Kane POV:
I didn’t know what to feel. Grateful? Grateful that Dean had arrived in ti to stop from making the worst mistake of my life—taking advantage of Elena in her condition? Or furious? Furious that he had taken her away, leaving to wrestle with the haunting guilt and a volcanic rage I couldn’t seem to extinguish.
She was mine. My mate. My responsibility. And yet, in her most vulnerable mont, I’d nearly let my wolf consu her, nearly let the heat drive to the brink of ruining everything.
And Dean. That bastard. He didn’t take her out of concern. No, he saw an opportunity to get under my skin, to play his twisted gas, and he seized it with both hands. He always had a knack for exploiting weakness. And right now, my weakness was her.
I needed to find them. The thought of Elena in his hands, in her vulnerable state, made my wolf howl in anguish.
I began tracking him, piecing together every scrap of information I could. Dean didn’t exactly hide his movents, and his arrogance ant he left a trail. He frequented Ashley’s place—a known indulgence of his—and often loitered around the pub. But it was the whispers about him being seen erging from the eastern woods that set my instincts on edge.
The cottage.
Of course. Dean wasn’t the type to settle anywhere permanent, but that damn cottage—it was his playground for whatever debauchery he was indulging in at the mont.
My fists clenched as I stord out of the house, my determination burning hotter with every step. I could feel the bond to Elena pulsing faintly, a weak but unrelenting tug that fueled my need to protect her.
Dean wouldn’t get away with this.
Not this ti.
The cottage lood ahead, a place I’d sworn never to revisit. Dark mories clawed at the edges of my mind, mories I had tried—and failed—to bury. Dean, ever the master of stirring chaos, had dragged back here, to the very shadows I despised.
I moved quickly, my wolf clawing at with urgency, driven by the faint bond pulling toward her. The mont I stepped inside, her scent hit —a heady mix of her arousal and distress, thick in the air. My stomach churned, my heart pounding against my ribcage. Had I co too late?
Following the trail, I reached the bathroom door, her scent stronger now, almost overwhelming. My hand trembled as I pushed it open.
There she was.
Elena lay naked in the tub, the ice lting around her fevered body. Her cheeks were flushed, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and her heat still clung to her like a tangible force. My heart shattered and roared all at once.
And then I saw him.
Dean stood there, his eyes fixed on her, his expression a mix of hunger and mockery. He was basking in the tornt he’d caused, reveling in the twisted power play that only he could find amusent in. The scent of her arousal clung to him too, and the rage that erupted within was blinding.
Filthy bastard. He’d touched her.
The guilt hit first—a crushing wave of failure. I hadn’t been there to protect her. And now...now she was at the rcy of his twisted gas. But the anger swallowed the guilt, turning into a burning inferno.
Without a second thought, I launched myself at him, my claws bared, my wolf surging forward with unrelenting fury. I wanted to tear him apart, rip him limb from limb for daring to lay a hand on her.
But Dean, always the slippery bastard, evaded with his vampiric speed. He moved like a shadow, darting from one corner to the next, taunting with every word that fell from his mouth.
"She gave herself to willingly, Kane," he said, his voice dripping with mockery. "So sweet, so eager... Screaming my na while I made her mine."
"Liar!" I roared, swinging at him again, but he was gone before my claws could make contact.
"She’s exquisite, isn’t she?" Dean continued, his words slicing through like blades. "Her heat drew to her like a moth to a fla. And you? You were too late to stop it."
I couldn’t think, couldn’t reason. All I saw was red, and all I felt was betrayal. Not from Elena—I knew she wasn’t herself, that the heat had consud her. But from Dean. He had taken advantage of her vulnerability, used her against in the cruelest way.
"You touched her," I growled, my voice a guttural snarl.
"And she wanted it," he sneered, his smirk widening as he dodged another attack. "Don’t be so hard on yourself, brother. It’s not your fault she found what she needed in ."
Each word chipped away at my restraint, and though I knew he was lying—he had to be—his taunts burrowed into my mind like venom.
I would make him pay. For every word, for every touch, for every second he stood there with that smug look on his face.
