My Alphas' Dark Desires novel Chapter 379

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~Valerie's POV~

There was a sharp and suffocating silence, and for a second, I could almost hear him blink in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Storm said finally, his tone clipped, cautious. "Did I just hear that right?"

"You did," I whispered, staring down at the dark petals of a midnight lily brushing my knee. The garden lights flickered faintly, shadows stretching long across the marble bench. "I got invited into Nightshade, and for that, I have to kill."

"What?" he hissed. "Valerie… you can't be serious. You want to… You need to stop and tell me what you mean when you say 'kill, to kill a man.'"

"Let me finish." My voice cracked, but I pushed through. "I passed two of their tests already, Storm. But the third one…" My throat tightened. "The third one is to kill someone."

A pause. Then, a low exhale from his end. I could feel the garden around me shrink, cold air nipping at my cheeks.

I hugged my jacket tighter against the night breeze. The air tasted faintly of jasmine. My palms were cold around the phone.

"You've never killed before," he said softly. "So how do you plan to pull that off, huh? Besides, you don't know what that does to a person. I'm not sending you to become someone who crosses that line."

"I know," I said, and it wasn't bravado. It was a small, trembling truth. "That's why I'm asking for help. I'm not asking you to murder him, Storm. That's where I need your help, bro." I ran a shaky hand through my hair, the night breeze biting against my damp palms. "I want to pull it off, but I can't kill him."

"Then, what are you asking me to do?"

"And just for the record, they'll send someone to check, too, but I have to make them think I did it long enough for someone high up there to vouch for me. I need intel once I'm inside."

"Okay, how are we supposed to make them believe a staged death without you walking into something you can't walk back from?

"This is where you come in."

I waited while he processed it. Storm's voice came, rougher. "But Valerie… Staging is one thing, and to do so, you would actually have to do it. That's different, and you know it."

My mind drifted to those two assassins in the forest that I killed.

"Indirectly," Astrid corrected my line of thought before I got too far, but it still did not stop weighing on my conscience.

Storm hesitated briefly before releasing a deep sigh.

"What's Uncle saying about this?"

"Uncle Zade wants me to go in."

"He wants his niece to kill?" Storm questioned.

"Well, I guess he really hadn't given it a thought when I asked him for help concerning his itinerary and all about the target."

I was sure Storm was rolling his eyes now. "Okay, let's forget Uncle and discuss, please. Help me."

Another silence—longer this time. The kind that makes the air around you heavy enough to choke on.

"I know how they operate," I murmured. "But I can't help wondering if this is how they killed my parents and my pack members, too. The Nightshade way, assignments dressed as tests."

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