Chapter 18
Creed
I was beyond thrilled with the way things were going with Aurora and not because it was selfish. Yes, I wanted more with her.
Yes, I needed her to be ready so we could mate and I could be helped.
But it was so much more than that. She was getting to know herself and finally feeling whole with all of the help she was getting. The support.
And maybe even what was happening between us was helping. No, I didn’t think oral sex just solved everything. I wasn’t that big of a dipshit as a man.
It was hard to explain. People who had been through too much understood how much else was helped when they found someone good and treated them the way they deserved to be treated. That was beyond important.
It really was.
There was just one thing I needed as a man before we could take that last step.
And it probably made me a petty man. I could even accept that.
I didn’t care. I needed to do it, and luckily Ha-joon was on my side understanding this. So was the male head attorney at ASH who was a lion, Gerald, because he was the one who convinced Ellie it was fine and pulled the strings.
A guard came in first holding the arm of a vampire and shock rocked me to my core. I simply blinked for a moment.
Because Kenneth Reed was far from the troll Aurora had described.
He was a normal, actually attractive man.
Wow, looks really aren’t everything, and what a person is inside can really affect how people see them. I swallowed loudly at that thought because I would have to always remember this.
Especially because I liked the way Aurora looked at me now and appreciated my physical appearance. I didn’t want that to ever change and certainly not to the point it influenced her perception of her former husband.
Kenneth curled his lip at me. “The bitch didn’t even have the guts to come see me herself? What bullshit is this?” He shot an annoyed look at the guard. “You told me Aurora was here.”
The guard shoved him into the chair across the table from me. “You really hear whatever you want to. You asked why you had a visitor and I said it had to do with your ex-wife and that was all I knew.” The guard locked Kenneth’s cuffs to the table and I snickered.
Kenneth didn’t get it, but the guard did, barely suppressing the smirk.
“Standard protocol?” I checked, nodding that I wasn’t offended when the guard confirmed it was.
“So Aurora sent some lackey to apologize for all she’s done?” Kenneth demanded when he realized the focus wasn’t on him.
I raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine a single fucking thing she would need to apologize to you for.”
He looked at me as if I was soft in the head. “The bitch betrayed me. She was—she hid my daughter from me and—”
“So Theresa didn’t go through the same thing you put Aurora through because she knew you were such a monster even your own daughter wouldn’t be safe,” I drawled. “And you knew. You found out.”
Rage filled his eyes at being called out, but then I saw confusion. “There’s no way Aurora told you all of that. She’s a broken bitch. Always has been, and—why are you here on her behalf?”
“I’m not. I’m here for my own reasons.”
He looked at the guard. “Then what does this have to do with my idiot wife?”
“Ex-wife,” we both said, but mine was a deep growl.
And that was when Kenneth connected the dots. His fangs slid out as he turned back to me. “That fucking—”
“You disparage my mate again and they’re going to be cleaning your entrails off the fucking walls,” I warned him, my voice tight.
“Please don’t do that to me,” the guard mumbled. “I need this job.”
Well shit. I let out a slow breath and gave a sharp nod.
“Mate?” Kenneth mocked. “You’re stupid enough to mate used goods like her? Broken goods even because I bred her for years and—”
“She learned how to keep from getting pregnant so there wasn’t another child for you to abuse or sell off later?
” I drawled. I chuckled when he did a double take.
“Oh please. You had to have an heir to take over the coven, but after that she couldn’t bear to know you would just sell off the daughter you would have because you were cursed. ”
“No, that’s—”
“You really are as stupid as people have said,” I muttered, playing it up because what he’d said pissed me off so bad. “I knew your brother and cousin both did everything they could to oust you, but—you really are a fool and had no clue.” I shook my head.
“I knew exactly what was going on,” he snapped.
“Oh yeah, and you just willingly let them ruin you?”
“It’s called an addiction for a reason,” he hissed even as he forced his fangs to retract.
“I didn’t realize you’ve finally acknowledged your gambling addiction,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t make up for the rest.”
“Who I am doesn’t explain why you would take a married woman as your mate like—”
“Yeah, so I don’t consider Aurora ever having been married,” I finally, finally confessed. I shrugged when his mouth hung open. “She never consented and—”
Kenneth snorted. “That doesn’t matter when—”
“No, it actually does,” I purred. “I read the laws back then. The laws of the land said she had to consent, asshat. Yes, fathers could sign marriage contracts and deals were made, but to have an actual marriage back there, she had to have given her vows in front of a man of the cloth to sign off on her consent. That never happened, did it?”
