Chapter 133: A Trap Revealed
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Chapter 133: A Trap Revealed
Chapter 133: A Trap Revealed
(Celeste’s POV)
Scarlett’s words hung in the air like a fetid mist, leaving me momentarily stunned. She truly had the gall to play this manipulative hand, her wolf whimpering pitifully as though she were the picture of selflessness. The audacity.
Before I could respond, Victoria stepped forward, interrupting with an urgency that bordered on desperation.
“Scarlett, darling, you’re speaking nonsense!” she exclaimed, her tone high–pitched and
trembling. “You’re just… worried about Grace’s wellbeing, that’s all.”
Her emerald eyes darted between Scarlett and me, her body language betraying more than her honeyed words ever could. She was nervous. I could smell it, a sour ripple of anxiety clinging
to her like an unforgiving shadow.
I held back a smirk, keeping my expression neutral. The sudden pivot in her behavior from
earlier cold detachment to this frantic attempt at damage control was almost comical–if it
didn’t sting so much.
They truly thought so little of me.
“Grace is currently recovering in my quarters after her silver–chain punishment,” I replied
calmly, matching Victoria’s trembling energy with icy composure.
My gaze shifted pointedly to Scarlett, whose emerald eyes were now welling with perfectly
timed tears. Her wolf whimpered theatrically, radiating submission like a pup caught stealing
scraps.
“Recovering from punishment?” Scarlett echoed, her voice pitching higher, louder. “What have
you done to her?”
Her trembling hands reached up to clutch at her chest as though she were about to collapse
from the sheer weight of her concern. Dramatic as always.
The memory of my own silver–burn scars from Marcus’s torture seared briefly to the forefront
of my mind. Her wolf crying for Grace while remaining oblivious–or indifferent–to my pain only deepened my resolve.
“If you’re so concerned,” I said, my voice sharp but steady, “why don’t you accompany me to
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Chapter 133: A Trap Revealed
see her?”
Scarlett blinked, clearly caught off–guard by my invitation. Small victories, I supposed. Not waiting for a response, I turned on my heel, striding purposefully towards my quarters.
Victoria and Scarlett, like obedient shadows, followed close behind.
The tension in the hallway was palpable, vibrating along my every step. Suppressed murmurs from the nearby pack members tickled the edge of my heightened hearing. I knew this small parade would draw curious eyes–and I wanted it to.
Let them watch. The truth deserved witnesses.
As we approached the oak door to my quarters, Nina stood at attention outside, her silver–gray wolf stoic and unreadable. But the flicker in her intense gray eyes as they met mine told me
everything I needed to know.
I inclined my head slightly, issuing an unspoken command. Our bond, strengthened through shared trials and trust, conveyed my intention perfectly.
Nina moved seamlessly into the performance.
“My Lady!” she greeted cheerfully, her voice light despite the edge of anticipation curling
beneath it. “Are you here to check on Grace?”
I played along, adopting an air of cool interest.
“How is she recovering?” I asked, my words deliberate enough to carry down the quiet hallway.
“She’s resting in her room,” Nina replied, her expression icy perfection. “Shall I show you the
way?”
Scarlett’s wolf surged forward eagerly at the mention of Grace’s location. I didn’t miss the way her hand crept toward Victoria’s, a thin tendril of fear curling around her calculated
self–assurance.
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Sarah, another beta guard, quietly slipping down. the hallway ahead of us. Few knew that Sarah and Grace were cousins–a detail that had thus
far worked to my advantage and was about to prove useful once again.
As we reached the door to Grace’s temporary quarters, the air grew heavier. Nina moved ahead
to knock with a firm, deliberate hand.
But before her knuckles met the wood, a voice rang out from within.
“Grace, you’re truly remarkable!” Sarah’s voice carried, loud and clear. “Not only did you escape
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Chapter 133: A Trap Revealed
punishment, but you’re being pampered by Celeste!”
Scarlett visibly flinched beside me. Her wolf froze, a sharp contrast to her earlier eagerness.
“What-?” Scarlett’s whispered disbelief hung in the air.
Before she could react further, a second voice–Grace’s–followed, brimming with smug
arrogance.
“Of course!” Grace declared, the proud lilt in her voice unmistakable. “That weak wolf thought
she could compete with me?”
My pulse quickened. There it was–the venomous truth I’d already suspected but needed laid
bare.
“I just followed my mistress’s instructions and faked these silver burns,” Grace continued, her tone dripping with self–satisfaction. “And now that disgrace is completely helpless!”
A wolfish grin tugged at my lips, gone before anyone could notice. Scarlett’s frozen wolf twitched uneasily beside me, inching backward.
Grace, unaware of the vultures circling, rambled on.
“She might be called Winters Pack’s Eldest Daughter, but she has no real connection to the pack. Alpha James and Luna Victoria deliberately arranged her mating to Marcus, hoping
she’ll die in his torture den!”
Victoria’s sharp intake of breath was deafening. Her wolf bristled at Grace’s careless words,
edging toward panic.
Grace sealed her fate with one final declaration:
“This pack will be my mistress’s in the future!” she gloated. “We’ve already set it all up.”
The door flew open with a resounding c***k as Nina flung it aside with a snarl. Her silver–gray wolf radiated righteous fury, her eyes blazing. Every movement she made was calculated
chaos.
“How dare you!” Nina’s voice was barely restrained, but pitch–perfect. “After My Lady showed
you such mercy–this is how you repay her?”
Grace sat frozen, pale, and wide–eyed on the edge of her bed. The brightness of her earlier arrogance drained instantly, leaving behind only trembling disbelief.
Beside her, Sarah stiffened, suddenly realizing the trap she had walked into. With the quiet dignity of someone forced to accept their role in a greater purpose, she moved instinctively to
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Nina’s side, separating herself from her traitorous cousin.
The room descended into a tense, suffocating silence that only deepened with Victoria’s
dramatic advance.
Her emerald eyes burned with fiery outrage as she stormed toward Grace, her wolf radiating
indignation and suppressed panic.
The slap echoed through the room like a gunshot, stunning everyone into a collective hush. Grace, clutching her cheek, dared not breathe.
Victoria’s voice, seething with fury, broke the spell.
“How dare you!” she shrieked, hands trembling as her wolf surged forward. Her veneer of
noble calm had cracked beyond repair.
“How dare you suggest I wish for Celeste’s death in Marcus’s torture den!”
Grace whimpered pathetically, her wolf cowering beneath Victoria’s authoritative presence. Knocked off her pedestal, she gasped out a disjointed plea for forgiveness, her earlier arrogance nowhere to be found.
