The Alpha’s Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger

Chapter 294 294: Hunting the traitor...

Nathan

I threw open Luna Vanessa's door with enough force to rattle the hinges. The sound echoed through the room like a gunshot, but she didn't even flinch. That irritated me more than if she'd screamed.

She sat in her rocking chair by the window, cradling her bastard. The sunlight streaming in cast her in an almost angelic glow, but I knew better. Vanessa was no angel—she was a conniving, manipulative bitch who'd been avoiding me for days.

"You could have walked in on me naked, Alpha Nathan," she said calmly, not bothering to look up from her child. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" I scoffed, stalking further into the room. "I've asked to see you a million times, but it's the same excuse every time. May I know why?"

The baby gurgled, and Vanessa adjusted the blanket around his tiny form. Her movements were unhurried and deliberate—another subtle act of defiance.

"My child was sick," she replied. "You don't expect me to come running to you like an Omega, do you? Have you forgotten who I am?"

I paced the room; my boots echoed against the hardwood floor. The walls seemed to close in, stifling me with their floral wallpaper and feminine touches. This room had once been Alpha Logan's. At least I know that much. He'd invite me here several times to tutor me endlessly about taking care of the pack. Most times, he would ask me to come find an item that didn't exist so he'd sneak out with Miriam.

"I threw my father in the dungeon an hour ago for shirking my orders," I said, stopping directly in front of her. "I don't care who you are, Vanessa. Why didn't you come see me?"

Finally, she looked up, her dark eyes meeting mine without fear. "Is that supposed to frighten me? You've become predictable, Nathan. Anyone who disagrees with you ends up in a cell. Or worse."

Something hot and vicious clawed inside my chest. The voice in my head was becoming so influential, always pushing for violence, for blood. I breathed deeply, forcing it back down. I needed information from Vanessa, not her corpse.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Who?" Vanessa's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight acceleration of her pulse at the base of her throat.

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you." I leaned closer. "Lyla. Your stepdaughter and Clarissa, your daughter. Isn't it strange that Clarissa has been missing for days and you're relaxed? First, it was the excuses that she was sick, but it's been two weeks now. I want my mate."

She stared at me blankly.

"Did you help them escape?" I asked again, not waiting for her to answer my previous question.

Her eyebrows rose slightly. "Is that what you think happened? That I helped them escape?"

"I know it happened." My voice dropped dangerously low. "My father confessed before I had him thrown in the dungeon. He told me everything—how he drove them to the border, how he gave them his truck. The only thing he wouldn't tell me was where they went."

lips. "Jeremy always was a better man than people gave him

I

soft creak punctuating her words. "Look at what you've become. Killing the Southern Alphas. Attacking neutral territories. Using Ferals as

one rule—mine." I walked to the window, staring out at the training grounds below, where my soldiers

a madman,

to face her. "You think

entirely. This is not the sweet little boy that would always come to the pack house every night and complain to me

a little boy all my life?" I retorted

you suddenly need her? Don't tell me it's Lyla you're worried about, but of course, you're a coward, and you'd rather let people

statement sent a chill through me. For a moment, my vision blurred, and I felt the voice stirring within me, eager to take control, to

voice whispered in my mind. Her and

I muttered, pressing my fingers to

watched me curiously. "You're fighting it," she observed. "Whatever has possessed you—you're still in there, aren't

features into a mask

So you can kill her too?" Vanessa's hold on her child tightened protectively.

her kind. Potentially the most powerful person alive in

More powerful than the thing

her, Vanessa. Just tell

staring at me, for a moment, I hoped she would

Lyla terrified me—or rather, she terrified the voice in my head. The more its influence grew within me, the more

this is about, isn't it? You're afraid of what she

chair, trapping her in place. "Tell me where she is, Vanessa. I

gaze unflinchingly. "I don't know where she is. And even if I did, I

her, the voice urged. Tear out her throat.

tightened on the chair, the wood creaking in protest. "You're an Elder of this pack. Your duty is

eyes flicked to her son,

monster wearing familiar skin, a predator in the guise of family. The realization sickened me, giving me a brief moment of clarity

know was that I was still Nathan. Maybe a few of my specifications had changed, but this was everything I'd dreamed of for the longest time. This wasn't the Dark One's

White Mountain, hasn't she?" I said, straightening. "To

surprise crossed Vanessa's features before she could mask it. "I told you, I don't know where she

that at first, but none of my spies reported that Ramsey had returned to the White Mountains. The last I heard, he suddenly disappeared, leaving behind