Chapter 15 WHEN FEAR DIES
Ginnie
Varkos stood up from where he had been seated beside Lily, his eyes blazing the instant he saw me standing in the doorway of his study. Surprise flickered for a second before it quickly turned into something dark.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded, his voice thundered across the room, “I don’t remember calling for you or inviting you in here.”
I tried to move but my feet wouldn’t let me, rooted to the floor, my heart hammering so violently I was sure he could hear it. “I..I was…” My voice betrayed me in the worst way as I tried to speak.
Lily stirred awake, her eyes widening in weak relief the moment she saw me standing beside the door.
“Ma—”
Before the words would escape Lily’s mouth, I moved. I crossed the room in a heartbeat, grabbing Lily and hauling her off the chair, yanking her into my arms with a force that stunned Varkos himself.
She let out a small cry as I turned away, pressing her tightly against my chest as my body instantly formed a barrier between her and Varkos.
“Stay the fuck away from my sister!” I barked, every trace of fear in me fading away. “Don’t you dare lay your hands on her!”
Varkos took an instinctive step towards me. “She collapsed—”
“Shut up!” I cut him off before he could finish, “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!”
Lily gripped my shirt weakly, her face burying into my shoulder as if she knew—somehow that she wasn’t safe. “What did you do to her?” I continued, shaking now with fury, “Hurting me isn’t enough for you, is it? You had to drag my little sister into your sick games too?”
“I didn’t lay a hand on her!” Varkos snapped, his eyes flashing red with anger.
A bitter laughter escaped me before I could stop it. “And I’m supposed to believe that? When you derive so much joy in treating humans like dirt beneath your feet…all of a sudden you expect me to trust you around her?”
The air in the room shifted into something dangerous as his eyes widened instantly—not with fear, but with something like disbelief.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he growled, “She fainted outside my study and I happened to find her unconscious on the floor. I’m in here with her because I called the doctor.”
“Liar!” The word ripped out of me before I could stop it. “You’re nothing but a cruel monster who humiliates me with every chance he gets. And now you want to play hero?”
The air vibrated with his anger. “I won’t stand here and watch you accuse me of harming a child.”
“Then why is she here?” I demanded, “Why is my little sister unconscious in your study, Alpha?”, The title words dripped from my tongue like poison.
For a split second, he hesitated.
“That’s for the Doctor to find out and not me. So why don’t you shut the hell up instead of trying to play the good big sister, which you clearly are not.”
“That’s your excuse?” My grip tightened around Lily as she stirred again, her breath rising and falling weakly against my neck. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? If the doctor examines her…you’ll be the cause of her death.”
His eyes sharpened. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s none of your business, just stay away from her!” The words left my mouth, covering up for the secret that could have exposed everything. “You think I’m afraid of you right now? You think you being Alpha scares me?”
He moved closer till there was no inch of space left between us, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper. “You’re pushing your luck, Ginnie.”
“I don’t have luck anymore,” I shot back, “I have her.”
Silence pressed thick and suffocating, but then it was quickly shattered as Lily whimpered again, burying her face against my shoulder. I pressed a kiss into her hair, “I'll kill you if you ever come close to her in your wretched life,” My voice was shaking but I forced it steady.
The words landed between us, absolute and unflinching, for a long moment, Varkos didn’t move, nor did he speak. His gaze dragged over me slowly as surprise flickered across his face.
But then it quickly turned into something darker.
“This” he said slowly, “is new. You were always so timid, always afraid that you didn’t even dare look me in the eyes until I ordered you to…”
“….and now here you are, standing before me with no fear while you run your mouth like a fucking bitch.”
A hollow laughter escaped me again, nothing funny about the sound of its tone. “Maybe this bitch,” I met his gaze without flinching, “lets go of all fear in her when you mess with someone she loves.”
“You think I'll let you walk out after speaking to me in this manner?” Something dangerous shifted behind his eyes as he growled, rage breaking through any little restraint in him. “Maybe you should have thought about it twice before you decided to challenge me in my own study.”
I tightened my grip on Lily, dragging her fully into my arms, and turned away from him. The last thing I was going to do was give Varkos the satisfaction of seeing me afraid.
“I’ll make your life a living hell for this!” He swore coldly, his voice echoing behind me as I walked away, “For daring to raise your voice to me, to dare threaten me. You will regret this, Ginnie. I promise you that.”
My heart pounded so loud it drowned out the sound of his voice, but I kept moving. Behind me, I could still feel his stare burning into my back with every step I took further.
But I didn’t stop.
Because for the first time since stepping into the Blood Moon Pack villa, my fear had finally died…