Chapter 76

Silver’s POV

I could feel the burning of silver cuffs around my wrists before I fully woke. Even though I was wolfless, didn’t mean that silver didn’t affect me like it did normal wolves. The cuffs still burned just as Wolfbane still weakened me. I could smell the woodsy scent of the forest and the dirty ground that I was lying on. But I wasn’t there for long before I was forcibly pulled to my feet.

I could feel unfamiliar and strong hands wrapped around me, forcing me to move. When I slowly opened my eyes, I had a splitting headache in my temple. I winced at the feeling, but what I was seeing was much worse.

Gamma Luca walked in front of me with his back facing me. His head was held high and from the scent around me, I knew it was the other gammas of the Crown Pack as well.

What was going on? Why were they manhandling me like this?

I was their Luna!

I stared down at my ripped and dirty clothing; I was barefoot, and my feet were cut up from the rocks and twigs I stumbled upon. My body trembled; I felt incredibly weak and a little lightheaded.

“Luca?” I managed to croak.

He froze and glanced at me from over his shoulder.

“It’s Gamma to you, rogue,” he spat, the look of disgust evident on his face.

My face paled.

“Rogue?” I asked, my voice coming out breathy. Every time I attempted to move my hand, my wrist burned in pain and the gammas forcing me to walk would shove me forward with such force that the wind would get knocked out of me. “Luca, it’s me… Silver.”

“That’s what you wanted us to think,” he spat. “You’re truly sick.”

“What?” I gasped, not sure what was going on.

We broke through the clearing, and I recognized the Crown Pack logo in the distance. There was a gathering of men standing at the borders and my eyes immediately went to Elliot. Relief flooded me; he would see me being manhandled by his own gammas and he would put a stop to this. I know he would.

Luca stopped in front of Elliot, and I was shoved to the ground, my knees digging into the hard dirt. I winced in pain, but I tried to keep it off my face as I lifted my gaze to look at Elliot. I wasn’t sure what was going on around here, but Elliot had to know that I wasn’t a rogue.

His eyes narrowed when he saw me and then to my utter shock, they darkened, and I saw nothing but disgust on his face.

“How dare you look like my wife,” he said through his teeth.

My heart sank deep into my stomach.

“Elliot, I—”

“Don’t speak,” he nearly shouted; I knew this composure. He was trying hard not to lose control. “You thought you could trick us? For what? To gain control of my pack? To kill me? Is that what you want??”

“No…” I croaked, tears spilling out of my eyes before I could stop them. “It’s me, Elliot. It’s Silver. I don’t know what’s going on, but—”

“You’re lying; want to know how we know?” Elliot asked, lifting one of his brows. “Because we found Silver.”

My mouth nearly dropped open. What was he talking about?

He found me?

That didn’t make sense because I was kneeling right in front of him.

He glanced over his shoulder, and I was utterly speechless. A woman stepped around the gathered people and stood beside Elliot. She lifted one of her brows as she looked down at me, a smirk playing at the corner of her pink lips.

She was me… or I was her.

She had my face and from the smell of her… she also had my scent.

The words of that stranger surfaced in my mind; he said something about proving Elliot didn’t love me and that he would throw me to the wolves the second he got the chance. I didn’t want to believe him. I had no reason to believe him. Elliot proved to me over the last couple of days that he did love me. But now he was staring at me like I was nothing more than a stranger. My heart felt as if it wanted to explode in my chest.

I was momentarily glad that I was already kneeling on the ground because my legs were weak, and I was not sure if they’d be able to hold up my weight.

The imposter walked up to me and slapped me across the face before I had time to react to what I was seeing.

“How dare you pretend that you’re me!” She scolded. “You helped that monster kidnap me and then you pretend that you are me!? You are truly sick!!”

I stared at her in disbelief; who was this monster? How did she pose to be me? How was this possible?

I felt utterly sick.

“What should we do with her, Alpha?” Beta Leo asked, his eyes narrowed at me. There was something in his eyes though that I couldn’t quite understand; he didn’t look at me with the same disgust as the others. He looked a bit curious, but his face was hardened, and his eyes remained unblinking.

