Chapter 98
Elizabeth
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
“I think something is waiting for us.”
Silence.
The kitchen suddenly felt colder.
Damon’s eyes remained on mine for a long moment.
Then he looked toward the staircase.
Another thud echoed from upstairs.
Not loud.
Just enough to make every muscle in my body tense.
Damon’s expression hardened.
“Stay here.”
I frowned.
“You already tried that.”
“And you already ignored me.”
“Exactly.”
For a brief second, I thought I saw the ghost of a smile.
Then it vanished.
He sighed.
“You’re stubborn.”
“I’ve been told.”
“Frequently, I imagine.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Then another sound came from upstairs.
A scrape.
Like something heavy being dragged across the floor.
The smile disappeared from both our faces.
I swallowed.
The mark on my hand tingled again.
Not painful.
More like… awareness.
Like it had sensed something.
Damon noticed my expression immediately.
“What is it?”
I looked toward the stairs.
“I don’t know.”
Which was true.
For once, I genuinely had no idea.
It didn’t feel like the creatures behind the red door.
Their presence always felt ancient.
Heavy.
This was different.
Lighter.
But familiar somehow.
Another scrape.
Damon moved first.
He stepped in front of me.
Not dramatically.
Not like a hero in a movie.
Just instinctively.
The realization made my stomach flutter in a very inconvenient way.
“You do realize I noticed that,” I said quietly.
His gaze remained on the staircase.
“Not now, Elizabeth.”
“But you stepped in front of me.”
“Because if something is upstairs, I’d rather it get to me first.”
I blinked.
That was…
Actually very sweet.
Unfortunately.
Because now my heart was acting strangely again.
I looked away quickly.
“Right.”
A pause.
Then—
“That wasn’t supposed to sound sweet.”
I looked back at him.
He still wasn’t looking at me.
I bit my lip.
“You know it did though.”
Silence.
Then he sighed.
“Unfortunately.”
I laughed softly.
The sound seemed almost too loud in the quiet mansion.
He glanced at me.
And for one second, there was amusement in his eyes.
Then—
Another scrape.
Much closer.
The amusement vanished.
The mark on my hand warmed.
I looked upstairs.
A strange certainty settled over me.
“It’s in the library.”
Damon looked at me.
“How do you know?”
I swallowed.
“I don’t.”
That wasn’t reassuring.
Not even a little.
But the feeling remained.
Strong.
Certain.
The library.
He studied my face for a moment.
Then nodded once.
“We’ll check.”
We.
Not I.
We.
Again, my heart decided to become ridiculous.
I firmly ignored it.
Together we climbed the staircase.
The mansion seemed unnaturally silent.
No creaking floors.
No wind.
Nothing.
Only our footsteps.
Moonlight spilled through the long windows of the hallway.
Everything looked silver and shadowed.
Ancient.
I hated it.
The library doors stood slightly open.
I was certain they had been closed earlier.
Damon noticed too.
His eyes narrowed.
He stepped forward.
Pushed the doors open.
Nothing happened.
No creature leaped out.
No ancient monster appeared.
The room was empty.
Books lined the shelves.
The fire had long since gone out.
Everything looked normal.
Except—
A book lay on the floor.
I frowned.
“I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there.”
“It wasn’t.”
We stepped inside.
The air felt strange.
Not dangerous.
Just… charged.
As if something had happened moments ago.
Damon picked up the book.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
He looked at the cover.
Then at me.
“You need to see this.”
I moved closer.
The book was old.
Very old.
The leather binding had almost completely faded.
There were no words on the cover.
Only a symbol.
My breath caught.
The same symbol from my hand.
The same one from the temple.
The same one from the visions.
“No,” I whispered.
The mark on my hand suddenly burned.
I hissed.
The book glowed.
Gold light spread across its surface.
And then—
It opened.
By itself.
I jumped.
Damon barely reacted.
Show-off.
Pages flipped rapidly.
One after another.
Faster.
Faster.
