Purpose

Bambi

We were escorted to Matthias’ bunker, an underground shelter that looked like a small-scale Victorian mansion on the inside.

He had probably looted most of this from Alpha Rudolph’s manor.

Devina circled me and Jimmy angrily as she massaged the back of her head. I noticed a bloody clump of matted hair where I’d struck her with the rock.

Matthias reprimanded her. “Devina, will you stop harassing these girls? They’re our guests.”

“Do you always keep your guests locked in dark underground dungeons?” I replied without missing a beat.

Matthias glared at Devina, and she shrugged. “My sister and I have different concepts of how we treat guests. I’ve only just arrived home—if you can call this hole in the ground ~home~.”

“Matthias, what’s going on?” Jimmy asked, distraught. “Why did you bring us here? And why do you look so different? The last time I saw you, you were still too sickly to leave your bed!”

“Ah, my dear, I’m sure you have many questions, but they’ll be answered in due time,” he said, walking over and placing his hand under her chin.

I wanted to claw his face off for even touching her.

“How about you answer them now!” I shouted, seething.

“Bambi Jedrek, my mate-in-law, always so inquisitive…too inquisitive for your own good,” he said in a low growl.

“Mate-in-law?” Jimmy gasped. “What is he talking about?”

“Yes, how is our dear brother, Ekon?” Devina asked with an evil smile.

“I wouldn’t know,” I said through gritted teeth. “We haven’t spoken in weeks.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have a family reunion soon, and everything will be set right.” Matthias grinned.

What the hell was he talking about? Did he actually want Ekon to come here? Was I just bait?

“Why am I here?” I demanded. “What do you want with me?”

“You were causing problems for us…being a general pest,” he said casually as he started pouring a glass of wine. “You forced us to show our hand earlier than we anticipated.”

Tears started to well up in Jimmy’s eyes. “Matthias, I don’t understand what’s happening, but…but I want you to let us go.”

“I can’t do that, sweet one. Like I said, we aren’t ready yet,” he responded.

“Did…did you…massacre the Northern Pack?” she asked, trembling.

“That was an unfortunate side effect of Alpha Rudolph’s corruption,” he said, sighing. “And his corruption spread to his pack, just like it has through all the royal packs. They have to be cleansed through fire.”

Jimmy covered her mouth and shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“You’re a liar,” I spat. “He was going to expose you, so you burned the evidence!”

“It’s true. He did step out of line, but that doesn’t cancel out his corruption. I tried to terminate the festering disease within the Royal Pack during the first Great War, but I wasn’t strong enough. This time I will succeed.”

Jimmy started sobbing loudly, and Matthias cringed. He nodded at Devina, and she appeared behind Jimmy, grabbing her head.

“Wait!” I said, holding out my hand.

“Sleep,” Devina whispered as Jimmy’s body went limp and fell into an armchair.

“What did you do to her?” I screamed.

“She’s merely asleep. I would never hurt Jimmy,” Matthias said, as if he was bothered by my question. “But I find crying and emotions to be quite grating.”

“I feel the same way about murder,” I spat.

“You’re awfully self-righteous for a cunt who’s been handed everything,” Devina snarled. “You’ve lived like a princess your whole life, and now you’re mated to a Royal Pack member.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked angrily.

“Do you not see the imbalance that’s all around you?” Matthias questioned. “The royals have everything because they ~take~ everything. Their legacies were built on the backs of commoners. The rogues are left to fend for themselves, while the king and his council live lives of luxury.”

I remembered the files I’d read on the Northern Pack. They were living in poverty, and no one was sending aid, despite repeated pleas for help.

But Matthias had massacred them. How had that saved them?

“You bend your own rules!” I said accusingly. “You killed the very people you said you’d help!”

“You need to listen more carefully, girl. I told you time and again, they were corrupt. Do you really think I slaughtered them because they would reveal me? I’m not so easily exposed.” Matthias laughed.

Devina grinned. “How do you think he stayed hidden for sixteen years?”

Matthias approached me and leaned in closely.

“I killed them because they had struck a deal with the Blackwoods—a family that once understood my cause but flocked to the Royals as soon as they thought me dead,” Matthias growled.

