Chapter 38

Killian:

My brain raced with a number of thoughts that I didn’t like.

The bride, the Bernardi woman, Alienora. Her name rang in my head like some bell and I couldn’t help but frown as I forced myself to shake the thought away. She couldn’t be the same woman. Vladimir did his search, the woman is dead and has been for years now…

Eleanor stirred in her sleep and slowly put a hand on my chest. I watched as she opened her eyes as she woke up, clearly trying to process what was going on.

Her eyes met mine for a second before they widened and she quickly sat up.

Her heart raced against her ribcage and I had to stay still, reminding myself to stay calm as I recalled what I saw the night before.

Her scream out of fear, pain, and agony woke me up. 

And had it not been for the reflex that I had to put on clothes, reminding myself that she never saw me naked and that she seemed to be scared of something, I rushed to my closet to get myself a pair of boxers and the first sweatpants that I found.

“Alpha?” She asked, clearly confused and I sat up. I have been lying wide awake throughout the whole night, my body refusing to allow me to get any rest. Part of me wanted to hold her until she opened up about what happened, and another part told me that I had to wait until she was ready to open up. 

“How are you feeling?” I asked, dismissing her surprised state. The blur that she felt was somewhat normal, and though it pained me to see her in this state, I knew that it often happened to those who have been through too much that their minds forced them to drown down the pain. 

“I- When did you come here?” She asked, and I chewed the inside of my mouth for a second as I looked at her. The air grew tight in my chest and I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of too many possibilities and chances of who she was. 

“Eleanor, what are you hiding from me?” I asked again, this time, more annoyed than I was. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at me. Her heart raced and I shook my head, waiting for her response.

“You told me that you would give me time until I was ready,” she said, looking down at my chest, avoiding my eyes for a few seconds. I shook my head and took a deep breath, reminding myself to stay calm. I didn’t want to scare her off, but this time, I was going to get my answers.

“I don’t want to use my methods to get my answers out of you, Eleanor.” I said, looking her in the eye. Her fear when I hit the wall beside her head played in my head. The scream that she woke up with played in my head. The tears of pain. Her bruises. Her fear. These were reminders for me to stay completely calm as I looked her dead in the eye.

“You are going to force me to give you answers?” She asked, frowning in confusion. I pinched the bridge of my nose before glaring at the woman whose heart raced as she sat back, moving away from me. The fact that we were having this conversation to begin with was annoying to me, and that was something that she had to understand. She clenched her fists and looked down at her lap before shaking her head. “You are playing a game on me, you are not…”

“You woke up with a piercing scream last night.” I said, stopping her. “You looked at me as if I was some kind of ghost, and…”

“I am not ready to talk about it, and I am not going to…”

I growled, stopping her and she froze as tears welled up in her eyes. Her heart raced and she took a step back before closing her ears and squeezing her eyes shut. “This is another dream, isn’t it? This is just a nightmare and I am going to wake up to find…”

“Believe it or not, malyshka, it is taking my last strand of patience before I really do turn into your nightmare.” I said, stopping her. She didn’t look at me for a few seconds, and I waited, staring at her, wanting to see when she was going to finish whatever she was doing before I nodded. She opened her eyes to look at me as I walked to her dresser to look at the perfumes that she had on top of them. They were all new, and I knew that it was Natasha who chose them for her. “You know, I never did want to let you go, but if you think that you are going to turn me into some toy that you…”

“I never said that you are a toy nor did I act like it.” She said, stopping me. Her hands shook as she forced herself to stand up to look at me. Her eyes met mine and she shook her head. “But you are going to end up rejecting me and are going to…”

I growled and shoved all the perfumes down the dresser, watching as they all hit the ground before they broke. Their glass shattered, and she screamed as she took a step back. This was not the way that I wanted to take things. But this was getting too much.

I kneeled down and picked a piece of the glass shard before approaching her. Her heart raced and she took a step back as the shard cut my hand. “You know, anyone else would have this shard slaughtering them in a mere moment of anger. But if I am holding on to the fact that I don’t want to hurt you, and if I am keeping a promise that I made for you, I do not expect you to make a fucking fool of me.”

“I am not making a fool of you.” She said, looking down at the shard. She slowly raised her hand to mine, and despite how much it shook, she slowly forced me to open it, making me drop the shard. The two of us knew very well that I wouldn’t have dropped it if I didn’t want to, but I also wanted her to know that my aim was not to hurt her. I would rather I die than do so. However, I had to stir her into opening up. “But I don’t want you letting me go, Alpha Killian.”

I kept my eyes on hers before shaking my head, my heart racing against my own ribcage as I fought my wolf’s whimper of pain. I didn’t want to do this, and I sure hoped that she didn’t force my hand into doing something that was going to break the two of us. But I wasn’t going to be able to help her if she didn’t open up, and if I allowed her to keep giving me the same excuse, then I was just going to keep turning around in circles.

“You are already bringing it up to yourself, malyshka.” I said, ignoring the dryness that I felt in my throat. Her eyes were fixed on mine and she frowned in confusion as tears formed in her eyes. I took a deep and slow breath before removing my hand from hers. Blood dripped on her bedroom floor, but I couldn’t care less at the moment. “You have one hour, if you don’t give me the answers, and lying is not going to help you, I am going to find out, the two of us are done long before we started.”

“Alpha Killian…”

“You’re afraid of being rejected, right?” I asked, stopping her.

“Don’t do this, Alpha. I am not going to be able to…”

“The ball is your field, Eleanor.” I said, stopping her. “You’re going to fucking choose the path that we both take.”

“Alpha…”

“You have one hour.” I said, walking out of the room. My chest burned and I felt as if a thousand bullets were shot in my heart, but I knew that this was my one way to go. Whoever you were, and whatever your secret is, I fucking give you my word that I am going to accept you the way that you are, Eleanor. But this is the only way that I am going to be able to help you.

“Killian?” Natasha’s voice broke my train of thoughts. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked down at my hand. “Your hand…”

“You can leave, Natasha. You don’t have any work to tend to.” I said, stopping her.

“What work, Killian, your hand is fucking…”

“I said, leave.” I snapped, stopping her. Her eyes widened in surprise and I walked into my bedroom, ignoring her presence before slamming the door shut just as my phone rang. It was Vladimir. “What?”

“Someone is in a mood.”

“This better be fucking important because I really am not in the mood.” I said, putting the phone on speaker as I walked toward the bathroom to clean my hand.

“I think we might have found the lead on the bride.” He said, making me frown in confusion as I froze. My heart raced against my ribcage and I couldn’t help but feel my chest ache as I processed his words. “But I think that you need to come to the office for this, Alpha…”