Chapter 35

Eric’s POV

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What is your ETA? You should have been here hours ago.

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Stefan knows my expectations and I have no patience for his usual bullshit. That guy doesn’t give a shit if he lives or dies, which is perfect for me, but he also doesn’t fear me and I find it irritating. He mind-links me back letting me know they are on their way and will be here soon and I’m quite excited to watch Aria’s face when she lays eyes on her boy for the first and last time.

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As I lay in bed I imagine what she will do, and I think about the pleasure I will get when I extinguish Leo and receive the power that is rightfully mine. I always knew, after I killed my dear brother, that something wasn’t quite right. I thought I would feel stronger, and have more abilities, but I just felt the same. The anticipation of what’s to come pleases me and I enjoy thinking of how I’ll kill that little shit until I hear her irritating voice again.

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“Please, Alpha Eric, I need to use the restroom.”

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I thought taking Reece along would help calm me, but I find her to be irritating and nothing more than a distraction. I fully planned to take advantage of that incredible body, to use her as a way to let off some steam, but I can’t think of anything other than my stupid, pathetic nephew.

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I ignore her and get dressed, her whimpering getting more and more infuriating. A part of me would love to just kill the girl to shut her up, but I use restraint. She’ll be waiting for me when this is done and she is young and fertile. As the daughter of an Alpha herself, she is the perfect bloodline to create an heir with.

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As she continues her whining I rush out the door and instruct one of my men to deal with the noisy little bitch and to move her to another room in the house so I don’t have to listen to her when I return.

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“Eric, good morning,” the witch is sitting at the table and slides over a cup of coffee, “is today the day you plan to end it, or are you going to continue to fuck around with this kid longer?” she asks annoyed. “You realize you made a deal? Once the deed is done you get what you want, I get what I want, and my Coven will finally be able to rise again.”

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“All in good time, I’ve waited a long time for this, and I plan to savor every second of it.”

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Grabbing the coffee, I make my way to the underground cell system. I had this house built years ago and there is access to the underground cells through the back side of the garage. I thought my beloved brother would love the idea of having something like this to punish the worst of our enemies, but instead, he was annoyed with me. He told me that there was no need for something like this. I even decorated it with the finest of things, extravagance at every turn. Black marble walls and floors in the mansion above the cells. I had every detail of that home curated specifically for grandeur, for the greatness that our family and status deserve, and my brother took one look at it and was disgusted. He never came back here and told me to get rid of it. I get angry with the memory fleeting through my mind and I pick up the pace and head for the cell that Leo’s in. The sight of him makes the hatred I had for my brother grow anew.

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“Ah, there he is. How’s my boy doing today?” I walk into the cell and he tries to cower away from me, but I don’t let him. I grab him by the hair and force him to look up at me. “Is that any way to greet family?” He doesn’t respond, he just presses his back against the wall and squeezes his eyes tightly shut.

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“You’ll look at me when I stand before you, do you understand?” I yell and I notice his hands are balled into fists as he slowly turns his head and opens his eyes. The clarity in them, the intensity in the way the color stares back at me makes me uncomfortable. His jaw is clenched tight and he’s looking at me like he knows who I am, and there is pure hatred in his eyes. It’s like he’s boring a hole right through me; I find it unsettling.

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“He’s fascinating,” I didn’t even hear the witch follow me down here, and she walks past me up to Leo and glides the back of her long bony fingers against his cheek, breaking his stare. His breath hitches and a muted gasp escapes him at the contact, like he was momentarily shocked or pricked by a pin.

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“Are you sure he and his wolf are separated?” I ask.

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“I’m fairly certain. He’s locked in memories from a time when he didn’t know his wolf existed. He may physically look like a strong young man, the spitting image of your brother, but his brain believes he is a broken and unwanted eleven-year-old boy and you are his tormentor from those memories. Is the big bad wolf, King Eric, frightened of a child?” she asks with a hissing in her voice.

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“My nephew doesn’t frighten me, but I can’t risk it.” Until now I’ve simply left the kid locked in the cell, but the way he just looked at me made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. As I approach him his breathing gets faster and faster and he attempts to back away but the wall prevents him from going any further. I take his wrist with force and I hold it up and wrap the thick metal iron cuff that is cemented into the wall tightly around it.

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He grabs at my arm with his free hand and tries to stop me, clawing at my sleeve, but I quickly grab that hand too and lock it in place so that both his hands are cuffed together and chained to the wall.