I was beginning to get a better picture of Matthias, and the more I did, the more he terrified me.

He wasn’t the fanatical, crazy butcher that I’d thought he was. He was a brilliant military strategist with a deadly thirst for revenge.

“Are you going to kill me too?” I asked, fighting back my tears.

“If I wanted to kill you, I’d have had Devina slit your throat while you slept in your bed.” He smirked.

“Then let me go,” I pleaded.

“Not until our reunion is complete,” he said ominously. “The one that was prophesied.”

“What…what prophecy?”

I vaguely remembered mention of a prophecy in my research. Rosette had been excommunicated for destroying it…

Devina waved her hand, and a leather-bound book flew off a shelf and landed on the table in front of us. It looked similar to ~The Great Book of Witches~ but was much smaller.

“This grimoire belonged to my mother once, and now it belongs to me,” Devina said menacingly. “It holds my mother’s darkest secrets.”

Holly had told me about grimoires. They were witches’ personal spell books.

If this one was Devina’s, it might even contain the curse she’d used to take Ekon’s sight.

I looked closely at the pages of the book as they turned, but it was written in a language that I didn’t recognize.

“Don’t bother,” Devina hissed in my ear. “Only witches can understand the text.”

“Our mother recorded her prophecy in that book,” Matthias said, pacing the room. “Devina, why don’t you do the honors.”

She lifted the book with a vicious expression and began reading.

“Three siblings, the blood of her blood, destined to unite. Three children who will bring three Great Wars, which will raze the realm, leaving behind ruin and desolation. Together, they fulfill their destiny.”

Devina snapped her grimoire shut and smiled. “Enlightening, no?”

“That was written by Rosette, about herself?” I gasped.

“Our dear mother discarded Devina and me like we were nothing. We were just children, but she thought separation and abandonment was the key to stopping the prophecy,” Matthias said bitterly. “But little Ekon was different. He was the third child, and she kept him…gave him everything.”

“But she got what was coming to her.” Devina curled her blood-red lips into a smile. “And I got her grimoire.”

“I was just an angry young wolf, roaming the country with a small band of rogues when Devina found me and revealed my true destiny,” Matthias said. “She gave me a purpose.”

~A purpose.~

I’d found mine recently too.

And it was to stop assholes like these two from hurting innocent people.

I lunged at Devina’s grimoire, grabbing it from the table and making a break for the tunnels.

It was a feeble attempt, as Matthias caught me within seconds, throwing me to the ground.

“Don’t you want to stay and greet your mate?” he asked with wild eyes.

“He’s not even coming,” I spat.

Matthias laughed cruelly. “He’s already here, Bambi.”

My heart started racing. Had he really come for me?

“Ekon will never join you,” I shouted. “He’s not like you.”

Devina knelt down and stroked my hair, smiling. “You’re so hopeful it’s almost touching, but I know you’re not naïve.”

She pried the grimoire out of my fingers.

“He has a darkness within him…and you’re going to help him unlock it.”

As I cowered on the ground, Matthias hovered over me.

Grinning with his sharp fangs, he pulled a silver blade from his boot.

Ekon

I pulled open a rotted wooden hatch and coughed as a cloud of dust rose from within.

“It smells terrible,” I said, choking back the odor.

“Sulfur mines,” Max said, cringing. “Do you think you’ll still be able to pick up the scent?”

“We’ll find out,” I said as I dropped into the hole.

I landed in the damp tunnel, and Maximus followed behind me.

“What do you see?” I asked.

“Nothing, it’s pitch-black,” he responded, annoyed. “How do you do this?”

“This is actually an advantage for me.” I grinned. “I have heightened senses. In enclosed spaces like this, the sound bounces off the walls, and it’s basically like I can see.”

“Well then, you lead the way because my senses are dull as shit right now,” he grunted. “Do you have her scent?”

“I think so, but it’s faint. It’s this way,” I said, pulling him by the arm.

As we got farther into the tunnel, I stopped in my tracks, a paralyzing fear gripping my body.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Max asked anxiously.

“It’s Bambi. I can scent her blood.”