Chapter 0441

"You believed we would simply welcome a total stranger into our home?" Alexander demands.

"You are both Alphas. I hoped... I prayed one of you might understand."

"He used the word bloodbath. Warned us you would break free and slaughter everyone."

She locks her fingers together, twisting them nervously as she searches for a response. Her words are nearly inaudible when she mutters that Levi told her she was dangerous.

"Did you kill someone at the prison?"

She gives a quick nod. "I had to."

"You had to?" Athena presses.

"Yes. I..." She draws a sharp breath and shuts her eyes. "It wasn't what I told Seraphina. It was a nurse, that part was true. He came in at night." Her lip curls and her gaze hardens. "Touched me when he believed I was asleep. I saved a fork. When he sneaked into my room again, I waited for the right moment and drove it into his throat."

Her eyes flick up to meet mine. "I yanked it out and made certain he never left that room as he choked on his own blood."

It was somewhat surprising she wasn't a Rogue.

"I ran. Levi found me. He didn't force me to go back, though. I was too much of a liability." She drops her gaze and blinks several times. "He made me like this, didn't he? Levi twisted my mind until it no longer belongs to me."

"Yes," Athena mutters. "It's what abusers do, especially when they've been at it for years." She turns to glance at Alexander before vanishing up the stairs. He follows her, leaving me alone with Evelyn.

"Why do they keep saying that?" Evelyn asks softly.

"Because it's true, and if anyone can confirm it, Athena can. Levi has used you. He manipulates you into doing his dirty work with empty promises of safety and protection. But he hasn't kept you safe at all."

"He talks to me. I hear him. It's because my abilities have returned. I wouldn't have shifted into that... Lycan otherwise. And the Alpha wouldn't have been able to hear my thoughts."

"What does Levi say when he speaks to you?"

"That he will free me. That he's working on it." She hunches her shoulders. "Something about a mate. Sometimes he sounds furious. He blames me for something."

"For what?"

"I don't know. His voice can be deafening, sometimes it's barely a whisper. Other times it vanishes completely."

"Have you always heard him?"

She shakes her head. "Only when he wanted me to."

I move toward the steps.

"Don't go. I hate being alone down here."

"You were alone on the farm."

"It was different there. I had freedom. You don't have to speak to me. I can just sit quietly."

I take a seat on the wooden stool, crossing my arms over my chest. She lowers her eyes. "How do you expect us to believe anything you say?"

Her forehead creases into a frown. "I don't expect you to. I tried to play games. I attempted to deceive my own brother. If someone here doesn't kill me, he probably will."

Evelyn lets out another whimper. "It's happening again."

Frantically, she tears off her clothes as she screams. She tries to curl into a ball, but the cracking bones prevent it. I watch her roll onto her stomach and push herself up onto her hands and knees. The screams are agonizing to hear, and I've witnessed Rogues tear living beings apart.

The screams blend with roars of pain as her body contorts in ways it didn't last time. I couldn't bear to listen any longer.

"Hey, listen to me!"

As her body continues to jerk violently, her eyes find mine.

"Stop fighting it."

"I can't," she cries out between screams. "It's not me."

"Evelyn, it is you. It is your Lycan, no one else's. You have control. Let it out or shut it down!"

Tufts of black fur begin to sprout along her legs as they lengthen and widen. She hurls herself back against the wall, her claws scraping against the ground. "STOP STOP STOP. You can't do this to me!"

She releases one final whimper and goes still.

The tufts of fur recede and her legs begin to shrink. She slides over until she's lying on her side, drawing her knees to her chest, sobbing and hyperventilating.

"There's a blanket right behind you."

Without looking, she reaches behind her, fumbling for the small piece of fabric, and drags it over her naked body. A few more of her bones snap back into place, but this time, she only cries.

"Were you talking to him? Was that who you were telling to stop making you shift?"

She lowers the blanket just enough for me to see her eyes. "No."

"You were telling yourself?"

"No, I was telling the voice in my head."