Chapter 54 Fifty four
The living room felt smaller than it ever had, the air thick with the smell of spilled beer, drying blood, and the sharp metallic bite of fear. Broken glass still glittered in the corners like cruel confetti, and the couch where The One now sat looked absurdly normal beneath him. He lounged back, one leg crossed casually over the other, black eyes half-lidded, a predator playing at boredom.
Harper stood in the far corner near the window, arms wrapped tight around her middle, head bowed so her hair curtained her face. She couldn’t look at anyone. Not her mother. Not Kai. Not even the Alpha, who paced the length of the rug like a caged animal, hands flexing and unflexing at his sides.
Samantha broke the silence first.
She turned sharply toward Harper, eyes blazing.
“How could you do this, Harper?”
Harper flinched. Slowly lifted her head.
“How could you have sex with your own brother?” The disgust in Samantha’s voice was so thick it felt like a slap all over again.
Harper didn’t answer. Her gaze darted to Kai instead.
He sat on the arm of the opposite couch, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. When he felt her looking, he glanced up—just for a second. His eyes were dull, disappointed, wounded. Then he looked away again, jaw tight.
The Alpha stopped pacing.
“Koda,” he said, voice low and strained.
The One’s lips curved.
He tilted his head toward the Alpha.
“Really?” he said, letting out a soft, amused laugh. “You’re still calling me that?”
He rose from the couch in one fluid motion, uncrossing his legs like a king deciding to grace the room with movement.
“I don’t get it,” he continued, strolling past the shattered coffee table, stepping over a broken bottle without looking down. “Why you’re all so shocked by what happened.”
He stopped beside Samantha.
“My darling mother,” he said sweetly, laying a hand on her shoulder.
Samantha jerked away like he’d burned her.
“Ouch,” The One said, clutching his chest in mock pain. “That hurt.”
He smirked.
“But you know what’s going to hurt more?” His voice dropped, velvet over steel. “When I take over this kingdom—which is rightfully mine—and bring all of you down.”
The Alpha’s frown deepened into something dangerous.
Samantha spun toward Harper.
The crack of her palm against Harper’s cheek rang out like a gunshot.
Harper gasped, hand flying to the stinging skin.
“Mother—”
“You knew,” Samantha hissed, voice trembling with fury. “You knew if you ever let that demon inside you, Koda would be gone forever. And you still did it.”
Harper’s eyes filled.
“Mother, I—”
“Keep quiet before I hit you again.” Samantha raised her hand once more.
It froze in mid-air.
Samantha’s eyes widened.
“I… I can’t move my hand.”
The Alpha strode forward, grabbing her wrist gently but firmly, turning to glare at The One.
“You’re doing this?” he demanded.
The One stood by the dining table now, plucking a red apple from the fruit bowl. He examined it like it was the most interesting thing in the room.
“Lose the dead glare,” he said mildly. “I couldn’t stand anyone hurting my queen.”
He bit into the apple. The crunch was loud in the silence.
Harper’s breath hitched.
“Queen?” Kai whispered.
The One glanced at him, fake-pouting.
“Aww, my darling brother is gone. Whatever shall I do?” He mimicked Kai’s voice perfectly—soft, wounded, hopeful—then dropped the act with a cold smile.
“Lame. Jack, your brother has been gone for nineteen years now.” He lifted his free hand, counting on his fingers. “Well… his birthday—your birthday—is next week. So he’s basically nineteen.”
He took another bite of the apple.
“What are you trying to say?” Kai asked, voice cracking.
The One pointed the half-eaten apple at the Alpha.
“Ask your darling father. He knows Koda has been dead for years.”
The living room had become a battlefield without weapons—only words, memories, and the slow poison of truth.
Darius stood rigid in the center, shoulders squared like he could still command the room with sheer presence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, voice flat, almost bored. “Whatever story you’re spinning, it’s just that—a story.”
The One tilted his head, black eyes gleaming with dark amusement.
“Well, since you don’t know…” He spread his arms in a theatrical shrug. “Darling family, allow me to explain myself.”
He began to pace slowly, boots clicking against the blood-streaked hardwood like a metronome counting down to something inevitable.
“I lived with my mother,” he started, voice soft, almost nostalgic. “We had a whole clan. Controlled. Watched. Every move tracked by the elders. My father was killed when I was small—some rival pack dispute. I barely remember his face. But I remember the house.” He stopped, turned in a slow circle, arms wide. “This house.”
Samantha gasped, hand flying to her throat.
“This house?” she echoed, voice thin.
“Correct, mother.” He smiled at her—sweet, venomous. “The same stone walls. The same staircase I climbed every night. The same skylight I used to stare at when I couldn’t sleep.”
He pointed lazily toward the shattered glass above them, shards still dangling like broken teeth.
“You see, this man—” He jabbed a finger at Darius without looking at him. “—your darling husband, came stumbling to our door one night. Bleeding. Carrying a dead body. Crying. Saying his son—his precious little Koda—had been killed in some border skirmish. My mother… she was soft. She believed him. She tried to revive the child.”
The One’s smile faded.
“She couldn’t. No matter how many rituals, how much blood, how many nights she chanted until her voice broke. The body stayed cold. Empty.”
Darius’s jaw worked. He said nothing.
The One continued, voice dropping lower.
“But your father found out—from other demons, from whispers in the dark—that a demon soul could fill an empty vessel. Bring it back. Make it live again. And he wanted his son back. So he made a plan.”
He stepped closer to Samantha.
“He waited until my mother was alone with the body. He attacked. Slit her throat while she knelt over the corpse. Then he turned the blade on me. I was ten. I remember the look on his face—desperate, terrified, but determined. He thought he killed me. He took my soul—ripped it out—and forced it into this lifeless shell.” The One tapped his own chest. “This body.”
Samantha’s knees buckled. She caught herself on the arm of the couch.
“You’re lying,” she whispered.
The One laughed—short, sharp.
“I don’t expect belief. I expect fear.”
He turned to Kai.
“Your twin died long ago, little brother. I was forced into his body. I’ve worn it like a second skin ever since. Every laugh you remember, every time he protected you, every time he looked at Harper like she hung the moon—that was me fighting him. And him fighting me. Nineteen years of war inside one skull.”
A single tear slipped down Kai’s cheek. He swiped it away immediately, furious.
The One’s smile twisted.
“Don’t tell me you’re crying.”
Kai’s voice was hoarse. “You’re saying… everything we had with him… wasn’t real?”
“Parts were,” The One admitted. “He’s still in here. Screaming. Clawing. But he’s tired. And tonight—” He glanced at Harper, eyes softening for one dangerous heartbeat. “—tonight he lost.”
Harper pressed herself harder against the wall, arms wrapped so tight around her middle it hurt to breathe.
The One looked back at Kai.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better… I’ll soon end the pain by taking your life.”
Harper gasped.
“No—”
The One’s gaze flicked to her—sharp, possessive.
“Quiet, queen.”
Samantha whirled on Darius.
“Is this true?”
Darius’s face was gray, eyes glassy.
“No,” he said. “It isn’t. Don’t believe what this crook says.”
Samantha nodded—too quickly.
“Whatever you’re saying is a lie. Darius would never—”
“I don’t expect you to believe me,” The One cut in, voice suddenly cold. “I expect you to die.”
A low growl rolled through the house.
Then another.
Then a chorus.
From every window, every doorway, yellow eyes appeared in the dark.
Beasts.
Dozens of them.
Black-furred, claws scraping against the siding, fangs glinting in the moonlight that poured through the broken skylight.
They pressed against the glass.
They scratched at the doors.