Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 49
The northern quarry appeared abandoned when Blackwood arrived. Fires still smoked, but no voices rose between the stone walls.
Daisy led Elias and two guards toward a temporary command tent. Nolan’s team moved along the opposite ridge, searching for Scott.
Inside the tent, maps marked tunnels beneath Eastwind and routes toward a mountain castle. Klaudius’s reach extended far beyond the western perimeter.
Daisy found Vera’s name in an old ledger. Payments had been issued to an Eastwind informant on the week of her death.
The informant’s identity was coded, but the final entry confirmed Vera had been intercepted before Blackwood invaded.
Daisy copied the pages. The record supported Nolan’s investigation and proved Klaudius’s network was connected to her mother’s murder.
A voice behind her said, “You always were too curious.” Scott blocked the tent entrance with a silver knife.
Elias attacked, but hidden vampires pulled him outside. Daisy remained alone with her former mate.
Scott demanded Vera’s pendant. Lucien had promised it would help control Daisy’s power and restore Scott’s claim.
“You still think power can be handed to you,” Daisy said. “That’s why you lost Eastwind.”
He lunged. Daisy raised a barrier that caught the blade and shattered it.
Scott stared at the red light, fear replacing entitlement. He had rejected Daisy as weak because he never imagined strength could exist beyond a wolf.
She struck him hard enough to tear open the tent. Nolan saw them from the ridge and raced downward.
Lucien appeared before Nolan reached the clearing. He caught Scott by the collar and opened a path into shadow.
“Klaudius has lost patience,” Lucien called to Daisy. “Come willingly, or Eastwind becomes his graveyard.”
Daisy threw power toward him. Lucien redirected it into the quarry wall, revealing skill far beyond the vampires she had faced.
He escaped with Scott, leaving the camp and most records behind. The retreat felt less like defeat than another invitation.
Nolan reached Daisy and checked her for injuries before noticing the ledger in her hand.
“Klaudius had someone watching my mother,” she said. “He may have ordered her death.”
The mountain route on the map gave them a destination. For the first time, Blackwood knew where the vampire lord might be hiding.