I smiled like the cat who ate the canary and the predator I was all in one. It was fairly amusing when he couldn’t seem to recover or his tiny mind exploded.
“So she was sold to a monster who did monstrous things and I’m not the type of man who holds crimes against the damn victim,” I continued. “Unless you can honestly tell me that she came to you of her own free will—even once—then no, she wasn’t married. She was sold illegally and abused. By you.”
“Dayumn,” the guard said under his breath, clearly amused by all of this.
Good. I was glad people in the prison hated Kenneth Reed as well.
That meant he wouldn’t be getting any favors or treated well.
“That’s all nonsense,” Kenneth finally said dismissively when he snapped out of it.
“It’s really not, you fucking narcist,” I drawled. “You can’t just dismiss anything that doesn’t fit your narrative.”
“Then why are you here?” he snapped.
“I had to see who you really were,” I admitted.
Something dark filled his eyes. “Yeah, smart to not trust that lying bitch. She betrayed me at every turn working with the elders to—”
“You really are fucking clueless and a pathetic man,” I whispered, shaking my head when he started yelling and calling me names. “You say she was your wife, but you couldn’t even protect her.” I nodded when he froze. “You weren’t the only monster who abused her in that coven.”
The understanding filled his eyes, but he was angry then. “That stupid bitch. She let them trick her and didn’t even come to me so I knew and could—”
“Handle it?” I snorted. “You’re pissed that she ‘let’ it happen to her.
Are you fucking hearing yourself? That was your job.
Your one job was to protect her if you wouldn’t ever be a husband in the rest of the ways you should have been.
Other women were sold back then, but not all of them were raped in such horrid ways.
“You ‘bred her,’ right? And you think she would ever have come to you for anything? Like why, man? You can’t be this stupid.
You weren’t on her side. You didn’t protect her.
You were her abuser. And such a stand-up guy I’ve heard over and over again that the only reason your coven didn’t fall apart much sooner was Aurora handling things. ”
“She didn’t handle anything,” he lied. “I handled it all. I had to lock her away because she was a tart who flirted and lured in—”
“You’re fucking delusional,” I whispered, blinking at him. “I thought you had… You think this is true.”
“It is and you weren’t there,” he bellowed, slamming his hands on the table.
“No, but others were, asshole,” I snarled.
“Ellie was there and she was clear that Aurora never flirted or acted anything but loyal to your stupid ass. Others were there and witnessed the same. Aurora is kind and people respond to that. Stupid men think that is flirting or showing favoritism. That’s not how real life works. She was kind. That’s it.”
“Oh right, then tell me how you were lured in by someone with so many issues?” He saw or sensed something that gave away this was a point to hit. “You can act like it’s fine, but you’re here. I will always be a part of your mating. I had her first and she won’t ever forget me. Not when I’ve—”
“No, she won’t,” I agreed. “Nor should she. I want her to always remember what she was brave enough to survive. She survived you. She’s not holding onto you like a lover she can’t let go.”
“Bullshit. I’m all she’s known and—”
“Fucker, it wasn’t your godsdamn name she was screaming as I pleased her,” I snapped, hitting my limit with this asshole.
I stood and adjusted my neck. “This was stupid. It was a waste of my time. You are a scar she’ll heal from.
I can’t believe I was petty and gave you this much importance to call in favors and come see you myself. ”
“Oh please,” Kenneth chuckled darkly. “We both know why you really came.”
“Is that so?” I asked, actually wondering if this asshole could know. It sounded idiotic, but he was centuries old.
He had to have some intelligence to have lasted that long, right? Especially given how many people and groups had been looking for me.
Kenneth smirked as he sat back in his seat, ignoring when he couldn’t go all the way because of his restraints.
Okay, maybe he really was an idiot. I had a hard time not rolling my eyes.
“Of course. You want to know if she screams with you the way she screamed with me,” he mocked. “You want to hear about the screams of her first time and—”
My lion lunged inside of me, roaring and reacting fiercely enough my body actually moved. The guard swore under his breath, but I got my lion under control.