Seraphina's POV
Roderick heard my words. But instead of calming, the fury rolling off him only thickened, his Alpha aura pressing down on the high wooden platform until the very air felt like it might crack. With a sudden and violent shove, he slammed his weight against the suspended car.
Wrenna had already lost consciousness completely. Her small body began sliding toward the edge.
Beneath her was nothing but a thousand-meter drop into the dark of the ravine. One fall, and there would be nothing left of her.
A madness took hold of me. Somewhere beneath my skin my wolf threw herself against the silver-laced restraints, howling, and I struggled like someone possessed, desperate to pull Wrenna back. But the warriors' hands clamped on me refused to loosen.
Roderick merely stood there, watching my frantic struggle with cold detachment, as though he were watching some circus performance.
At that moment, I understood. He had never once truly cared about me or our pup.
"I've already done the bloodline test, Seraphina," he said, his voice cruel and unyielding. "Your words mean nothing now."
He announced that false result with merciless finality.
I couldn't understand why the bloodline test, false as it was, had turned his attitude so vicious. His scent reached me through the wind, scorched cedar and cold iron, and beneath it that faint rot I had never been able to name. But I was certain, beyond all doubt, that my daughter was his flesh and blood.
Before I could speak, his communicator chimed again. His Omega liaison.
A flash of urgency crossed Roderick's face. He answered quickly, and because he stood so close, I could hear every word with a wolf's ears.
"Alpha, we've located Calla. She was being held in an abandoned mill on the old hunting grounds. Luckily, we reached her in time. If we hadn't, I'm afraid her pup wouldn't have made it. She's been carried to the Healing Hall now."
The moment he heard the pup was safe, the tension in Roderick's face eased.
But when his gaze swung back to me, it turned cold again. Cold and full of rage, his eyes flashing a hard amber.
"I never imagined you could be so vicious, Seraphina. You'll pay for this."
"No! It wasn't me! You can investigate if you want! It wasn't me!"
Panic surged through me. I clutched at the leg of his trousers, desperate for him to believe me, my wolf keening low in my chest.
But he kicked me away without hesitation. And then, before my horrified eyes, he struck the final blow to my daughter, who was barely clinging to the car.
"No!"
I watched her slip away, falling from the platform into the dark.
With the last of my strength, I tore free from the grip holding me and hurled myself forward, ready to follow her, ready to leave this world with her.
But a hand shot out from behind me, seizing me in a crushing grip.
I turned my head to see Roderick, the veins in his arm bulging as he dragged me back. Remembering how mercilessly he'd just treated our pup, I bit down hard on his arm, my canines lengthening into the bite.
But he didn't let go. Even through the pain, he pulled me all the way back into his arms.
He held me tightly, his tears falling hot against my neck, against the spot where his mating mark had long gone cold.
"It's fine," he whispered harshly. "That little brat is dead, and that's how it should be. Only with her gone can we start over. This... This is the price you had to pay."
I thrashed and fought with everything I had, but his strength was overwhelming.
As darkness closed in on me, my unwilling eyes searched the ground below, desperately, hopelessly, trying to catch even the faintest glimpse of my daughter.