“Bring her to the pack jailhouse. We will interrogate her and find out where she came from and how she’s doing this,” Elliot answered, his eyes never leaving my face. “Let’s see if we can get her to reveal her true face.”

“You heard the Alpha,” Beta Leo commanded the gammas. “Get her out of here.”

I was too numb to protest. I knew no matter what I said, there would be no changing his mind. He thought I was an imposter and the woman who stood beside him was the real Silver.

“I’ll prove to you that Elliot doesn’t love you. He’ll throw you to the wolves the second he has the chance,” the stranger’s voice echoed in my mind. My eyes never left Elliot’s as I was forced to my feet and shoved away from everyone else.

Was this his way of proving to me that Elliot doesn’t care about me? But why? Why would anyone want to drive Elliot away from me?

My memory was foggy; I had no idea who that man was and how I ended up in this position. Something in my mind was taken from me and as a result, Elliot didn’t recognize me as his true wife.

I didn’t think my heart could break any more. Tears spilled from my eyes as I was pushed out of sight.

….

Ellio’s POV

“You did the right thing,” Silver said, putting her hand on my shoulder. She pressed herself into me, her scent wrapping around me like a warm blanket. Yet, there was something different about it that I couldn’t quite figure out.

My wolf was apprehensive. He wasn’t as affectionate and loving as he normally was around Silver. He wasn’t as excited to see her when we found her stumbling out of the woods. She was afraid and when she saw me, she ran straight towards me, wrapping her arms around my body. I was shocked to see her; not expecting her brother to release her so quickly. But here she was, in my arms.

When I presented her to the others, they were relieved to see her. But then, we got word that another woman, with the scent of a rogue and the face of Silver, was found passed out in the middle of the forest.

I didn’t think; I just reacted. Silver was right here, in my arms. That imposter had to be sent to the jailhouse and questioned. We needed as much information as possible in order to stop Silver’s brother. I had a feeling something was approaching and if we weren’t prepared enough, we wouldn’t be able to stop it, especially with the level of power he has.

I looked at Charlotte who was staring at Silver warily.

“Help the gammas and find out what you can,” I ordered.

She nodded and disappeared with some of the gammas who were patrolling the forest.

“Can we go home now?” Silver asked, her bottom lip jetting out in a pout. Silver didn’t usually pout like this, but I classified it as her feeling vulnerable and weak after she was kidnapped for the second time. I’m sure she was just tired.

I smiled at her, wrapping my arms around her waist, ignoring my wolf who was growing tense. I pressed my lips to hers, allowing my tongue to explore her open mouth. She breathed me in, melting into me and I loved the effect that I had on her.

She bit my tongue gently with her teeth, but it was enough to retract my tongue from her mouth.

That was new.

Not unpleasant… just new.

She frowned.

“Are you okay?” She asked against my mouth.

“You kiss differently,” I murmured, kissing her bottom lip gently.

“I guess almost dying made me think about things differently. I just want to spice things up a little,” she said, batting her lashes at me.

“We’ll have to talk about what happened while you were with your brother,” I told her, putting my hand on her shoulders and rubbing my thumbs across her neckline. “Anything that you can remember will be helpful so we can track him and the other rogues down. I also think Shirley might be involved…”

She frowned, her eyes darkening.

“Why would Shirley be involved?” She asked.

“We found some rogues that weren’t actual rogues. Their scents had been changed; they were part of Shirley’s pack,” I answered.

She nodded, but that dark look never left her eyes.

“How about we stop thinking about it for right now,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I want to go home, Elliot.”

I kissed the bridge of her nose.

“I need to speak with Leo for a minute. Go on with the other gammas and I’ll meet you at home,” I told her.

She frowned, but she didn’t argue. After another kiss, she turned and left with the remaining gammas.

The only ones who remained were Luca, Leo, and Erik. They stood by, watching as Silver left.

I approached them.

“I swear, something is off,” I heard Leo saying before he noticed I was behind him. “I think we need to be wary about Silver.”