Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
NATALIE
There’s something to be said about this curse.
Sure, everyone talks about the heightened senses but no one has even bothered to mention the fucking headache that seems to greet me every time I open my eyes.
I’ve been hungover before—well, more times than I’d care to admit.
A hangover doesn’t come anywhere close to the hammer chipping away at my skull.
It has only begun to worsen the closer we get to the blood moon, and if this is just a preview, I’m not so sure I’ll want to wake up after transforming.
“We’ve got to quit meeting like this, little wolf,” Nik says as I try to sit up, his arm draped over me as if to keep me from rolling off the side of the guest bed.
He grins, and while it does nothing to ease the steady throbbing at my forehead, it does calm the surrounding noises of the castle.
Easier to focus on him and tune everything else around me out, I suppose.
“Someone forgot to mention exhaustion was a side effect of using their abilities,” I say and rub my temples, wincing through the pain. “How long was I out this time?”
He places his thumb and forefinger at my chin, tilting it toward him and inspecting my eyes and face. “A few hours. We just missed dinner.”
“We? You didn’t eat anything?”
He smiles again and shakes his head. “I’ll live.”
“And Jade? Will she …?” I think back to the chamber.
To the way I became a puppet to the thing lurking inside me, only able to watch as it pulled the deadliest strings.
Her, pinned beneath me. My claws dragging down her torso and tearing the flesh to ribbons.
I would’ve said it was a dream if I didn’t still have her blood beneath my fingernails.
“The heiress is resting, but she will make a full recovery according to Dimitri.” He brushes the hair away from my face.
“I’m assuming since we’re still here and not on a plane back to Russia, Clément wasn’t too upset?”
Nik laughs. “The alpha was furious.”
I sit up in an instant, fighting the soreness of my abdomen. “What?”
“He demanded to see every hand-to-hand specialist in the castle. Needless to say, their training methods have been called into question after his daughter couldn’t walk away from a fight with a pup.
” There’s no hint of remorse in his voice.
It’s as if what I did to Jade is no different than knocking over an expensive vase, never mind the fact I almost killed her.
“You warned me.” I sink back down into the bed, my grip tightening on the comforter at my chest. “You told me what she’d do. How I needed to keep my emotions in check, but I couldn’t. Not when …”
“She mentioned how you were turned,” he says with a resigned sigh.
A pit settles just below my rib cage, and in an instant, the same fiery rage that nearly took Jade’s life returns and scorches my insides. My heartbeat triples within seconds, galloping at unmatched speed.
“Easy.” Nik grabs me by each shoulder, holding me in place. “Breathe.”
I suck in a large breath but it shudders out of me uncontrollably. Everything from my skin to the blood circulating beneath it runs at a boiling temperature. I’m honestly shocked the blankets and bedframe don’t combust.
“Listen to my voice. Control it.” The sounds of the castle dampen behind his words.
He brings his eyes level with mine, giving me nowhere else to look in the room but him.
The gold isn’t the most alluring part of them, not right now.
There’s a hint of something else. Something a shade darker than the blood staining my fingertips.
I’ve seen it before but only in small glimpses.
This time it lingers, like the color is simply holding its breath and waiting to return to its usual hue.
His grip on me loosens an inch. “Good. Now, focus on your heart rate. Deep, calming breaths.”
I do as he says, even though a part of me wants nothing more than to jump out of this bed and finish the job I started in the chamber with Jade.
“Are you still with me, Natalia?”
I slam my eyes shut and nod, willing the beast taking control of my body to sit in the backseat.
This is ridiculous. Why? Why is the topic of how I was turned getting to me?
Is it because Viktor made the choice for me?
Or is it the way Jade paraded the information around like some red fucking herring?
I force down the stomach acid hitting the back of my tongue and writhe against the mattress, fighting every deadly thought passing through my head.
“What he did to you isn’t your fault,” Nik says, the hard edge in his voice smoothing over.
Tears fill the corners of my eyes, and I take another labored breath. I know it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask for this. For Viktor to bite me. But that doesn’t change the fact he did. The way I can hear and smell things no human should be able to. Because I’m not human. At least, not anymore.
