Chapter 250
ATASHA’S POV
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William’s eyes were so wide it bordered on absurd. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if he truly believed he was looking at a ghost.
The dungeon answered for me before I said a word.
Cold air clung to my skin as I stepped fully inside. Water dripped somewhere in the dark, from bars lined the narrow corridor, shadows pooling behind them, broken only by weak torchlight that flickered more than it burned.
“You–You are-“William stammered.
“Alive?” I cut in, snorting softly as I moved closer.
My boots scraped against stone as I passed the threshold, the sound sharp in the quiet.
Behind me, I felt Cassian’s presence without needing to look. He remained in the shadows near the entrance, giving me the space to finish what Nightfall had started long before the North ever arrived.
This was mine.
My unfinished business.
Grace appeared at my side without ceremony, a chair already in her hands as if it had always been there. She placed it behind me, the wooden legs scraping softly against stone. Then she stepped back.
I sat.
The simple act shifted the balance of the room. I crossed my legs, rested one arm against the chair’s side, and looked at William like he was something brought in for inspection rather than a threat.
His mouth opened. Closed then opened again.
“You are- no- you can’t be-” His voice cracked, words tumbling over each other as panic rushed in where certainty used to live.
Then realization finally found him.
It settled behind his eyes all at once.
His gaze locked onto my face, and his breath hitched. He tried to move closer, forgot his ankles, and cried out as pain ripped through him. His hands gripped the bars like they could keep him upright.
“Atasha,” he rasped, urgency flooding his tone. “You’re alive. You’re here. You have to help us.”
I did not answer.
“Celeste,” he continued, desperation rising fast now. “Celeste has been poisoned. You have to help your sister! She’s dying. The healers can’t stop it. She needs you. Only you.” His words tumbled faster as if speed might turn them into truth.
“They detained me,” he said, jerking his head toward the corridor like the accusation itself could walk out and defend him. “They accused me of working with Demon Fangs. Me. You know me. I raised you. I protected you.”
“You grew up here,” he insisted, eyes shining too brightly. “You know this pack. We’re innocent. All of us. This is a setup. The North planned it from the start.”
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Chapter 250
I watched him unravel without interrupting. I never knew that William could ever speak like this but then again, desperation could easily change a person.
“They wanted to control you,” he went on, breath ragged. “They wanted to isolate you from the people who truly cared for you. From your family. From us.”
His voice dropped into something almost pleading.
“And now they’ve poisoned your sister,” he said. “They’re punishing us to get to you. That northern lord- he planned everything. This dungeon. This arrest. All of it!”
He leaned forward again, pain making his body shake. “You have to see it. You have to believe me.”
I tilted my head slightly. “Are you done?”
The question cut him off mid–breath. William froze. Confusion crossed his face, then disbelief, as if he had expected gratitude or horror or at least hesitation.
Before he could speak again, I smiled.
“Grace,” I said calmly. “Send them in.”
Grace turned and signaled once.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, measured and unhurried. Then two figures stepped into the light.
Two boys.
They were once young and tiny. Too young to carry the weight they walked in with. Their faces were pale, eyes steady in the way children’s eyes were never meant to be. But now… the two boys that Atasha helped in that cave and grown into two
warriors.
After experiencing the tide, Aries and Rico now looked like seasoned northerners.
William barely glanced at them at first.
Then his focus sharpened.
His brow furrowed. His mouth parted. Almost immediately, recognition struck.
“You–You-” His voice faltered, The color drained from his face so quickly it looked like the blood had fled all at once.
I leaned back slightly in the chair.
“I knew,” I said, my voice even. “About the cave.”
His head snapped up.
“I was there,” I continued. “That night.”
The dungeon seemed to hold its breath.
“I saw Jack die.”
The name landed like a blow.
For a moment, William could not speak. His eyes stretched wide veins standing out along his neck as his breathing turned harsh and uneven. So, I added. “I saw him burn…
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Chapter 250
Then something inside him broke.
5%%
“You lying bitch!” he screamed, lunging forward only to collapse against the bars as his ankles failed him again. “I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you!”
He slammed his fists against the iron, pain and fury blurring together. “Come in here and fight me properly! I’ll tear you apart!”
Spit flew from his mouth as he shouted, his voice echoing down the dungeon walls. “Once I get out of these chains, I’ll gut you myself! I’ll make you beg!”
I watched him calmly as he raged, as the delusion finally burned through whatever control he thought he still had.
Yet, William did not stop. His voice tore through the dungeon, scraping against the stone like it wanted to claw its way out of the walls.
“You traitor!” he shouted. “Betrayer! You turned your back on this pack! On your own blood! This is your fault. All of it!”
He dragged himself closer to the bars again, knuckles white as he gripped the iron. “Your father is like that because of you! Because you chose the North over your own people!”
Now that made me laughed.
The sound surprised even me. It slipped out before I could even think about it.
“Is that really what you believe?” I asked, tilting my head slightly. “That I am the reason?”
His mouth snapped shut. “You-”
“I know you poisoned him,” I said calmly. “For years.”
I watched as his face froze. His eyes widened so much it was almost comical, the fury draining out of his face and leaving something naked behind. His lips parted, but no sound came out
I laughed again, this time openly, because his expression told me everything.
“You didn’t think anyone would notice,” I continued. “Small doses during the full moon, slow enough to look like sickness. Weak enough to make him fade instead of fall.”
His breath hitched.
“Just like you planned,” I said. “You needed him alive but powerless.”
William shook his head once. “You’re lying.”
I leaned forward in the chair, resting my elbow on my knee. “Am I?”
His silence answered for him.
“And I knew something else too,” I added. “About you and the Luna.”
That got his attention.
His jaw tightened. His hands flexed against the bars.
“You were never just friends,” I said. “Not really.”
His eyes flickered, and that was enough.
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18:33 Thu, Jan 22 G D.
Chapter 250
“In fact,” I continued. “You are Celeste’s father, aren’t you?”
The dungeon seemed to drop into complete stillness.
“The Alpha couldn’t give her children,” I said. “Not after what you fed him.” This was something that I discovered when I checked the Alpha’s body.
I smiled faintly as I waited for William to snap. Seeing my smile William finally realized that his secrets had been exposed. “I also- ”
“You shut your mouth!” he roared, slamming his fists into the bags again, pain and rage twisting his face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“If must be you- you betrayed us and now you are making up stories. Yes, that’s right, the Luna…. “He lunged forward, veins bulging in his neck. “You killed her! You killed the Luna and now you stand there pretending to be righteous!”
His voice cracked as he screamed, spittle flying. “You lied your way out of everything! You let the North shield you while you burned this pack from the inside!”
“You ungrateful wretch,” he snarled. “We fed you. We clothed you. We raised you!”
His eyes burned with something desperate now, something feral. “And this is how you repay us? By turning against your own blood and letting them chain me like an animal?”
AD
