The basement was hot and stuffy, which had caused my corpse to rot beyond recognition; maggots were crawling all over my skin
and flesh.
Instead of pinching his nose like before, Toby leaned closer to my face.
Soon afterward, he exploded with rage. “Are you still going to continue playing with my feelings, Joyce? You even made the fake corpses look so realistic! How could you possibly have died? You definitely wouldn’t have, so hurry up and come out already!”
In the midst of his furious outburst, Toby’s head snapped up as he heard approaching footsteps. A look of delighted surprise
washed over his face. “I knew you weren’t dead, Joyce!”
But the relief was instantly replaced by shock as his eyes widened, recognizing the figures who had just arrived his parents.
When Toby’s mother, Diana Sherman, saw the sight in front of her, she screamed in shock before fainting.
Even Gerald, the former Alpha, couldn’t suppress the violent heaving that wracked his body at the sight and smell. He raised his hand, now a formidable wolf paw, and slashed out at Toby with his razor–sharp claws.
Toby groaned in pain.
“Bastard! You bastard! You actually killed Joyce! You caused the death of your own heir!” Gerald roared, his voice thick with grief
and fury.
Toby suddenly went wild and bellowed loudly, “This is all part of Joyce’s scheme! We were once trapped in the forest together, but she defeated all the other wolves and escaped alive with me!”
When I heard his words, I felt nothing but bitterness.
So, he remembered everything!
Why, then, did he repay his former savior by putting her to death?
Gerald was beside himself with rage, and he clawed at Toby’s back again and again. “You fucking moron! How can there be an
Alpha as idiotic as you?”
Toby became irritated and summoned Barney to help lead his parents away.
Left alone once more, Toby resumed his grim examination of my body, despite its advanced state of decay rendering it utterly
unrecognizable.
His fingers traced the long–dried streaks of blood when he abruptly stilled, a wave of terror washing over him, causing his entire
body to tremble.
Etched into my back, stark against the decaying flesh, were the unmistakable scars of old wolfsbane burns.
P
