Konstantin: The Heartless Beta

Konstantin

Well, there goes that fucking idea.

“You killed the sister of a Horsemen Alpha? What the fuck is wrong with you?” I ask incredulously, but Fenriz only shrugs.

"Step-sister, but whatever.”

“That's not the point, Fenriz. There's no fucking way theyll help me if they know I'm trying to save the sister of the man who murdered one of their own,” I say, sitting down on the leather couch with my head in my hands.

Fenriz chuckles and sits opposite me. “Then don’t mention me unless you absolutely have to.” He says as if telling me the weather. Fuck, are all Alphas so self-involved?!

"Why didn’t you just tell me outright that Lily was my mate? Don't you think it would have prevented all of this shit?” I say.

He growls. “Well, excuse the fuck out of me. How was I supposed to know that even her own fucking mate couldn't tell the difference between a mate bond Sighting and butterflies? Surely you must have felt the Bond Anchor as soon as you claimed her with your bite?”

Bond Anchor - so that's what it's called?

“I came here for help, but now I'm leaving with more issues,” I say, leaning back on the leather couch and letting out a sigh. “Fuck my life.”

"Wow, you complain a lot for a 30-something Beta,” Fenriz says, then downs his glass and stands up. "Come, let's go; we're of no use out here in the desert.”

I growl when he tells me I complain a lot but follow him out anyway. He converses in Norwegian with Andreas, then walks past him and shakes Dimitri“s hand.

Dimitri looks at me dumbfounded, then proceeds to follow us as well.

"What the fuck happened?” He asks me over the mind link, clearly nervous.

"Fenriz is coming with me to New York; there's a few things all of you need to know," I say, not just to Dimitri

"Head straight to the estate; there's something Caterina, and I have discovered in the vaults,” Kai says in a stern voice that gets me a little anxious. What could they have possibly discovered in the vaults?

Dimitri looks at me with the same confusion that I feel, and I can do nothing but shrug. I'm as clueless as he is, and right now, I felt like punching more than just a fucking wall.

Lily's kidnapping was foretold in a prophecy as soon as she took her first breath. Her literal birth caused an entire coven to haemorrhage and die, and I am sure the rest of the prophecy can't mean anything good. We need to decipher it before it's too late to save her.

We had a tense plane ride back to New York. Fenriz was quiet the entire way, and it just made things a hell of a lot worse. I have a feeling he knows more than he’s letting on, but I know he only truly trusted Kai. Perhaps he will reveal more to my brother.

When we touched down back home after midnight, Kai sent an SUV to collect us from the landing strip to take us to the estate. “Kai discovered something in our family vaults and called for us to join him and Caterina at the estate.”

Fenriz nods at this but still remains impassive throughout the drive. What the fuck is going through his head right now?

The Volkov Estate gates open, and we're in front of the mansion within seconds. “Kai, we're here,” I called over the mind link.

“We're inside; head towards the library.” He responds, and Dimitri and I look at one another, dumbfounded.

Kai has always refused to go into the mansion since the tragedy on his 18th birthday. He wouldn't even enter to collect his clothing or any of his personal belongings; now he’s inside?

"What the fuck happened while we were gone?” Dimitri whispers as we walk the path towards the front door.

I shrug. “Guess we'll find out.”

The happy memories spent here come flooding back as usual. My father doted on me where my mother leaned more towards Kai. I suppose it's to be expected since she was training him to take over as Alpha, but she didn't love any of us any less.

It pains me to know that two of our brothers are gone forever - both Nikolai and Viktor had their entire lives ahead of them, but in the end, they died for the pack.

As we step into the library, we're greeted with the image of Kai and Caterina poured over a series of notebooks - journals?

Kai looks up and beckons us over, taking Fenriz' hand when the Alpha approaches him.

"Apologies for meeting under these circumstances, Fenriz,” my brother says respectfully with a slight bow of his head.

“I entrusted my sister to you instead of taking care of her myself; the fault lies with me, Kai,” Fenriz says, then walks towards Caterina and embraces her. He looks down at her slightly swollen belly and smiles. “I knew I heard two heartbeats when I saw you last.”

Caterina gives him a coy smile, then touches his shoulder and freezes up. “Damn, that never gets easy to see,” she mutters after a few seconds, and Fenriz shoots her an apologetic smile.

