A Curse of Shadows - Page 103

The unwillingness to give a single fuck about anything other than killing the man responsible for taking my light away.

CHAPTER FORTY

ASHER

Irace around the castle, avoiding the main roads in search of my father. With my wolf’s nose to the ground and the connection I have to all members of my pack—including Gideon—I know we need to head west, away from home, away from our mate.

Every step becomes heavier until the energy thrumming within our body overtakes even the thoughts of Isla. As much as I know I love her, I can’t consider her right now.

I just need to stop this nightmare.

We run, mile after mile, the earth churning beneath our paws with each forceful, lengthening stride. The air, warm against our fur, carries a silence so profound that it seems even the forest creatures sense the shadow of death looming near.

Leaping over the river just before the falls, we pick up Gideon’s scent. Though it’s changed, become tainted. I might have been able to find him as his Alpha King, but he’s barely the man I once knew. This shifter is doused in darkness and backed into a corner.

My wolf surges forward with unwavering resolve, our shared courage unshaken by the dark fate we are about to confront. We race toward Aklo Falls, where the roar of the water does little to mask the sinister presence lurking behind its veil.

My father hides like the coward I now know him to be. He’s been the architect behind centuries of problems, yet he’s never dirtied his own hands. He used Estee and Declan and who knows who else to harm the people I care about.

This ends today.

My wolf runs forward and leaps through the waterfall at the mountain’s base. There’s a wall of jagged rocks that we narrowly miss slamming into, but beside that, there’s a path leading farther into the mountain.

Before we continue, I demand my wolf to release control. I need my father to know that it’s me, his son, who takes his life. Not the animal that lives inside me, not anyone other than his own flesh and blood.

My shift back is seamless, even though I can still sense my restless wolf. He remains close, a vigilant shadow ready to spring forth but respecting my need to do this.

I follow the path and not too much farther forward, I know Gideon isn’t alone. My mother is with him.

Gods, if she’s known about what he did…

Killing her won’t be as easy, but I know there’s no stopping with him if so. I can’t leave my mate at risk. I can’t and won’t do that to her.

I continue forward, my gait even and every step sure of my destination. When I come around the next bend, a sense of peace fills me.

He’s here.

Gideon has his back against the side of the mountain and holds a knife to my mother’s neck. Yet her expression reveals no fear, only a fierce resolve mirroring my own fury. Something that adds to my relief.

“Son,” Gideon says, tightening his arm around my mother’s waist.

“You ceased being my father the day you chose to tear my world apart,” I reply, my voice steady with cold resolve.

He grinds his teeth together as his head shakes. “You stupid boy. Why can’t you see that everything I’ve done has been to make you a better king?”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “A better king? You broke me when you took Isla away!”

He sneers, his disdain palpable. “I tried everything to make you a son I could be proud of. I thought I’d succeeded, I thought that you’d finally become the alpha I made you to be, but you haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the weak and pathetic boy who could only think of a woman instead of what he was meant to be.”

“You never gave him a chance before,” my mother says with a snarl. “He was a boy. A boy in love who should have had centuries to prepare to be king, but you stole that from him, just like you stole his mate. I should have known there was nothing?—”

The blade against her neck cuts into her skin, drawing a line of blood that disappears beneath the collar of her dress.

An inky smoke forms around the weapon as he roars, “You shut your fucking mouth, woman.”

She barely winces from the wound. “I’d rather die than keep your secrets.”

“What is it?” I try reaching her through our mental link, but it’s as if she were nowhere to be found, even though she’s right in front of me.