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“I didn’t do anything wrong!!! Why are you doing this? Why did you even want me here? YOU COWARD! I HATE YOU!” he screams at me and my wolf rages in my head while anger bubbles up within me. I slap him hard across the face, my claws partially out, and he falls to the ground, his arms yanked up over his head. One more hard slap to the other cheek and he’s left in the dirt and blood is dripping down his cheeks. “I didn’t do anything, I swear it,” he whispers against the stone wall under his breath and the witch stands there with a smirk on her face.

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“You’re lucky he has no sense of reality. But I know. He does frighten you. You reek of it.”

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Roman’s POV

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“Okay, let’s calm down and go inside. Aria, it is so lovely to see you,” Gia taps me on the shoulder and gestures for me to grab Lucas while she takes Aria’s arm and guides her into the house. I tug at Lucas’ shirt and hold him back so that everyone else can go in ahead of us.

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“You need to keep it together, understand? I can’t have you losing your shit right now, not if you want to see Leo alive again.”

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Lucas brushes the dirt off his pants and takes a deep breath. “I want to kill him,” Lucas says.

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“I know, but something isn’t adding up. Why is he here? If he were truly loyal to Eric, why wouldn’t he have gone straight to him? Something doesn’t make sense.”

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We go inside and there is a quiet and uncomfortable electricity in the air. Gia has classical music playing softly in the background and Aria gestures for me to sit beside her. Odette sits next to Lucas and whispers something in his ear, probably telling him to behave in her family’s home.

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“Well, where do we start?” Gia sparks the conversation and Aria and Stefan exchange glances and she takes the lead.

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"Eric has requested my presence. I know that he has Leo, therefore Stefan and I are leaving in a few hours to join him,” she says with confidence.

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“That’s a death wish, Aria. Why would you willingly walk into your own demise?” Odette asks and Aria just smiles sadly.

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“Eric has my son. I may have let him go all those years ago, but I have loved him every minute of every day. My heart aches with the raw pain of letting him go, but I did what I had to do. I will not leave him another day in the hands of that monster.”

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“Then we will go with you,” Lucas says and Stefan responds bluntly.

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“No, we go alone,” he says but doesn’t make eye contact with Lucas.

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“You don’t get a vote you lying sack of shit,” Lucas sits rigidly in his chair and Odette places her hand on his, reminding him of his place.

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“I - I wish I never would have helped Eric. I regret it, I will forever regret my actio-” Lucas stands and interrupts him pounding his fist against the table.

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“People are dead because of you! Don’t you get it? Or do you just not give a shit?”

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Easy Lucas, sit back down and control yourself. Let the man speak and explain himself. I mind-link my beta and he slowly sits down and waits for Stefan to continue, but Aria steps in.

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“Stefan lost everything the day he learned of Sadia’s death. She was with child, and he lost his family in the blink of an eye. Can you imagine your mate and your child both ripped away from you without the chance to say goodbye? Surely you can sympathize with that.” She takes a sip of tea and clears her throat before she continues.

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“It’s been difficult these years watching Stefan unravel with grief, knowing all along that Sadia, and little Ben, were alive and safe. I found her in the woods ripped to pieces, but she was holding on. I imagine for that little one she was carrying. I sent them away to the island. Stefan didn’t know that it was Eric who left her for dead, and I watched him slowly shut down.” She looks at Stefan and takes his hand in hers.

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“I’m truly sorry for what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t try and help you heal. I watched you switch every emotion off,” she looks up at the rest of us, tears in her eyes, and continues. “I knew they were alive and I watched as the light in his eyes dimmed and the smile vanished from his face. I watched for years, knowing I could end the pain. But at what cost? I couldn’t risk all those lives. I had always hoped that one day Eric would be taken out of power, only then would I be able to bring Stefan’s family back to him. But, he found them without my interference.”

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“How did you find them? What were you doing on the island?” I ask, curious about his reasoning for going there in the first place.

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“Angie,” Stefan answers and Lucas’ eyes fly open.

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“Leo’s Angie?” Lucas asks, shocked.

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“Yes. Ru informed me that Eric had taken yet another young human girl for his pet, and she was only seventeen. I couldn’t bear the thought of him destroying another girl, tormenting her. I found her caged in Eric’s bedroom and he was just about to take her when I stopped him. I made up an excuse and got her out of there. It wasn’t until the next day that I found out who she was, and that she knew Leo. Once I found out I knew I couldn’t send her back to her parents. Eric gave me strict instructions to find her, he knew that she was the one other person that Leo cared deeply about and he wanted me to bring her to him, as bait.” Stefan takes a deep breath before he continues, “I didn’t have a plan really. I knew of the island because Augusta trusted me once. I knew I could take her there and that she would be safe. But I didn’t have a plan after that. Get her there. Hide her. Keep her safe. I never...” Stefan stands up and walks to the window and then turns back to us, the look on his face is reflective of a man who has demons within him.

