Chapter 80 TWENTY FOUR HOURS
Ginnie
As I slid into the corridor, my bare feet made almost no sound on the cold marble. I move through the darkened corridors of the villa, feeling the key in my palm heavier than it should, still warm from Varkos’s body heat, and slick with the sweat of my own guilt.
Every step I take away from his bedroom feels like a betrayal I can taste on my tongue, bitter. But I keep convincing myself this is for Lily.
And even with that, the voice in my head with a sound too much like Varkos’s low growl whispers that I am breaking something sacred.
The words of his promise that he would burn the world for me still clung to me…and here I am, stealing the one thing that could destroy him.
The study door— a black oak inlaid with silver roses, the symbol of Bleeding Rose itself, looms at the end of the private wing.
I couldn’t withhold my hand from trembling as I slid the iron key into the hidden lock behind the obsidian panel. The mechanism clicks once, then twice before it finally unlocks.
I push the door open.
The study smells of aged leather, and the faint trace of Varkos’s scent of pine. His desk sits like a throne in the center, with papers scattered across it, but I don’t care about any of that.
I move straight to the far wall.
My fingers trace the edge of the false panel until I find the tiny latch, it swings open with a whisper. Inside, perfectly placed in black velvet material, lies the Alpha’s seal.
It feels heavier than I expected, like solid gold, etched with the Bleeding Rose crest and ancient runes that glow faintly under the moonlight. The moment my fingers close around it, something inside my chest cracks wide open.
Fuck!
What the hell are you doing, Ginnie!
Tears blur my vision as I slip it into the deep pocket of my robe. My knees threaten to buckle right there on the rug.
He loves you, the softer voice inside me cries. He said it tonight. He meant it. He killed for you.
He would die for you. And you’re repaying him with this?
I press a fist to my mouth to force down the sob trying to claw its way out, but then the other voice of a desperate, terrified mother snaps back.
And if you don’t do this, Lily dies. Your daughter. The child you carried alone, the child he doesn’t even know is his. Would he forgive you for that? Would he even let you keep her once he finds out?
The thought hits like a slap.
Varkos would take her.
I know him too well.
Once he learns Lily is his blood, he will claim her. He would raise her in this world of wolves and the goddamn traditions of Bleeding Rose.
He might still love me, but he is still Alpha. He would never let a human mother keep sole custody of the next ruler of Bleeding Rose.
So I’d rather be stuck with this secret.
I can’t risk it.
I close the panel, lock it again, and back out of the study like a thief in the night.
The corridor feels longer on the way back. Every shadow appeared like one of Varkos’s enforcers with every step I took.
My heart was pounding so hard and my head was dragging with dizziness by the time I reached the east wing at Kenna’s private chambers.
I push the door open.
Kenna is waiting.
She sits on her king-size bed, her legs crossed, while the silver pocket watch dangles from her fingers like a pendulum.
The moment she sees me, her entire face transforms, and her eyes light up with cruel delight. “You actually did it,” she says, rising slowly. “The little human whore grew a spine after all.”
I step inside and close the door behind me, my voice is steady even though my hands are shaking.
“Give me Lily first before I hand anything over to you.”
“The seal. Now.”
“No.” I clutch the pocket where the gold rests like a burning coal. “Lily first, then you get it.”
A soft, mocking laughter tears out of her. “Oh, Ginnie…Still trying to bargain? How adorable.” She snaps her fingers and instantly two huge shadows are standing behind me.
One of them holds a small cloth bundle that makes my stomach drop. I easily recognize it from Lily’s favorite stuffed wolf toy, stained with something dark.
“Hand it over,” Kenna’s voice drops to a low, dangerous whisper, “Or I give the order and that bundle becomes real. Her little head will be delivered to your door by sunrise.”
The room seems to tilt beneath me, making it hard for me to breathe any longer. My fingers close around the seal, and without pushing further, I step forward and drop the heavy seal into her waiting hand.
Kenna’s fingers curl around it possessively, she lifts it to the light, turning it slowly, admiring the way the runes catch the glow.
“Perfect,” she murmurs. “Absolutely perfect.”
Then her gaze snaps back to me. “But we’re not done yet.”
“What?”
She tucks the seal into the folds of her robe and steps closer until our lips almost touch. “You want to see your precious daughter alive? Then you have one more task….and you have only twenty-four hours to do it.”
“W…what the hell do you want this time, Kenna!”
“To kill Varkos.”
“N…No—“
“You will drive a silver dagger through his heart while he sleeps,” she continues, cutting me off before I can even refuse. “And then you will stand before the entire pack at dawn tomorrow and confess. You will tell them you did it out of jealousy and treason…because you never loved him in any way.”
Tears spill down my cheeks now, unable to stop them.
“If you don’t,” Kenna finishes, her voice dripping with pure venom. “Lily’s little head will be waiting on your pillow by the next sunrise. And I will make sure Varkos knows he died because his precious mate chose a child over him.”
She leans in, and her lips brush the shell of my ear. “You have only twenty-four hours to kill the man who loves you more than his own life… or lose the only thing you truly love in return.”
“No!”
“I can’t do such a thing, Kenna.”
I sink to the floor instantly, the weight of her words crashing down on me all at once. This…this can’t be happening!
I just betrayed Varkos for this?
But before I can gather myself, Kenna turns away, already moving toward the door, while she holds the seal tightly in her possession. Then she halts for a second.
“Choose wisely, Ginnie.” She speaks over her shoulder. “Because either way… You lose Varkos.”