently watching us. His eyes met mine, and I saw disappointment in them. I swallowed, knowing my father was watching me.

Bradley cleared his throat. “Finnick.”

“Bradley,” I drawled. “How the mighty have fallen.”

Margarette went quiet, her head swiveling to me. “Finn, tell me you’re not a part of this. You know Bradley’s not incompetent. You were there .”

“I was. I was at your pack when you allowed rogues to plant a bomb practically inside the Lodge. When your own family abducted a guest and sold her to a Russian-backed rogue. After all of that, you executed your own Enforcers for who knows what reason. If the only thing my father is holding you for is gross incompetence, count your blessings. If I were in charge, Alpha heads would roll.”

I wasn’t lying, but only I knew which Alphas’ heads would be on the floor. Margarette’s jaw clenched, and Bradley closed his eyes, pain etching his features.

Father’s smile widened, and he patted me on the shoulder. “Well said, son. Now, let’s give our guests their dinner and leave them to ponder their gross failures in leadership.” Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a bottle of water and a package of peanut butter crackers, tossing them to the floor.

I forced myself not to give the Hilliers any indication that I was on their side. No hope. I knew there were cameras in the room, and that my father would watch the footage carefully later. But when I left the room and heard Margarette’s muffled sob, I let myself imagine my father’s head rolling free, painting the white hallway a bright red.

We turned a corner, and he opened another door with his fingerprint. “Enough amusing ourselves. This is today’s job.” This room smelled of bleach, blood, and traces of urine and shit. The male pinned to the opposing wall with thick, silver-lined manacles didn’t even look up when we entered, though I could hear his breathing begin to saw in and out as we drew closer. “This is Trevor Blackside, who was found driving his defeated Alpha away from the Southern pack to Florida, of all places.”

“On their way to a theme park, perhaps?” I mocked as the male’s dark head slowly lifted until he was looking at me.

“That’s what we need to find out, before we finish up with him. So far, he’s been… resistant.” Father set the white bag down and opened the door again to let himself out, and I understood. Trevor Blackside would not be leaving this cell, at least not in one piece. “Take as long as you need, son. I’ll be?—”

Mother’s voice from the hallway interrupted. “Aidan. I have to make a quick trip back to Southern. There’s been a development. We think she’s returned—” The door closed on the rest of her words as Father slipped through.

I stifled a curse, desperate to know what was being said, but the soundproofing on these rooms was the best laundered money could buy. I opened the case and removed a long silver scalpel, ignoring the stench. “Well, well, Trevor Blackside. I almost want to pinch myself. It’s like my birthday came early.”

“I didn’t do nothin’,” he rasped. “I didn’t do anything but what my Alpha told me to. I was followin’ orders. Please don’t… don’t hurt me.”

“You did so much more. And I’m afraid I’m following orders as well.” I crossed the cell and leaned toward him, pulling his head close enough that I could whisper directly into his ear. “Though I want you to know when I kill you, I’m not doing it because my father wants me to. I’m doing it because—what was it? Four years ago now?—you chose the wrong wolf to hunt.”