Chapter 24: Chapter Twenty-Four – The Truth about Carl

Katy

Mike and the other traitors drag us out of the house and shove us into a waiting van. I start to panic as I realise that they are going to take us off pack lands. How will Alex find us? If he is still alive. I try to push that horrible thought from my mind. He can’t be dead. I know that he will stop at nothing to find and rescue me, but the further away that Mike takes us, the harder it will be for him to track us down.

We travel for half an hour, I watch through the vans small window as we leave pack lands, but it is not long afterwards that we stop. At least Mike isn’t taking us straight to the Black Moon Pack.

We are dragged out of the van. In front of me is a run-down house, it looks like it has not been inhabited or maintained for years. It is a hive of activity, with warriors I recognise from the pack rushing around, carrying boxes of what looks like weapons.

“Move” Mike says as the warriors push us roughly towards the house. “Carl is waiting to speak to you.”

We are taken into a large room with dusty old furniture, and dirty carpets. Inside the room stands Carl and close by is a smirking Jordan. I can’t believe Jordan is with him. Carl is intent on killing his own brother. I have never liked Jordan, but I never thought that he could stoop so low as to help kill his own family.

“Well done Mike you have managed to catch the little Omega princess and her loyal warrior.” Carl says completely ignoring Lily.

“I may be an Omega but I am not a princess.” I lie to Carl defiantly.

“Really, your silver wolf gives you away princess”

“I don’t have a silver wolf, I am unable to properly shift” I say stubbornly.,

“Don’t lie to me princess. If you lie again, I will hurt one of your friends” Carl warns me.

I keep my mouth shut. I would rather admit who I am than let him hurt Daniel. Did he really say friends? Would he hurt his own daughter?

“Daddy…” Lily starts to stay.

“Keep your mouth shut Lily. Yet again you disappoint me, keeping company with the lowest sort of wolf, when you should be with someone like Jordan here. Each day you become more and more troublesome just like your mother.”

“My mother, how can you say that? You loved mum, you were so sad when she died” Lily protests, with tears in her eyes.

“No, I didn’t care for her she was a means to an end. She made it possible for me to join this pack, and when she became suspicious and troublesome, I had to get rid of her” he responds with a cruel smile on his face.

“No….., you couldn’t have” Lily sobs horrified.

“You stupid girl, you don’t understand anything. Everything I have done is for my pack the Black Moon Pack, for Lucius my Alpha and future king. As soon as we discovered that your mother was my mate Lucius knew just how we could exploit her, use her to infiltrate this pack” he says proudly.

“You joined this pack, mated with Lily’s mother all to further the interests for the Black Moon Pack? Daniel asks with disgust.

“Yes, and I succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. I was able to win over the idiot alpha of this pack. I convinced him not to join the war, ensuring that we had a chance to defeat the Royal Pack. This time when the war starts again, I will have gone one better I will have delivered the Lunar Eclipse Pack to Lucius. I have already killed the Alpha and the gamma, soon I will have confirmation that my men have killed Alex and have taken over the pack” he says proudly.

“No” Daniel says horrified at finding out about his father’s death.

Lily sobs quietly as she realises what her father has done.

“And now you are going to kill me” I say. “I am sure that will make your master really happy, killing the last royal.”

“Oh no, we are not going to kill you” Carl says. “You are much more valuable to us alive. The final royal, the heir to the throne. Once you become Lucius’ chosen mate no one can deny his right to be king. There will be no need for war. The Royal pack will be his by right.”

“NO, I will never mate with Lucius, Alex is my mate I would rather die than take anyone else” I protest angrily.

“You will not have a choice in the matter, Lucius will take you by force if needs be. Once he has marked and mated with you, your bond with Alex will disappear. You will learn to be obedient. Lucius has ways of making troublesome shewolves’ submit. In fact, I know he will enjoy teaching you to obey” he says confidently.

