“Are you even listening to the rubbish you are saying?” I cried and jerked up from the couch, my hand impulsively reaching out to touch my slight bump. “How dare you to speak of my unborn child like that? Your brother’s child, Alfred!”
“Because I am going to kill it!” Without intending to, as soon as the words left his mouth, I veered forward and delivered a holistic slap across his face, channeling all my rage into it.
It worked its magic as I saw rivulets of blood sprout from his lips. I was stunned at how much he had provoked me that I stepped back in panic and looked down my hands at once in regret for losing my temper. Albeit, the clod’s face was spotting a smirk when they twisted to me from the askew position my slap sent it and he said, “That is the Danika I desire. The one who is not afraid to fight!” He grinned devilishly, shaking his head like a psychopath. “Not the one who hides under the umbrella of self-imposed dignity to shy away from being feral!” He fisted his hand in an odious gesture.
“I will never be as horrible as you! I am not that kind of person and there is nothing you do that would make me be!”
He took a malicious step forward and I hurried back. “Wait until I make you kill him!” he snapped fiendly.
“I will never kill my mate, Alfred, get that into your thick skull. What has possessed you? Please stop this minute, I beg you. Why are you doing this? You use to be a nice person. What changed?”
His eyes twitched hence he faltered in his movement, stormed back to the desk and picked up the dumped glass of liquor, and emptied the content into his mouth in one gulp. “I did everything to please that old fool,” he started, “I was the first twin and my birthright to inherit the throne after his death. But what did he do? He fucken crowned my junior brother!” He followed his statement with the stamping of his index finger on the desk.
“Alfred….”
“No, shut up and listen… You wanted to know why now I’m telling you.” The danger in his eyes stilled by tongue from making further statements. “What was my crime? Just because we were not his biological children and he knew my mother favored me over that weakling!” I went white at his utterance. So he knew?
Did he just call my mate a weakling? Calm, Danika, calm…
He chuckled sardonically, seeing my expression. “Now you know, right? We were the bastard children of the old crow and that bastard inherited the throne which was meant for me…” He sipped hurriedly from the glass and proceeded, “I had to pay the price for my mother’s sins! Is that not injustice?”
“Alfred there is a better way… He is your brother…” I said mildly, seeing the weight of the pain in his eyes and trying to make him be reasonable.
He shook his finger at me. “There is no other way, Sweetface. I am finally taking what belongs to me. I always knew I was meant to be a King which was why when my real father found me in my exile and brought me back here, I didn’t hesitate to accept the crown which he offered me on a platter of gold with the meager condition of making his dream of bringing the two most powerful supernatural Kingdoms under one rulership. And when I saw you…” His eyes turned soft. “… the first day I saw you, Danika, I never knew I could become obsessed with any woman as I was with you… I knew from that day you will be the woman to rule with me…” He started walking toward me again while I stayed there, dumbfounded by his bereft fantasy. “But to make that happen, we will have to pull down the obstacles, Danika… you and I.”
He stopped in front of me and took my quivering hands in his. His thumb flickered over my ring and I made to retrieve them but he held them tighter. “Don’t you want to be part of this revolution? You want peace, don’t you, Danika? We can finally bring peace to these two Kingdoms forever, which can’t be possible if they are apart. My father has always hated the werewolf Kingdom for taking my mother from him and the werewolves always hated the vampires for their sins in the past. But now, we have an opportunity to break that barrier by bridging the gap. We are a bloodline of the two powerful breeds in the world and can do any-”
“Stop!” I yanked my hand away furiously and took a giant step away from him. His words were making me angrier and if he continued I might lose my temper. “Stop talking nonsense, Alfred. Your mother lied to the former King by trying to impose a pregnancy that wasn’t his on him and he was angry and did what he did out of bitterness. Something that wasn’t all that bad if you look at it from the right perspective, instead of being selfish. Alonso is your brother, Alfred! Your twin brother. How would you be so power hungry that you would ignore the connection you share with him and you think I would be drawn to this madness? To forsake my mate for something so-so horrible?”
“Danika…”
“The vampires are supposed to be grateful that the werewolves decided to overlook their past sins and forged ahead with their lives, but no! Instead, they have been working so hard to push us to the brink of our patience and retaliate…” I shook my head, wiping away the recalcitrant tears that fell off my eyes. “I am going to tell you now Alfred as a friend, stop this madness. Alonso might not take this kindly. So now that you have the chance, give up and I can talk to him.”
“Over my dead body!”
“I’m serious, Alfred. We can pretend this was all a game. He doesn’t even need to know you are the one that took me. You can take me back and then we can lie you found me… I still respect our past friendship and-”
“Danika!” he interrupted me snidely and I hushed, took a deep breath, and released it, seeing as he is bent on being stubborn. I can’t believe this. Alfred, the vampire King? And all this while he would come to the pack and no one would notice.
Come to think of it, the signs were there; the things he said-his behavioral pattern-everything! I just couldn’t see it. How could I? If the Alpha King was oblivious of it, who am I to? What a minute…
“Did your mother know about this?” I inquired sharply.
“For now, no! But after I have conquered-”
“Conquered what?! Stop all this stupidity, please I beg you, Alfred. I won’t want to see you hurt. I just wa-”
A wild commotion broke outside that got both our attention, and Alfred hastened to the door to find out the problem. When I followed, he swiveled back instantly and grabbed me close to him to use as a shield. I was confused and nearly swooned a minute later when the door opened and the two people I never thought I would see again marched in.
“Father? Alpha Derrick?”
…