Chapter 140
Harper’s POV
Lucas rubbed the exhaustion from his face. “Harper, I don’t think that it would be a good idea for you to jump back into this so quickly.”
I parted my lips, ready to argue, but he seemed adamant. “Listen, your body has literally been through a rather life-altering experience. I seriously think it would be best if you were to give yourself time to rest.”
My bros pinched together as my eyes drifted to the floor. Rest?
Even on my roughest days, I hardly let myself rest. It wasn’t in my nature to do so. Even when I didn’t have my wolf, I made myself press on and bear through the toughest of times.
This, to me, felt no different. In fact, given the situation, I had all the more reason to press on and get back into my regular routine.
Planting a hand on my hip, I squared my shoulders and glared back at Lucas with fixed determination.
“Lucas, I will not remove myself from the very same plan that I had a hand in building with you. Every casualty, every accomplishment, and every failure is meant to be shared between both of us, alright?”
He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope,” I stated.
He briefly closed his eyes and took in a long breath. “Fine,” he growled low in his chest. “But the moment you begin to feel even the slightest bit faint, I’m bringing you right back here. You won’t be allowed to so much as step foot out of this room, got it?”
It was rather endearing to see how much Lucas cared for my well-being. It was a kind of care and compassion that I had rarely received when I was younger.
I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around his sculpted middle.
“I understand,” I confirmed, hugging him close.
Lucas returned my affection and placed a chaste kiss on the top of my head.
After a quick fresh change of clothes, Lucas and I headed down to the meeting room. As soon as we stepped into the room, all of the muttered chatter grew silent, and everyone’s eyes shifted to us.
Everyone froze, and the room developed an unsettling tension that caused my skin to break out into goosebumps. Just then, all of their eyes glowed bright gold as they bowed their heads at me.
My lips parted in shock. “Mother of wolves,” I thought to myself.
Lucas’s smooth voice rumbled from the back of my mind. “They’re paying their respects.”
I sucked in a short breath and shifted uncomfortably next to him. Oh, boy. This was going to take a lot to get used to. I had no idea how to proceed with any of this. Granted, I was used to people paying their respect and gratitude toward me when it came to my work as a healer.
But merely for standing in a doorway, doing absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, Mason was the first to stand up and greet us. “Luna, on behalf of the pack, we are so glad to see that you’ve recovered,” he said warmly.
“Thank you, Mason.”
Lucas kept his hand firm on the small of my back as he led us over to the main table. We each sat down while Mason began pulling files up on his tablet.
“Tell us what you’ve found.”
“We’ve managed to at least put some official labels on the men that we were able to apprehend during the raid,” Mason explained. “All of them were guards who worked under the Domain’s main operator.”
This caused me to sit straight back in my seat. “All of them? Is it possible that one of them could be lying?”
Oh my God. The mere thought of this unknown operator giving us the slip during the raid made my blood run cold. What if he did get away and was able to restart his operations all over again?
What if we missed our opportunity to catch him and he’s already successfully relocated?
“Perhaps, their actual boss is choosing to act as one of the guards to throw us off his tracks,” Lucas suggested.
Mason tilted his head. “It’s possible. But, there again, not many of them were willing to talk much when we interrogated them earlier.”
“They hardly gave us names—just numbers,” one of the men noted.
The Beta nodded his head. “It’s like none of them have a sense of independent identity. Working for this lunatic makes these men expendable. They’re nothing more than numbers.”
I heard Lucas curse under his breath.
“Are the captives still being held in confinement?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mason confirmed.
An idea came to mind, and I already had a good feeling that it wasn’t going to go over smoothly.
“What if I gave it an attempt at trying to ask them a few questions?” I proposed.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to Lucas. He let out a snarl laced with disapproval. He turned to glare at me.
“If you think I’m allowing you near those bastards after what they did to you, then you are sorely mistaken,” he growled, fervently. “You nearly died.”
“But I didn’t. I came back. I’m stronger than ever. We can’t let this opportunity slip away. What will happen if they relocate? What then? It will be as if everything we did was for nothing!”
Lucas’s scowl twisted with frustration. He knew I was right. We couldn’t take the chance of missing any possible opportunity to rectify our defeat.
“Fine,” he bit out.
The group of us migrated to the lower levels of the estate. Back to the same unseemly place that I had once been locked away in. I fought back the ugly memories and focused on the present.
The dungeons still carried that same musty, stale smell that made my stomach roll. While Lucas and I waited at the head of the corridor, Mason directed the other guards to bring out the captives.
Pushed down to their knees, we were able to get a decent look at each of them.
Each one of them received me the same way Mason and the others had before. Their eyes glowed and, before they knew what they were doing, they bowed their heads.
“Alright, that’s enough,” I said impatiently. “I know that you have all been questioned already, but you haven’t answered any of mine yet.”
They all remained silent, not willing to budge a single muscle. All except one.
Hidden behind two larger men, a slimmer guy let out a discomforting chuckle. Lucas’s patience was wearing thin, as was mine. His laughter seemed to draw on the borderline of insanity.
“Something amusing to you?”
The man dragged his eyes over me and smirked. There was a knowing look in his eyes that made my flesh crawl.
“I see the power has been passed on,” he commented with amusement. “He’ll be eager to know this.”
Knots began to form in my stomach. “He? Who is ‘he’?”
The captive's eyes flickered with arrogance. The corner of his mouth curved into a knowing smirk that likely boosted his fragile ego.
“The Master,” he answered wistfully.
