Chapter 12 THE WEIGHT OF HIS COMMAND
Ginnie
My breath hitched.
“Rogues…?”
The word sat heavy on my tongue, my fingers tightening around the note as my eyes dragged over the words again, slower this time—like reading it over again might somehow change what I had just seen.
Who would be stupid enough to betray Varkos?
My mind began to race through every possible scenario, anyone who moved freely through the villa…or rather someone with enough access to leak information without drawing suspicion.
And then there was him.
Varkos.
The thought forced its way uninvited into my head. He was ruthless enough to sacrifice anything for power—but this? Letting rogues tear through his own territory?
No matter how cold he was, how merciless his rule had become, Varkos always protected what was his. The villa. His pack. Even he wouldn’t do such a thing.
This wasn’t his doing.
So whose was it?
I stared at the note again, my chest tightening as the weight of it pressed down on me. If something were to happen to Varkos—
Stop caring so much about that monster, GINNIE!
I folded the note slowly, as if it might cause more damage in my hands, my heart pounding recklessly like a drum as I slipped it back into the trash.
Fuck this!
Not my problem at all.
Whatever was going to happen to Varkos, it wasn't mine to stop.
I turned away and began to make my way back into the mansion, forcing my face into something neutral—as if I hadn’t just read something that could burn the villa to the ground.
“Ginnie.”
I had barely taken a few steps when a familiar voice called my name. Slowly, I turned to see Lisa, one of the senior maids approaching me, nothing nice about the expression on her face. “The Alpha wants to see you,” she said, “Now.”
My heart dropped straight into my stomach. “Varkos?” I asked, my voice coming out as whispers, “Wh…where is he?”
She nodded once. “In his study. Immediately.”
Why the hell would that monster want to see me? A thousand thoughts collided in my head at once, could it be that he had found out about Lily? Has he—
Oh, God!
“I don’t know why he wants to see you,” Lisa added quickly, as if reading my thoughts. “But he said he gives you only a second to meet him…anything more than that and you’ll be punished severely.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides as she turned and walked away. Leaving me alone with the echo of his command as my feet carried me to Varkos’s study.
By the time I reached the door, my chest was tight, my palms slick with sweat. I raised my hand to knock, hesitated—and then knocked anyway.
“Come in.” His voice comes out cold.
Without a second thought, I pushed the door open. Varkos stood behind his desk, tall and imposing, dressed in a black suit that clung to his physique like a second skin. And beside him stood Kenna.
Fucking little devil!
Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, her sharp eyes snapping toward me the moment I entered. “I…I was told you wanted to see me,” I said quietly, my stupid voice betraying me as it cracked.
“Yes,” Varkos replied, his gaze settling on me with a dark expression, “I did.” He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, like a predator getting ready to trap its prey, “I’ve made a decision,” he continued.
Kenna turned sharply toward him. “Varkos—”
“I wasn’t speaking to you,” he cut in coldly before she could finish her words. Her mouth snapped shut instantly, rage flashing in her eyes.
“From now on,” he began, those cold piercing eyes never leaving mine, “You will personally clean my chambers…and my study.”
The words hit me like a slap, but before I could part my lips to speak, Kenna had already stood up abruptly from her chair.
“What?” She burst out. “That’s fucking ridiculous, “Why her when there are so many maids in the villa?”
I stood there, my mind still scrambling to catch up with what he just said. His chambers? His study?
Me?
“You can’t be serious,” Kenna continued sharply, “She’s a human for crying out loud, Varkos!”
“And I am the Alpha.” Varkos’s jaw tightened as he turned to face her, “So that means I can make whatever decision I fucking want.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to—”
“It means,” he snapped, his voice thundering across the whole study, “That my word is final. From now onwards, Ginnie is my personal slave.”
Silence crashed down between them, thick and heavy as Kenna stared at him, a mix of jealousy and disbelief etched across her face. “You’re doing this to spite me, right?”
“I’m doing this because I choose to,” he shot back coldly. “If you have a problem with that… you know where the door out of this villa is.”
Slowly, Kenna straightened herself up, her eyes blazing with fury as she walked closer to me. Her gaze dragged over me from head to toe—burning with something ugly.
Then she brushed past me and stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her with enough force to rattle the walls.
Before I could find the time to process my thoughts, Varkos stepped closer. Too close. I flinched as he leaned down, his lips almost touching mine by a few inches. “I know what you’re thinking,” his voice dropping to a low mocking tone. “That this is your chance to get close to me, right?”
“No—“
“That you can use this,” he cut me off before I could defend myself from his baseless accusations, “Just like I let myself fuck a dirty little human like you years ago.”
My chest burned with different things I wanted to say to him, but I already knew too well to dare speak when Varkos was speaking.
“I would never be attracted to someone as weak…as fragile…as you.” His voice shattered through my thoughts, each word cutting deeper than the last, “Get ready, Ginnie. Because I’m going to make you wish that you never set foot in this mansion,” he whispered. “Starting now.”
Then he straightened and walked past me, without sparing one glance at me as the door closed softly behind him—as if he hadn’t just shattered something inside me.
I stood there alone, my body shaking from the wave of hatred that bloomed in my chest, hot and unforgiving. Whatever ounce of softness I had towards Varkos was gone now, replaced by something sharp and merciless.
“Fuck!” I barked, my voice echoing off the walls. “Fucking bastard!”
My hands shook as I turned toward the door he’d just walked through, rage ripping through my chest so hard it hurt.
“Who the fuck do you think you are, Varkos?” I hissed, tears threatening to spill from my eyes, “Cold, heartless asshole. Power-drunk piece of shit!”