SWNOVELS : Chapter 5
The creature standing behind me is neither man nor shadow.
His skin is pale as the seafoam, almost translucent in the moonlight. He looks like he could be in his forties, but there’s something ethereal and ageless about him that makes it difficult to say for certain how old he is. He wears a fine, sleek black suit that literally melts into the shadows around him as if he were made of the night itself. His hair is long and light, but where mine is golden blonde, his is an almost silvery shade of platinum.
But his eyes…
His eyes are not blue like my uncle’s, nor amber like Tristan’s… but rather a deep, vibrant shade of red.
I suck in a breath. How did he get so close to me? What is he? What does he want? And why is he looking at me like I’m some sort of treasure?
‘This territory belongs to the Rovers,’ I warn, but I don’t sound nearly as confident as I’d hoped. ‘I am the Alpha’s guest in these lands, and you are trespassing onto them.’
The man clad in darkness is unbothered by my statement, and he glances up at the villa with a detached sense of boredom.
‘I do not answer to the Rogue King,’ he replies simply. ‘And I do not bow to the rules of wolves.’
No. I don’t suspect that he does. Whatever this creature is, he’s not something I’ve ever seen before.
‘So why are you here? Why have you been looking for me?’ I ask, taking a small step back in the direction of the cobbled path.
Maybe if I can get back to the villa, the enchantment will shield me again and keep the man… or whatever he is… out. But if I’m going to try and outrun him, I have to get a head start. I have to keep him talking long enough for me to get as close as possible to the heart of the spell; otherwise, I won’t stand a chance.
‘I didn’t even know you existed,’ the man says, and now that he’s speaking to me here, in person, I can make out the details in his voice. It’s low and lilting, and there’s a sort of awe behind his words as he looks at me, as if he can’t quite believe I’m real. As if I were the stranger that just mysteriously appeared out of the shadows and not him.
He watches me with a ferocious sort of elegance, and I take another small step back.
‘I did not even think it was possible, but when I sensed you the other night, I knew. I heard your thoughts, and I tracked your scent, and I knew who you were. I could feel it down to my very bones. I thought your mother died before she gave birth to you. But there you were.’
My foot lingers mid-step, and I feel a chill creep up my spine. If there was anything he could have mentioned to make me hesitate, it was that.
‘You knew Vanessa Massen? Y-you knew my mother?’
Impossible.
He smiles with a fondness that feels misplaced from a stranger, the shadows seeming to shift in response to his movements, rippling as he takes a step closer to me.
‘Massen,’ he repeats the word as if testing it out on his tongue, his expression turning sour. ‘I have not heard that name in a very long time. Vanessa always hated it. She was the proverbial black sheep of the family, too soft and sweet to belong among those hounds. Especially her brother.’
Viktor. This man knows my uncle.
I swallow hard, planting my feet back on the ground. I should run for the villa. I should call out for Nico or Lucy. I should try and get away from this stranger. After all, Tristan will be back soon, and he told me to wait for him.
God, I want to.
I want to be there when he returns. I want to kiss him and help him look after the pack. I want to take him into my bed and let him see every part of me, and I want to taste every part of him. I want to make this place a home by his side. More than anything in the world, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life, I want to be with him.
But I can’t do any of that without answers.
There’s too much I don’t know. This mysterious man, the cursed mark on my chest, the madness that killed my mother, the color of my eyes, my suppressed wolf, the pain that consumes me when I try to get close to my mate… these aren’t things I can just walk away from.
I cannot build a future with Tristan without understanding my past.
And this stranger, with his crimson gaze, looks so unnatural and ethereal and yet painfully familiar. I recognize that slender, rounded nose and long neck, those high cheekbones and diamond-shaped jaw.
I’ve seen those features staring back at me in the mirror my whole life.
The realization creeps up on me slowly. It does not hit me like a wall or suddenly become clear like a light switching on. It’s slow and gradual, like spilled ink soaking into parchment, his worlds scratching at the back of my mind.
‘I see you, child, and I know you at last. Come home to me…. blood of my blood.’
‘How did you know my mother?’ I ask, but there is nothing curious behind the question. It’s a demand, and I can’t help but feel a flicker of pride at the command in my voice and the steadiness in my gaze as I look back at the shadowy stranger. Finally. I’m holding my ground. ‘No more games and half-answers. Tell me who you are.’
‘Little girl, you already know,’ he says, and deep down, I know he’s right, but I still feel my eyes widen in disbelief when I hear the words spoken aloud. ‘My name is Marco Silas, child, and I am your father.’
He extends his hand to me, not in greeting but as if offering to lead me away into the night.
Before I can even consider taking it or even process what he’s saying, the shadows behind him shift again. Quick as lightning, he moves, and I swear I catch a glimpse of glistening fangs hiding behind his smile. But then suddenly, I can’t see the man anymore, and instead, I find myself surrounded by a swarm of bats. A velvety blackness envelops me, accompanied by the fluttering of leathery wings, and a bone-chilling sort of cold consumes me and drags me into the dark.