WHEN HE REMEMBERS

Ginnie**

No. No, no, no…

My knees weakened, and the whole world narrowed to the man standing before me. I took a stumbling step back, my spine hitting the desk behind me as the memories crashed into me like tidal waves.

He looked…different.

The Varkos I knew from six years ago had been a nightmare wrapped in human flesh…but this version? This version of him looked like the nightmare had finally found a body worthy of it.

“….You.” His eyes scanned me slowly, deliberately, as though peeling away each layer of my defenses, “What the hell are you doing here?”His voice was a low, lethal growl, vibrating through the quiet room.

My fingers trembled against the edge of the desk. I forced myself to drop my gaze to the floor, but it was too late.

Fucking hell!

He still remembers my face after all these years!

Before I could part my lips to speak, his hand snapped forward, gripping my chin with cruel precision as he forced my face up to meet his eyes. 

“I never forget a face,” he murmured, voice deep and deadly soft. “Especially not yours, little human slave.”

“A-Alpha Varkos,” I forced words out of my dry throat, “I… I didn’t know this was…. I didn’t mean to—”

“Shut the fuck up!” He snapped, raising a hand to his lips to silence me. The command rolled over my skin like fire and I shut my mouth instantly.

His grip tightened, thumb pressing under my jaw, forcing my head up until my spine strained, “Look at me,” he growled.

I didn’t want to—not when looking at him felt like staring into the eyes of every nightmare I’d spent six years trying to forget. But my body obeyed him, trembling violently.

“Why are you here?” His voice held no warmth, only cold curiosity. Like he was examining a creature he thought he had killed years ago.

“I—I got a job here,” I whispered, forcing my voice steady, “As a maid. That’s all. I’m just… cleaning the study.”

A tiny sneer tugged at his mouth.

“Ironic,” he murmured, “It’s no coincidence that after all these years, you crawl right back into a Lycan’s den.” He leaned closer—so close that I could feel the heat of his breath on my cheek.“Tell me, Ginnie…”

My heart jumped at the sound of my name in his voice. A name I thought he was never supposed to remember. “…did I look like a damn fool to you?”

He lifted my chin higher, forcing my pulse to the surface of my throat. One wrong word, and he’d rip me apart. “I didn’t know you lived here,” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Stop lying to me,” he said softly. “I can hear your heartbeat pounding like a caged animal.”

Tears burned behind my eyelids, but I forced them back, locked them in my chest the way I had learned to survive all these years. Before I could speak again, his hand slid from my chin but didn’t release me. Instead, it curled around the back of my neck, gripping the fragile base of my skull.

“Now listen very carefully, human,” he growled, his voice dropping to a tone that sent chills through me. “No one must know what happened between us that night…it never existed. They should never get to know that I fucked a human slave, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes,” I whispered, my voice coming out as a whisper, “I…I understand.”

His grip tightened painfully around my neck. “If a single soul in this mansion finds out…” his breath brushed my ear, sending a shiver down my spine—not from desire, but from the knowledge that he could end me with just a snap of his fingers. “I will personally tear your spine from your body, and anyone connected to you.” 

Something inside me snapped the moment he said anyone connected to me. Lily! He can never find out about her.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I gasped, my voice cracking from the pressure of his grip on my neck. “I swear it…I swear on my life.”

“Good,” he murmured. “Because your life is worth nothing to me.” Then he shoved me back—not violently, but carelessly, as though touching me any longer was distasteful.

I stumbled, nearly falling against the desk.

“Get the fuck out of my study,” he growled, turning away from me, “before I change my mind.”

Without looking back, I burst through the study doors and slammed them shut behind me. My footsteps echoed like gunshots against the marble floors as I made my way through the hallway

Oh, God.

Varkos was here.

Breathing the same air as my daughter.

The hallway blurred for a moment before I steadied myself against the wall. Lily….my precious baby. If he ever found out—

I gripped my stomach, fighting to hold myself together, forcing my breath into something that wouldn’t betray me.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the staff corridor, gasping as I fumbled with the key to open the door, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Get a grip on yourself, Ginnie!

The door finally swung open—

And Lily lifted her head from the bed, her eyes sleepy, innocent, unaware of the monster who walked these halls.

“Mummy?” she whispered.

I closed the door behind me and sank to the floor, the weight of the world crushing my spine, “Shh,” I gestured with my hands, crawling toward her. “I’m here, baby…mummy’s here.”

She sat up, and her small arms wrapped around my neck.

“I missed you,” she whispered.

A broken sob slipped from my chest before I could stop it. I buried my face in her hair, inhaling her warmth, her tiny heartbeat pulsed against my skin, fragile and alive.

How could I ever tell her that her father despised me so much? Not to talk of when he gets to know that she’s his. 

No. 

And in that moment, one truth struck me harder than fear: I would burn this entire mansion down to ash before I let Varkos lay a single finger on Lily.