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Chapter 70

Elise walks through the woods, down the familiar roads, to the cabin that Kaide invited her to. She still recalls parts of the road even as nightfall approaches quickly.

She sees the familiar cabin come into view, and she trails forward, weakly calling his name, but there is no answer. The door creaks open, and Elise makes her way into Kaide’s home.

“Kaide? Kaide, are you here? I really need to talk to you,” she mutters desperately, but there is no response as the house is quiet and empty, with the sound of her footsteps echoing into the dimly lit hallways.

She makes it to the end of the hall, to the familiar hallway, and down to the door of the study. There is no trace of Kaide here either.

She then opens the door, moving into the large study. Her curiosity is piqued since she is the only one here. She rifles through the bookshelf and books, none catching her interest-not until she sees the silver-lined book that is familiar to her.

It’s half-opened and pressed on his desk; she gets intrigued enough to reach for it. A little peek won’t harm anyone, right? She wonders as she walks up to the table and takes up the book.

She decides she could read this while she waits for Kaide to arrive; she has no idea how much information this book holds.

She reads the words. Shadow wolves are from one of the strongest packs in the whole realm; they are identified by their grey coating, with their alpha females having a more snowy white fur coat. “White fur?” She mutters in confusion and curiosity.

She swallows, eyes wide, and is eager to learn more about these wolves and her origins for a while since she has been in the Blackmoon pack and at the time of her obligation to replace her real father since she was being treated well by Rygan and his friends.

But now it has all changed. What if the shadow wolves were a close chance to what she could replace about them? From what she reads, they are a powerful clan but have chosen to go into seclusion; their territory was hidden away from the other packs 20 years ago, which made the shadow wolves hard to contact.

She concludes that it couldn’t be a coincidence that she was born almost 20 years ago; something in her heart tells her that could be close to the mark.

A little bit of hope glimmers in her eye as she grips the book and reads about the history, but from what she learns, the shadow wolves are so skillfully hidden that no one has been able to contact them for years.

When she turns to the next page to replace a clue to start her search and unanswered questions, she replaces the page has been torn off from the spine.

She can’t help but feel disappointed, and her wolf, while annoyed by the dead end, is oddly eager to learn more about the shadow wolves.

But then the only thing that she can’t quite figure out or understand is why Kaide didn’t want to show her this book sooner; why did he delay this much to give her a little idea of who she might be?

Her thoughts are interrupted by the hard click of the front door. She hears footsteps come into the house, and she wonders if it is Kaide.

She closes the book, letting out a sigh of relief when she hears his voice echoing down the halls by the dining area. She is about to call his name out but stops when she hears him talking in hushed tones to someone.

He didn’t come in alone.

“Are you sure that we are alone here, cousin?” When she hears Elvira’s voice with Kaide, Elise freezes in place, trying hard to control her scent and presence, just like Rygan taught her to.

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Chapter 70

“Of course we are: I cleared the maids for the night just because of this,” he says as she reaches for the bar tray, filling up her cup.

He hands it to Alvira, but she shakes her head. “Have you forgotten my situation?” She says it in panic, and Kaide lets out a dark chuckle.

Elise is shocked to hear from him as she sits down, his legs crossed, and his wine sipped slowly.

“It’s suspicious that I haven’t seen that girl for days; I mean, she should be on her knees begging and embarrassing herself for the whole court to see before she is dragged to Kyren’s pack

She argues. Elise can’t believe what she is hearing. It isn’t a shock that Alvira could say something like this, but she is more stunned by who she is saying all this to.

“You’ve done enough, cousin, more than you were ever instructed to. I told you not to involve Kyren in my plans anymore, but you met the assassin behind my back.”

Kaide says, and Elise’s body freezes and her blood runs cold the minute he utters those words. She feels a horrific, chilling shiver down her spine, barely controlling her breathing so she won’t be caught.

“I was desperate, Kaide; after all this, I know that Rygan was getting far too deep in his feelings for the halfling, and I want her gone,” she says with irritation. “And don’t look at me with disappointment at what I was supposed to do when you no longer want to meet with the assassin after the kidnapping incident.”

Elise’s hands fly to cover her mouth from that revelation, Kaide knew? She feels like this is a nightmare that she is going through. Kaide of all people betraying her.

After all his confessions of having feelings for her, protecting her, and being worried on her behalf, all those were lies. Kaide is a backstabber.

She has come here to ask for him, and now the truth is like a splash of cold water telling her to wake up from this illusion, and no one is on her side.

“You’re lucky I found the one deltas you employed and killed before you handed her off to the humans, and the poison worked quickly for the second one,” he says with another sip, “so here, cousin, let us celebrate that.” He says this, pointing at her cup again.

“Didn’t I just tell you I can’t drink, my baby-”

“-What baby? You are not pregnant” Kaide says with a dark and amused smirk as he walks to where Alvira sits. “For all I know, my spies have been reporting your night rendezvous because of your habits. And I’m pi***ed already, as it is that you drugged her to lay with that b**d, Kyren.” He calls with another sip.

Elise feels her eyes water with tears; the heartache and betrayal she is feeling right now is something she never expected from Kaide!

“I discussed my plans with you and warned you that it doesn’t concern him anymore, Alvira, but after studying her powers, I might have a good guess who she is, and I wanted to use her for my plans,” he says.

His hands touch the naked nape of Alvira’s skin, tracing down a kiss, causing a moan to erupt from her. She pushes Kaide back to peer at him with a snarl.

“Spare me all the c**p. Kaide, even though I went ahead with Kyren’s plan, you were the one that gave me the idea to sleep with Rygan,” she says, with Kyren’s kiss ending on her lips and his hands riding up her skirt. “You were the one that planned it all,” she moans.

Elise has heard enough; she can’t believe it. She feels so weak that the book in her arms falls with a great thud, alerting Kaide and Alvira, whose eyes widen from the noise.

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Chapter 70

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They hear footsteps approaching the room they are in. Kaide takes a good look at the familiar red hair, and her eyes widen in panic when she sees Elise.

“Elise, I can explain.”

“What the hell is this, Kaide?” She mutters, her body feeling numb as she looks at a very fearful Alvira, whose eyes widen in shock that Elise listened to their conversation and caught them in a compromising position.

Her words are filled with pain and heartache, and the person she had trusted all along seems to be the worst of the bunch.

Elise glances at both of them. With tears streaming from her eyes, her body trembles with pain rushing through her veins as she speaks.

“You betrayed me.”