Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183
Chapter 183 CHAPTER 183
Victor Blackwood had not slept.
The first pale rays of dawn filtered through the curtains of the secluded safe house, casting long streaks of golden light across the wooden floor. Outside, the world was slowly beginning to stir awake, but inside, the air remained heavy with exhaustion and uncertainty.
Since Daniel had ordered him and Martha to abandon their home in the middle of the night, Victor had done little more than pace the length of the living room. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the three rogues bursting through his house, their silver blades flashing beneath the lights.
He let out a frustrated breath and continued pacing.
"Victor."
Martha's gentle voice barely reached him.
He kept walking, his thoughts too tangled to hear anything else.
"Victor."
This time, there was quiet firmness in her tone.
He finally stopped and turned to look at her.
She had been sitting on the couch watching him for several minutes, concern evident in her tired eyes. Like him, she hadn't slept, but somehow she had managed to remain calm. Her gaze drifted to the fresh crimson stain slowly spreading across the bandage wrapped around his upper arm, and a small sigh escaped her.
"If you keep pacing like that," she said softly, "you're going to open the wound again."
Victor glanced down at his arm before looking away dismissively.
"It's nothing."
"It isn't nothing."
She rose from the couch and crossed the room until only a step separated them.
"You were cut with a silver blade, Victor. We both know wounds like that don't heal overnight."
Almost instinctively, she reached for his arm. Her fingertips brushed the edge of the bandage, and she frowned when she felt the dampness beneath it.
"I'll heal," Victor muttered.
"Not if you refuse to give your body the chance."
She nodded toward the couch.
"Sit down."
Victor shook his head.
"I can't."
His voice was rough with frustration.
"Daniel isn't answering the mind-link or his phone. He tells us to abandon our home in the middle of the night, sends us here without an explanation, and then vanishes?"
His jaw tightened.
"How am I supposed to sit here and pretend everything is fine?"
Martha studied him quietly before stepping closer. She rested a gentle hand against his chest, silently encouraging him to stop wearing himself out.
"And do you think wearing a path into this floor is going to make Daniel contact you any sooner?"
Victor didn't answer.
"You've already lost enough blood," she continued, her voice softening. "You need your strength."
He looked past her toward the window, where the first light of morning painted the glass in pale shades of gold.
"I need answers."
"You'll get them."
He let out a humorless laugh and shook his head.
"When? It's been hours already."
Martha's expression softened.
"I don't know when," she admitted honestly. "But I know Daniel."
She paused for a moment before adding quietly, "If he told us to come here... there was a reason."
Victor said nothing.
Deep down, he believed that too.
That was the part that frightened him the most.
Daniel wasn't the type to panic or overreact. If he believed Victor and Martha weren't safe in their own home, then whatever he had uncovered had to be far worse than Victor had imagined.
The thought settled heavily between them, and silence slowly filled the room once again.
Victor closed his eyes and reached for the Alpha mind-link one last time.
Daniel...?
Nothing.
Only the same familiar emptiness answered him.
His shoulders sagged as disappointment settled heavily over him. Maybe Daniel was still too far away. Maybe something had happened to him. Neither possibility brought Victor any comfort.
Then, without warning, a powerful surge rippled through his mind.
Victor's eyes flew open.
The Alpha bond.
It had returned.
Before he could even form a single word, Daniel's voice echoed through the connection.
"Did you make it to the safe house?"
Relief washed over Victor so suddenly that he almost laughed.
"Daniel! Where have you been?"
Daniel ignored the question.
"Are you and Martha safe?"
"Yes," Victor replied quickly. "We're safe. But where are you? I've been trying to reach you for hours."
Silence lingered for a heartbeat before Daniel finally spoke again.
"Stay exactly where you are. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Victor frowned.
"Daniel, don't you think I deserve to know what's going on?"
Another brief silence followed.
"You do," Daniel replied at last. "But not over the mind-link. I'll explain everything when I arrive."
Before Victor could ask another question, the connection disappeared as abruptly as it had returned, leaving him staring into the empty room once more.
Across the room, Martha immediately noticed the change in his expression. She slowly rose from the couch.
"It was Daniel?"
Victor lowered his hand and gave a small nod.
"It was."
Relief softened her features.
"Did he tell you what's happening?"
Victor let out a weary breath.
"No."
His shoulders relaxed slightly despite the answer.
"But..."
He looked toward the front door.
"He's coming."
The silence that followed stretched through the room. Although Victor's heartbeat had finally begun to settle now that he knew Daniel was alive, the uneasiness in his chest only deepened. There had been urgency in Daniel's voice, but beneath it was something Victor had rarely heard from his older brother.
Concern, not for himself but for Victor.
Martha seemed to sense it too.
Without saying a word, she slipped into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later carrying two steaming mugs of coffee. She handed one to Victor, who accepted it absentmindedly, his gaze never leaving the front door.
Minutes crawled by. Neither of them spoke. Then Victor's wolf stirred restlessly. His head snapped toward the entrance.
"He’s here."
Almost at the same moment, the sound of a vehicle pulling to a stop echoed outside the safe house.