What the fuck?

"Before we start, tell us what you've discovered,” Kai says as he leans forward on the desk.

I look at Fenriz, who steps towards the desk and sits on the edge. He starts with Lilith's birth, the prophecy and ends off with sending her with Kai in order to protect her from her so-called destiny. "Wait, so what exactly is Lily? She can't purely be a half-human/wolf with that heavy prophecy surrounding her, right?” Caterina asks suddenly, making us all look at her.

Fenriz frowns, the look on his face giving away that he had never thought of this question before. “Her mother wasn't a pure wolf; my father bit her after their Mate Bond Sighting,” he says, shaking his head. “He killed her straight after Lily was born and refused to raise the child; that's where I came in. She's been under my care since I turned 17."

Well, this is news to me. I wonder how Lily didn’t turn out as bloodthirsty as her older brother.

“I can't find anything on her mother - absolutely nothing at all. All I know is my father met her in Germany years ago, and her name was Tienette.”

Kai breathes out a frustrated sigh at Fenriz' last words before looking at all of us.

"We might have found something, but this adds another question to our already growing pile of shit,” he starts, then hands me what looks like a weathered photograph. In it stood Sergei Volkov, Dmitry's son, and next to him, shaking his hand and smiling - is Stefan Russo.

"What the fuck?” I say out loud this time. “How can this be fucking possible?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. We're children of the moon and can heal our injuries in a heartbeat, but we cannot stop the clock on the ageing process. There's only one exception, and that's when we've reached our 28th birthday, and we're still unmated.” Kai says, and his eyes automatically go to Caterina.

“Also, there's mention of a previous accord with Stefan’s pack back in 1920.” Kai finishes.

I look down at the picture again. The likeness is uncanny; the man in the photo even had the same tattoo on his neck.

But something in the photo catches my eye, and I bring it closer to have a look. “There's a woman here as well.”

Kai nods. “I saw that too, but I'm not sure if she’s meant to be there or not.”

Fenriz steps forward with an outstretched hand. “May I see?" he asks, then as I give it to him, I feel his mood shifting. He looks up at me questioningly. “This is the man who has my sister?”

"Stefan Russo, Alpha of the Infernal Prowlers. This is him pictured next to our first Alpha.” I nod. Fenriz nods. “The Infernal Prowlers from Jersey City, yes?”

“Yeah...” I don't like where this is going, but Fenriz shifts into his Lycan form and bolts from the library before I can react.

“Fuck!” I cry out, about to run after him, but then I hear Kai's voice. When I turn around, I don’t see the surprise on his face at all, and Caterina simply looks disappointed.

“I was afraid of that,” Kai drawls and sighs, and he shakes his head. “It's only seven miles; follow him.”

Growling my frustrations, I shift and follow the asshole Alpha, knowing where he is headed. Luckily it's fucking midnight right now, or there would be a lot of anxious-looking bystanders out there.

I follow his scent and spot him in the distance just as he is about to enter Stefan’s territory, a black blur sprinting across an empty highway. But as soon as he breaches the border, a dull red light glows, and he's viciously thrown backwards, landing on his ass in a loud thud.

The entire thing surprises the fuck out of me, and I nearly topple over as I try to avoid running into him. He lets out a roar before he shifts back, and I see the scrapes heal all over his body.

"What the fuck just happened?” I ask after I shift back and walk towards him.

He grunts and shakes his head, walking towards the border and raising his hand, but as soon as he tries to touch it, there's a red glow again. I hear a sizzle and the smell of burning flesh before he growls loudly and let go.

“The border is spelled to keep us out,” he says, turning around and walking away. I mimic what he just did and get the same reaction, noting the fact that it hurt like hell.

When I see him getting ready to shift, I pull him back and glare at him.

"What the fuck did you do that for? Why did you come out here?! There's no fucking use facing Stefan now; he must not know what we know!” I cry out, taking in his double irises and knowing that he could snap me like a twig if he wanted to.

He takes my hand and puts something inside it, and when I look down, I see the crumpled up picture of my ancestor with Stefan. “The woman next to him is Lilith’s mother.” That is all he says before shifting again and sprinting back the way he came.

I don't know how long I stood there with a dumb look on my face.