The Alpha's Exiled Mate Chapter 250

Thorne’s POV

The words hit me like a physical blow. I took an involuntary step back, the gold fading from my eyes as shock temporarily overwhelmed my wolf.

"You're lying," I said, but the accusation lacked conviction. My mind was already racing through the inconsistencies, the convenient timing, Kaelin's desperate insistence that Derek be silenced.

Derek's laugh held a bitter edge. "Figured you'd say that. The great Alpha Thorne Grey, too smart to be fooled, right? Except you've been played for years."

I regained my composure, forcing my expression to remain neutral despite the turmoil beneath. "What proof do you have?"

Derek offered a weary smile. "That bitch was careful. Every message, every communication deleted after reading. So no, I don't have any tangible proof." He shifted in his restraints, wincing as the silver scraped his skin. "Think about it, Judge. Why would I kidnap Kaelin? I'd be hunted down by every wolf in your pack. But the Riley girl? An exile?" He shrugged. "Much less risk."

"Yet you took both," I pointed out.

"Because Kaelin Brooks ordered me to kidnap Freya in a very specific way," Derek explained, his voice gaining strength as he continued. "But when I realized she was just using me as a pawn in whatever sick game she's playing, I decided to take her too."

My mind was spinning, trying to reconcile this information with everything I thought I knew. "Explain. Now."

Derek leaned forward as much as his restraints would allow. "She contacted me initially three years ago, right after my first exile ended. I was trying to rebuild my life in the Shadow District when she approached me with an... interesting proposition."

"What kind of proposition?" I demanded, my voice dangerously low.

"Your perfect fiancée offered me a substantial amount of money to get close to Freya Riley and, in her words, 'ruin her' for you." A bitter smile crossed Derek's face. "She was obsessed with eliminating any competition for your attention."

My wolf surged forward, a growl building in my chest. "And did you accept?"

"Of course I did," Derek admitted without shame. "But I had my own conditions too. Money wasn't enough... I demanded she sleep with me as well. Told her if she didn't, I'd go straight to you and expose her plans."

The image his words painted made my claws extend involuntarily. "She agreed?"

"Reluctantly, but yes. She was desperate to keep you from finding out." Derek's eyes glinted with perverse satisfaction at my reaction. "But my plan to get to Riley never worked out. The girl was practically your shadow back then, always following you around with those puppy dog eyes."

I remembered those days—Freya's constant presence, her unwavering attention. I'd found it irritating then, but now the memory carried a different weight.

"When that failed," Derek continued, "Kaelin didn't give up. She kept our arrangement going, and then used something unexpected to her advantage."

"Which was?" I prompted, though dread was already building in my chest.

Derek's eyes met mine, calculating. "She got pregnant. With my pup."

The words hit me like a physical blow. "What? She was pregnant?"

"You didn't know?" Derek's surprise seemed genuine. "She never told you? That's interesting." His laugh was hollow. "She used that pregnancy—my child—to set Riley up. Provoked her into an argument, then claimed Riley attacked her unprovoked."

My mind flashed back to the trial—Kaelin's testimony, her tears as she described Freya's "unprovoked" attack. The inconsistencies I'd dismissed, the nagging doubt I'd pushed away.

"She lost the child?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, trying to make sense of this revelation.

"That was what she claimed publicly," Derek said with a shrug. "I never saw her after that whole incident until about a month ago, when she reached out again."

The monitors beeped a warning as Derek's heart rate spiked, sweat beading on his forehead from the silver exposure.

"This recent kidnapping wasn't the first attempt," he continued. "A month ago, she instructed my men to grab Freya, but that friend of hers—Emma—interfered. This was our third try. But I realized I was just another pawn to her. When she contacted me this time, she made it clear she wanted Riley gone permanently."

"And that's why you turned on her?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice steady.

Derek nodded grimly. "She always looked down on me—the high-born Brooks princess and the worthless exile. She was just using me, planning to discard me once I'd served my purpose. So I took her too. Hit her where it hurts."

The monitors were now sending continuous alerts. The door burst open as medical staff rushed in, followed closely by Mark.

"Alpha, we need to intervene," the medical Beta insisted. "His silver toxicity is reaching dangerous levels."

I stepped back, my mind still reeling from the revelations. Derek's eyes remained fixed on mine, watching as my world reshuffled itself around this new information.

"Replace the silver restraints with standard ones," I ordered Mark, my voice somehow steady despite the turmoil inside. "I don't want him dying from silver poisoning."

Mark looked surprised but nodded. "Alpha, he's dangerous—"

"He's also potentially our key witness," I cut in. "Move him to a secure facility away from the hospital. Double the guard and ensure no one from the Brooks family knows his location."

Derek's eyebrows raised slightly at this. "Afraid someone might try to silence me permanently, Judge?"

I ignored his taunt, turning to Mark. "I believe Kaelin may send someone to eliminate him. Ensure that doesn't happen."

"Yes, Alpha," Mark replied, his expression grave as he began to understand the implications.

I walked out of the interrogation room, needing space to think. The long hospital corridor stretched before me, eerily quiet compared to the chaos in my mind. My wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin, demanding action, demanding answers.

Three years. Kaelin had been lying to me for three years. Using an innocent life—her own child—as a weapon against Freya. And I had been her unwitting accomplice, sentencing an innocent wolf to exile based on her testimony.

I closed my eyes, remembering my father's inexplicable insistence on this alliance, Edward Brooks' strange behavior, Olivia's bizarre fixation on Freya. There were connections here I still didn't understand, pieces missing from this puzzle.

But one thing was becoming devastatingly clear: I had been wrong about Freya Riley. Catastrophically, unforgivably wrong.