“Why?” was all I could ask.
“I told you it was necessary,” he said coldly. “For the survival of the packs. All of them.”
“Are you insane? The packs--”
Neil whirled on me. “No, Matheson, I’m not. If you could stop thinking with your heart and use your brain for one second, you would know exactly what I’m talking about.”
I paused as if his words were a physical blow. I didn’t know if I should be more confused or angry.
Beside me, Bastian glanced back and forth between us, clearly baffled. Neil obviously didn’t care if he overheard. He had no dog in this fight, since his pride already had me as the ultimate prize.
“Think about it,” Neil growled, his voice too low for anyone but us to hear. “The problem in the packs wasyou.Nobody else. As much as you like to play the victim, you need to realize that you were the one threatening us.”
I wanted to laugh, but the truth was that his words stung. It wasn’t the first time I’d had similar thoughts. After all, me being an omega was the catalyst of all of this. Without it, the wolf packs at the Lake of Four Directions wouldn’t have had any issues with the gryphons or humans.
Was Neil right?
WasIthe problem?
At my silence, Neil continued. “Maybe now you’ll understand why I did it. I know you hate me, but I’m still loyal to the packs. To East pack especially. All I wanted was for them to be safe.” He shot me a side-eyed glance. “And if that involved sacrificing you… I was more than willing to do it.”
All my arrogant swagger deflated. I’d been put on a pedestal since I got here, but now it was broken, and I was falling. Neil really had sacrificed me to save the packs, and I couldn’t deny that me being out of the picture made them safer. Without a secret omega to hide, they were free to live as they pleased, with no threat of danger looming over them…
“No one is being sacrificed,” Bastian said suddenly with a huff. He put a hand on my shoulder. “Matheson is going to have an amazing life here. We’ll take good care of him, I promise.”
Neil’s tail flicked and he said nothing. He knew he’d already won this confrontation by getting in my head, and broken my spirits on top of that.
“There was a prophecy,” I growled. “I was going to figure it out. I was going to save the shifters. You didn’t need to do this.”
“Then why haven’t you solved it?” Neil asked. “Maybe if you’d done it earlier, you wouldn’t be in this situation. But you didn’t. You’re living in a dream, Matheson.”
“What’s in it for you, then?” I spat. “You can’t go back. They’ll never accept you after what you did. The human settlement won’t, either. The Madame knows you’re untrustworthy.”
This wasn’t Neil’s first betrayal. He’d done that when he tried to steal me away from my mates, to force me into a situation I didn’t want to be in. Then he’d attacked Noro and injured him to the point where he couldn’t fly until I’d healed him with my magic.
And now this.
There was no redeeming someone like him, someone who was so caught up in his own beliefs that he didn’t spare a second thought to anything else.
“I’ll stay here, among the pride,” Neil said blandly.
“So you can watch me suffer?” I demanded.
“I might enjoy it.”
“Fuck you,” I snapped. “What about my child, Neil?”
Neil’s lip curled. “I don’t care what happens to that bastard brat.”
My anger spilled over like bubbling lava. I threw myself at him, trying to punch and hit any part of him my fists would reach. But he stepped back, avoiding my blows. Bastian grabbed me as gently as he could and pulled me back.
“Matheson, don’t! You’ll hurt yourself!” he cried.
Furious, hot tears fell from my eyes. This wasn’t how I imagined this confrontation at all. Neil came away from this unscathed, and I was the one who was hurt--not physically, but emotionally.
Neil had no regret for selling me and my child into slavery. He wasproudof it. He thought he was doing the right thing, and there was no arguing with someone who deeply believed something like that.
I felt hopeless. With nothing left to say, I turned around and stormed back into the room with Bastian close behind.
