Chapter 176
Chapter 176
Knight is furious with all three of us as he stares at my long–lost grandmother as if his gaze could somehow set her on fire or make her head explode. Then he turns to his father, who is sipping on a cup of tea while Aizen practices his calligraphy beside him, his eyes darken.
“You were supposed to be watching her,” he growls.
“I was, and there’s not a single scratch on her, your majesty. Keep your voice down, my grandson is trying to focus,” Mr. Knightly doesn’t even look up from Aizen’s sketchbook. Ayrie giggles and offers Aizen a red pen.
Knight looks like he’s about to lose it. He turns to me and takes my hand. When I try to pull away, he tightens his hold and gives me a daring look. I roll my eyes and let him walk me out of the study. He shuts the door behind us and glares at me with his angry Rogue King eyes. I press my lips together, trying not to laugh. I shouldn’t want to, but this is a dire situation, but I didn’t make the rules. My trauma did.
“You think this is funny?” he growls lowly. “You put yourself at risk. You put the baby’s life at risk. You’ve seen what’s happened when we let our guard down. How can you do something so reckless?”
“She was alone, and she had a lot to say. Your dad wouldn’t have let me go near her if he thought I was in danger, and he’s just as insane as you are.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I know.”
“So, why did you do that?” he pinches my chin to keep me from looking away.
“I don’t think you’ll understand,” I pull away. “She’s here now, and it’s not going to cost you anything to hear what she has to say.”
“What is it that you think I won’t understand?”
“Knight-”
“Tell me and I’ll talk to her,” he growls at me again, and Midnight absolutely loves it.
“I don’t have anyone outside of you. All I know about myself is lies. The last time I ignored someone who could give me answers, I ended up regretting it, and I will regret it for the rest of my life.
“This woman might be hella crazy and worse than a Jesus freak, but she’s my grandmother and I want to learn more about what we are than just the gangster shit your father has taught me. I want someone to hold my best interest the way your family does yours.”
“Angel, my best interest is yours as well. We’re a family. Two halves of a whole. I don’t-”
“I know you don’t. I don’t expect you to. I just need you to trust me on this. If things go south, I’d love to hear your first I told you so.”
“I don’t ever want there to be a first,” he sighs and places his hand over my belly. “I trust your instincts, but I’m never going to trust them. They’re the enemy, Phoebe. They’ve killed a lot of people for simply wanting more than what they have to offer. I can’t as a King, ever overlook that.”
He turns away and walks back into the study. Sloane is sitting away from the kids and Mr. Knightly. She’s watching them with a slight tug at her lips. When I sit beside her, she straightens up and gives us her attention.
“Okay,” I tell her and look over at Knight.
“Talk,” he growls.
“The alpha sent me here with a message,” she reaches into her coat and pulls out a scroll.
“We received the first one,” I tell her.
“That was for you,” she says. “This is for them.”
Chapter 176
Knight takes the scroll and moves away from her. She turns her attention back to me and smiles tightly.
“No one trusts you. I’ve heard a lot of stories about Traditionalists, and everyone seems to hate you all.
“This new world is built on blood money. No one cares that we were once beasts anymore. All they care about is power and owning the most land. Those who aren’t in charge kiss the hand that weakens them. They no longer serve nature, nor do they preserve the way of the wolf spirits.
“There are females terminating vessels before they even gain a heartbeat. Males rejecting the gift handcrafted for them by the Moon Goddess herself. More and more wolves are becoming feral because we are not supposed to live this way.
our kind in the same way mortals destroyed themselves. It’s just history spinning “We are wild and primitive beings. Social convention is destroying around in circles. Time goes by, but the cycle can’t be broken. A good life isn’t enough anymore. Everyone wants to live forever, and we are the only ones who see it.”
“If you could have prevented Eliza from all the pain and destruction she has cause by simply terminating her after you were raped, would you have done it? Or would you rather kill her now that you know she’s a fucking psycho who has not only killed but sold defenseless women and children all over the world?”
“She said you wouldn’t understand, not after accepting him. She is
one of us,” she huffs at me. Oh, I’ve known that judgy look and huff all my life.
“She is not one of you. Not even a little. Your whole thing is a little hypocritical considering all the people you yourself have killed, no? Vessels inhabited by wolf spirits, all gone. You and your people did that.”
“We have to survive.”
“You know, I grew up human. My biggest fear was going to hell because I’ve done some shit that would probably make a nun blush. And there was this woman who preached abstinence and virtue at our church.
“She had four sons and two daughters. She would go off about repenting for our sins or whatever. Only for us to find out that each of her kids had a different father, and her whole thing was that God had forgiven her. Bathed her in his holiness, and that only he could judge her, but she would shame all the teenagers on our reservation.
“She’d bully, embarrass, and degrade them. But at the end of the day, she had still gotten fucked more than they ever would and the proof walked hand in hand behind her, filling up half the short bus every Sunday morning.
“That bitch was crazy as hell. She took something that gave people faith, something that was meant to be beautiful and fixed so that it fit her indiscretions as if somehow, her being the church lady would save her from the angry sixteen year old who beat the shit out of her for calling her a motherless whore.
“Just because you put pretty words together and point out the massive problem that is wrong with our society doesn’t make you right, nor does it give
you
the right to pick and choose when to practice what you believe in. If you genuinely believe in what you’re saying, you’d be helping instead of making the problem worse.
“You’re people are hunted because you’re all these little pieces of shit who refuse to believe that what you are practicing stopped being what it was a really long time ago. You are no different from him,” I point at my father–in–law, “The only difference is that he doesn’t pretend like he doesn’t love ripping someone’s head off. I’ve seen him do it. I’ve seen the twinkle that sparks in his eyes when he gives in to what he is.
lliance between Dan and Dael. Wahine” “So, let’s save the theatrics for the press and tell us what the hell is really going on, or I’m going to let Knightly 2.0 get his hands on you for being part of
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