295- The Alpha’s Wrath
POV Viktor Averwyn:
I felt my eyes burn, my beast as furious as I was. She stepped back again, no doubt realizing my eyes were shifting from black to gold, knowing exactly what that meant.
It was clear to me that one of my most important rules had been broken. Everyone there who knew who Adelina was had sworn an oath of silence. But one of them had betrayed me.
“What did they tell you, damn it?” I roared, and she trembled, unaccustomed to this reaction from me. She was my spoiled, protected daughter.
“Father, don’t talk to me like that... please...”
“Answer me. Or I’ll drag you through the village until you tell me!”
“You’ve never done that!” Tears spilled over. I took a step toward her, and she panicked. “I am Alpha Lucian’s promised mate!”
Fuck. The fiercest and most disturbing rage devoured me alive.
This shit could not be happening!
Crying, she poured everything out:
“That’s why you never let me leave the village! Why you always warned me to stay inside when Alpha Aldren comes here to do business. You hide me from everyone!”
“Do you want to be killed?”
I held back my claws from coming out, desperate to tear off the head of the she-wolf or he-wolf gossip who had broken my law.
“Father, he left me in the forest to die, but...”
“He did not leave you to die! He ordered you killed, along with everyone from the pack traveling with you. Your luck is that one of his wolves didn’t have the courage to destroy an innocent baby and left you in the forest.”
“And then you found me and brought me here.” Her lips trembled and she stepped closer to me. Her voice was softer. “I always loved you, Father. Even more now that I know... that you saved me, raised me as your daughter.”
I took a deep breath when she hugged me, sobbing. All the love I felt for her rose to the surface, along with my need to protect her and my fear. I would do anything for her.
I held her tightly, tense, still furious. Sheltering her, but anxious to fix that. Or at least whatever part of it could still be fixed.
“Listen carefully, Adelina. Lucian is not your destined mate. That was confusion from your pack, which comes from Hungary and is very different from ours. They deal with magic, created that fantasy, and came here to show you to him. We, the alphas of Tharnak, only know for certain if the female becomes pregnant. It is neither easy nor common. It happened with Aldren and Edric, but...”
“I know! I’ve always heard that! But who guarantees it?” She pulled back a little to look at me, pleading. “Have you never felt that your promised mate might be nearby?”
That unsettled me a little. I could not tell her how foolish I had been in the past, believing in memories I did not even know were real, desperately searching for my soulmate among human women. Causing chaos and death, being deceived by a clever one.
I was irritated by that weakness. By inexplicable instincts—especially the ones that had led me to prowl around that damned gypsy village at the foot of the Tharnak. The woman from my dreams and visions, who looked like my mother, always telling me that my destined mate was human and from an ancient people tied to magic. Madness, which I had despised for years.
“Father?”
“That’s nonsense. Lucian already ordered you killed once. Do you want him to finish the job now?”
“But as you yourself said, he was mistaken because I was a baby! Now I’m an adult, transformed! When he looks at me…”
“He will kill you, damn it!” I grabbed her arm, struggling to contain the fury rising violently inside me. “Who told you this?”
“I overheard it, it wasn’t anyone who—”
“This subject is not spoken of here. For twenty-one years my people have been loyal. This story never reached the ears of the Elders or the alphas. Now some gossip has broken my trust!”
“No! I swear!”
I realized she would deny it until the end. But I had my ways of forcing her to talk. Lowering my voice, serious and threatening, I said:
“If a name doesn’t come up, I’ll walk out of here right now and start killing the people closest to you. Starting with your friend Lana.”
“It wasn’t her!”
“Next will be that child who is always glued to you. Maybe he overheard it from his parents and became a big mouth. Filimon.”
“No! Please, Daddy! Filimon knows nothing, he’s just a little kid from school.”
I released her and my claws began to emerge, breaking through the skin as my hands grew and swelled. The force was so uncontrolled that the ring on my finger snapped, the metal doing little against the pressure. My anger grew even more because I hadn’t remembered to take it off, and it was one of my favorites. My fangs appeared. My eyes burned with living fire.
“Don’t hurt them! I swear, Lana and Filimon are innocent! You don’t hurt innocents!”
“If they don’t confess, they’ll be dead. Then it will be the wolves who are in love with you.” My voice was deeper, rougher. I could control my transformation and its phases, but I chose not to, deliberately pushing Adelina to her limit. “First Robert. Then Felix.”
She shook her head when I mentioned the first name, but froze when I said the second. The expression of guilt and panic gave me my answer.
“It was Felix.”
“No, I—”
“I’ll start with Lana.”
I headed back toward the entrance. Claudiu, the guard on duty, jumped in shock when he saw me. My shirt stretched across my broader chest, my size even larger, claws and fangs exposed. Still restrained, because it could be much worse.
He quickly opened the doors, blinking at the sight of Adelina crying and pleading behind me. She tried to hold me back, unsuccessfully, while I moved toward the village. Several residents stopped what they were doing, shocked and nervous, not understanding.
“Viktor! Adelina! What’s happening?” Daciana came out of my castle, running toward us. “I heard the commotion! Sir! What happened? Is the village under attack?”
The regent, who took care of the kitchen and was almost like a mother to me, began crying behind us.
“Father!” Adelina threw herself in front of me, her hands pressed against my chest, struggling to hold me back. “Please don’t hurt Lana! I’ll tell you… it was Felix, but not on purpose. I pushed him to tell me and he loves me. He thought that way I’d stop thinking about my destined mate, that I’d be afraid of him. Father!”
I stopped, having received the confirmation I wanted. My anger battled with other feelings, like disappointment and pain. That fucking young wolf, only eighty years old, one of my most enthusiastic guards, was going to die. Son of a bitch gossip, traitor!
I thought of his father and, for just a second, I hesitated.
Then I pushed Adelina out of my way and used my absurd speed to run toward the gates, leaving my daughter and the curious villagers behind.
Laws were meant to be obeyed.
And that day, they would be reminded of it.