Then they stopped.
Silence.
I stared at the open page.
A drawing filled most of it.
My stomach dropped.
The red door.
Again.
Of course.
Everything always came back to the red door.
Around it were symbols I couldn’t understand.
And beneath the drawing—
Words.
Ancient.
Unreadable.
I frowned.
“I can’t read this.”
Neither could Damon apparently.
Because he looked just as confused.
Then—
The letters shifted.
Moved.
Changed.
I took a step back.
“Nope.”
The words rearranged themselves.
Into English.
Absolutely not.
I hated magical books.
The room went silent.
Damon read first.
Then went completely still.
Which was never good.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
“Damon.”
Nothing.
I moved beside him.
Read the page.
And forgot how to breathe.
The Key shall walk beside the Wolf King.
Silence.
I blinked.
Read it again.
Nope.
Still said the same thing.
Slowly I looked at Damon.
He looked back at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Because…
What?
I cleared my throat.
“What exactly is a Wolf King?”
Silence.
Damon looked away.
Oh.
Oh no.
I knew that look.
That was the look people got right before revealing terrible information.
I folded my arms.
“Damon.”
He remained suspiciously quiet.
“Damon.”
A sigh.
“I was hoping we’d avoid this conversation.”
I stared.
“We’re having it.”
He looked genuinely disappointed.
“Unfortunately.”
I blinked.
Then something clicked.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
I looked at him.
Then at the book.
Then back at him.
No.
Absolutely not.
“You?”
Silence.
I pointed at him.
“You are the Wolf King?”
He looked mildly offended.
“I feel like you’re making it sound ridiculous.”
I stared.
“Because it is ridiculous!”
“It really isn’t.”
“You have a title?”
“You sound judgmental.”
I made a strangled noise.
A laugh escaped him.
An actual laugh.
I couldn’t believe this.
“You’re serious.”
“Very.”
I looked at him.
Jet-black hair.
Silver eyes.
Annoyingly attractive face.
Ancient hybrid.
Apparently also royalty.
Wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.
I dropped into one of the chairs.
“I need a minute.”
A small smile appeared.
“Take your time.”
I pointed at him again.
“No talking.”
He looked entirely too amused.
I covered my face.
“This is insane.”
A pause.
Then—
“It gets worse.”
I looked up.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He ignored me.
“The wolves in our world consider the Alpha bloodlines to be royal.”
I blinked.
“Oh.”
Silence.
“Oh.”
“Exactly.”
I stared at him.
“So… you’re basically supernatural royalty.”
He sighed.
“I hate that description.”
“But it’s true.”
A pause.
“Unfortunately.”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
The entire situation was absurd.
Then I stopped.
Because the words in the book suddenly seemed less ridiculous.
The Key shall walk beside the Wolf King.
I looked at the page again.
Then at him.
Something about it made my stomach twist.
Not in a bad way.
Just…
Complicated.
The room fell quiet.
Damon looked at the book.
Then at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally I asked softly,
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He was silent for a long moment.
Then—
“Because it doesn’t matter here.”
I looked at him.
“It matters to your people.”
A shadow crossed his expression.
Brief.
Gone almost immediately.
“My people have bigger problems than titles.”
The answer felt heavier than it should have.
I thought about his world.
The wars.
The darkness.
The reason his family had left.
Freedom.
Adam had said that.
They wanted freedom.
I suddenly wondered what Damon had left behind.
What responsibilities.
What expectations.
The thought made my chest tighten unexpectedly.
The book snapped shut.
Both of us jumped.
Rude.
The glow vanished.
Silence returned.
Then footsteps echoed from somewhere downstairs.
Three sharp knocks followed.
At the front door.
At three in the morning.
Damon’s expression immediately hardened.
Mine probably did too.
Nobody normal visited at three in the morning.
The mark on my hand pulsed once.
Then again.
A horrible feeling settled in my stomach.
The knocking came again.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And from somewhere outside—
A voice called softly.
“Elizabeth.”