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“... when I saw her, Sadia, my world began to unravel. When my little boy looked at me, not knowing who I was, and my eyes were staring back at me, I was devastated.”

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Stefan pauses, and then his expression goes completely blank. He looks lost.

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“I’m sorry,” he chokes out and then he turns to Aria. “I truly am.” He doesn’t say another word and he walks out of the room. All is quiet for a moment, and the music that was playing in the background has taken a somber turn.

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“I’ll go talk to him,” I say and as I leave the room I can hear Gia call over her staff and request coffee and cakes for her guests.

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I roam the vast property and I find Stefan sitting in one of the sitting rooms.

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“May I?” I gesture to the chair next to his and he solemnly nods. “I’m very sorry for all that you lost, Stefan. I don’t know what kind of pain you felt losing them, nor the pain and betrayal you felt when you found them again. But, I imagine the kind of grief you and your wolf experienced is like no other.”

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“It doesn’t excuse what I did. I helped him. I turned a blind eye and didn’t do anything to stop the evil that grew within him. I helped him find Leo. Christ, he’s just a child and I served him up to Eric on a platter. How do I face my own child knowing the kind of man I am? When he gets older and finds out what I’ve done, how can he possibly respect me? Love me?”

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“You're going to have to live with the choices you made. But, you saved Angie before you even knew Sadia and Ben were still alive. You did that because your heart is good, Stef. And now it’s time to make it right, and to save your future King, to save Leo. We will all be beside you and we will get the boy back.”

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“Lucas may kill me before that,” he says with a sad chuckle.

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“Lucas will get past it. We’ve known each other since we were boys. Shit, he’s your brother-in-law. Deep down he knows the real you. But, you do need to understand that Lucas has a special bond with the boy. Lucas has let Leo into his heart as if he were his own son. He loves him. Lucas is as loyal to Leo as he is to me, and he has taken personal responsibility for losing him to Eric. Certainly, you can understand his anger.”

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Stefan nods and looks out into the horizon. The sun is just coming up over the hills and a fog is building across the grass.

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“We need to leave. Eric has Leo in the tunnels beneath the Runnyford mansion. There is a series of cells below the grounds, and the only way in is through the mansion. It’s heavily guarded, but once I’m inside I can get you in. This isn’t going to be easy Roman, he has the help of a powerful witch. You need to be careful, and you need to trust me. I’m going to make things right.”

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“We will leave by boat from here an hour after your flight leaves, Gia and Odette will ensure we have people to meet us on the coast. You’ll arrive about three hours ahead of us, so you’ll need to make sure Eric doesn’t do anything to Leo or Aria. Understood? You’ll be on your own until we arrive.”

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Stefan acknowledges what I’m saying and just before we reenter the house he tugs at my sweater.

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“What is it?” I ask, eager to get back to everyone and begin making plans.

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“He has Reece, Roman. He took her a few nights ago and has brought her with him.”

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“Jonathan’s sister? What the hell does he want with her?” The question comes out of my mouth and the answer hits me as soon as I ask. “An heir. He needs the Alpha bloodline to produce a true heir once he is the rightful Alpha. Do me a favor, don’t tell Jonathan. I can’t have him make an irrational decision.”

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Without another moment’s wait, I rush into the house, “Let’s go. We need to get to them and we need to do it now. Lucas, gather the others and get the boats ready. Odette and Gia, anyone you can spare would be appreciated. Weapons too. I want Izzy down here immediately, I want to see what is happening with Leo right now. Aria, you and Stefan must leave.”

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Everyone quickly rushes in their assigned directions, and Aria and Stefan quickly head out the door.

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“Be careful,” I hug Aria tight, “you’re going to see your boy and you need to keep your wits about you. Now is not the time to get caught up in emotions. Do what you need to do to protect him.” She hugs me tight and Stefan comes up and shakes my hand.

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“I’ll do everything I can until you arrive,” he says and I know he means it.

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“Here, a phone so that you can contact me, it can’t be tracked. Once you’re inside and are able, let me know. We will go from there.” I say. They get in the car and begin to pull away when a thought occurs to me. I dash after it and slap the trunk and the driver stops abruptly as Aria rolls down her window.

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"When is Leo’s birthday?” I ask and she answers without hesitation.

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“It’s Friday,” she says.