Chapter 4 The Masked Scheme

Asher's POV

"Send him out, Father. Send Lucas out." I growl.

"Don't be rude to your brother."

"He isn't my brother." I cry, flailing my hands weakly in the air.

Father scoffs. "Is it the pain making him crazy?" He asks Daya.

She shakes her head. "Maybe."

She pours another potion on my belly and I grit my teeth together to keep from crying out. I won't let Lucas see me in pain again. I know the sick happy grin on his face when I cried out earlier will haunt my dreams for years.

Daya nods and turns to father. "I've pushed the silver out of his body. He should heal up on his own by now. We are lucky the silver isn't much or he would be dead by now."

Father winces at the thought of me dying and I hear my mother's wails in the background.

I sag in relief, thankful that the pain is over. I guess I should thank Lucas for not stabbing me with a barrel of silver. He must have wanted to do the honors of killing me by himself.

"Is he going to be fine now?" Father asks.

"With lots of rest, proteins and water, he should get back on track. He should be jumping on porches and making the hearts of the female wolves flutter as he does by nightfall."

Father chuckles. "Thank you, Daya."

She bows in response and starts packing her stuff. "I do my duty for the land, my lord."

"The land honors you." Father responds and shifts for her to find her way out. He turns to the rest of the room. "Clean him up, dress him up and put him on the bed. Tell the head chef to fix him a full meat dish."

"Yes, my lord." The maids scurry to obey him.

Mother rushes to my side when everyone has left, pulling my head on her lap. "How do you feel?"

"You heard Daya, I will be fine soon." I say, trying to put her mind at rest and hating how weak my voice sounds.

She snorts. "I don't care what Daya says. How do you feel?"

I shrug. "I'm fine." It could have been worse but Lucas didn't succeed. "The wound is already closing up."

She pushes off the cloth covering my naked form to confirm my words and nods to herself. Her breath comes out in shaky puffs and I feel bad for how worried she must have been.

I want to get off the bed and punch the hell out of Lucas. It doesn't help that I know his motive and I feel an insane rage to kill him.

Rule one: don't lose your calm.

I hiss, coughing as saliva pool at the back of my house. I hate those alpha grooming lessons now more than ever.

"Rest." Mother says, swiping her hand gently over my chest.

A maid brings a hot dish of soup filled with meat and mother leaves me to eat. I sleep afterwards and hear sounds. I slip out of bed and crawl to the balcony of my bedroom. I peer down and see Lucas and Geneveva, his mother talking in the darkness.

I realize that it's late which is why the house is silent. My parents and sister live at the left wing of the mansion and Lucas, his mother and I live at the right wing. The maids and servants live somewhere else. It isn't hard to figure out why Geneveva and Lucas are talking in low tones here because no one can hear them and I'm assumed to be knocked out.

I can't hear the room and wonder what the noise that woke me up was. One of them must have knocked into something and I hope it was Lucas.

I move silently out of my room and walk to where the two, making sure to keep myself in the shadows.

"Did you hurt Asher?" Geneveva hisses.

Lucas hisses in response. "I did."

"I told you to trust me. Why are you impatient?"

"I can't keep waiting for you."

"I don't want you to be suspected if anything happens to Asher. Everyone knows you will benefit more from his death and I can't let anyone points fingers at you."

"If anyone does, I will cut the fingers off." Lucas swears.

I roll my eyes at how dramatically evil he is.

"You could have gotten in trouble today." She insists.

"No. I could have killed Asher and framed the Vava pack for it."

"You will need the support of the neighboring packs when you become the alpha. Don't make unnecessary enemies for yourself." She warns. "I have a plan. You have to trust me, son. I want you to be the alpha more than you want. Do you think I'm glad to be referred to as the alpha's mistress? I came this far to not succeed. Who do you think got the alpha drunk years before you were born? Who do you think seduced the alpha? I did and the universe was kind enough to bless me with you. I will make sure you become the alpha because I covet more that throne more than anything."

I cover my gasp with my hands, regretting that I didn't have my phone with me.

"I can't wait long, mother. All father sees is Asher despite how much I try to get his attention." Lucas sulks.

She chuckles. "Your father will have no choice but to look at you soon. I have a plan to get rid of Asher without letting suspicion falling on you or me. You have to be patient. Your obstacle will be dead soon."

I have heard enough and move back to my room as silently as I left it, my heart thudding loud in my chest.

I have to leave the mansion before I die 'accidentally'.

******

"Don't stay away too far from home." Mother cries as I head to the car.

I nod, knowing that she isn't ready for the truth. I plan to stay far away from home as I want to live but if I tell mother that, not only won't she restrain me from leaving but father will have the guards lock me in my bedroom or throw me in the dungeons in case one of the maids who find me cute decides to help me get out.

"Call me when you get to college, son." She says again, kissing me lightly on the forehead.

I fight back tears, knowing I will miss her. I can't tell her why I have to go as I didn't record Geneveva's and Lucas' plot and trying to rat them out will get me punished. It will seem like I am trying to implicate them and as fragile as the bond holding the family tight is, father likes to think we are all happy.

He is such a deluded alpha that I wonder if the classes I took are different from the ones I took. Maybe the syllabus got updated when my father fell to Geneveva scheme and got her pregnant the same month his true mate conceived.

I am never going to be like him. I'm never going to disrespect my mate like that, force another woman on her and have her children run from my home to escape dying