“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hiss, my voice rising in pitch. “You think Iwantedto lose the baby? Even though you practicallyforcedthe pregnancy on me andlied when I asked you if I was at risk,I was going to keep it! Raise the child, love it,protectit! What thefuckis wrong with you?”
Camden works his jaw for several moments, looking to the wall. “So you’re attempting to convince me that, after finding out about an unwanted pregnancy, you planned to go through with it?Really, Sierra?”
“Yes, Camden, fucking really!” I yell. “Your deceit and trickery do not justify putting a stop to the growth of an innocent life. I left warded grounds and went into the forest so I could think after receiving the shock of my life, not to do myself harm. That you could think otherwise means you don’t know me at all!”
His eyes cut a path back to me, feeling like they slice through my skin with the ire swirling in them. Not just ire but distrust. Dear gods, he thinks that I wanted to get attacked? That I wandered off the property with the intent of…of aborting my child?
“Youknewyou were pregnant, and yet you left the warded grounds without telling anyone, without properly protecting yourself. You left yourself open to attack, and that attackcost us our child.”
I’m stunned that Camden is actually going as far as to blamemefor what happened. I didn’t ask to be targeted by a group of witch-hating shifters; I was half out of my mind with confusion, anger, andfear! How could he think this is in any way on me? I chose to keep the life inside me even though I didn’taskfor it.
Feeling tears well up in my eyes, I ask, “How can yousaythat?Youwere the one who tricked me into this!”
“I gave you freedom, andthisis what you did with it!” Camden shouts, more enraged than I’ve ever seen him.
I’m also more enraged than he’s ever seen me. “I gave you a chance and youused it to betray me!” I yell back.
“Don’t act like the damn victim here, Sierra. You wanted me just as much as I wanted you—you tore my clothes off in your haste to fuck me.”
That makes meseethingmad. Howdarehe use that against me? I amnotthe one who knew it would be a blood moon that night, nor was I told the effects that a blood moon would have on me. Nobody in this fucking palace had the goddamndecencyto inform me of the risks of sleeping with him on a blood moon, especially after he marked me without even asking for my consent; namely, that it was a near-guarantee I’d end up pregnant.
“I trusted you with my body, Camden, and what you did was use it to meet your own ends. Sure, I was under the effects of a blood moon, so yeah, I ripped your clothes because I wasin the moon’s thrall. Something you would’ve warned me about if you had even an iota of respect for me. Instead, you put me in a situation like that blind,knowingthe outcome. I may have wanted to fuck you in that moment, but I sure asshitdid not want you tobiteme.”
“Isthatwhy you nearly strangled my cock with the force of your orgasm when I marked you?” he asks snarkily.
The low blows just keep coming. I don’t think Camden’s yet grasped that his anger can’t hold a candle to the force of my rage. Rage that stems from the fact that I wasjuststarting to trust him, which he turned around and used against me. On top of that, I just had amiscarriage!Instead of supporting me, he has the gall to try toblameme. That, even more than his deception, is unforgivable.
“Youmotherfucker,” I seethe, throwing the blankets off and pushing myself out of bed.
Instantly, a wave of overpowering weakness washes over me and my head spins, but I don’t let that pull me down; I clutch one of the posts of the bed to stay upright, glaring at Camden.
“You knew what you were doing while I didn’t. That means you took advantage of me and of my compassion in the worstpossibleway. Then you swore everyone in this godforsaken castle to silence to meetyour own ends. You thinkyouhave the right to be angry, Camden? Webothjust lost a child, but what you took from me ismuchworse; you stole any possibility of safety or a future for me here with you. You twisted my trust and used it against me. Youusedme.” I let out a low, dark laugh, scratchy and filled with hate. “You know, the witches gave me an option to put an end to the pregnancy. I saidno—"
In a blur of movement so fast I don’t even see it coming, Camden lunges at me, taking us both down to the mattress. I let out a shriek and a loud cracking noise precedes the windows in Camden’s room all breaking at once, causing glass to shatter to the floor, but Camden doesn’t even seem to notice—I barely do either. He straddles my waist, pinning my hips to the bed. He gathers my hands in one of his and pins them above my head before bringing his other hand around my throat, squeezing until my airflow isn’t entirely cut off, but my breathing is constricted. I struggle, trying to buck him off and free myself from his grip, but it has no measurable impact; Camden’s too strong and too angry for me to dislodge him.
He says in a voice so soft it raises the hairs on my arms, “You committed treason, Sierra. You killed a royal. That’s a crime punishable by death regardless of your fucking station.”
I gape at him. “I did no such thing! I wanted to keep the baby—"
His hand around my throat tightens as his eyes blaze, and for the first time since I met him, I fear for my life. He’s furious enough in this moment that I think he just might kill me. If he does see my actions as killing a royal—which I absolutely did not do, though he seems convinced otherwise—then I am in very dangerous and uncharted territory.
A wolf in a rage is a deadly thing to all around them. Right now, I’m the only person around, and this wolf’s rage is directed solely at me. Camden’s hand around my throat squeezes so tightly Ifear he’ll crush my windpipe. Pain blooms from my neck to my chest, and my head starts to pound with a horrible headache that feels like a knife twisting in my skull.
“Be careful,” he whispers. “Be very, very careful, Sierra. Right now, I have very little reason to let you live. You’re a traitor living under my roof,and I have no use for traitors.”
My vision starts to blur as black dots take over, the lack of oxygen starting to take its toll. I struggle, trying to free myself, but Camden doesn’t budge, if anything he squeezes harder, and I realize this is a punishment. I’m not sure he knows if he’ll kill me, just as I don’t know if he’ll kill me, and that terror makes me desperate. Unfortunately, that desperation still isn’t enough for me to free myself; I’m too weak right now, too depleted. He said Claude had healed me, not Leisel, so I’m probably notentirelyhealed yet, which is why I lack the strength to dislodge him to try to make himsee reason.
Just when I’m positive Camden is about to end my life, belying everything ever said about a wolf’s devotion to his mate, he lets go of my throat. I suck in deep lungful’s of air, feeling my throat and chest burn with pain as my eyes water. I cough several times, each one feeling like hot needles scraping across my raw throat and diaphragm.
Camden seems entirely unconcerned as he climbs off of me and stands from the bed, glaring at me. “Get the fuck out,” he barks. “You’re quarantined to your room until I figure out what to do with you. There’ll be guards posted outside, so don’t eventhinkabout escape. You’re in deep enough shit with your treason as it is.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Even though I have very little strength left in my body, the rush of fear-fueled adrenaline gives me just enough energy to roll off the bed, clutching my quickly swelling throat, and stumble out of his room. It’s clear he won’t listen right now; more, it becomes glaringly clear that he doesn’t deserve an explanation—he nearly choked me to death when I tried to give him one.
I follow his instructions, forcing one foot in front of another as I pass through the castle corridors, each one seeming exponentially long. The farther I go, the more my throat constricts until it’s almost like Camden’s hand is still around it, still choking the life out of me. I persevere through the agony, tilting my head to the ceiling to try to clear my airway at least a little, get myself just enough oxygen to get to my room, grab Leisel, and get us away from here. The spell and sigil the witches left me are hidden in my room; I have no option but to use them because I now understand there’s no safety for me in this castle and there never was.
After a while, I’m no longer able to stand upright on my own; the dizziness becomes too much, as does the pain, and I resolve to cling to the walls in order to keep going. It doesn’t help that the cramps in my stomach are getting worse, making nausearise in my throat.Almost there.
