Chapter 6
Elena’s POV
The winds of the North were cold, but they couldn’t blow away the scent of Gale’s blood that clung to me.
The helicopter landed on the helipad of the Astoria castle.
I stepped out, holding Gale’s cold body in my arms.
My father, the King of the North, was waiting for me in the snow.
His tall figure was like a silent, unmovable mountain.
He saw me, and he saw Gale.
He didn’t ask a single question.
He simply removed his own heavy, white wolf-pelt cloak and wrapped it tightly around both of us.
“You’re home now,” his voice was low and gravelly.
I didn’t respond.
Clutching Gale, I walked straight through the grand hall and toward the deepest part of the castle: the ice vault.
It was freezing here, a place where the royal family stored its most precious magical ingredients.
I gently laid Gale on a platform of frosted crystal.
He lay there peacefully, like a snow sprite who would never wake up.
“Elena,” my father said, following me in. “He needs to be laid to rest.”
“No,” my voice was a raw, unrecognizable sound. “Not until they have paid the price. I will not bury him.” I caressed Gale’s pale little face. “I want them kneeling here, confessing their sins to Gale’s body.”
My father watched me in silence.
The blood seal that had bound me for eight years was broken.
The look in my eyes was no longer that of a fool blinded by love.
“Adrian Blackwood…” I spoke the name. “He didn’t even believe his own son was dead. He thought I was putting on a show.”
I suddenly laughed, a chilling sound that echoed off the ice walls.
“I stifled my Alpha nature for him. I willingly became the meek, gentle woman he wanted. And for what? I became a joke, and my son became the sacrifice.”
I turned to face my father, the King of the North.
“Father, I want the Blackwood pack wiped from the face of this earth.”
“This path of vengeance… it will consume you, my daughter,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
“Then let it consume me!” I roared. “This isn’t about anger. This is a declaration! I will declare to the entire werewolf world that the blood of Astoria will not be deceived, and it will not be defiled! I will use the ruin of the Blackwoods to clear Gale’s name!”
A flicker of fire finally ignited in my father’s eyes.
“Now that is the heir of Astoria,” he nodded slowly. “But we cannot strike directly. That would cause unnecessary complications. You need an ally. An ally who can help you plunge the knife into the heart of the Blackwoods.”
Chapter 6
+15 Bonus
“Who?”
“Marcus Whitehawk.”
The name was like a long-forgotten needle, pricking my memory.
The man who had once stood by my side, the one I had left behind.
“He has been waiting for you,” my father said. “The moment you ask, the Whitehawk Corporation will become your sharpest
blade.”
“And the price?”
“A mate. A matriarch for the Astoria-Whitehawk union.”
I looked at Gale on his ice-crystal bed.
My heart had died the moment he stopped breathing.
All that was left was revenge.
“Fine,” I said, lifting my head, all hesitation gone from my eyes. “Have him come see me.”
Su
