PIERCE’S POV

“What did you feed her with?” Martha yelled at the sight of me.

“She’s going to die from this poison, Pierce!” Something struck my heart when Martha said those words. I felt confused, but I can’t let it show, I was not going to let it show.

“Get out!” My voice thundered in the room, dismissing everyone inside. Everyone, except Martha.

I immediately pulled out the bottle in my pocket and showed it to Martha. She sniffed it and gritted her teeth. “Something is wrong” She said. I immediately took it from her and sniffed the bottle.

“What’s inside?” I asked.

“Stay with her, I’ll be right back!” she said before rushing out, leaving me alone with a dying she-wolf.

“Grace,” I muttered, trying to press her down. But I could barely hold myself together. It felt like I just got a second chance, and I was losing it even before I could make use of it.

Martha came back in with a syringe in her hand, injecting the content into Grace’s hand. “This will do!” she breathed heavily.

“Take her to the lab,” she said before leaving immediately, disappearing into thin air. Somehow, Grace was no longer jerking. I carried her up and left for the lab.

“What’s going on?” I asked immediately I got to the lab.

“We have a rat!” Martha said, using telepathy. I was tired of her often getting into my head without permission, but at least, this was confidential.

“Pierce, hold her down!” Martha said with a blade in her hand.

“What are you going to do?” I asked her.

“Extract the poison from her body,”

“I already injected her with something to push out the poison,” she said, a smirk on her lips.

“Who did you send to dress her wound yesterday?” she asked.

“I don’t know.. I think someone from the clinic,” I said.

“I will have them all present themselves at the hall,” she said.

“But I fed her the poison myself,” I said.

She shook her head at me, “think, Pierce! Think!” Her words struck a cord in my head. I grit my teeth as Martha cut open Grace’s wrist. Black blood came out of her wrist with Martha forcing it out.

This was out of my field – watching this unfold before my eyes and unable to do anything.

“She is out of danger for now,” Martha said.

“But she still needs our attention,” she added.

I immediately knew what to do. I carried Grace to my mansion, away from prying eyes, and if possible, the mole among us.

After ensuring Grace was safely within the mansion, I called for a pack meeting, leaving only a selected few to remain at the territory. This meeting was to fish out the rats in the pack. Martha would test them.

Soon, everyone was gathered at the hall. Everyone except the guards at the gates, and they need no test of loyalty, unlike the rest of us, they only pay heed to my orders.

“Everyone,” Martha said, addressing the hall.

“I know you wonder why this sudden meeting,” she said taking a pause.

“Jenifer, Delian, Ross, Wills, Gullen, Prize and Naila,” Martha called out the names of those working under her at the lab.

“One of you have betrayed the pack!” she said assertively.

“And I only have one way of finding out which one of you did,” Martha said, walking closer to them. Her presence alone has always been intimidating to the rest of the pack members who were not so close to me, so it wasn’t a surprise that they were all shivering.

But somehow, Martha managed to pull out someone among them. “Got you!” she said with her hand on the girl’s shoulder. She was exactly the one I sent to dress Grace’s wound.

“You smell like it,” Martha said. I stood up from my seat, wanting to punish her immediately. But before I could make any move, Martha gave her verdict.

“Drag this bitch to the dungeon!” she hollered. Immediately, two hefty wolfs dragged her out. Martha’s eyes rested on me, her facial expression was as if she wanted me to retreat. This left me confused.

“You can’t hurt her. She’s not the real culprit, she’s just a bait!” Martha’s voice invaded my head yet again. I gritted my teeth and immediately walked away from the hall. If the real culprit is still out in the open, then Grace is still in danger. I rushed back to the mansion and into my chamber to check on Grace.

I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to come into my chamber, but it’s much more better to take caution with time.

Grace laid on my bed, her face barely different from Lana’s. I so much want to believe she’s Lana and had been hiding away from me for the past nine years. Immediately, I recalled that Lana had a scar on her back, I rushed to Grace’s side, wanting to check if she has it.

I raised her up and used my left hand to support her weight, while my left hand pulled up her shirt. My eyes scanned her back hoping to find the scar, but there was nothing on her back that looked like the scar Lana once had. Instead, there was a knife scar on her waist region.

My hand casually made contact with it, her skin felt smooth even with the scar. But it was obvious, she’s not Lana. They do not have the same scar, yet I wanted to hold her so tight.

“You’re not Lana…. Why is it hard to keep my hands off you,” I muttered. Then I dropped her back down. Her bare skin exposed to my eyes, I had forgotten to drop her shirt.

“Why do I feel so drawn to you, even at this point?” I muttered before trying to pull the sheets over her body when her hand landed on my face, slapping me like I was some threat to her.

She must have done it on instincts because she immediately jumped out of the bed and took a fighting stance – I almost forgot she was a trained warrior.

“You are awake!” I said to her.

“Who are you?” the question that left her mouth left me in shock. But just then, Martha alerted me that she had found the culprit.