Bogdan grinned at her. It wasn’t a nice grin. It was dark and filled with malice. I didn’t like it.
“Your father. We came for him. He had to be killed. He was not alpha, but there was a chance he could have a child of his own. That child could be alpha. A fear…that was true.” He continued staring at Maddy. “I can smell it on you. You are alpha?”
None of us gave him the answer, deciding it was better to keep him in the dark. Maddy was an alpha. She could open the vault, and she could become a werewolf if she drank Edemas’s blood. Not just a shifter like we’d thought, but a full werewolf. A being so powerful that they had ruled over all the shifters of Europe. A being so powerful, thousands of people had spent centuries trying to ensure it never came to pass again.
The prospect terrified me. I could only imagine what was going through Maddy’s head.
“My mission has failed,” Bogdan said, grimacing in pain. “I am a failure. Know this, she-beast. We will never stop. You must not be allowed to rise.”
His arms were unbound because we hadn’t considered him a threat. His leg was destroyed so he was in too much pain to shift. He had no weapons near him, but he still made one final move. He flicked his wrist, and a tiny blade that Felipe hadn’t found snapped out from beneath his sleeve. It was too small to have done any damage to us, but he didn’t plan on attacking us with it. Instead, he drew the blade across his own throat. I screamed as the fan of dark red blood burst out of his neck.
“Oh, holy fuck!” Felipe screamed and jumped back away from the arterial spray.
I grabbed Maddy and turned her from the sight. I was too late, though. She’d seen. I watched the way Bogdan’s eyes had bulged as the blade split his skin open. The man convulsed a few times and gurgled one last wet death rattle before going still.
It was something I’d never forget for the rest of my life. It hurt me to know that Maddy had seen it and would think about it for as long as she lived.
I sat her in my office while Felipe and I hauled the body deep into the woods out back and buried it. Maddy didn’t speak. She seemed stunned or in shock. I couldn’t even think what to say to bring her out of it.
Just before dawn, I came back in with Felipe, sweaty and tired. We walked over to the office, and while Felipe cleaned the blood, I called Luis. It would be almost lunch time in Norway. I was exhausted, and instead of holding the phone to my ear, I placed it on the table on speaker.
“Luis?” I asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
“Is Kenneth there?”
“Hang on.”
There was a rustling sound and Kenneth’s voice came on the line. “This is Ken.”
Sighing, I glanced between Maddy and Felipe before going on. “Kenneth, did you know that David was a full-blooded wolf?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“What I mean is that not only was your father a shifter, but David Samuels’ mother was one as well.”
“No, that’s not true. David’s mother was a human.” Kenneth didn’t sound as sure of himself as he had before.
“Nope. We’ve just had a…let’s call it a conversation with an assassin the royals sent to kill Maddy. David’s birth mother was a shifter. Not only that, she was also a descendant of Edemas.”
“What? That…that can’t be. Dad would have told us.”
“Looks like your old man had a lot more secrets than you realized,” Nico said, chuckling humorlessly.
“Why, though?” Kenneth asked. “Why not tell his own children the truth?”
“I think your father was protecting David. Maybe he thought he might be the one to finally bring about Edemas’s revenge.”
“Jesus,” Kenneth hissed. “You might be right. Dad was always talking about Edemas in more of a happy light than most people do.” He paused. “We need to meet soon. How long until you and Maddy can get to Europe? Until you can, you need to get Maddy into hiding. Immediately.”
“We already have her in hiding at my place.”
“No. That isn’t safe anymore. Hide her some place they’ll never think to look for her,” Kenneth said.
“Why? What’s different now?”
“Look. If what you’re saying is true, then Maddy should have been a shifter since she was a kid. I have no idea why her wolf has been dormant for so many years, but once the royals know their assassin wasn’t successful, they’ll increase the pressure. You have to be more careful. Something bad is coming.”
“Shit, Maddy, what’s wrong?” Felipe asked.
I spun in my seat. Maddy looked terrible. Her face was pale, and her eyes were unfocused.
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