The man’s eyes jerked up to Felipe and then the wrench, and he made a Herculean effort to bring himself under control. The screaming stopped, but he continued to stare at his dangling leg. He started to gibber in a language I didn’t understand.
Nico glanced at Felipe. “What the hell is he saying?”
Felipe shook his head. “Don’t know. Sounds Slavic? Maybe Polish or Czech? No fucking idea.” He slapped the man’s face. “English, motherfucker, English!”
The guy licked his lips and glared at us, then turned his eyes toward me. “She-beast. Is alive. Woman must be…uh…eradicated.”
Nico stepped forward and towered over the man. “Say that again.”
The assassin cowered in fear. “Please. No hurt. Please.” He had a thick accent that made understanding the words difficult.
“Who sent you?” Nico asked. We, of course, already knew, but Nico probably wanted to hear it anyway.
“Orders were…kill female. Kill she-beast. Werewolf cannot resurface.”
I stepped forward, taking strength in Nico and Felipe being right there. “What do you mean? My wolf can’t surface. I’d need Edemas’s blood for that.”
He glared at me and spat on the floor. “Stupid bitch. You know nothing?”
Nico brought a palm across his face, the sound of the slap echoing through the garage. Blood dribbled out of the man’s mouth. “Call her a bitch again and see what happens.”
The man coughed and spat a wad of phlegm mixed with blood on the floor, nodding that he understood. “Fine, yes. No bitch.”
Nico pulled the gun they’d taken from the man’s holster and pressed the barrel against the man’s good knee. “Start talking. Otherwise you’ll need to get fitted for a wheelchair. First off, what’s your fucking name?”
The man stared at the gun in horror and fear before swallowing. “Uh…my name Bogdan.”
“Okay, Bogdan. Tell us what you know.”
“What is known of the…” He stopped himself from saying what he wanted, remembering Nico’s warning. “Of woman’s father?”
Nico lowered the gun. “We know he was killed by the royals because he had some distant relation to Edemas. The last werewolf king. You all are killing all the descendants until the bloodline is totally gone. That’s all we know about you sick fucks. You kill kids.”
Bogdan gaped at Nico, then glanced at Felipe before his gaze finally rested on me. After a few seconds, he barked a laugh. “You know nothing. Father was not killed because he was a distant relative. Father was killed because he was a full-blooded Hollander wolf. The first in three centuries.”
NIKO
“What do you mean he was a full-blooded wolf?” Nico asked.
“Uff, for Americans, you not good at the hearing. I say what I say. David Samuels was a full-blooded wolf.”
“How is that possible?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Bogdan took a deep breath and winced at his leg again, trying to find a more comfortable position. “You know the story of Edemas, yes? That he sent away two children? A boy and a girl?” We all nodded. We remembered the story. Bogdan nodded. “Good, yes. He split the babies up. Both were pureblood. Both alpha. The boy he sent to a pack of wolves that worship Edemas. They were almost like a cult. Fanatics. They ensured the boy only had children with other wolf shifters. None”-he paused for emphasis-“of his offspring were alpha. Not one ever. None of his line carried the werewolf gene. Edemas wanted his progeny to survive, but mostly because he wanted an uprising. A resurgence of the werewolf to rise up and cast down the new royals and avenge him. No alpha? No uprising. Simple.”
“What about the girl?” I asked.
Bogdan shrugged. “Girl is girl. Much harder to track lineage. Last name changes. Women, especially in the past, were sent away for marriage more often. Hard to trace. The boy? We killed all of his line.” He looked pleased with himself after mentioning the last part.
“You think it’s something to be proud of that you all butchered babies and children?” I growled, my voice icy and cold.
Bogdan looked confused. “But is abomination. All must be wiped out. No descendants, no werewolves. You must see.” He nodded toward me. “It is why she cannot be allowed to live.”
Felipe tapped the man’s bad knee with the barrel of his pistol, eliciting a scream of pain. While he screamed, Felipe shouted to be heard. “You’ll want to stay on the story, big guy. Any more talk about Maddy, and I’ll personally put a bullet into your crotch.”
Bogdan got himself under control again, nodding and wiping sweat from his forehead. “Yes. The royals got too comfortable. We all assumed that the girl had died or that her line had run its course. We were wrong. She had created a family with a human man. Their children created their own families.” He made a spreading motion with his fingers. “You see? But the blood was diluted with each generation. No longer a threat. Or so the royals believe. A great-great-granddaughter of Edemas’s child found a man. They fall in love, they mate. The man? He is wolf shifter. The boy that was born? He is not an alpha, but he has the strongest blood link to Edemas. Rumors come that a boy is showing signs of resurgence of the Edemas werewolf line. The couple go into hiding, knowing the royals will come for them.” Bogdan raised an eyebrow. “What better hiding place than a whole new world.” He raised his arms and gestured around us.
I nodded. “They came to America to hide.” It made sense. Run as far as you can.
“Yes. They hide, and for a time are successful. The boy that was born began his own bloodline. His son grew to a man and met a shifter woman.” Bogdan, despite his injury, grinned. “This is where story gets good. We only discovered this after blood tests. The pair were actually related. Very distant cousins. Both carried the blood of Edemas in their veins. The odds are millions to one that this should happen. They had a son, a single child. He was not an alpha, either, but never before, in three hundred years, had the blood been so pure again. He was unable to shift, of course, but he still had power in his blood.” He looked at me and waggled his eyebrows. “Have you figured out who that boy was yet?”
Maddy nodded. “David Samuels?”
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