316- The Monster Who Knew My Name
POV Viktor Averwyn:
"How long have you been on my tail? Who the fuck are you?" I stopped by the window, looking outside, my mind racing. "We know a she-wolf only gets pregnant by her predestined mate. That's how it's been here for centuries. But with a human, everything's new. I don't know of any cases to compare. I'd only be sure of the betrayal when the pup was born. He would have my scent. That's why she killed her own daughter."
"You did this!" he accused, unhinged.
"Now I understand everything. I wasn't the cuckold." My tone came out icy. "Jasmina fucked both of us, and when she got pregnant, she chose me. That was the plan: wait until labor and get rid of the baby. That way, I'd never discover the betrayal and she'd stay with me. Not even pregnant did she want you."
"Bastard! The child was mine! She was going to give him to me to raise in my territory, without anyone knowing! My heir! But you killed him! You killed them both!"
Fury completely unhinged him. There was nothing left of the calm, romantic pastor everyone thought was in search of true love.
It only confirmed what I'd suspected when I noticed that night the stench of his beast on Seraphine. However, that didn't explain everything.
"You're such a coward that not even then did you face me. Why, Konrad? How do you get a female pregnant and she despises you? Apparently, she was your predestined one. But you weren't hers. Or maybe the mongrel didn't care about that. Humans are unpredictable!"
"You don't know what you're saying!"
"Then tell me. One thing I have to admit: Jasmina was a good fuck and very strong. All the ones before her died. She fucked two wolves and still got pregnant! She almost fooled everyone. I just can't understand why you accepted that farce. What were you going to gain from it? Was she your spy inside my house?"
"Return Seraphine, Viktor! And let's forget this shit! You've already taken so much from me!" he shouted, unhinged. "No one needs to know anything. I won't take the case to the Elders."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Who do you think everyone will believe? You, who never cared about anyone? Who hid Lucian's predestined mate here, disrespecting the rules? Or me, always peaceful and fulfilling my duties?"
Despair dripped from every word he spoke.
"That's true. Politicians like you, ass-kissers, always come out as the honest ones. But you forgot one thing: I don't give a fuck about your threats. You want your lover? Be a man and come get her."
"It'll be war! Everyone will be with me, and I'll have her! By good means or bad."
"I'd say you're crazy with passion, if I hadn't seen you trying to kill your beloved. Want to finish the job? Or is this all a setup?"
"Fuck, I'm telling you..."
"If you're not going to give me the answers I want, I'll rip them from you."
"Viktor..."
I hung up.
He tried calling again, but I put it on silent and ignored him.
I approached the Roma woman, still in the same position. I got very close, my face hovering above hers.
I felt her scent, her breathing. I looked at her, as if that would explain everything I wanted to know. My instinct was to touch her, to lick her skin again, in a need that disturbed me too much.
Nervous, I returned to the armchair by the window. I needed to think and calm down.
(...)
POV Seraphine Valerian:
Everything hurt.
I stopped moving; even breathing was difficult. Then I tried again.
A groan slipped from my lips as I opened my eyes, confused, my head throbbing. My body felt crushed. What had happened?
The lights were on and nearly blinded me. I wanted to fall asleep again, but I blinked, not recognizing the dark red fabric hovering above me. Velvet, perhaps. Heavy, like a canopy over the bed.
Very slowly, I began to notice details. An enormous bed, four tall columns of carved dark wood. A grand headboard in the same style. I had never seen anything like it. It looked like something from period films, from kings. A beautiful bedspread beneath me. I touched the soft, cool fabric with my fingertips.
A cold breeze licked my bare legs and I shivered. My vision steadied. Stone walls, beautiful golden lamps, paintings of a dark forest. Dark furniture. Everything spacious, almost as if it belonged to some castle. Strange. Was this a dream?
I moved my head slowly. It ached, my face felt hot. My body too. My lips were dry, and I licked them.
My father… where was my father?
Bonfire, tears, a silver coin being buried with him.
My heart raced when I remembered he was dead. I had been burning his things with the gypsies and…
“Ahhhhh…”
Desperate, I sat up in bed, dizzy, ignoring the stabbing pain and weakness. My heart pounded, terror engulfing me all at once as the memories returned. The huge man standing near the trees, hypnotizing me. The running, the invasion. He came back, killed, grabbed me in the forest. My head against the trunk.
“My God…”
What had happened after that? Was I saved? Or had he…
I screamed when my eyes finally saw him, sitting motionless in the shadows near a massive arched window. Outside, only darkness.
I screamed again, trembling with pure terror. His silent, black gaze pierced me, and I jumped off the tall bed, thinking of running, saving myself. Still weak and dizzy, I fell, my legs like jelly, fear so overwhelming I lost my voice when he stood.
“No… no…”
Only hoarse, strangled sounds came out. I dragged myself backward, without strength, unable to believe it. I blinked, and he didn’t disappear. On the contrary, he began to approach me.
I gasped, terrified, when my back hit the wall. I curled up there, cornered, hugging my legs. He was going to kill me!
“No!” I screamed wildly, and the huge man stopped a few steps away, watching me with a serious, shadowed expression.
I shook my head, barely feeling the pain. The fear was so horrible that everything else vanished.
His hair was disheveled, his expression heavy. Fists clenched at his sides. Huge, strong, half-naked, ready to attack me. But he did nothing, said nothing.
I was prey, trapped in his snare. Why hadn’t he killed me in the forest like he did the gypsies? What would he do to me?
I didn’t have the strength to ask, alert, waiting for him to turn into a beast and growl, like I had heard in the room and in the forest. He was a monster!
I remembered the bodies of Istvan and Vladimir on the veranda, covered in blood. Zuleica must be dead too. My father warned me he would come for me. Why didn’t I believe him?