I cannot say anything I am horrified, the idea of being mated to Lucius had never entered my head. I had expected him to want to kill me. The idea of being forced to mate with the man who had killed my parents made me feel sick. And Alex, I couldn’t live without Alex. This was worse than death.

“I would kill myself first” I declare.

“No, you will not, Lucius won’t give you the opportunity. All I have to do now is get you to him.”

“And you Lily will finally be mine” Jordan says triumphantly. I will be the next Alpha of our pack, loyal to Lucius as my king, and you will be my Luna.”

“And being a puppet Alpha, under Lucius is worth killing your family, and betraying your pack for” Daniel hisses at him.

“Yes, my father humiliated me, my brother ignores me, and all they think I am good for is to one day be Alex’s beta. Carl sees my real potential and he will help me take my rightful place as Alpha of this pack. It is regrettable that my family has to die but only with them dead will I be able to become the wolf I am intended to be the Alpha of the Lunar Eclipse pack.”

“Really, you are delusional” I say incredulously “he is using you to take over the pack. Just like your father he will get rid of you as soon as you have served his purpose.”

He bristles at my words and says, “Shut up Omega, you don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Omega am I? I thought we established a few minutes ago that I am your future queen” I say.

“A queen who will need to learn her place, or Lucius will enjoy teaching it to you.” Carl tells me.

At that moment a warrior enters the room. It is obvious that he has been involved in the fighting. He is dirty and dishevelled, and has blood streaming down his face from a nasty gash to his forehead. He bows his head and turns to Carl.

“We failed to kill Alex,” he tells him nervously.

“What, I send four of you to kill him. How did he manage to get away?”

“He was ready for us. He knew we were coming” the warrior said trying to justify their failure.

“I repeat there were four of you, how can he have escaped” Carl asks angrily.

“He was too strong for us; he killed the others. I only just managed to escape” the warrior is now trembling as he feels the full force of Carl’s anger.”

My heart swells with happiness, my mate is alive. They have failed to kill him, and I know he will be searching for me now, he will be coming to rescue us.

“What of the others, the warriors I sent to take over the pack?” Carl asks.

“Dead….I think” The warrior stammers.

“You think, you think!” Carl shouts at him. “You come here to tell me that you failed to kill our greatest threat, and you don’t even know what has happened to the rest of the.”

“The warriors who assaulted the pack house, were fighting with Alex and the pack house guards. He had managed to steady the defenders and was keeping our wolves out of the packhouse, they were winning, many of our warriors had been killed when I escaped. I don’t know what happened to the wolves who were supposed to ambush Euan, I barely got away as it was.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have, why did you not join your comrades, it would have been better if you had died with them. You are useless! I should kill you myself” Carl growls at him.

“I thought someone needed to return and tell you what happened, should warn you” the warrior says desperately, knowing that he is fighting for his life.

His words seem to calm Carl down slightly.

“Then go back onto pack lands and find out exactly what happened to my men. I want to know who is still alive and fighting, and who has been captured.” he tells him

Carl turns to look at me. He can see the happiness on my face.

“Don’t think that this means that Alex is going to save you. My warriors are strong. They will still be fighting him, slowing him down. He won’t get to you in time” he declares. “Anyway, the most important thing is that I have you, and that I take you to Lucius. Once he has you it won’t matter what Alex or the Royal Pack try to do, they will never be able to rescue you. We will have won.”

He turns to Mike. “We need to prepare to leave now. Get the cars ready.”

“Are we taking all of them?” Mike asks.

“For the moment. They all have their uses as bargaining chips. But I warn you now Daniel if you attempt anything I won’t hesitate to kill you. You are not important to me. Tie them all up and gag them. They will be easier to transport that way.”

“What about your daughter?” Mike asks.

“Tie her up as well. Her loyalty is suspect. I don’t want her to try and free the others” Carl tells him.

I know that Alex is coming for me that he will not rest until finds me but will he get to us in time? Will he free us before Carl is able to hand me over to Lucius. I shudder at the thought.