Chapter 298

We watched, feeling that she had mastered the ultimate art of manipulation, a fight against everything we stood for. She'd tried to get the upper hand, to whittle down our defenses, to make it seem like our feelings were similar, and I wanted to end her, along with this entire charade. Fancy seeing you, or anyone who'd stooped to such deceit, here.

“You did this?” The woman was furious.

The woman scoffed, rising onto her toes. “But the way she broke from her mother made her a brand-new winner. Why not?” she muttered as she turned on me. “Amy fucking deserved to be alone. Her future is bleak!” She bragged. “She whispered the rhyme, and she chuckled, 'You won’t see the truth, you are all too close.'” She sought to turn her friends on her, and it would have worked. She tossed her hands in the air. “You would have been too busy to notice, but my hold had to loosen all because their father was accused of being a traitor.” She snarled again.

I furrowed my brow. She didn’t know what happened. She had wormed her way into their brains, but she was kept from knowing what was going on. I looked at Toya, but it was Urbi stepping from behind the others that drew my attention. “You did this?”

Urbi trotted closer. “Yes. We all created the bubble around her. Once we realized she wormed her way into us, I called the other wolves and we created the barrier to stop her from seeing the truth.”

The woman snarled. “Stupid wolf.” I smirked. “You’re just mad that they outsmarted you.”

“It didn’t matter. I won.” She gave a victorious smile.

“No, you didn’t.” Toya walked closer to her. “You tried to turn all of us against Amy. But she caught you. I can feel our bond repairing itself. You failed here.” Urbi rubbed herself against Toya and she dropped down, wrapping her arms around her wolf. “I’m sorry.”

Urbi laughed. “What are you sorry about? It’s not your fault she used magic on you.”

I tilted my head. “When did you plant yourself inside, Toya?”

She sneered at me. “Why would I tell you that?”

I shrugged my shoulder. “I’m just wondering. It really doesn’t matter. I assume it was when she went to the washroom.” I watched her face as I said it and she paled a little. “I see I was right.”

“I didn’t see her, though.” Toya looked at me. “Did anyone bump into you?”

Toya thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, as I was leaving the washroom, someone brushed past me.” She looked at her. “It must have been her.”

I nodded. “She was probably waiting for one of you to separate to implant the magic and worm her way inside. She thought that graduation would keep all of us too busy to realize what she was doing before it was too late.”

She growled, but I laughed. “You just had to run off.”

I nodded. “And that pisses you off. That you couldn’t gloat and revel in the fact that you were destroying my life?”

She stomped her foot. “Yes.” She snarled. “I wanted to watch you crumble.”

“But instead you watched us run out of the room, and then our wolves blocked you from seeing what we were doing.” Toya smirked.

“My guess is that while that was frustrating, there was something else that pissed her off even more.” I smiled at her, watching the rage fill her face. “Isn’t that right?”

“Shut the fuck up.” She screamed.

“Watching the King follow us must have just burned.”

Toya’s face filled with joy as she stood and walked over to the manipulator. “Him disappearing for hours must have hurt. Knowing he was with Amy.”

She froze, her face paled as she stared back at us. “You’re lying.” She shook her head. “He didn’t follow you. He had to go handle things at the condo.”

“And you actually believed that?” Toya laughed. She leaned into the woman and gave her a smile filled with pity. “He was with us the entire time. He knelt in the dark for over an hour waiting to talk to Amy.”

“You’re fucking lying.” She shook her head again. “He wouldn’t do that. Not after everything I’ve done…”

“Everything you’ve done? What are you talking about?” My stomach clenched. Rowan had been acting weird. He left during my heat and disappeared. I looked at Toya and she met my eyes. She felt something was off, too. But the woman snapped her mouth shut. “Come now Verity.”