Chapter 133: Inside Job
"He is fine," Ralph said. His voice was weak and raspy, but he sounded genuine. He shot me a wry smile. "Don’t worry about him."
Hearing confirmation that Lucien was alright immediately released the tension in my body. My shoulders sagged with relief, and I heaved out a heavy breath.
I had a theory that if anything had happened to Lucien, I would’ve most likely felt it, even though he hadn’t marked me yet. The connection had already been somewhat built. Since I didn’t feel anything, it was a good sign.
And I was right. Nothing happened. Lucien was alright. That was the greatest news I had received yet. I just had to believe that he would eventually make his way to find me.
"That’s good," I said, nodding. "That’s good..."
I glanced at Willow, seeing the slow rise and fall of her chest. Then, a horrible realization washed over me. My whole body turned into ice.
Slowly, I turned and looked at Ralph, my eyebrows furrowing.
"Wait..." I said. "You’re not here to come get me at all, are you?" I asked, my mouth dry with dread.
If he was supposed to get me, he should have been lying in wait in my room, since I was now spending a lot of my time there. It would have been all too easy for him to make contact with me. After all, Willow’s bedroom was also heavily guarded. Cedar and Cassian were both around most times, and if they weren’t, there would be servants and healers who passed by to check on Willow’s condition.
But he didn’t.
Even our conversation today was a result of a lucky coincidence. If I had kept to my original plans, our paths would never have crossed, and I would have been none the wiser to his actions. It was as though Ralph had planned to avoid me at all costs, which was an utterly ridiculous course of action if he was indeed ordered by Lucien to fetch me.
Instead, I found him lurking in my sister’s room, oddly hovering around her with what seemed to be not-so-innocent intentions. He was in no hurry to make contact with me, or to help me escape and bring me back to wherever Lucien was.
If anything, I seemed to have disturbed something.
Ralph remained silent, and I caught the flush that crawled up his neck. However, I could see his gaze already rapidly assessing the exit points in the room. I knew my words had hit a sore point.
My expression darkened as I narrowed my eyes. My voice came out in a wary growl. "What are you really here for?"
Ralph had no business coming over to Willow’s room. Not to mention, he had been hovering so close to her that their faces were almost touching. If anyone else had entered the room and caught them together, rumors would immediately fly.
I immediately thought of the worst.
Violet would have eagerly jumped on it, claiming that Willow had been unfaithful or that she had someone outside in a roundabout way, and hence she couldn’t be suitable for Alphas.
She couldn’t attack Willow outright― the current role she had set for herself was Willow’s best friend. Hence, knowing her, I bet she would have somehow blamed me for it. I could already imagine what she might have to say.
’Poor Briar must’ve been too worried about losing the Alphas’ affection once Willow woke up, and thus, she decided to set her sister up with another man, thinking that would make the Alphas choose her instead since Willow was no longer pure.’
I couldn’t help but shiver at the thought. That sounded too awfully close to her usual standard operating procedure.
All of a sudden, I couldn’t help but think about the coincidences that had happened. After all, how did Magnus and his friends know where to find me?
When Magnus and the other rogues had attacked me in the forest the first time I tried to escape, Lucien came to save me. By the looks of it, it didn’t seem like Magnus took orders from Lucien. Even if he did, I had a feeling that Lucien would’ve kicked him out after what happened.
That meant that Magnus wasn’t in the group of rogues that Lucien led.
But that only made things worse. If Magnus wasn’t part of the Bloodmoon Pack, then he shouldn’t have been able to find me so easily and so quickly. Yet, he was commissioned by Rowan and the others, and successfully found me soon after. My location could’ve only been known by someone who was already within the camp.
Unless, there really was someone within the camp who had leaked information about me to Magnus and his friends.
I felt as though someone had chucked a bucket of ice-cold water over my head. I turned to Ralph, swallowing the bile in my throat. The person who had betrayed me — betrayed Lucien — could be standing right here in front of me right now.
"It’s you..." I muttered under my breath.
Ralph didn’t get a chance to say anything, and neither did I get a chance to question him further.
Footsteps quickly came from outside. Ralph and I both straightened up, our attention turning to the door. However, he acted quicker than I did. By the time I swerved back to look at him, his body was already halfway out of the window.
"Oh no you don’t!" I rushed over to where he stood, reaching out in an attempt to grab the corner of his shirt at the very least.
However, I was just a step too slow. By the time I got to the windowsill, my fingers barely grazed the fabric of his clothes, unable to properly latch on.
"What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly said. I swirled around to see Cedar standing by the door, a storm cloud gathering in his eyes as he glared at me.
"Cedar!" I exclaimed in surprise. "I... I was just..." I pointed to the window. "There was an intruder―"
I turned around to point at Ralph, but just like the night before, he had completely vanished into thin air. I stared at the empty lawn, gawking in surprise.
No matter what, I had to hand it to him. He was amazing at disappearing when he needed to.
Turning back, I came face to face with Cedar, who had stormed across the room to get to me. His fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist, and I hissed in pain.
"The only intruder here is you," Cedar sneered. "You’re not allowed to come to Willow’s room without permission. Besides, don’t you have somewhere else you need to be right now?"
"I was just on the way when I realized the door had been left open," I explained, still looking at the window in between words.
I pursed my lips. How was it that Ralph was able to flip out and disappear just like that?
"I merely stepped out for a moment to get food," Cedar snapped. He gestured to the small sandwich he had placed on the dresser― the same tiny, inconspicuous dresser that held the wolfsbane and lavender tea leaves. Now with Cedar here, my chances of getting more samples were going up in metaphorical flames.
"And I returned to see you here, when you should’ve already been at Alpha Cassian’s side for his scheduled healing session. Are you intending on skipping after giving your word?" He demanded hotly, staring at me with intense dislike. "To think you would make up some lie about an intruder to get out of your duties!"
"I was going to go after paying Willow a visit. I’m only slightly late. How is that a crime?" I couldn’t help but point out, rankled by his accusatory tone.
At this stage, there was no point in me trying to insist there was an intruder. Cedar wouldn’t believe me, no matter what I said― he didn’t trust me at all.
"Cassian can wait five minutes, especially when Healer Samuel is literally next to him," I added. "Patience is a virtue."
"Show Alpha Cassian some respect!" Cedar roared. He gestured to the mark on my neck. "He is your mate. The least you can do is show up on time and heal him, as you should be doing."
I looked at the direction he pointed to, raising an eyebrow. Right. I had completely forgotten that Cedar had such a misunderstanding. It seemed like Cassian hadn’t actually properly explained the situation to him yet. As far as Cedar knew, Cassian was the one who marked me, not Rowan.
Well, I certainly wasn’t going to dissuade him. My mind was full of worries regarding the situation with Lucien to bother clarifying this issue.
"Fine, I’m going," I said with a huff. "Make sure you actually stay by Willow’s bedside!"
"I don’t need you to tell me that," Cedar said with a hiss. He shoved me out of the room, watching coldly as I stumbled over my own two feet due to the force.
I had barely even regained my balance when I noticed two pairs of shoes in front of me. I looked up, just in time to see Samuel’s calm but cold expression, followed by Cassian’s signature glare.
Cassian scoffed. "So this is where you’ve been?"