Chapter 64 A LOVE WORTH A WAR
Varkos
“So you’ve been having an affair with that human slave all this time?”
The words cut through the sitting room like a blade drawn slowly and deliberately across my throat, and for half a second, the whole world stopped.
The sitting room felt suddenly smaller as Lady Ravena stood at the center of the room, her eyes locked on mine without looking away for even a second.
“What did you just say?” I asked, my voice coming out calm—deadly calm.
She didn’t flinch, her chin was lifted in cold authority. Her hands were clasped behind her back, so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
“I asked you a simple question, Varkos,” she replied, her eyes—those merciless eyes were locked on me with a fury that had nothing to do with disappointment and everything to do with power. “Have you been fucking that human slave behind my back while you stood before the pack pretending to be an honorable Alpha?”
My wolf surged violently, slamming against my barely restrained control as I forced the words out. “This is not the time for your games, Mum,” I snapped. “Ginnie is missing and my only priority is to find her.”
“Oh…” a short, cruel sound tore out of her. “So you call her by her name now?”
Before I could move, she reached into the folds of her robe and pulled something out. She shoved it against my chest. “I knew you were going to deny it. But you'd better start to explain this.”
I looked down.
And the world tilted off its axis.
My fingers closed around the photograph instinctively, as if my body knew before my mind did that this was dangerous. It was me, and Ginnie. In my bedroom the last time we had sex.
She was naked, my mouth at her throat. Her head thrown back, her eyes closed. Desire was written all over her face as my hands gripped her hips possessively.
“Where the hell did you find this?” I demanded, my chest constricted so violently I thought I might black out. My voice is roughening despite my effort to stay composed.
Lady Ravena’s gaze sharpened. “What you’re saying right now,” she said coldly, “is the least important question.” Then she stepped closer, her presence towering over me.
“The question you should be asking right now.” She continued, her voice dripping with venom, “Is how long this disgusting affair between you and that human slut has been going on under my house.”
Silence swallowed the whole room, thick and suffocating. And in that silence, something clicked into place…someone inside these walls was responsible for this.
Someone patient enough to gather evidence, and to reveal this. To strike when it would do the most damage.
“Answer me!” Lady Ravena barked. Her voice thundered across the sitting room, but it barely registered to me. All I could think about right now was who in this mansion would dare make a move against me.
“You should pray,” her voice shattered through my thoughts as she leaned closer. “That your precious little whore is never found…because if she is,” she whispered, her eyes burning with rage.
“I will personally ensure she is executed for daring to involve herself in an illicit affair with a high-ranked Lycan.”
Something inside me snapped.
Not cracked.
Shattered.
But before I could part my lips to speak—
Footsteps echoed from the stairs.
Kenna.
She appeared at the end of the sitting room, her face flushed, her eyes still wild from the humiliation at the altar. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Then her gaze dropped.
To the photograph.
Without hesitation, she snatched it from my hand.
“Holy fuck!”
The sound ripped out of her raw and broken, echoing off the walls like something dying. The picture slipped from her fingers, falling to the floor as she staggered backward, one hand flying to her mouth.
“You—” Her voice cracked. “You abandoned me at the altar… because you were fucking her?”
She lunged towards me, her fists hitting and pounding uselessly against my chest.
“Say it isn’t true, Varkos!” she sobbed. “Say it!”
I didn’t move.
Neither did I say a word.
But her strikes were weak. Desperate. Fuelled by rage and humiliation.
“I was humiliated!” she screamed, “In front of the entire Bleeding Rose. And it’s all because of that damn bitch!”
“Enough!”
I caught her wrists mid-swing, my grip tightening until she gasped in pain.
“Stop,” I roared.
The command exploded outward, my Alpha mood slamming into the room like a shockwave. Kenna froze instantly, her breath hitched.
I released her slowly.
Then I straightened.
“Yes…everything you saw is true,” the words rolled out of my tongue. “I’ve been having an affair with Ginnie.”
The room went dead silent.
“But that’s not all.”
I stepped forward, my gaze never leaving my mother’s face.
“She is my true mate.”
The explosion was immediate. Kenna fell to the floor, as if struck by something much bigger than her. Lady Ravena’s composure finally cracked—just barely as she staggered one step back, her heels scraping loudly against the floor.
“I knew it the night we met,” I continued coldly. “Six years ago. The bond snapped into place the moment our eyes locked.”
My throat burned but I went on. “I rejected her,” I admitted. “Because she’s human…but more so because I’m a fuckin coward. And I’ve regretted it every single day since.”
“Stop!”
Kenna barked, shaking her head violently. “You’re lying.”
“I love Ginnie,” the words left my mouth before my brain could think, “And I will not let anything happen to her.”
“When you find her,” Lady Ravena cut in coldly. “I’ll make sure she will still never be your Luna.”
I turned on her abruptly. Before she could even realise it, “When I do find her,” I growled, “she will be my only Luna.”
“You will marry me whether you like it or not, Varkos!”Kenna shrieked.
I turned to face her fully now, nothing funny about the look in my eyes. “I feel nothing for you,” I said flatly. “Not a single ounce of love for you Kenna.”
“Then I’d rather die than watch you choose her over me!” she screamed.
“Then prepare yourself,” I shot back savagely. “Because if death is the price for Ginnie to become my rightful Luna…you’ll have to pay it.”
Lady Ravena slammed her staff against the floor.
“This is forbidden!”
“I don’t give a single fuck about what’s forbidden or not,” I roared. “Because I’m going to rewrite that damn law in Bleeding Rose. For her—“
“BAM!”
The doors burst open.
Kael and Rhun rushed in, their chest rising and falling in heavy gasps, their faces pale. I turned to face them immediately, drifting my attention from Lady Ravena and Kenna to them.
“What did you find?” I demanded.
“Alpha…” Kael swallowed. “We found a dead body.
“A naked female human body,” Rhun added quietly. “At the cliff.”