My heart rate finally slows to something a cardiologist might consider normal after minutes if not hours.
Sure, there’s a part of me ready to call upon that rage again should the topic of my turning come into question, but it doesn’t.
No, Nik and I sit in the silence of this small room, neither of us saying a single word.
It's quiet in the castle tonight, well, quiet to the untrained ear. There’s still a dozen guards posted out front judging by the different heartbeats.
They don’t say much, and when they do, the conversations are too French to pry.
I tried to keep an ear on Nik after he left for something “important” according to him but lost him somewhere in the maze.
Could I follow his scent? Probably. I haven’t had trouble tracking him before.
Not when the distinct and alluring smell of him stands apart from every other person here.
There’s something else I do sense, though.
And it doesn’t matter where it is on the property, I can feel the familiar sensation pitting my stomach.
Silver. It’s funny to think I used to wear a silver necklace for protection when now I’m not so sure I can even touch it without consequence.
Somehow, the Duval pack has trained themselves to not only tolerate silver but show no signs of discomfort from it.
Clément wasn’t in pain watching Nik remove the chains in the chamber that day.
No, if anything, the alpha seemed amused while the pair of us could barely stand.
I toss the thought around long enough for new guards to relieve the ones posted outside.
More footsteps over the rocky terrain, and enough heartbeats to count individually.
Nik’s scent continues to dissipate the longer he’s gone, but in its absence, something else catches my heightened senses.
It doesn’t veer in the same direction he went after leaving me here.
This heavenly aroma is coming from somewhere near the front of the castle.
The dining hall. I fight the hunger cramps with small sips of water from the glass on our nightstand, but even that is near empty.
Nope. I’m staying right here like he told me to.
I would have a deathwish to wander around the property alone, especially after what happened in the chamber with Jade.
I need to stay put and wait for him to come back. I’m staying right here.
Another whiff, and my insides hate me for it.
Fuck.
I maneuver the halls using my nose alone. The strong scent of freshly grilled meat only grows stronger with each section I pass. And when I reach the portraits of past alphas, I push onward, ignoring the five or six sets of glowing red eyes following my every move.
The dining hall is empty at first glance.
Most of the tables are set with plates, cups, and the empty trays normally filled each morning during breakfast. The room feels bigger.
Almost hollow without an army of wolves occupying each seat and muttering to themselves in a language I don’t understand.
That’s not what has a chill racing down my spine, though.
It’s the heartbeats. There’s two. Two distinct palpitations thrumming in my ears.
One is steady and coming from the kitchen.
The other keeps a steady cadence when I stumble inside, vibrating a small booth at the far corner of the room.
My chest tightens as a pair of glowing green eyes find mine.
You have got to be shitting me …
Jade fucking Duval.
I’m not sure what spiritual being I managed to piss off during my lifetime, but apparently one of them has added me to their list of divine retribution.
The last person I’d ever want to see again rests over the table, white bandages wrapped around her torso splotched in long and dark red lines.
She notices the way I wince and does her best to hide them, not that it helps.
Not when the scratches on her face have only begun to scab, leaving stray claw marks on full display and hours away from healing.
My limbs turn to ice. Stay in the room and wait for him.
How fucking hard was that? Now, I’m staring down the wolf who wants me dead, her intense green glare widening with curiosity as my entire body stiffens.
A sizzle comes from the kitchen, the sound barely audible above my heart rate pounding my chest into submission.
Jade tilts her head to the side and lifts a brow. Shit. She can hear my heartbeat, too.
Okay, no big deal. I’ll just do what Nik taught me.
Breath in, hold it for three seconds, let it out slowly.
Easy enough. Never mind the fact I am trading glances with the primary suspect should my body get discovered in a ditch.
Worst of all, she’s calm. Unnervingly at ease. Her heart hasn’t lurched an inch.
“I—I should go,” I say and turn on my heel. Before I can make it past the threshold, her voice raises above the kitchen noises.
“Claudé is nearly finished. Have you eaten?”