Chapter 30 THE WOLF IN THE CHILD
Varkos
I stood at the head of the boardroom table in my study, my palms braced against the polished marble surface, nothing funny about the expression on my face.
“You’re all thinking too small,” I said coldly. “Bleeding Rose isn’t just a territory…it’s a pathway to gain control, to make the southern trade routes bow to us.”
One of the shareholders in the room—Mr Jason, a silver-haired man with expensive arrogance and shaking hands cleared his throat. With all due respect, Alpha Varkos. The risk—“
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I snapped. “All I ask of you all is your unfailing loyalty.”
The atmosphere changed instantly as he swallowed hard, the others avoiding my gaze as my eyes stared down on every one of them. I straightened slowly, rolling my shoulders back, letting my height and dominance speak for me.
“Why I’m asking for your loyalty in the first place is only because I choose to. You all breathe in this country because I tolerate it, so don’t you dare mistake my patience for permission to question my authority.”
Silence swallowed the room the moment the words rolled out of me.
Good.
I’m glad they all know the consequences of daring to go against me. I turned toward the window, more to end the discussion than continue, because I needed the view. There was nothing more to say, my decision was always the final say—
Then my eyes caught her through the window. On the lawn outside, a small figure was running between the stone benches. Dark hair, light dress fluttering around her tiny legs.
Lily.
An uncontrollable laughter tore out of her as she chased something invisible, her bare feet slapping softly against the grass.
Then it happened.
She slipped.
It should have ended in a fall…worse a badly scraped knee. But instead, her body twisted mid-motion—unnatural, precise as she landed cleanly on the balls of her feet, her hands barely even touched the ground before she straightened, balanced perfectly, and kept running as if nothing had happened.
What the—
My breath stopped.
That wasn’t a human reflex.
I knew it the way I knew the feel of blood on my hands. The way I knew the difference between wolves and humans in Bleeding Rose Country.
She moved again, faster this time. Her small body reacted to the world around her with instincts that had no place in a human child.
No…
This was impossible.
“She’s human,” I muttered to myself without realizing it. “No way in hell a human child could move like that. Only a wolf child did.”
But Lily—
She was Ginnie’s sister.
That’s what she’d said.
The night she threatened me not to dare come near Lily ever again. My jaw tightened painfully as different thoughts I hated to admit began to run through my mind.
Unless—
“Alpha Varkos?”
A voice shattered through my thoughts like a blade. I didn’t need to turn to know that it was none other than Mr Jason who called out my name. “Are you still with us?”
His words barely registered in my ears, not when my gaze stayed locked on Lily outside. She suddenly stopped running, her head tilting as if she’d sensed something long before it reached her.
For one brief, terrifying second—
I thought she looked straight at me.
“Alpha—“
“All of you should get out.”The words came out as a dangerous command as a voice called out from behind me.
The men around the table blinked. “Pardon?”
“I said,” I growled, fully turning to face all of them now, my eyes blazing, “get the fuck out of my study.”
They all knew too well not to argue, their chairs scraped violently against the polished marble floor. Fear scattered them faster than any formal dismissal ever could as the door slammed shut behind the last of them.
My chest rose and fell slowly as I turned back to the window to face Lily. She was still out there playing, “How,” I whispered.
How could a human child move like a wolf?
And why had Ginnie looked ready to tear my throat out when I’d been near her?
KNOCK
KNOCK
A sharp knock on the door cut through the room, but before I could respond the door opened.
“Varkos—”
My head instantly snapped up to see Ginnie standing by the doorway, she froze the moment she saw me standing by the window, her body going rigid like a prey that had just smelt a predator. Her eyes flickered too fast—to the glass behind me.
Toward Lily.
Then back to me.
“Why are you here?” I demanded, “I didn’t ask you to come see me.”
Her hands tightened around the tray she carried, the steam of the tea on the tray curled up between us like a warning.
“Y…you asked for refreshments earlier for the guests ” she replied quickly. “I—I thought the meeting was still going.” Something about the way her voice shook—not with fear of me, but with urgency. As if she wanted to distract me from something.
“I’ll leave now,” she continued, already stepping back. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Stop.”
I moved toward her before my brain could catch up, drawn forward by the tension snapping between us like a live wire. “What’s your sister doing outside on the lawn?”
Her breath caught.
“She’s—she’s just playing,” Ginnie said, adjusting the tray with trembling fingers, “if you’re not comfortable with it I can tell her to stop—“
“Why the hell is she playing in an inhuman reflex,” I cut her off before she could finish. Her head snapped up instantly, and that’s when I saw it. Raw fear flashed across her face—pure and unfiltered, but then it vanished as quickly.
“You’re imagining things,” she spoke too fast. “Ma..maybe you didn’t see it right.”
I stepped closer to Ginnie, close enough until there was no inch of space between us, “Look at me,” I ordered.“What are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing,” she snapped. “I’m hiding nothing.”
I searched every bit of her face, my instincts roaring, demanding answers my mind refused to come to terms with, but it was quickly shattered by the sound of Lily’s laughter, the sound sliced through me.
I turned back toward the window instinctively—
And Ginnie moved.
She stepped directly in front of me, blocking the view with her body, the tray clattering slightly as she lifted it higher. “Your tea,” she said, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s getting cold.”
My eyes burned into hers.
“Get. Out. Of. My way, Ginnie.”