Chapter 565: Skin Him Alive

Oh, shit. She was still in Oscar’s body.

Violet’s thoughts raced as Ace’s suspicious gaze burned into her. She cleared her throat at once.

"I mean..." she corrected quickly, "Violet sent me. Griffin is here too."

At the mention of Griffin’s name, Ace’s suspicion vanished immediately. If anything, his eyes lit up with hope, his earlier confusion melting away as if it never existed.

"He’s here?" he asked, almost desperately.

"Yes," Violet said, nodding her head. But there was only one question pounding through her head.

"Where’s Alaric?" she demanded.

As if the universe itself answered her, there was the unmistakable crash of something heavy falling over. Violet’s head whipped toward the sound just in time to see a figure stumbling from behind a towering stack of crates.

Alaric.

For a second Violet couldn’t move, her eyes trained on Alaric, or rather what had become of him.

His usually clean, refined presence was gone, replaced by a sluggish, barely coherent version of himself. The shirt he wore was dampened with sweat, his whitish blonde hair tangled while his eyes were glassy and unfocused. His bare feet dragged across the cold floor as he tried to steady himself, each breath visibly ragged

Violet’s heart shattered.

"Alaric..." she breathed, forgetting entirely that to him, she wasn’t Violet. She was Oscar.

Alaric squinted at her through the haze of confusion written all over his face. "Oscar?" His voice was rough, and his words slurred.

Violet ran, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. She threw her arms around Alaric, catching him before his legs could give out completely. The force of the embrace nearly toppled them both, but she held him tightly as if her life depended on it.

"Oscar," Alaric groaned, "Why do you smell so good?" His words tangled together as his head lolled heavily against her shoulder.

Then, with sudden desperation, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, his body pressing closer.

"Violet," he whispered, a shaky laugh bubbling from his throat like a man teetering on the edge of madness.

"Goddammit," Violet hissed under her breath, both impressed that he had recognized her beneath the disguise and furious at the state he was in.

Her hands flew over him in a frenzy, checking for injuries. She traced his jawline, skimmed over his ribs, and pressed against the tender skin at his throat. It wasn’t until she reached his wrist that she froze, her stomach twisting. It was barely there but she saw the bruises.

"What the fuck, Ace?!" Violet cursed, lifting Alaric’s hand like it was evidence, demanding answers with her glare.

Ace, who had been frozen by the bizarre exchange between them moments ago, snapped to attention when he saw the fury burning in Oscar’s eyes. He understood instantly what he was accusing him of.

"No, it’s not me!" he blurted, gesturing wildly.

"Then who?" Violet thundered. "What did you do to Alaric?!"

Ace opened his mouth but only stammered, tumbling over words that refused to form.

"Tell me!" Violet’s voice dropped lower, her wolf bleeding through her eyes that were now glowing with barely controlled rage.

"It’s our mother!" Ace shouted, the words tumbling out in a rush. "Alaric attacked her when he found out she brought him back to the North pack. Alaric has always been loyal to her, to the bone, and then suddenly, he’s rebelling. She said it was Violet’s fault that she bewitched him, so she tried to reset his memory."

One phrase echoed in Violet’s mind, freezing her blood. She went completely still, so still that even Ace paused, nervous at the sight.

When she finally spoke, her voice carried a lethal intensity.

"What do you mean exactly by resetting his memory?" Her eyes were raw and red, rage simmering under the surface.

Ace swallowed hard. For some reason, Oscar — or what he thought was Oscar — was terrifying right now.

"Speak!" she snapped.

"My mother has this machine," Ace blurted, fear driving him on. "It’s called the Mnemosyne Crown. It erases memories. The project was shut down years ago, but she started it again. She wanted to erase Violet completely like she never existed."

Violet didn’t hear the rest. The only thing pounding in her head was Zara’s intent: erase Alaric’s memories of her.

Ace kept talking, oblivious to how close Violet was to losing control. "Alaric believed he was meant to be mated to Violet, but our mother thinks he’s gone mad. That’s why she did this."

Violet’s breathing turned ragged. "I’m going to kill that bitch," she hissed with fury. She spun on her heel, ready to storm out.

"Whoa, whoa!" Ace jumped in front of her, panic on his face. "You can’t do that!"

"Watch me!" Violet shoved past him, her tone dark with promise.

"No, listen!" Ace grabbed her arm, desperate to make her stop. "I just bombed my mother’s lab! Forget the memory machine, she’s going to skin me alive when she finds out. And even after I’m dead, she’ll probably resurrect me with one of her creepy inventions just to torture me again and again. Probably forever!"

Violet rolled her eyes, unimpressed by his dramatics.

"The point is," Ace said quickly, "I just destroyed the Mnemosyne Crown... well, temporarily. My mother still has the knowledge in her head, and that’s worse. And in case you don’t know, the North packhouse is the most fortified place in the region. Escaping is nearly impossible without help. My plan was to break Alaric out of the lab so he could fight with his powers and get us both out. Instead, this is what I got!"

He turned and pointed at Alaric who was currently giggling like a fool while swatting at invisible shapes in the air, before stumbling face-first into a crate.

Violet’s heart ached at the sight. To think Zara that wrench was cruel enough to do this to her own son.

Then her gaze shot past him to a massive control panel fixed against the far wall. A cluster of thick, insulated wires snaked out of it, humming with energy.

And just like that, it hit her.