Chapter 78

Elliot’s POV

“Elliot! You came home!” Silver said as she ran down the stairs in nothing but a bra and panties. My brows furrowed; she would never wear something so revealing in front of the palace staff. Even the maids that were walking by, stared at her warily. “Come to bed with me,” she pleaded, grabbing onto my arm.

“Can you give me a few minutes,” I said, pulling my arm out of her grasp, and watching as it fell to her side. I didn’t like her touch; I wasn’t sure why. But there was something off with her and my wolf was starting to get snarly over it.

I wanted to ignore him, but I was having trouble doing so.

“Is everything okay?” She asked, giving me her best doe eyes. At one point I couldn’t resist those eyes but seeing her standing in front of me right now, I wanted to distance myself from her. I kept telling myself it was because she’s been through so much, but I’m starting to doubt my true reasoning.

“Yeah, I just need to speak with someone,” I told her.

She frowned, but she nodded slowly.

“Okay. I’ll be waiting in our room,” she said, turning and swaying her hips as she walked back up the stairs.

I stared after her for a moment before I looked at the maids who were frozen in place.

“Say nothing to anyone about this,” I barked.

They nodded and scrambled away.

I straightened my shoulders and went into the kitchen. Mariah was cooking dinner for the palace workers when I entered and when she saw me, her entire body froze.

“Did you find her?” She asked, her eyes wide.

Now it was my turn to freeze. Silver had been there for the last hour, and she didn’t bother to see Mariah. She knew that Mariah would have been worried, and she would have wanted to see her friend. Now my gut was twisting in a way that made me feel nauseous.

I thought about the rogue sitting in the cell at the jail; could it be possible that I made a mistake?

“Elliot?” Mariah asked, raising her brows. “Did you hear me?”

“She hasn’t come by to see you?” I asked, my voice sounding distant and unfamiliar.

Her brows pinched together.

“You mean she’s been here?” Mariah asked. “The entire time?”

I shook my head, feeling a bit foggy.

“For at least an hour,” I told her. “We found her in the forest.”

“Where is she?” Mariah asked, worry evident in her voice.

“In our room,” I told her. “She really hasn’t come in here?”

“No,” Mariah breathed. “That poor thing. She must be so shaken up…”

That was the thing; she wasn’t shaken up at all. She said she almost died when she was taken away from the pack and held wherever it was, she was held… but she didn’t act like someone who endured anything severe. She was acting like someone different. She was in our bedroom right now, waiting for me to have sex with her.

That wasn’t the Silver I knew.

The Silver I knew would want to fight her brother and get to the bottom of things; she wouldn’t be withholding information until I have sex with her. She wouldn’t be delaying these conversations; she would be a Luna and do what she could to protect the Crown pack.

That was the woman I married; that was the woman I had fallen in love with.

The woman upstairs… she’s different.

A part of me thought that maybe her brother successfully brainwashed her and now she was skeptical of me and not wanting to throw him under the bus. But even as I thought of that, my wolf growled with annoyance at my thoughts, and I knew that wasn’t the case.

Silver wasn’t weak-minded like that.

“Alpha…” Mariah said, using my formal title which she only does when she’s extremely worried about me. “Are you well? Should I make you some soup?”

I shook my head.

“No, I’m fine,” I told her, stepping away from the counter. “But I think I need to leave. If Silver comes down here, tell her I’ll return shortly. Pack business. She will understand.”

Mariah didn’t look convinced, but she nodded thoughtfully.

A part of me didn’t want to leave Silver alone in the palace with my packmates, but I didn’t have a choice, I needed to get back to the police station. My wolf has been urging me to return to that cell since we left and now it was time that I listened to him.

“Alpha…” I heard a distressed voice in my head, it was from Luca.

“What’s wrong?” I asked through the mindlink as I walked out of the palace doors and stepped onto the front porch, basking in the cold air that wrapped around my body, attacking my tough skin.

“Erik spoke to the imposter…” he said. “He’s saying that she’s the real Silver. He sounds adamant. But he’s demanding that you get to the police station right away.”

…..

Silver’s POV

“How did you know?” I whispered, still not believing that Erik believed me.

He had unlocked the cell door and uncuffed me. I sat curled up on the ground and he was cross-legged in front of me like we were any two friends. He sat in my cell with me, his back against the cold metal bars. He said he dared anyone to try and get him out of the cell; they would have to drag him out kicking and screaming, which evidently, made me smile.

“Because you were the only one who knew that I was gay,” he told me, his brows furrowed. “Unless you told everyone and their mother. Nobody else knew.”

“I was the only one you told?” I asked, dumbfounded.

He nodded.

“I never felt comfortable telling anyone else,” he said, shrugging. “You were venting about some stuff, and I figured it was time that I opened up about me as well. It was only fair.”

“I don’t know what to say….”

“You don’t have to say anything. The important thing is you are who you say you are. So, what the fuck happened?”

“I told you guys the truth. I don’t remember anything. My memory is gone. Whoever took me, must have done something. But I remembered seeing a face standing above me. He told me that he was going to prove that Elliot didn’t really love me. That he would throw me to the wolves the second he got the chance.”

I pressed my knees against my chest and buried my face in my lap as tears burned in my eyes.

“I guess he was being truthful because he did throw me to the wolves…” I murmured.

“I think he was just confused,” Erik said, sighing deeply. “This whole thing was weird from the beginning. But you said you saw someone standing above you; do you know what he looked like?”

I thought about it for a moment.

“His eyes were like mine,” I whispered, not sure if I was remembering correctly, or if I was looking at a reflection. He looked way too much like me that it gave me the creeps.

Erik paled and then he nodded, but he didn’t look surprised.

“That was your brother,” he muttered.

“My what??” I gasped; not sure I heard him correctly.

“We found out that you have a twin brother. You were separated at birth because of your abilities. There was a hit on you and your family after Elliot’s sister prophesized your birth and future. Apparently, you have terrifying powers and will cause disaster in our world,” Erik explained, shrugging as if he thought it was nothing but crap.

My cheeks burned from his words.

Terrifying powers?

Does he mean when I turn into that monster during the full moon? The fact that I could see scents and I became some kind of creature of the night?

I wanted the ground to open and swallow me whole.

Tears burned in my eyes.

“Hey, no crying,” Erik said, scooting over to me and wrapping me in his arms. It was comforting, but they weren’t the arms that I wanted. I wished Elliot was here, but there was no way he would believe any of this. Not like Erik. I don’t expect Erik to come out to the Alpha to protect me. I wouldn’t ask him to do such a thing. “We are going to figure this out.”

“How does she have my face?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Before he could answer that question, the door burst open and Elliot ran into the room, followed by Luca and Beta Leo. Erik quickly dropped his arms from around me and took a protective stance in front of me.

“Step aside, Gamma,” Elliot said through his teeth.

“Not until I know you won’t hurt her,” Erik said firmly, his tone growly. I had never heard him sound like this before. My heart quickly beat in my chest when I saw Elliot’s nostrils flare. He was furious.

“I would never,” he hissed.

My brows furrowed.

He wouldn’t?

But according to him, I was nothing more than a dirty rogue…

Erik glared at him for a moment longer, but his posture loosened. After a moment he nodded and to my utter shock, he stepped away from me, letting me be vulnerable and fight Elliot on my own. My heart slammed into my stomach; Erik was selling me out.

This was all some elaborate prank. He never believed me. I was truly alone…

The doors of the cell opened, and Elliot strolled in. I ducked my head, waiting for the blow, whether from his fists or from his cruel words.

But what I didn’t expect was his arms to be wrapped around me and his lips to crash into mine as he heatedly kissed me.