Chapter 69: Pulling her darknes

Dravik's pov

It’s rare, but every now and again, Auren’s snappy little comments come through catching both of us by surprise.

I almost smile when, but her expression is too serious for amusement, so I let it die.

“I’m not being weird, Auren. There is just a lot going on right now, and I’m trying to make sense of it.”

I let go of her shoulders and run my hand through my hair.

You’re being an idiot again Shadow mumbles. Why aren’t you telling her the truth?

I grit my teeth and glare at nothing. What the hell am I supposed to say to her? Gee, by the way, you were actually bound more than twice, and by your own parents because they were terrified of you? And guess what, maybe you actually did shift and kill your parents because you couldn’t control your own power? I’m sure she’s going to take that news remarkably well. Shadow, she’s already terrified of shifting in the first place

Fine he sulks. Do it your way, then

I let out a sigh, then notice Auren watching me, her fingers twisting together.

“You still haven’t said anything,” she murmurs. “Is Shadow saying something? Is…is he talking about me?”

“Shadow cares about you as much as I do,” I answer, reaching for her hand again. “We simply have different opinions when it comes to certain situations.”

Especially when I think protecting you means keeping something to myself.

“He…hecwants you to tell me something?”

“Not here.” I glance around the courtyard at the people moving around us, then tighten my fingers around her and pull her towards the house.

I lead her into my office and shut the door behind us. I then guide her over to the chair in front of my desk and plonk her down on it, watching as she immediately pulls her knees up to her chest to curl into a tight ball. It had taken me a while to realize that this is her defensive posture, a desperate attempt to prevent Marcus and his crew from striking her ribs and stomach. Even though she was safe in my territory now, it has become a habit whenever she feels unprepared to talk about something.

“It….its bad, isn’t it?” she whispers, her arms tightening around her legs. “You found something out, and now you and Shadow have decided you don’t want anything to do with me.”

I lift her chin until she has no choice but to meet my eyes. “Auren, I’m never sending you away. Stop thinking like that.”

“Then what is it?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper.

I let out a slow sigh and sit on the edge of my desk across from her, bracing my hands against the wood while I decide how much truth I can give her.

“Over the last few days, while we have been spending some time in our bedroom, we had a visitor.”

Alarm floods her features. “Alpha Marcus?”

“No. And stop giving that bastard a title he doesn’t deserve." I pause. “Our visitor was a witch.”

“Oh.”

“The same witch who bound your abilities when you were a newborn pup.”

I watch the information land. It feels like slowly peeling off a band-aid. Her forehead wrinkles, her eyes widen, and her fingers slowly loosen around her knees.

“A newborn?”

“Yes.” I hold her gaze. “The witch claimed to have bound you before you turned thirteen. Now, we only just found this out because she happens to be the same witch I called to unbind you—the one who left our house in such a hurry. Apparently, when I mentioned your former pack's name, she recognized you."

“But if I was just a baby...then…..” she trails off, her mind trying to connect the pieces of her fractured past. "Was it Marcus that hired her and told her to do it?"

“No, Auren.” I hesitate because there is no gentle way to say what comes next. “It was your father.”

I hear the sharp, hitch in her breath as her brown eyes dilate with shock, her hands flying down to grip the armrests of the chair so tightly that her knuckles turn white. Her eyes turn glassy, and she quickly drops her gaze, her small frame shaking.

"My... my father?" she breathes out, the words barely audible.

"Yes," I confirm, feeling the ache of her heartbreak through our bond.

“My father wanted me bound?” She looks up at me, and the tears start to fall. “He wanted me bound?”

“I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, Auren, but that’s exactly what the witch confessed to me," I explain, shifting my weight on the desk. "I believe this isn't just Marcus's doing—this web of deceit goes way back to your birth."

She sits completely frozen in the chair, staring up at me with her wide brown eyes. I feel so damn bad for her. I have never known a pack quite like hers—one so full of  secrets, and every single one of them centered around her.

"Why... why would he ever do something like that to his own daughter?" she asks weakly.

“He feared you. Maybe he felt like he didn't have a choice."

"Me? I was just a baby, Alpha Dravik. What…what could I possibly do to scare anyone?"

I have no answer that will make it easier, so I give her the truth. “You shifted when you were a baby, Auren, and they bound you afterward, then again when you were one, and again when you were five.” I watch her face as I continue. “Madame Agatha said you were already powerful at five, powerful enough to deliberately shift fully into a Lycan to prevent her from binding you again. She said she had never seen anything like it.”

Not even wolves can do that Shadow murmurs.

Auren stares at me as though I have suddenly grown another head. Her head moves from side to side, and disbelief rolls through her thoughts.

“No,” she shakes her head. “You’re wrong. You have to be wrong. I would have known…..”

“You wouldn’t have remembered. You were too young, Auren. A pup wouldn’t have remembered something like that.”

“That can’t be true.” She pushes herself deeper into the chair. “You….you’re wrong.”

“I’m only telling you what the witch told me.”

“And you believe her?”

“Madame Agatha may be elusive, but she has never once lied to me. Even though, for as long as I have known her, it’s only cash that ever makes her forthcoming with information, but this time she didn't even care to take my money."

She isn’t listening Shadow murmurs.

I look back at Auren and find her sitting with her eyes closed, her face drawn tight.

“What is it?” I ask, moving closer. “Are you all right?”

“I think I have heard that name before.” Her eyes remain closed.

“Madame Agatha?”

She nods.

“From someone here?”

“No. It’s just...” Her brow furrows as she presses two fingers against her temple. “It’s something up here. Something familiar.”

“She came here before. Maybe that’s where you heard her name. As I was saying, they feared you. That's why they got a witch involved. Xavier may actually be right about one thing. You do have powerful  Alpha blood.”

Her eyes snap open. “I don’t.”

“You’re a rare female Alpha of a dying breed, Auren.”

She rises abruptly and walks toward the window. “I’m not powerful, Alpha Dravik. I’m just…just a girl who was made a slave. I’m not anything…powerful. And I wish you will stop saying that.

I feel her sadness. She refuses to believe it’s  a possibility

“And if my breed is dying. Then let them die out,” she says as she continues to look out the window.

“Let them die?” I repeat, caught off guard by the coldness in her voice.

She turns slowly. The tears in her eyes are gone, now replaced by anger. “They did horrible things to me.” Her hands curl at her sides. “They don’t deserve to live.”

There is a spike in her thoughts, revealing things she would never dare say aloud. Images of revenge flicker through her mind, each one darker than the last, and for the first time I catch a glimpse of her other side.

The side that has been trapped by who she had become all these years.

Is this the darkness Madame Agatha talked about?

Most men would have found it unsettling but a wave of arousal moves straight to my cock, my blood running hot as Shadow roars with delight.

I wanted more of it.

I wanted to tear down her walls completely and pull that darkness straight to the surface.

I wanted to grab her by the hair, bend her over the desk, and fuck her until she embraces the monster inside her.