Chapter 21 Constance #6
I give him gentle peck on the lips, making him fist the table cloth in his hands and growl so loud that many in the room shudder in fear. I turn to her with a snort, lifting a shoulder. “…then maybe they should start asking the people in those homes why their doors were open in the first place.
Now, unless there’s more bad photoshop that paints an innocent couple in a heinous light on their engagement day, I’d like to,” I pause and gently push Misha back into his seat before I sit back down on his lap, cross my legs, and smile at Veronica.
“Express my sincerest congratulations to the happy couple. May your marriage be fruitful and filled with endless bliss.” I grin with all my teeth, a calm, razor-sharp smile that says your move, bitch!
“YOU SLUT!” Veronica screeches, grabbing a knife and running over to me. All too quickly, Nadya, Dimitri, Pyper, and Alik are standing in front of me, almost crouching while Misha picks me up. “SEE?! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU SHE’S A LIAR! SHE’S POISON! SHE’S A ZHREAT TO ZE BLOODLINES!”
She’s really swinging a knife at me in front of her whole family. Certified lunatic. This bitch has lost it.
“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU BITCH! YOU’RE RUINING EVERYZHING!” Veronica screeches, knife flashing, and before I can even think about ducking—
The air cracks like thunder and lightning… like literal fucking blue lightning crackles in the ground in between her and I, causing all the glasses to shatter and the room to shake.
Smoke pilfers through the room and I cough, trying to see, waving my hand when I notice I’m in someone’s arms. I finally wave the smoke out of my face I see Misha’s the one holding me, crouched low, growling.
The rumble in his chest so deep it shakes through me, vibrating against my bones like a goddamn earthquake.
Wh-what’s happening? I frown, wanting to ask if he’s okay since the vicious look on his face has my heart in my throat.
His teeth are sharp and long… his hair long and white, his eyes red.
Wha— But the question dies in my head when I see he’s the not the only one like that…
Nadya moves first, too fast, a blur that makes my brain stutter trying to keep up.
One second, she’s seated, the next she’s crouched low, a sound ripping from her throat, guttural and inhuman.
Next to her, Dimitri’s pupils grow wide until his eyes look like pits of black, and when his lips peel back, I swear I see fangs.
Pyper’s arm shoot out across me, protective, her knuckles popping, her painted nails turning into claws and just when I think it’s over, another growl cuts through the tension… lower, rougher, and I’m shaken when I see it comes from Alik.
He’s standing on the opposite side of Misha and I, his face pale, eyes wild, not fully red… but damn close.
His chest heaves like it hurts, and the veins in his neck bulge like he’s trying to hold something in. His hands shake at his sides, his knuckles cracking like Pyper’s, but his fingers bleed as if claws tried to come out but didn’t quite make it.
I turn slightly, eyes wide, but he won’t look at me. His stare is locked on Veronica, jaw clenched, teeth bared like he’s about to pounce, snarling.
“Not again…” someone whispers, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
For a heartbeat, all of them, Misha, Alik, Nadya, Dimitri, even Pyper, stand taut like they will, and I mean this literally, rip someone to shreds if they so much as move.
My head hurts, my chest feels tight… I can’t breathe. I claw at my throat, brain screaming to run, but my instincts… my body keeps me in place and clinging to Misha. Unconsciously, I also grasp onto Alik….
“ENOUGH!” Grandpa Viktor’s slams his cane down onto the floor before he stands, cracking it, making me duck my head in Misha’s chest. Alik blocks any splinters from coming my way as Grandpa Viktor’s thunderous demand crackles across the room.
When I finally look back up, I skip over Grandpa Viktor, feeling a slimy gaze on me when I see Helena standing next to Veronica, seething, glaring me and Alik, who’s still next to me and in my grasp.
“Get your act togezher.” Grandpa Viktor snaps his eyes at his grandchildren, and right before my eyes, I can’t even compute what the fuck I’m seeing when they all go back to normal, leaving me to feel like I was fucking tripping and it never happened in the first place.
Or I so I would think if Alik and Misha weren’t still looking like savages.
“I said stop,” he warns, but Misha glares.
“She threatens our mate, and you vant us to—”
“Misha! Alik, do NOT make me repeat myself a zhird time.” Grandpa Viktor’s eyes flash red. They look at me and just like Pyper, Dimitri, and Nadya, they go back to the people I know, leaving me sweating and unable to fully comprehend all of this shit. Like what?! “Now Veronica, explain yourself.”
“Pakhan! You question me vhen she has made light of zhis sacred ceremony!” Veronica grits out, snatching my focus “She s—”
“She is a guest in my home!” Grandpa Viktor slams his cane down. “Zhis is disrespect!”
“NO, I VOULD N—”
“Shut your mouzh,” he warns Veronica.
“I would never disrespect you, Pakhan,” Helena snarls.
“But even I, who have never seen eye to eye with Veronica, can see she’s right.
Look at Alik…” she pauses and points to Alik.
“When has he ever acted like this? How are we to protect our spouses and families when there might be something dangerous in the house?!” Helena pleads.
“I just want to protect my family from manipulation. We must rid the family of this… this whore!”
Helena’s words hang in the air and Grandpa Viktor grunts.
“I have great respect for you and your family, Helena. And I understand your doubts. However, Constance is a mere human vho’s innocent in zhis, so vatch your tone… and your tongue…”
“Zhat’s bold of you to say when my husband comes home smelling like her daily!” she seethes, eyes flashing, and I cut my eyes to Alik, who flinches and I want to slip the dog piss out of him. “I will ki—”
“You vill vhat?” Misha and Pakhan cut her off in unison, and she cowers.
