Chapter 653

Madeline:

“How is he?” I asked Ron, unable to stop worrying about Byron.

“He collapsed out of nowhere and came down with a high fever. Everything seems to trace back to those scratches on the back of his neck. They’ve become infected.”

A simple scratch shouldn’t have done this to an alpha.

The whole situation felt wrong.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Ron admitted. “He’s getting worse. He’s in constant pain. I gave him herbs to help him sleep, but Goddess only knows how long that’ll keep working.”

His words settled heavily in my chest.

I couldn’t lose another good person.

The thought alone terrified me because I knew exactly what it would do to me.

It would bring out the darkest side of myself.

“We’ll find a way,” I said quietly.

Pressing my fingertips together, I thought through the ingredients.

“I need a purple rose, a pink rose, and some old wolfsbane herb. Once you find them, I’ll explain the rest.”

Absentmindedly, I began drawing on one of my children’s homework pages.

The sight of it twisted something inside me.

Their childhood had been stolen.

For months, their lives had revolved around fear, hiding, and survival.

Every time they started settling somewhere, they were uprooted and forced somewhere else.

They didn’t even have a home anymore.

And now they were with that bastard. A man I knew didn’t genuinely care about them.

Still, he wouldn’t hurt them.

If nothing else, maintaining his image mattered too much to him.

“Madeline. Lord William died.”

Ron uttered the news with teary eyes and I shut my eyes to avoid tears as well.

Now I understood why everything had spiraled out of control.

As long as Lord William had been alive, there had been consequences for the alphas’ actions. Someone had kept the balance intact.

Now that balance is gone.

“Lady Abigail was killed by the monster too,” Ron added and I felt nothing.

If anything, I was relieved she was dead.

Unfortunately, people like her rarely left behind anything better.

“What about outside?” Ron asked.

I moved into the living room and lowered myself onto the couch where I used to curl up with Baxter.

Without letting Ron notice, I squeezed the cushion beneath my fingers.

The familiar texture stirred memories I wasn’t ready to face.

“The monster’s still out there,” I said. “It keeps circling the area. Honestly, it looks like it’s guarding us.”

That was the part I couldn’t understand.

Why would a creature like that protect us?

My other hand was buried in my pocket.

Not my pocket. It was Baxter’s pants. I had changed into them just to feel closer to him.

Inside the pocket, I was clutching something so tightly that my jaw clenched every few seconds.

A bracelet.

The bracelet I had found near the spot where Baxter’s body had been left.

And suddenly, everything made sense.

As I drifted off into my thoughts, Ron snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“What is the plan now?” he asked.

A broken smile tugged at my lips.

“I know what happened to Baxter,” I murmured softly.

His eyes widened in shock.

Maybe it was the way I said it, but he looked completely caught off guard.

“What happened to him?” he asked, his body tensing up.

“I found something that reveals who might have left him on that

l.ne

mountaintop,” my jaw clenched at my own words. FindNovel.net

“Who?”

The curiosity in his voice only grew.

“Kaylee.”

The moment her name left my mouth, Ron leaned back. He probably thought I was losing my mind.

“Kaylee? Why would Kaylee…”

He trailed off, trying to make sense of it.

“What are we going to do about it?” Ron asked once he realized I might have had a reason to make such a claim.

“Nobody would care anymore. They would celebrate her for hurting you,” he muttered, his voice low as the realization sank in that was the most hated she-Wolf at the moment.

“I don’t need anyone’s help anymore, Ron.”

My response made him narrow his eyes at me.

“If anything, they’re lucky I’m sparing them for now. If I didn’t have kids to worry about would have already gone on a suicide missten,” I hissed, e my fists clenching as my eyes grew teary.

They weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of anger.

“I have a perfect plan,” I mumbled, steadying my breathing.

“May I be a part of it?” Ron asked innocently.

I felt bad for him too.

Losing so much wasn’t easy.

In a way, he was the one who had lost his entire family.

“Kaylee will regret taking my love from me, Ron,” I murmured, curling strands of hair

around my fingers.

I wasn’t the same Madeline anymore.

I was going to be the one seeking revenge now.

I would make life a living hell for Elgin, Kaylee, Graham, and Silver.