Page 62 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

I turn my face slowly toward her, noticing that she’s coming closer now, and I shake my head.

“Don’t come any closer, Ingrid. It isn’t safe. I feel so…so unpredictable.”

Ingrid stops and nods slowly. “Do you want to see Daniel? We’ll make sure—”

“No,” I interject quickly, firmly. “Don’t let Daniel see me in this position. It’s not safe…” I whimper, pain slicing through me as I think about my son and how scared he must have been. I can’t imagine what he thinks of me if he saw me attacking Damian. I’m too ashamed of myself to let him come anywhere near me. Not now. Not when I don’t even know what’s wrong with me. “If he’s with Diane, if he has you and Connor, he’ll be okay.”

“He has Damian, too…” she reminds me softly, and another bout of distress ripples through me.

The mention of his name makes my stomach churn violently.

I squeeze my eyes shut, another wave of burning pain racing beneath my skin until it feels as though my blood has turned to molten metal, every vein inside my body threatening to split open. My fingers curl instinctively into the mattress, the silver cuffs biting into my wrists hard enough to draw a sharp hiss from between my teeth.

“I hurt him,” I whisper hoarsely, unable to stop seeing it every time I blink. “I saw his face, Ingrid… I knew it was him, and I still…” My throat closes around the words. “I attacked him.”

You did what you were meant to do… That voice enters my head again, and I press my eyelids tightly, trying to push it away.

“You weren’t yourself.”

“But I was!” I cry, shaking my head frantically. “I remember enough. I remember begging him to take Daniel and leave. I remember trying to fight whatever was happening to me.” My breathing grows ragged as I press the back of my head against the pillow. “I knew I was losing control, and I still couldn’t stop it.”

Ingrid’s eyes soften with heartbreaking sympathy. “That’s exactly why none of us blame you, Poppy.”

“You should.” The words leave me before I can stop them. “You should all blame me,” I insist, my voice cracking beneath the weight of everything crushing me. “If I hadn’t gone after Daniel alone…if I’d just waited…none of this would’ve happened.”

“No,” Ingrid says firmly, taking another cautious step before stopping herself again. “The only people responsible for this are the dark witches.”

“Did they find the witches at the warehouse?” I ask, and Ingrid shakes her head.

“By the time the others searched the warehouse, whoever had been there was gone. They only found you and Daniel,” Ingrid reveals.

As the pieces of my fractured memory return in fragments, realization slowly rolls over me. “They knew exactly what they were doing.”

I stare blankly at the ceiling, remembering those crimson eyes watching me from beneath dark hoods. The needle piercing my neck. The icy sensation spreading through my body before it became fiery.

Monster…

“They didn’t want Daniel. They wanted me.”

The realization settles between us like a stone sinking to the bottom of a lake.

“They took Daniel because they knew I’d follow. I’m sure of it.” Another shudder tears through my body. “They used my son as bait. And I walked exactly where they wanted me to “

Silence follows, thick enough to suffocate me.

Then, quietly, Ingrid asks, “Do you remember anything else? Anything about the warehouse? About the witches?”

I close my eyes, forcing myself to sift through the scattered fragments still floating around inside my head.

“There were... five of them.” I swallow hard. “Maybe six. They all wore black robes.” Another flicker surfaces. “One of them...” My brows knit together painfully. “When they took me to the warehouse, and I was stirring awake, she touched my face and said something to the others.”

A violent tremor rips through my body. “She said…” I whisper, and my heart begins pounding as the words, her voice, become clearer, almost like the dark voice inside my head, bleeding terror into my eardrums. “She said, ‘Let’s see if the Alpha still loves his mate when she becomes the very thing he swore to destroy.’“

The room falls deadly silent. Even Connor shifts outside the door as if he’s heard me.

Ingrid’s face drains of color. “Oh, Goddess...” she murmurs.

A hollow laugh escapes me, one completely devoid of humor. “They weren’t trying to kill me.” Fresh tears spill onto the pillow. “They wanted to turn me into a monster.” My voice breaks completely then. “And they succeeded.”