Surrogate for the Alpha Prince in a Coma novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Lillian’s POV

I waited in the shadows as Calvin and his guard disappeared back around the corner. I knew I couldn’t wait overlong, or they would discover me gone and increase the guard, searching for me.

So I stayed still for only a few minutes, watching how the soldiers moved on their patrols, seeing which sections beyond the breach in the fence they had already searched. Those areas they would be unlikely to search for a second time.

My heartbeat raced. My adrenaline surged. It took all of my strength to stay perfectly still.

Then, I saw it. My opening.

Now or never.

Not wasting a moment, even to second-guess myself, I jumped from my hiding spot and rushed forward to one of the breaches in the wall.

I felt like I was in the open forever, exposed and vulnerable, but I had timed it right. No one called out for me to stop as I slipped beyond the gate, then slid, hiding in the brush beyond the wall. Slowly, careful to not make a sound, I crawled forward, to put as much distance between myself and this place before I would even dare try to run outright.

“What do you mean, unconscious?” Calvin shouted in the distance.

Straining, I heard the guard’s reply. “The guard accompanying the visitor. He was at the bottom of the stairs. He must have fallen. Or was pushed.”

“Then – where is Lillian?” Calvin demanded.

The guard had no reply. At least, none that I could hear.

I had been leaning towards caution, but now I knew what I needed was speed. If I stayed too long here, they would find me. I pushed myself up to my hands and knees and surged forward. When I reached a deeper, denser forest, I turned back, but didn’t see anyone through the trees.

That made me bold. So I started running.

I ran and ran until I couldn’t sense anyone, and then I ran some more, just to be safe.

Eventually, I saw a cave carved out from a rocky outcropping. I stopped at the opening, trying to sense any other creatures that might be within. The last thing I needed right now was to encounter a bear or some kind of big cat. Fortunately, the cave, at least presently, appeared to be unoccupied.

I ducked inside, finding safety in the dark. Hiding behind the rocks, as I waited for any danger that might have been following me, I tried to decide what to do next.

I didn’t know where Ronan was, but I knew he would be safe. Grayson was capable of many things, but I didn’t believe he would hurt a child.

No one knew where I was. Not Calvin. Not Grayson. I could flee, run far away to a new, distant pack, where I could change my name and start all over again. I could live a free life. It would be difficult, but I could make it work. I might even be able to thrive.

But if I were to do that, without even warning Grayson about the poison plot that Calvin was planning, Grayson

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could die.

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I could pretend I didn’t owe him anything. I could pretend I didn’t care. But I doubted I would ever believe myself.

If something happened to Grayson, and my intervention could have been what stopped it, how would I ever forgive myself?

He hadn’t always been kind to me. Hells, he had rarely ever been kind. But…

Something stirred deep in my chest, and even though I couldn’t fully identify it, I knew I couldn’t turn my back on

I couldn’t allow Grayson to be killed, not if there was anything I could do to stop it.

And not just because he had saved Ronan.

I had to go back. To do anything else was unconscionable.

After looking around, I determined that no one was following me. With that confidence, I stepped out of my hiding spot and started running back toward the royal city.

I only hoped that I wouldn’t be too late.

Grayson’s POV

News was slow, which was normally frustrating, but today was absolutely infuriating. I knew I should have been lying down, in case someone approached, but I couldn’t stand being still and prone right now.

I kept my senses stretched wide, ready to fall into bed and continue the act if necessary, but until it became necessary, I chose to pace.

Back and forth across the length of the room, I felt like I was wearing a smooth line into the floorboards, but I didn’t care.

Not for the first time, I hated being cooped up here, unable to go out and partake in this search.

This betrayal cut deeper than it should have. Why did it surprise me that Lillian was as shallow as the rest, choosing to follow her traitorous little boyfriend rather than stay loyal to me?

Unless she had been taken by Calvin against her will…

No, that could only be wishful thinking. I couldn’t make any assumptions until she was standing in front of me and could be properly interrogated. I would get at the truth. She wouldn’t be able to lie to me.

I sensed someone approaching my door. A lone figure, I recognized Prime Beta at once and didn’t bother to hide. He opened the door and stepped through.

“Tell me you have something to report,” I said, once the door was safely closed again,

“The boy has been safely extracted. Calvin was keeping him confined in a type of prison on the outskirts of their pack. The boy has been malnourished and wounded. I have doctors ready and waiting to attend him.”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine,” I said, waving that all away. “Have you found Lillian?”

Prime Beta lowered his head. “We have not yet retrieved her.”

A low growl formed in the back of my throat. It escaped before I could properly bite it back.

“There is a report that a woman fitting her description was seen fleeing the prison while our soldiers were

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Chapter 43

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making their escape,” Prime Beta said. “They claim that she was running away from the Royal City.”

“And our soldiers were letting her go?”

“They were being hunted themselves,” Prime Beta said. “They prioritized discretion.”

“And who told them to do that?”

“Sir-”

“No,” I said, stopping whatever he had been about to say. I didn’t want to hear it. They saved the boy. Fine. Great. But I had also wanted Lillian brought back here, and I had been failed in that regard.

Now she was seen running away from the Royal City? If she had been taken against her will, she was freed now. Yet rather than returning here, she was doubling down on the betrayal and running away.

She had abandoned me. Even after all I had done to free her little brother.

There could be no denying that truth now, and it cut me deeper than it had any right to.

She was a vixen, a temptress, who had deceived me. And I had allowed it, even to the extent of endangering my soldiers and my secret to try to free her from the responsibilities that kept her shackled to Calvin.

And what had she done in return? At first sign of freedom, she fled away from me.

Anger burning hot within me, I told Prime Beta, “Hunt her down. Bring her back. She will face my judgement for her betrayal.”

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