Chapter 48 Chapter 49
Chapter 48 Chapter 49
Vanessa
The howl lingered in the room long after it ended.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
I couldn’t stop staring at Alaric.
For the first time since I had met him, something looked genuinely wrong.
Not angry.
Not irritated.
Wrong.
His jaw was clenched so tightly I thought his teeth might crack.
The veins in his neck stood out.
His hands were balled into fists.
And his eyes—
For one terrifying second, I could have sworn they flashed gold again.
Then it was gone.
“Alaric?”
His gaze snapped toward me.
Cold.
Too cold.
Like a door slamming shut.
“You need to stay in your room tonight.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
My eyebrows furrowed.
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing.”
I almost laughed.
Nothing?
A giant beast was wandering around the estate.
People were terrified.
Something had howled loudly enough to shake the windows.
And apparently nothing was happening.
“You’re lying.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His expression darkened immediately.
Dangerous.
I took a step back.
The air in the room suddenly felt different.
Charged.
Like standing near a thunderstorm.
“Be careful, Vanessa.”
His voice was low.
Too low.
The warning sent a chill through me.
I swallowed.
“Why?”
For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t answer.
Then—
“Because there are things in this world you don’t understand.”
The words hung between us.
My heart began beating faster.
“What things?”
Silence.
Then he turned toward the door.
Typical.
“Alaric.”
He stopped.
I don’t know what possessed me to ask.
Maybe curiosity.
Maybe loneliness.
Maybe exhaustion.
But I did.
“Was it you?”
His shoulders became perfectly still.
The room seemed to stop breathing.
I immediately regretted the question.
Slowly—
Very slowly—
He turned around.
His eyes locked onto mine.
“What?”
The single word sounded dangerous.
I swallowed.
“The eyes.”
Silence.
“The growling.”
More silence.
“The thing outside.”
I couldn’t stop now.
Not when I had come this far.
“Was it you?”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
His expression became completely unreadable.
Which somehow frightened me more than anger.
Then he laughed.
A short.
Humorless.
Dangerous laugh.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
My heart sank.
Because somehow—
I didn’t believe him.
Not even a little.
Hours later, I couldn’t sleep.
Again.
The storm had finally passed.
The mansion was quiet.
Too quiet.
I stared at the ceiling.
Thinking.
The more I thought about it, the less sense everything made.
Alaric’s reaction.
The growls.
The eyes.
The way he had looked after the howl.
Something wasn’t right.
And for some reason—
I couldn’t shake the feeling that the answer was somewhere inside this mansion.
Which was exactly how I found myself wandering the halls at two in the morning.
A terrible decision.
I knew that.
But curiosity had always been my greatest weakness.
The east wing was empty.
Moonlight spilled across the marble floors.
The house felt ancient at night.
Like it remembered secrets.
I followed a staircase I had never used before.
Down.
Then farther down.
Toward the older part of the estate.
The air became colder.
The walls changed.
Stone instead of polished wood.
My pulse quickened.
I shouldn’t be here.
Every instinct screamed it.
Then I heard it.
A growl.
Close.
Very close.
I froze.
The sound echoed somewhere ahead.
Deep.
Powerful.
Possessive.
Not angry.
Not hunting.
Waiting.
My heart pounded.
I followed it.
One careful step after another.
The corridor ended at a massive iron door.
I stared.
It looked older than the rest of the mansion.
Ancient.
Scratches covered the metal surface.
Long scratches.
Deep scratches.
As though something enormous had clawed at it repeatedly.
My stomach dropped.
Another growl sounded from behind the door.
I backed away immediately.
No.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
Then I heard something else.
A voice.
Male.
Familiar.
“…calm down.”
My breath caught.
Alaric.
I moved closer.
The voice came again.
Lower this time.
“You’re making this worse.”
Silence.
Then—
A violent impact slammed against the other side of the door.
The entire wall shook.
I nearly screamed.
Something huge was in there.
Something powerful enough to shake stone.
My heart raced.
What was he talking to?
Another growl.
This time furious.
Possessive.
Obsessive.
The sound raised every hair on my body.
Then I heard Alaric again.
And what he said made my blood turn cold.
“No.”
Silence.
“No, you can’t have her.”
The growling intensified.
Violent.
Aggressive.
The door rattled.
Something struck it again.
Hard.
My pulse thundered.
What did he mean have her?
Who was he talking to?
Another crash.
The door shook.
Then—
Alaric’s voice.
Sharp.
Commanding.
“She is not yours.”
The response came immediately.
A deafening roar.
Not human.
Not even close.
I stumbled backward.
Terror flooded me.
The creature sounded enraged.
Possessive.
As though it disagreed.
Then I heard Alaric say something that froze me completely.
“No matter what you think…”
Silence.
Then:
“She isn’t ready.”
My heart stopped.
She.
Me.
They were talking about me.
I knew it.
I knew it.
Before I could think, before I could breathe—
A shadow moved beneath the crack under the iron door.
Huge.
Massive.
Far too large to be human.
Golden eyes appeared.
My entire body locked up.
The eyes stared directly at me.
Not surprised.
Not confused.
Like it had known I was there the entire time.
A growl rumbled through the door.
Low.
Possessive.
Almost satisfied.
And somehow—
I understood the feeling behind it.
Mine.
The realization terrified me.
Because those weren’t the eyes of a predator hunting prey.
They were the eyes of something guarding a treasure.
And for some impossible reason—
That treasure was me.
Inside the room, silence fell.
Then Alaric’s voice sounded.
Cold.
Dangerously cold.
“Vanessa.”
My blood froze.
He knew.
He knew I was there.
The golden eyes never left mine.
Not even once.
Then Alaric spoke again.
And this time he sounded furious.
“Run.”
The word snapped me out of my trance.
I turned and fled.
The last thing I heard before reaching the stairs was a furious roar shaking the entire underground corridor.
And somehow—
I knew it wasn’t aimed at me.
It was aimed at Alaric.