“This way,” he leads, turning on his heel and walking up the stairs. I could feel Ezra’s hand on my lower back, making sure I don’t slip as I climb them.
When getting to the top, I see the light filtering in. What I thought were windows were actually just perspex panels made to look like them. Ducts in the ceiling push air around the place, but no windows could actually be opened. This place holds no life, no pictures, and no hope. Once inside, no one would escape this place.
Andrei opens a door with a chain key hanging around his neck. He pushes the door open, and I find it is some sort of surveillance room. Huge screened TVs hung on the walls, and I can see every border of his pack, every street outside this place, and every room inside. Only one TV isn’t on, and I’m positive it’s saved for the basement.
I knew losing a mate could send someone mad, crazed even. I couldn’t picture the man he is around me being a sociopath, a serial killer in the making. He is always so gentle, and loving with my mates and me, but the man from the visions is a cold and cruel hunter, and the world is his prey.
“You have every perimeter,” Ezra notes, looking at the cameras.
“Yes, nothing will get in or out without me knowing,” Andrei adds.
Ezra nods, fiddling with the tech and pulling up different angles while Andrei explains to him how it all works and the different traps set out amongst the borders that he could control from this very room.
Mateo grabs my hand, leading me out and down the hall. “I know something is wrong with you,” he accuses softly, tucking me under his arm and kissing my forehead.
“I think something bad will happen,” I admit, and he pauses, looking at me.
“What do you mean?” he presses.
“This place isn’t a home, Mateo. My brother isn’t who we think he is, at least not anymore,” I confess.
“Your vision?” he asks, leading me to the end of the hall before pushing open the door.
“Yes, this place was in it,” I whisper, and he furrows his brows.
“You know we can’t do anything without proof, Kat.”
“And how many have to die before we get it?” I snap.
“Pardon?” he asks, confused. I told them about my visions but not to the full extent, still hoping I was wrong, that what I saw was just a figment of my imagination.
“This place is where people will come to die painfully by his hands,” I mumble.
He cups my face with his large hands. “Are you scared of him?”
I shake my head. “No, I am scared for them.”
“And who are they?”
“The rogues, the people he brings here.”
“If they are rogue, we have no say, Kat. You know this. We would have to fight to have the laws changed.”
“What good is it being the Queen of Alphas, the Kings of Alphas, if we can’t help people, Mateo? This? This is all wrong.”
“Yes, but they aren’t our people. We have no say. Queen or not, Kat, we can only step in when we have proof when he breaches wolf law.”
“I am the law, and I will find a way. This cannot happen, but I fear it has already started. She brought me back for a reason, and I intend to prove I am worthy of it. I don’t care if they are rogue, they are still my people,” I declare.
Mateo nods. “But he is your brother, Kat.”
“Yes, but my real brother died when Angie did,” I confess.
He stands upright before nodding, and we look around the room. This room was the only room in the house that looked lived in. It was his bedroom. A huge bed sits in the middle, and it has oak furniture. The bathroom is attached and a closet. This room is even warmer than the rest of the house, or maybe it is the black rugs covering the floors and the light filtering in. Heavy drapes line the walls of this perspex room, and I can spy half the pack from them. On the other wall, the only one that wasn’t made of perspex, is a TV nestled between the two doors on either side of it. This entire place looks industrial and clinical, except for his room and the kitchen.
Andrei and Ezra come in, and Ezra wraps his arms around my belly, his hands rubbing it, and before we make eye contact, Andrei’s eyes go to his hands and then to Donnie’s, his wolf. “So you like it, sis?” he asks.
“Just so cold in here,” I admit.
“I don’t mind the cold,” he chuckles, and I nod, trying to think of what I could do to prevent more bloodshed.
Mateo is right. Me rushing in will start a war, and not just with Andrei but the other packs, They would think I am abusing my power that the Moon Goddess gave me.
“What happens to any rogues that cross your lands?” I ask him, trying to keep the accusation from tipping off my tongue and into my voice.
“What of them?” he frowns.
“Have any?” I ask him.
“None have crossed yet,” he admits, but the moment he said the words, the image of Donnie and him in either form crosses my line of sight. He is right. None came here willingly. He hunted them.
“I don’t think any would cross with the security measures you have,” Ezra points out, and Andrei nods.
“They won’t make it out if they do,” Andrei comments.
The entire way home, something is eating at my insides and at my subconscious. Angie’s death made him like this, destroyed him in every way, he is no longer a man but a monster. Someone you prayed to the fates to never cross, someone you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemies. Gone was my loving brother, and in his place, the soulless Dark Alpha. I understood the name that has been bestowed upon him.
Though Angie’s death made him like this, he isn’t to blame. He is only to be blamed for his actions. I suddenly wished more than ever that a second chance mate existed. If a woman could make him this way, could one bring him back to the man he once was? Would I be cruel, for wishing a woman on him? Andrei would never choose a mate, but could I ask this of the Moon goddess? Would she shoot my request down? I wasn’t sure, but I had to try.