Before I could say anything else, Ophelia slipped her arm through mine, her grip p possessive as she looked at Kaela with undisguised malice.]
“We’re here to apologize, sister dear,” she said, voice dripping with false sweetness. Though I have to say, I’m surprised you’ve already… consummated things with your hybrid. What’s it like being with half a vampire? Did he bite you during the process, or were those marks from fighting? Everyone knows wolves and vampires are natural enemies–the violence must be incredible.“|||
The temperature around Nikolai Grimweald dropped so fast I could see my breath. When he turned those black eyes on t Ophelia. I actually for her. Almost
felt sorry
The auction was starting, and I watched Kaela take her seat besale the hybrid, moving with a grace and confidence I’d never seen from her before. Without thinking. I slid into the seat on her other side, drinking in every detail of her face.
She was beautiful. She’d always been beautiful, but now there was something different–a self-assurance that made her absolutely radiant.||
The auctioneer began presenting items, and I noticed how Kaela’s eyes would linger on certain pieces–n vintage bracelet, a rare painting, an antique jewelry box. Every time she showed interest in something, Grimweald would raise his paddle without hesitation.
I couldn’t let him win everything. Each time he bid, I called out a torch bid, declaring I’d pay any price necessary. I had to show Kaela that I could provide for her, that I could give her anything she wanted.]]
By the end of the auction. I’d spent more money than I’d ever spent on anything, but it was worth it to see the surprise in Kaela’s eyes
When the bidding ended. I gathered all the items I’d won and presented them to her like offerings at an altar
“These are all for you” I said, unable to keep the pride out of my voice: “Remember how I promised to buy you beautiful things for your trousseau? I know it’s late, but I wanted to make up for lost time.”
Kaela glanced at the collection with complete indifference, and my heart sank
“Sozen,” she said, my name coming out like a curse, “are you having memory problems or just delusional? I’m mated to someone else now. Give those trinkets to your precious Ophelia–I’m sure she’ll appreciate them more.”
She started to walk away with Grimweald, and panic clawed at my chest.
“Wait!” I jumped up, blocking their path “Kaela, please. I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you. Why won’t you believe me?”
For a split second something flickered in her eyes–pain, maybe, or remembered affection. If this had been three years ago, those words might have meant everything to her.
But now the looked at me like I was a stranger. Worse than a stranger–like I was something distasteful she wanted to scrape off her shoe
She didn’t even dignify my declaration with a response. Just took her mate’s arm and walked around me like I wasn’t worth the effort of an argument]
I started to follow them, desperation making me reckless, when my phone rang [
“What?” I sampped, not bothering to check the caller ID.]
*Dr: Blackwein, I have the information you requested,” my heta assistant’s voice come through clearly. “When the Duskrend estate caught fire, Kaela stranded in Delvarw Road in the outer districts. A taxi driver had dumped her there after recognizing ber from those videos. She walked for arly sax hours to get her.||
My blood turned to ice Six hours. While I was comforting Ophelia and believing every lie that came out of her mouth, Kaela had been walking alone though the night, exhausted and probably terrified
“There’s more,” he continued. “I couldn’t find any recurd of Ophelia Virethorn at the reformatory school she claimed to attend. But I did fing extensive records for Karla Duskrend. Sur, the things they did to her. His voice cracked slightly. “Tve seat the surveillance footage to your email. And Dr. Blackvein? Ophelia’s suicide attempt wasn’t what it seemed.“[]
The phone felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my hand. Showly. I turned to look at Ophelia, who was still chattering about something, completely oblivious to the fact that her entire house of lies was rundling around her
With shaking fingers, I opened my email and clicked on the first video file.
The image that filled my screen made my stomach turn violently, Kaela, barely eighteen and painfully thin, strapped a white coat approached her with an electric prod
dtoal
a metal chair while someone
e in
I watched in horror as they shocked her, over and over, while she screamed. Watched them inject her with unknown substances and document her reactions. Watched them break her down systematically, methodically, like she was nothing more than a lab rat.
And through it all she never stopped asking why. Why was this happening to her? What had she done wrong?
The next video was worse. And the one after that was worse still ||
By the time I’d seen enough, my hands were shaking and there was bile rising in my throat. This wasn’t rehabilitation or education–this was torture. Scientific, calculated torture of a young woman whose only crime was being inconvenient to her adoptive family.
“Soren?” Ophelia’s voice sounded far away. “You look upset, Is everything alright?”
I looked up at her–really looked at her–and for the first time. I saw past the innocent facade to something cold and calculating underneath “Tell me about the reformatory school,” I said quietly.
Her eyes flickered, just for a moment, before she resumed her perfect victim expression, “What do you mean? It was awful, just like I told you. The electric shocks, the medication experiments-”
“Except you were never there.” My voice was getting louder, drawing stares from other auction attendees. “Knela was. For two years. Because you told your parents she was dangerous“]
Ophelia’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. “L… that’s not… someone must have made a mistake with the records-“]
“And your suicide attempt.” I was standing now, towering over her as my wolf pushed closer to the surface. “Want to tell me what really happened there?”
The mask finally slipped completely. For just a moment, I saw her real face–cold, calculating, absolutely devoid of the warmth and innocence she’d been projecting for three years
Then she started crying, but even her tears looked fake now
“Soren, you’re scaring me,” she whimpered, trying to regain control of the situation. “I don’t understand why you’re being so mean. I just want us to be happy together-
But she was too rattled to maintain her usual perfect performance. Without thinking, she fell back on her old tactics]
“Don’t blame Kaela for this!” she said, forcing out crocodile tears. “I heard that hybrids like Nikolai are… unstable. The vampire blood makes them viulent and unpredictable during intimate moments. She probably likes the danger, the paik, You know how damaged she is. Her voice took on that sickeningly sweet tone I was starting to hate. The Blackvein Duskrend alliance can’t wait much longer, and now that everyone knows about their arrangement….
“We never planned anything,” I snarled, my voice
to choose Kaela. I was going to tell her loved her. Until you convinced me she was a monster.”
ying enough alpha dominance to make several nearby wolves subnut automatically. “I was going
“But she is!” Ophelia’s voice cracked with desperation. “She tries to kill me! She’s dangerous and unstable and-“]
“The only monster here is you.“]
The words came out deadly quiet, but they carried enough menace to make Ophela stumble backward ||
Three years. Three years of believing her hes, of punishing an innocent woman for crimes she never committed. Three years of slowly killing the only person who’d ever loved me unconditionally
And now I was 100 lair. Karla was gone, bonded to someone who actually deserved her, and I was left with nothing but the ashes of my own stupidity.]]