As Dean’s taunts continued, his words dug into old wounds I’d tried to seal long ago. He ntioned Laura—my first submissive, the one who’d unknowingly opened the door to my darker desires. Back then, Dean and I were inseparable, almost like twins, before the rift ford between us. He had been the one who urged to explore the world of dominance and submission when I confessed my curiosity about it.
Laura... She had been eager, naïve, and captivated by the darkness I offered. But then, Dean had fooled her, using his uncanny resemblance to to manipulate her into believing she was submitting to . The mory of discovering the betrayal still clawed at . Her cries of sha and fear when I punished her echoed in my mind, but it wasn’t just her I was furious with—it was him.
Dean had always raveled in the chaos he caused, and back then, I let it slide more often than I should have. But Laura had been the line he crossed, the mont I realized how dangerous it was to let him too close to what was mine. Her punishnt had been harsh, perhaps harsher than it should have been. But I’d wanted to brand the lesson into her mind: I am not Dean. I am not to be confused with Dean.
Now, as he stood before in this cursed cottage, his voice was a knife twisting in that old scar.
"Oh, Laura," Dean drawled, a wicked grin on his face as he darted out of my reach once more. "Do you rember her, Kane? How she scread under your touch, under your discipline? You let join in, didn’t you? Back when we were brothers, before you beca this uptight, self-righteous version of yourself."
"Shut up," I growled, but my voice was strained.
"Do you miss it, Kane?" he taunted, circling like a predator. "The way you used to let the darkness take over, to consu you? I can see it now, clawing its way to the surface. Don’t fight it. Elena would thrive under that side of you. She’d crave it, beg for it."
I clenched my fists, my claws digging into my palms. I knew what he was doing. Dean was trying to trigger , to awaken the dominant side of that I kept locked away, the side that he had once encouraged to embrace without limits.
But Elena wasn’t Laura. She wasn’t anyone else I’d known before.
She was my mate.
And I would protect her—from her heat, from Dean, and most importantly, from the darkest parts of myself that he was so desperate to unleash.
"You’re wasting your breath, Dean," I said, my voice low and dangerous. "Elena is not yours to toy with. And you’ll regret every second you spent trying."
Dean’s smirk faltered, just for a mont, and I seized the chance, lunging for him again. This ti, I wouldn’t miss.
I managed to land one solid blow, my fist connecting with Dean’s jaw. The satisfying crack of impact was short-lived, though. He recovered with that infuriating smirk, wiping the blood from his lip as if my hit was nothing more than an annoyance.
And then, with his damned vampiric speed, he darted past , scooping Elena into his arms.
"Dean, don’t you dare!" I roared, spinning to chase him, but he was already gone, zooming down the hall and into a room I had vowed never to bring Elena into.
The playroom.
My stomach churned as I stord after them, dread and rage twisting together into a storm inside . That room held mories I wanted buried, monts of darkness that were mine alone to carry. It wasn’t a space for her—it was a cage for the beast I kept chained within .
Dean was doing this on purpose. He wasn’t just trying to provoke ; he was trying to drag into the very shadows I fought so hard to keep at bay. He wanted to beco the man I’d been before, the one he helped mold—dominant, unyielding, and lost in a spiral of control and punishnt.
Bursting into the room, I was greeted by the sight of Dean laying Elena gently on the padded bench, her body still weak and trembling from the heat. Her eyes fluttered open for a mont, glassy and unfocused, as she whimpered my na. The sound nearly broke .
Dean glanced over his shoulder, his grin as wicked as ever. "Oh, look at her, Kane. She’s perfect, isn’t she? Ripe for the taking, begging to be claid. And this... this is the perfect place for it. Don’t you think?"
My hands clenched at my sides, my claws cutting into my palms as I fought the urge to lunge at him again.
"Get out of here, Dean," I growled, my voice shaking with restrained fury. "You have no idea what you’re ssing with."
"Oh, but I do," he said, stepping aside to let see Elena fully. "You can’t hide what you are from her forever. She deserves to know. And you... you deserve to embrace it. Stop pretending you’re better than this, Kane. She’ll love it. She’ll love you for it."
His words were poison, sinking into my mind and coiling around my thoughts.
But they were wrong.
Elena wasn’t a pawn in his twisted ga, and I wasn’t the man he wanted to be anymore.
"Touch her again," I snarled, stepping forward, "and I’ll show you just how much of a monster I can be."
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