Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 68

"Wake up, bitch."

The slap to my face didn't hurt as much as Flicka thought it did. She was crowing in triumphant glee in her thoughts, which was ironically what grounded me in reality and allowed me to stay calm the second the slap woke me. Little did she know that I had been slapped by Elly and Maria so much when I was younger that I hardly cared about such trivial attacks anymore. What I was more concerned and confused about was how I was back in human form. They must have forced me back into this shape at some point while I was unconscious. And they had shoved me into a loose hospital-gown like article, thin and drafty- "I said, wake up!"

The second slap didn't faze me either, which only made Flicka even more frustrated. She knew I was conscious again. I had opened my eyes and was looking straight at her when she shouted again. What she was upset about was that I wasn't groveling and sniveling, and that threw her off so much she had no idea what to do except hit me again.

"You can see I'm awake," I said calmly. "I'm looking at you."

"Shut up! Shut up!" She slapped me a third time, then again on the other side of my face with a backhand as well. Even so, despite the sting of her nails dragging along my cheek, I scarcely reacted. "Do you even know where you are? What kind of situation you're in? Where do you think you get off talking to me, you stupid f*****g slut?"

"You woke me up since you have something to say to me," I said patiently. "If you don't want me to talk the talk over me and say whatever it is you want to say." Flicka, unable to think of anything to say, reared back for another slap. But before the blow landed, another voice echoed in the small, dim concrete room, a man's voice.

"Enough, Flicka. She's the fulcrum on which the plan relies. Don't damage her, or else all the effort we went to make this happen fails."

Whose voice was that coming from behind me? I didn't recognize it at all. An older man, posh voice, and the lilt of each word rang with learned sophistication. He was standing a little too far away from me for me to detect his thoughts other than the ones at the very surface, which was useless since he was speaking them aloud anyway.

"But she's being a b***h!" Flicka whined, bottom lip sticking out petulantly. She even stomped her feet, fists clenched at her sides. "It doesn't matter if I hit her as long as she's alive, Evan will do whatever we want as long as he thinks he can have her back!" "Not quite. You know how unpredictable he can be. If he believes we've hurt her already, he'll lose his temper, and what good sense we hope he retains would be gone with the wind. He'll attack in full force regardless of the consequences." "So we're not going to do anything to her! We're just babysitting her!"

"Of course not, my dear. If she doesn't cooperate, a single finger or an ear will do. But no unnecessary damage, unless she resists even more and gives me no choice but to forcibly stunt her healing again. We have the means, after all."

The man approached, and the heavy clang of a metal door revealed why I hadn't noticed his presence before. He had just entered. The entrance was somewhere behind me where I couldn't see, with my being tied to this uncomfortable metal chair. Even my neck and forehead were secured with what felt like dozens of zip ties, and so were my wrists and ankles. Now that the numbness had faded, the knife-sharp pain burned all around them, skin chafed so raw I was sure they were bleeding.

The man came close enough that I could read his thoughts at last. My head pounded with the effort of separating those from what he said next, but thankfully, he was only giving vague instructions to Flicka to control her anger and not jeopardize things. I ignored those and pried into his mind, digging deep. I had never done this before, always taking care to respect others' privacy, but this was hardly the time to be moralistic.

I was in danger. Not only that, Evan was in danger too. They were using me to get to him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they had kidnapped me and were going to blackmail him into doing whatever they said - and if my suspicions were right, they wanted him gone.

This was the betrayal Evan had been worried about, the backstabbing from within the pack. But Flicka? How could she be involved in this, vapid and petty and bratty as she was? It couldn't be. She was a mere puppet. This man was the one who controlled her and used her. It had to be. His mind was so keen and dark that I struggled to part through the curtain that protected it, and even now I couldn't unearth his name from his thoughts. Something about it almost being time, and something else about forcing Evan to go somewhere. Another thought about a hostage, of course, but that was me. No mystery there. Focus!

And then the realization came to me:

Why weren't Flicka and this man communicating through mind-link? That was safer and more private than speaking aloud. I could hear everything they were saying. They didn't know I would be able to hear them either way, after all.

Unless... they wanted me to hear this. They were trying to make me afraid and stay cooperative.

But too bad. I could hear them drop into their silent conversation right over my head.

She won't know we've run out of the toxin. Keep her in line until we have Evan on the ropes, Flicka.

Of course, Alpha Matthen! I know what I'm doing. She's easy to control anyway.

Alpha Matthen? Why was that name familiar?

Wait... Ken's father?

My heart dropped. It couldn't be. Ken wouldn't be involved in this, would he? We were friends. Sure, we'd had our share of trouble over Evan, but... No. I refused to believe it. Ken's thoughts had always been open, even pure. After I had made my decision to be with Evan instead of him, even then he had never held it against me. The worst of it had only been his wishful thinking that I had chosen him instead, but that had never interfered with our friendship.

No. This didn't involve Ken. If this was his father as I suspected, then the man had done this without Ken's knowledge. Simple as that.

So, what next? Think. The toxin - it was gone and they were bluffing about it, but I had already guessed that much. Even before I had been kidnapped, Evan and I had guessed that the enemy had only a limited amount of the toxin left, which was why they were trying to save it for when they were sure they could capture Evan. But they had given up and used it on me instead. If there had ever been enough to disable Evan in the first place, there certainly wouldn't be enough now that they had wasted it on me. But it wasn't a waste, was it? Evan would do anything to keep me safe. They were right; I was the key to getting to Evan. My stomach churned as I desperately racked my brain for a solution. I had to get free. I had to get out of here and get back to Evan. Whatever this man had planned for him, I couldn't let him execute it.

"You're the one who paid off all the rogues and other shifters to invade Scarlet territory," I said. "You stabbed your pack in the back for power. But all you're going to get from it is a ruined city. Even if you kill Evan or get him to abdicate, the pack respects his

leadership too much to follow you blindly. You know that, right? You're going to be king of a hovel, because everyone will split off and leave you with nothing to take over. I'm an outsider and I can see that."

Flicka's face blanched. Before she could react by hitting me again, Matthen stopped her with a chuckle. "I agree. Which is why Evan is going to get himself valiantly killed while saving you from the terrible rogues. Flicka and I will be conveniently positioned to then finish what he started. Evan will, with his dying breath, entrust us with your safety... or so we'll tell the pack. You won't survive, so badly injured that your half-breed healing can't keep up, but that double tragedy will just make it necessary for new leadership to step in." "They'll all suspect you."

"Of course. Especially since two of my subordinates have already betrayed the pack by killing your guards and taking you away. Their scent will be recognized, and the blame will land on me. I will of course arrange things so that my subordinates alone seem guilty, and that I was simply duped. Nonetheless, I will be suspected or even ridiculed for having traitors emerge from my family. But no one will suspect Flicka. She's far too young and popular with most of the pack youths, they'll defend her from the accusations. And her father will become the presiding Alpha, with Flicka the next heir... and soon, engaged to my son, Ken. A perfect match, I think. Two families joined at the head of the pack."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're going to betray Flicka and her parents after all of that."

"Tsk tsk. I already warned Flicka you will be trying to drive a wedge between us. Too bad I've prepared her for any games you play, much like the ones you fooled my son with. This will be the end of your mercenary ways though, very soon."

There was no use telling Flicka I could read Matthen's mind, and that he was indeed going to betray her. She would laugh in my face. In fact, she was already doing just that. She threw her head back with a cackle.

"I always said you'd regret it, you b***h. Now you're dead."