جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

KAZIMIR I took Dimitri’s advice. I let Ariel be. Just for the night. The estate was just as I left it. Not empty, I could hear the staff in the kitchen quietly cleaning up, the hum of the heating system and the distant creak of old bones settling. But there was a weight to the silence. A tension. Like the house itself was holding its breath. I didn't go to Ariel's room. Didn't check on Evie. Didn't do any of the things that my wolf was screaming at me to do. Instead, I went to Lev's lab. -————————————- The lab was as clinical as always. White walls. Stainless steel. The sharp, clean smell of antiseptic. I hated coming here, it reminded me of hospitals in a bad way. Lev was hunched over a microscope, his back to the door, his shoulders tense. He was dressed in casual clothes, something that closely resembled Christmas pajamas. The lab was his favourite place to be. Years ago, I had gifted him a state of the arts lab in the house so he wouldn’t have to spend all his time at h

ARIEL The study was empty. I'd been watching the door for twenty minutes, hidden in the shadows of the hallway and counting the seconds between footsteps. Kazimir had gone to Lev's lab an hour ago. Dimitri and Nikolai had left the estate, I'd seen their car disappear down the driveway. The maids were in the kitchen. The guards were at their posts. This was my chance. The door opened easily, no lock, no security code. Either Kazimir was careless, or he was arrogant enough to believe no one would dare enter his private space. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The study was everything I expected. Dark wood. Heavy curtains. And a fireplace that had gone cold. Bookshelves lined with leather-bound volumes that probably hadn't been opened in years. A desk the size of a coffin, papers stacked in neat piles, a laptop dark and waiting. And everywhere, the scent of him. Cedar and smoke and the musk that reminded me of him. Something that made my wolf sit up and pay attentio

KAZIMIR I didn't sleep a wink. The study was dark now, the fire burned down to embers and the whiskey decanter half empty. I sat in the chair behind my desk, the same desk where she'd been pressed against the wood, her back arching, her mouth on mine, and tried to remember why I hated her. Blondeau, I told myself. Traitor's daughter. Enemy. But my lips still tingled where she'd bitten them. My hands still remembered the curve of her waist. My wolf was still pacing beneath my skin, restless and hungry and demanding more. I pressed my palms against my eyes and groaned. "Get it together," I muttered. "She's only playing you." Because that was the only explanation that made sense. Ariel didn't kiss me because she wanted me. She kissed me because she was hiding something, because she'd been caught in my study, because she needed a distraction and because I was a means to an end. I was being used. And the worst part? I didn't care. I wanted her to use me again. -—————————————-

ARIEL The bug sat on my nightstand like a loaded gun. I'd been staring at it for an hour. Maybe two. Time had stopped meaning much since the kiss, since his mouth on mine, his hands on my waist and his voice saying I can't stop like it was a confession and a curse all at once. I should have planted it. I'd had two chances. Two chances to save my daughter, and I'd failed both times because of him. Because when he kissed me, I forgot how to breathe. Because when he looked at me with those dark, hungry eyes, I forgot why I was supposed to hate him. Stupid, I thought. So stupid. I picked up the bug. Turned it over in my fingers. It was small, smaller than a button, matte black and designed to disappear. Viktor had chosen it carefully. He'd chosen everything carefully. The meeting spot. The deadline. The way he'd looked at me when he said three days. Three days. Today was day two. I set the bug down and looked around the room. Evie was asleep in the bed, her small body curled

ARIEL The house was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that meant everyone was asleep, or pretending to be. I'd waited until the clocks struck two, until I didn't hear any staff down the hall, until the silence had settled over the estate like a blanket. And then, I moved through the darkness like a ghost. The study door was locked. I shouldn't have been surprised. After the kiss, after he'd found me in here once already, he wasn't stupid enough to leave it unguarded again. But the lock was old, a simple deadbolt, nothing fancy. He'd never expected anyone to try. I pulled the pick set from my pocket and got to work. It took longer than I wanted, because it had been a while since I picked a lock. My hands were shaking. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like footsteps. But finally, finally, the lock clicked, and I slipped inside. The study smelled like him. I hated how familiar it was. How my body relaxed slightly at his scent, like it was coming home. I was repulsed by it.