Chapter 226 Progress on the plan

Chapter 226: Chapter 226 Progress on the plan

_Alaric’s POV_

"Alaric... please come to the Pine Crest lake house," Brielle’s voice whimpered through the phone, sounding fragile, slurred, and completely broken. "I am so lonely. I’m going to take a whole bottle of pills, and I just want to talk to you.”

"Brielle, wait.....”

The line went dead before I could finish.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, my jaw locking tight as a surge of frustration hit me. Why did Brielle have to be irrational now?

She was first of all her parents’ only daughter.

No matter how much I despised her actions today, I couldn’t simply sit back and let a noble family’s sole heir end her life when I had the power to stop it.

I looked down at Rowena, who was resting on the examination table while Kyle finished wrapping her ankle in clean white bandages.

"I have an emergency I need to handle," I told Rowena, hate burning in my chest at the thought of leaving her side, especially with this Kyle standing right next to her like a protective guard. "I will be back as fast as I can. Do not leave this room until I return."

Rowena just raised an eyebrow, entirely unbothered, while Kyle gave me a quick, professional nod.

I turned around, stormed out of the hospital, and jumped into my car. I slammed my foot on the gas, speeding through the city streets and up into the mountain roads toward the Pine Crest Private Resort.

The drive usually took forty minutes, but I pushed the engine to its absolute limit, arriving in less than twenty.

I didn’t need to tell Gabriel and the others.

I threw open the door to the lake house cabin without even knocking since she’d given me the room number.

The air inside smelled strongly of spilled alcohol.

When I looked closely, I saw Brielle was sitting on the floor beside a couch, clutching an empty bottle of liquor against her chest.

Her eyes were red, her hair was messy, and tears were streaming down her pale cheeks.

There were no pill bottles in sight, just three empty wine bottles scattered across the rug.

"Alaric..." she sobbed, stumbling to her feet and swaying dangerously. "You actually came... You still care about me..."

"Where are the pills, Brielle?" I asked, my voice cold, I wasn’t here for a useless reunion.

"I couldn’t find them..." she whimpered, reaching out to grab my jacket, her hands reeking of alcohol. "So I drank instead. I drank until my stomach burned. Please, Alaric, just sit with me for five minutes. Drink one glass with me. I promise I will pack my bags, leave the capital tomorrow morning, and never bother you or Rowena again."

I stared at her in disgust, I wanted to turn around and leave right then, but she stumbled backward, almost falling over the glass coffee table.

“Don’t do it, this woman is really disgusting. She irritates my soul.” Phillip spat.

“I’m the one who has a soul.” I replied but didn’t say it out loud.

“Fine," I growled, taking the small glass she shoved into my hand just to get her to sit down. "One drink. Then I am calling your father to pick you up."

I downed the liquid in one quick gulp, wanting to get this foolish spectacle over with so I could return to Rowena.

The alcohol tasted strange, unusually bitter at the back of my throat, but I paid it no mind. A few seconds later, my head began to feel heavy.

My vision blurred around the edges, and a wave of unnatural, overwhelming exhaustion pulled me down into darkness.

“Alaric, are you okay?” I heard Brielle ask when my legs tumbled from beneath me.

“Yes, I’m okay......” and I blacked out.

When my eyes snapped open the following morning, bright light was pouring through the cabin windows.

My head was pounding with a vicious ache.

“Hurry up and sit up!” Phillip yelled in my mind and I sat up quickly.

But something felt very wrong, I realized something wasn’t right at all.

When I realized it, I saw that my shoes were gone, and I was sitting on a bed, stripped down to my waist.

Beside me, the covers shifted. Brielle was lying under the sheets, her bare shoulders exposed, crying softly into a pillow.

Panic flooded my chest like ice water.

“What happened??” I asked Phillip.

“You were poisoned.” He groaned.

I frowned, but I didn’t respond.

The realization hit me like a physical blow, I looked like I had committed the gravest, most disgusting sin known to wolf kind.

"What did you do?!" I roared, throwing the covers back and grabbing my pants from the floor.

Brielle sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover her chest, her eyes wide with fake, pathetic innocence. "Alaric... you came to me last night... we both lost control... I couldn’t stop you..."

"Shut up!" I snapped, my voice loud enough to rattle the glass windows as I threw my shirt on with shaking hands.

I snatched my phone off the nightstand and turned on the screen.

Missed Calls from Rowena. 3 Messages from Ezekiel.

My blood ran completely cold.

I felt a sick, suffocating knot form in my stomach. Without wasting another second, I glared at Brielle with pure hatred. "If you ever come near me or Rowena again, I will personally strip your family of their noble title and throw you out of this territory."

I slammed the cabin door shut, ran to my car, and sped back toward the hospital like a madman, my heart hammering out of control.

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_Brielle’s POV_

The moment the loud sound of Alaric’s car engine faded into the distance, I stopped crying.

I wiped the tears from my face, tossed the sheet aside, and sat up on the bed with a calm, relaxed stretch.

Nothing had actually happened between us last night. The moment the sleeping drug I had mixed into his glass knocked him out cold, I simply took off his shirt, removed my own dress, and laid down beside him until morning.

He was far too honorable to ever cheat on his mate willingly, but he didn’t need to know the truth. The sight of us in this bed together was more than enough to ruin his mind with guilt.

"He couldn’t control himself, and I couldn’t control myself," I whispered to the empty room, letting out a loud, delighted laugh that echoed in the cabin.

“You’re a genius.” My wolf chimed in happily.

It was so easy, Alaric was now completely trapped in his own guilt, and Rowena would never forgive him once she found out he spent the entire night half naked in a private cabin with his ex.

I stood up, walked into the bathroom, and began humming a cheerful tune as I washed my face and put on fresh makeup.

My plan was moving forward perfectly. Rowena’s hold on the Alpha King was about to fall apart, and the crown was going to be mine.

I packed my bag, grabbed my car keys, and walked out of the resort with a bright, triumphant smile on my face.