Chapter 162
Elena:
It’s been a week since Vladimir left, and though Konstantin never visited me again, at least not to talk about anything. He knew that his words stirred in my head, especially when he brought me the book of wolves the night after he left the bedroom.
His eyes met mine, and I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of the number of possibilities that could happen. The way his eyes met mine, the way he was sure, how he was mocking me. It just pained me to find myself thinking that Vladimir could be hiding something like this from me.
But when I thought of the facts. When I saw that the man avoided me during the time of a full moon. When I thought that he was avoiding me, the man seemed to be avoiding me because he was ‘shifting’? It was something that I found too hard, and I couldn’t find myself understanding how I was going to be dealing with it.
I laid on the bed, his bed, embracing the smell of his perfume, it was one that I was sure to put on the pillows before I slept every night, especially since I knew that the maids changed them on a daily basis. His smell was one that I missed. The way that he looked at me, and the way that he smiled at me, I couldn’t imagine him being a monster like the one that I read about. The monster that Konstantin wanted me to see in him.
“You need to rest, Elena. He is going to be coming home soon,” I whispered to myself, knowing that I was counting the minutes and seconds that I had to see him. I knew that I was both excited and scared, and I didn’t even know how I was going to tell him about anything. I didn’t know how the man was going to react if he heard about Konstantin entering the room or even speaking to me, but the idea of him not hearing of this from me; I knew that it wasn’t going to end well. I knew that he would find out that something was wrong anyway, but whatever it was, I knew that I had to find out about it.
“What am I going to do, Vladimir?” I whispered, running my fingers through my hair as I laid on the pillow. My heart raced against my chest, and it took everything in me not to burst out, and I couldn’t help but find myself drowning in what I was feeling. “How am I going to deal with this?”
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“Rise and shine, malyshka.” I heard as his lips touched my forehead. He allowed them to linger there for a few seconds as he watched me opening my eyes. I looked up at him and I couldn’t help but smile before sitting up from the pillow. I sat up and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. He kissed my cheek before he leaned in to connect his lips with mine. The two of us pulled away from one another and I looked at the man, I smiled, and he returned it before he leaned in to kiss my forehead.
“Good morning, baby girl.” He said, his voice above a whisper as he spoke. He ran his finger over mine, and I watched as he intertwined our fingers, running his finger over mine. His eyes were fixed on me, watching me, and though I expected it to be easy; I couldn’t help but find my tongue getting tied inside my mouth. “Elena, malyshka, is everything okay?”
I nodded and though I tried fighting back the clench that I felt in my chest, I couldn’t help but get lost in a thousand thoughts, neither one of them were ones that I knew how to deal with. I was in pain and I was scared, but I didn’t know how I was going to be able to hide this from him.
“Did he hurt you when I wasn’t around?” He asked, his voice calm, hesitant. I looked up at him, and for a second, I could swear that I saw fury in his eyes. I shook my head in response, thankful that the man didn’t harm me. The man was one that I knew, and though Vladimir wasn’t around, I could tell that he was scared of losing him if he had hurt me. And that was something that I didn’t understand nor was it something that I liked.
“No, Vladimir. He didn’t touch me,” I said, and he shook his head, trying to understand what was on my mind. I took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment. I was never the type to weaken, not to him, and it was something that he knew well. It was something that Konstantin hated despite everything that he’s done to me. He tried breaking me more than once, he did his best to do so, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do so.
“Then what is going on, Elena? What is going on?” He asked, shaking his head in question. “Who hurt you so bad for you to be hiding something like this from me, malyshka? Talk to me, baby girl.”
I hesitated for one second, and though I froze, I couldn’t help but shake my head as I took a deep breath. The man frowned in confusion, trying to understand what was going on. My heart raced and tears fell from my eyes, tears that I was quick to wipe them from my face. “Elena, baby…”
“He gave me this,” I said, nodding at the book that was on the dresser. He frowned in confusion, noticing that I stopped him. He didn’t say a word for a few seconds, but I watched as he got up from the bed beside me. He walked to the dresser, and when his eyes landed on the book, the man tensed. “He said something about you being a werewolf. The man gave me this afterwards…”