<h4>Chapter 357: The One Pulling the Strings</h4>
<strong>River:</strong>
The man on the floor was hardly recognizable. His body was broken, swollen in ces from blows, split open in others where blood still seeped sluggishly. But the wounds were already knitting together... signaling that he would soon be ready for another round of torture.
I stared at him, with my arms folded across my chest and my jaw locked so tightly I thought it might shatter.
This was him.
Ethan ckwood.
The so-called <i>mate</i> Evaline had once believed in. The boy who had stood in front of everyone and torn her heart apart.
Though the truth was finally out that Kieran, and not Ethan, had been the mate she sensed that night, it still didn’t exin why she felt the mate bond with Ethan the very next day and even experienced the pain when he rejected the bond. Was he indeed her mate?
I had hated Ethan since that night of Alpha selection ceremony at Nightshade Pack. But now... now I wanted answers.
Oscar crouched in front of him, his eyes glowing with barely leashed rage. "Start talking, ckwood. Or I swear you won’t leave this ce alive."
Ethan coughed, spitting blood onto the stone floor. His hands shook as he tried to push himself upright, but Draven’s boot pressed him back down against the cold surface.
"Stay where you are," Draven growled, his voice dark and heavy with the kind of menace only he could wield.
Ethan’s eyes darted between us, fear clear in their depths. He had already withstood hours of questioning, but not even a fool like him could keep silent forever.
"I... I didn’t n it," he rasped finally, his voice hoarse. "It wasn’t me. It was Damian."
My blood ran cold.
"What?" I bit out, my voice like a whip crack in the room.
Ethan’s chest heaved. His face twisted with pain - not from his injuries, but from fear. "Damian Greystone. He nned everything. That night, on her eighteenth birthday... it wasn’t me she was supposed to sleep with. It was him."
Draven pressed his boot harder into Ethan’s chest, his growl vibrating the air. "Be very careful with your words, ckwood. You are talking about her brotger."
"I know!" Ethan’s voice broke. "He hated her. He wanted to... to make her suffer. He was always obsessed with her. He had a vial... something he got from the dark markets. A drug. He wanted to use it on her, to cloud her senses, make her-"
"Shut your mouth," I snapped, fury snapping my control. The very idea of Damian’s twisted intentions toward Evaline made bile rise in my throat.
Ethan flinched, his hands rising as if to shield himself. "I swear! I didn’t touch her! She disappeared before Damian arrived. We never found her that night."
My heart thundered, but I forced myself to keep my voice level. "And the next day? She felt a bond with you. She felt the rejection. Exin <i>that</i>."
He swallowed hard, his split lip trembling. "It was a spell. Damian used a spell. Some kind of... illusionary tether. He was furious that she escaped that night, so he wanted to punish her. To humiliate her. He cast the spell so that she would feel the mate bond... with me. And then he told me exactly what to do. Reject her. Publicly. So she would feel the pain. The spell onlysted a short while, but it was enough."
The room went deathly still.
I felt my ws digging into my palms as rage wed its way through me. The image of my mate, trembling in front of two packs, her pain as the rejection tore her apart... all of it had been fabricated. All of it had been Damian’s cruelty.
Oscar surged forward, fisting Ethan’s cor and yanking him upright. His eyes burned, his teeth bared. "You are telling me she went through that horrible pain, that shame... because of a spell?"
"Yes!" Ethan cried, desperation spilling from him. "I didn’t want to! I only did it because Damian forced me - he threatened me. I only ever spoke to her because he told me to. He said... he said to befriend her, to make her believe I cared. And then when I turned eighteen, he ordered me to tell her I felt the bond. It was all part of his n!"
"Lies." Draven’s voice cut through the air like ice. He crouched down, his eyes level with Ethan’s. "You expect us to believe you were nothing but a pawn? And someone else was pulling your strings from behind the scenes?"
"I swear!" Ethan’s tears mixed with blood now, his voice cracking under the pressure. "Everything I did was under Damian’s orders. I never wanted to be her friend.. I didn’t care about her. I just... I followed what he said. Because if I didn’t, he would destroy me."
I closed my eyes for a brief second, pain spearing through me.
Evaline. My sweet, strong Evaline. She had carried all that pain, all that heartbreak, for so long... believing she was unworthy, believing Ethan’s rejection meant she wasn’t enough. And all of it had been nothing more than a cruel maniption.
"Do you realize what you have done?" My voice shook with suppressed fury. "You shattered her. You stood there and let her bleed for something that wasn’t real."
Ethan’s mouth opened, but no words came out. His shoulders trembled.
Oscar’s fist connected with his face in the next breath, the sound of bone cracking echoing through the room. Ethan crumpled sideways with a groan, blood pooling beneath him.
"Coward," Oscar spat, shaking his hand out. "You let Damian use her. You watched her suffer and even joined him. You are filth."
Draven leaned close, his voice so low it was nearly a snarl. "And for every tear she shed, for every scar she carries... you will pay."
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I couldn’t speak anymore. My throat was tight, my chest burning with anger and helplessness. All I could see was Evaline’s face on the night of Alpha selection ceremony. The agony that had haunted her, all because of this man and her vile stepbrother.
Now we had our answers. But answers didn’t ease the fury simmering in my veins. If anything, it made it worse.
Because now I knew exactly who to me.
And Damian Greystone would not live long enough to cast another spell.