Chapter 17

DANTE

Leah’s silence was deafening. It was worse than her anger, worse than her distrust. The distance in her eyes as she looked at me, like I was someone she no longer recognized, dug into me deeper than any wound ever could.

I had tried to reassure her. I had told her the truth, or at least as much of it as I understood myself. The portrait of her in my drawer… I had no memory of obtaining it. And yet, it was there. Old, worn, a relic of a past I couldn’t grasp.

And Leah? She was spiraling.

She was still here, physically, but emotionally, she was slipping through my fingers and I didn't know a damn thing to do about it

I stood by the window of my chambers, watching her in the training yard. Her movements were sharper, more aggressive today. A fire burned in her that hadn’t been there before, one fueled by uncertainty, by fear, by anger. At me? At herself? I wasn’t sure.

It's been two days since she spoke about the portrait, two complete days since she stopped talking to me, and it was eating and alive

Watching her carefully make précised movement, I felt proud at her improvement but every fiber in me was against her way of dealing with this problem, silence was not the answer

But I knew one thing.

I couldn’t lose her to any of these shenanigans, she was going to say something sooner or later

I turned away from the window and made my way down to the training yard. The other warriors gave a path for me to follow, sensing the tension rolling off me in waves.

Leah hadn’t noticed me yet, she was too focused on throwing punch after punch into the training dummy, her breaths coming in ragged bursts. Her hands were raw, knuckles bruised, but she didn’t stop.

“Enough,” I said pulling grabbing her hand before she threw another punch

She flinched at the sound of my voice but didn’t turn. I let go of her hand as she pulled away immediately.

“Leah.” I softened my voice but it basically useless.

She didn’t acknowledge me. Instead, she threw another punch, this one harder than the last, as if trying to drive out whatever demons haunted her and tried throwing another again

I caught her wrist before she could strike again and stood in front of her glaring “I said enough.”

She finally looked at me, and the storm in her eyes nearly swallowed me whole. My heart raced at the look she gave me, but I refused to let go of her hand.

“I would never trust you again” She said with her voice covered in nothing but anger

The words hit me like a blade to the gut. I had expected it, had braced myself for it, and yet, hearing her say it so plainly still shattered something inside me and I swallowed.

“Everyone leave us!” I ordered the warriors and everyone else on the training ground as I tried mg possible best to remain sane.

“There's no need to chase everyone away, I'm leaving” I held on tightly to bed hand before she could walk away

“Please stay, I know you don't trust me” I admitted, loosening my grip on her wrist. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you belong here. You belong with me.”

She scoffed, yanking her hand free. “Belong? Do I? Or am I just another piece in whatever twisted game you’re playing?”

I clenched my jaw as I felt a pang of anger. “This isn’t a game, I would not okay a game with you.”

“Then what is it? You seem to enjoy playing games with all your dead wives, what makes the different that you wouldn't play a game?” She crossed her arms, glaring up at me. “Why do you have that picture? The scroll with my name on it? Why do I believe there’s something you’re not telling me?”

I exhaled slowly, running a hand through my hair in complete frustration. “I don’t know, Leah. I don’t know why I have it. But I will find out.” she looked at me as though I were telling yet another lie, but I wasn't.

Silence stretched between us, thick with unspoken words. Finally, she shook her head and stepped back, away from me like I was some disease. “I need space.”

I wanted to protest, to demand that she stay, that she listen, but I couldn’t force her to trust me. I could only prove myself. She looked at me and I let go of her wrist.

Without saying anything else she walked away from me and I felt the void of emptiness in my heart

DARREN

Sierra’s screams echoed off the cold stone walls of the dungeon, but I felt nothing.

Not the way I used to. Not the obsession, the desperate need, the suffocating pull toward her.

I had woken up that morning with a clarity I hadn’t felt in years, and I had followed that clarity straight to the kitchens, where I found traces of a herb mixed into my meals. A herb known for its properties of manipulation.

She had been drugging me.

And now, she was paying the price. I didn't care that she knew a lot of things, I was going to kill her regardless but not yet and definitely not here.

Walking towards the dungeon for the third time this morning, I shoved my hands in my pocket with thoughts racing through my head and my heart beating out of complete, and I'm suddenly reminded of Leah, but I shook my head

Pushing the door open I saw the guards torturing her like I had I told them to

I crouched in front of her, watching as she gasped for breath, her body shaking. Sweat clung to her skin, her once-flawless appearance ruined by hours of interrogation and torture, I can't believe I had been obsessed with a person.

“Talk,” I ordered, my voice devoid of emotion. “Tell me everything.”

Sierra let out a weak, bitter laugh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”

I grabbed her chin angrily, forcing her to look at me “Don't try the only patient I had left, I will kill you.”

She swallowed hard, her lips parting. “I was never yours, Darren.”

Something inside me twisted at her words, but I shoved it aside. “Go on.”

She hesitated, then smirked a ghost of the confidence she once had. “I was sent here. Planted. By the lycan rebels.”

The air in the dungeon turned to ice and a chill went down my skin

I barely restrained the urge to snap her neck right then and there. “You’re lying.”

She laughed again, weaker this time. “You were always in denial, everything was right in front of you, but you choose to deny it”

I forced myself to breathe. Forced myself to think. If this was true… If she had been working for them this whole time.

I released her chin, rising to my feet. “Why?”

Sierra shifted slightly, watching me carefully. “They needed someone close to Dante. Someone to gather information.”

My blood ran cold.

“So you used me and who in the world is Dante?” I muttered, more to myself than to her.

She tilted her head. “Yes I did use you, Dante's identity is not something I know”

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.

“But,” she continued, “I can offer you something.”

I laughed dryly. “You really think you’re in a position to negotiate?”

She smirked. “I think you’ll want to hear this.”

I crossed my arms, waiting while trying to control my thoughts of killing her

She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping to a whisper. “The lycan rebels… They can make you one of them.”

I stilled and looked at her like she had grown two heads, and she watched me closely, sensing my hesitation. “You’ve always felt it, haven’t you? That need to be more. To be stronger.”

I swallowed.

“They can give that to you,” she murmured. “All you have to do is help them and with that power, you have power over the Lycan king himself”

Silence.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

Sierra smirked, her eyes gleaming despite her battered state. “You know you want this, Darren.” Her voice was barely above a whisper now, but it carried more weight than anything she had ever said before.

“You want to be more.” I pushed her away from my ear and glared down at her.

“You don't know that”