“I…” Misha steps forward, his authority brooking no argument. With cheeks burning, she goes stiff, while the room stays quiet and freezes over.
“She doesn’t even belong!” Helena grits, and Misha holds me tighter.
“She belongs vhere I say she belongs,” Misha growls, and she huffs, backing down.
“Misha, Dimitri, Nadya, Pyper…Alik, a vord,” Grandpa Viktor mumbles.
“Da, Pakhan,” Dimitri, Nadya, and Pyper stand in unison and go over, but Misha stays with me.
“Are you okay?” he asks, cupping my face.
“Yup,” I mutter, numb.
“Why did you make us hold back?” he looks me over curiously, and I smile even though I don’t feel like it.
“Because her beef wasn’t with y’all, it was with me, and I like to handle my own shit when I can.”
“Strong, Pechenye, but…” He kisses the middle of my palm. “Trust me to handle you and all vork you have from now on.” He looks me in the eye and I smile.
“Misha,” Grandpa Viktor calls, but Misha ignores him and keeps his eyes on me.
“You should go,” I tell him.
“I vill, but when I get back, prepare to leave.” He nods to some guards and they surround me.
“Okay.” I grin and he sets me down. I sink back into the chair until I can literally feel eyes boring into the back of my head, forcing me to stand, take a deep breath, and duck out the side hallway, shaking the guards off through the crowd, and thankfully so because I need to be alone… I need to get myself together.
My heels click fast against the floor like I’m running from a crime scene, and hell, I might as well be because what the fuck was that out there? I knew this shit would blow up in my face, but to this extent?
I don’t know what to do with what I just saw.
I know I pounded down the champagne after finding out Alik had been cheating on me our entire relationship. And I can attest I had one too many but… their bodies literally changed!
Misha’s hair had turned white, and the sound that came from him wasn’t human.
Nadya moved with the unsettling grace of a ghost, while Dimitri’s pupils looked like they harbored demons.
Pyper’s nails… and then there was Alik and the way his face and hands contorted…
it’s all so fucking terrifying to think it was real.
Not to mention… that single, jarring word, mate, keeps floating around in my head, making my heart rattle.
They spoke it like I belong to them in a way that felt deep.
My rational mind wants to dismiss it as some heat-of-the-moment nonsense, possessive sex talk, or just male posturing.
But I feel it in my bones, in my soul, in my damn womb.
Whatever they are, whatever they’ve been hiding beneath the surface, I need it.
I stumble around the hall, trying to make sense of this shit, but the alcohol has my fucking head spinning so much that I grab it. I go to turn back around and head back to the guards, but I run into someone, catching myself and clutching my nose.
“Shit!” I flinch, heart damn near exploding as I stumble back into a pillar. “I’m sor…” I look up at the waiter and freeze, blinking in disbelief.
No.
My chest heaves, and I clutch it, sobering up instantly rubbing my eyes. But by the time my vision clears, the guy is gone, but I know I saw it… His eyes. His jawline. His height.
“D-Dren?” I croak, voice raspy, heart pounding.
“You alright, miss?” another waiter asks me but I run past them, looking for that waiter, even bursting into the kitchen, panicking.
Not him. Not him.
My pulse thunders in my ears as I try to steady myself, every nerve frayed and raw from the jolt of disappointment. I force myself to breathe, tasting the metallic edge of panic, and barely register the apologetic smile from the waiter I’d accosted before turning away, willing my heart to slow.
My body trembles as I press my palm to the cool marble wall, letting the world return to normal in fragments. From the clang of pots, a muttered curse from a chef, to the murmur of voices just beyond the threshold.
When I spot him, I damn near sprint and grab the guy, spinning him around, seething, only for it to not be who I was looking for. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and shake my head, brushing past him.
“S-s-sorry,” I pant. “I… uhm, I thought you were someone else.” I step back, shaking, and he nods before disappearing down the hallway, but I stand there for a second longer, bracing myself on the wall like I might collapse. My heart is still racing, and my hands won’t stop shaking.
I can’t stand here forever.
I force my legs to move, emerging from the kitchen just in time for Misha to sweep me up into his arms, his sheer presence grounding me as he carries me through the gauntlet of stares.
My arms curl around his neck and my mind shuts off because all that matters right now is him… not the betrayal I feel. Not the fear in my heart, not the yearning I feel to drown myself in the very people I don’t even know and just found out they’ve been hurting and lying to me.
But I stamp down the cravings that have spiked since the smoke cleared.
I stamp them down and just focus on Misha as we walk past the shocked faces, the gossiping cousins, and Veronica, who looks like she just swallowed battery acid.
She stands there waiting for Misha’s attention, but he doesn’t look at her once.
And even though I’m the villain in this story… even though I don’t feel proud about this shit at all, I still don’t like her bitch ass, and I’ll take this win. So I tighten my arms around Misha and run my tongue up his neck, looking Veronica in her eyes as I whisper in his ear.
“Fuck me so hard when we get home that you make me forget,” I moan, and doesn’t miss a step, growling loud enough for her to hear.
“Vhatever my Pechenye vants, my Cookie gets.” I smirk at her, smiling devilishly when I see her eyes flash red and her fang-like-teeth grit, anger clouding her face. But I don’t give fuck. It’s all out in the open now, so…
Checkmate, bitch.
To be continued…