397- The Death of a Daughter
POV Viktor Averwyn:
When I threw open the office door, I found Emil pale in front of one of the monitors, his eyes wide as they turned toward me. I moved forward, dread slithering through my blood, a terrible feeling striking me. I felt the pain in my core, growing, crashing over me all at once.
“What the fuck happened?”
“I’m sorry, my friend. So damn sorry.”
I shoved him aside, looking at the monitor.
I saw a body lying before a tree, the familiar dark brown skin, long hair spread through the grass. The face turned away, but I didn’t need to see the features to know.
I stopped breathing when I noticed the chest torn open, blood covering the clothes.
Dead.
My daughter there. Dead.
I roared in agony, claws and fangs bursting out, muscles swelling violently. Rage mixed with my shattered heart, with the greatest despair I had ever felt in my life.
I knew it.
Ever since she ran away, I had expected that news. But I tried to fool myself, clinging to a scrap of hope. All in vain. My little girl, whom I had raised since childhood as though she shared my blood, felt like a limb ripped from my body while I was still alive.
I snarled, turning and punching the wall with such force that my skin split open and my bones shattered. Pain shot through my arm in agonizing waves, but nothing was worse than the certainty that Adelina was gone forever.
Murdered.
“What happened?”
Cezar burst into the room, followed by Florian and Lonut. They stopped, shocked.
I ripped my hand free from the hole in the concrete, roaring again as I grew even larger. The wounds healed rapidly, but I would never recover from this. Guilt devoured me alive for not saving her. For remaining safe here while my little girl was in danger.
“Adelina…” was all Emil said, and they understood.
“Viktor…” Florian stepped forward.
I turned toward them, furious, seething. Everyone remained silent.
Images of her flashed through my mind. The first time I held her in my arms, wanting to save her from her wounds. An innocent baby with luminous dark eyes. That was when the name Adelina came to me. I chose it for her, already knowing she had a place in my heart.
I saw her still small, holding my hand and begging to go to the waterfall. Hiding around the house, laughing when I easily found her by scent. Becoming a young woman obsessed with talking about dating. Transforming into a wolf at twenty-one, with me witnessing every moment.
Her teasing and stubbornness, her joys and tantrums.
And that mutilated body out there.
Gone forever.
Silent.
Hatred kept me standing while suffering nearly drove me to my knees. Then reality invaded my despair and I knew I needed to avenge her death. End Lucian before he took another breath. As I should have done long ago.
I inhaled, dry on the outside, drowning in tears within. I stepped closer to the monitor, staring at Emil.
“He left her there?”
The man ran his fingers through his carrot-colored hair, his devastated expression revealing there was far more.
“Replay the recording,” I ordered quietly.
“Viktor…”
“Play the fucking recording, goddammit!” I roared.
“He killed her in front of the camera. Don’t watch it. You need to calm down and—”
“Now!”
He sighed and obeyed.
Florian and the others closed around me as though trying to lessen the damage. Or restrain me if I completely lost my mind.
I didn’t move until the recording stopped and began again.
Lucian emerged from the forest surrounded by wolves, dragging her by the arm. Much bigger and stronger, the coward terrified her with his presence. She looked exhausted and nervous.
It hurt.
It hurt so much I felt myself bleeding inside, wishing I had the power to rewind time like that recording and stop what was about to happen.
I clenched my jaw so hard my fangs pierced my own flesh, the sting nothing compared to this.
“He knew about the camera. It could’ve been Katarina,” Cezar murmured.
I didn’t breathe, frozen.
Lucian stared directly into the lens and said loudly:
“You think I’m going to stop because you threw bodies into your village? I have one here worth more than all of them.”
“Lucian…” Adelina cried, tears falling from her eyes.
“Look over there at your father.” He moved behind her and she obeyed. It felt like she was staring directly at me. “You know he was right? You were never my destined mate. All this time and you never got pregnant. You were only good for warming my bed.”
“I love you… I’ll still give you your pup, I know I will…”
“You love me? Will you give me your heart?” He smiled, filled with hatred.
I froze from head to toe.
Tears streamed down Adelina’s face and she looked back at the camera. She whispered softly, I almost read her lips:
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I love you.”
Her last words were for me, as though she already knew that was her fate.
And accepted it.
I snarled in despair when I saw his fist burst through her chest from behind, tearing her open. Blood and bone breaking apart, his hand ripping through flesh. When he pulled it back, he held her heart.
He dropped her and her body collapsed at his feet.
He smiled coldly and crushed the organ between his fingers.
Then he turned and disappeared into the forest with his wolves.
My daughter lay there violated, hollowed out, empty.
I didn’t move.
No one said anything.
I kept staring at the image, remembering my mother being struck by those arrows. I lost them both. I couldn’t save either of them.
“Viktor, there was nothing you could’ve done.” Florian seemed to read my mind. “Adelina ran away, made her own choices. And you protected all of us. You did what any decent alpha would’ve done.”
“Lucian is a psychopath. This is his fault!” Lonut added.
They expected me to snap, but part of me also felt numb. Dead.
Two things kept me standing: my people, who depended on me. And Seraphine. At least them, I still had to save.
I focused on breathing, fighting the sickening rage. I stepped away from the image and walked toward the window.
I stared at the cemetery outside and the village center, the residents cleaning up the devastation, still trying to recover from the latest invasions. Blood stained the ground.
Georgeta and Anica cried near the square over Katarina’s death. An innocent woman who had paid with her life to help me.
Other women comforted them. Curious children stood in frightened groups. Lives lost. Lives still needing protection.
I focused on the image of Seraphine in the kitchen, clinging to thoughts of her and Daciana. She was the reason I managed to pull my claws and fangs back in, contain the hatred devouring my chest without end.