Seraphina’s POV
"I knew you would show up," his words carried that familiar smugness that made my skin crawl. The confidence in his tone told everything about how predictable he thought I was.
I remained silent. What response could I possibly give him? After everything he had done to , after what he had done to my child, he deserved nothing from .
His laughter echoed through the space, making my spine tingle with unease. "With that kind of attitude, Seraphina," he said slowly, "it doesn’t seem like you truly want your daughter returned to you."
I plastered on the sweetest smile I could manage. "Is this better?" The words dripped with false honey.
Those dark eyes of his locked onto mine as he moved closer. My body tensed automatically. "Much better," he replied, studying my face intently. "I have feelings for you, which is why I’m being generous with your behavior."
The fake expression lted away from my face instantly. "What is driving you to do this?" The question burst out of with desperate intensity. I had to understand, and more importantly, I needed to know if Roxanne was behind any of this.
"This goes beyond simple attraction, Dorian. You’re consud by sothing darker. There’s another reason, isn’t there?"
His head tilted with that maddening grin spreading across his features. "Perhaps you simply can’t accept that soone would fight this hard for you, Seraphina. Your own mate certainly never has."
The statent slamd into like ice water, penetrating deep and twisting sothing painful inside my chest. The worst part was how much truth resonated in those cruel words.
I pulled my shoulders back and wiped all emotion from my expression.
"I’m suffering the consequences for sothing. I’m paying a price and I deserve to understand what for." The demand left my lips with quiet determination. I had earned the right to know why I was being tortured.
"This isn’t really about , but I genuinely need to know what it is about." My instinct told I was close to sothing important, and his facial expression confird I wasn’t entirely wrong.
He lifted his shoulders in casual indifference, as though we were making small talk. "That conversation belongs with your father, your father-in-law, and your mate."
Instant bewildernt crashed over . My head jerked back. "What?" The word exploded from . Whatever he was implying had to be so sick joke because my family couldn’t possibly be connected to his madness.
"Why would you tell to question them? You’re acting like a coward, Dorian! If you’re brave enough to tornt like this, then be man enough to explain why!"
Sothing dangerous flickered behind his eyes. "Are you prepared to handle what you’ll learn, Seraphina?"
Anxiety twisted in my gut like a living thing. This situation was far more complex than I had imagined. The fact that he ntioned my father, my father-in-law, and Julian made my thoughts race toward connections I didn’t want to make.
I had expected Roxanne to be involved, but not them.
"I’ve survived worse revelations than whatever you’re hiding," I snapped back with venom coating every word. "You’ve taken my daughter and hidden her sowhere. I haven’t even glimpsed her face. I have every right to understand why this nightmare is happening to . Why am I being punished for sothing I don’t even know I did!" I moved forward, my hands forming tight fists as frustration and terror burned through . "Speak! What sin am I supposedly paying for?"
Dorian’s stare felt like it was boring straight through to my soul. "The events began more than twenty years ago," he said with disturbing calm, settling back comfortably. "What information do you have about the Ruined Fang?"
My brow furrowed as I searched my mory. The Ruined Fang. That na stirred up ancient whispers and half-rembered childhood stories. "The Ruined Fang..." I let the words hang in the air, shaking my head.
"That pack has beco legendary over ti. So many stories have been told that truth and fiction are impossible to separate. But everyone agrees on one fact - they were completely destroyed more than two decades ago." That was honestly all I knew with certainty.
"However, the rumors claim it was orchestrated by multiple Alphas working together. They supposedly decided to eliminate the pack because their Alpha was corrupt and dangerous. Elimination seed like the only solution. But the thod was unethical. Innocent lives were lost. Innocent children. Innocent adults." Grief washed over . Even as a young girl, that story had frozen my blood. No justification existed for such brutality.
Dorian’s laughter rang out harsh and bitter, filling the room and making my flesh crawl. "You, along with everyone else, have chosen to forget," he said with sothing lethal gleaming in his gaze. "But I’m going to force the world to rember exactly what occurred."
"Why are you bringing up the Ruined Fang?" I pushed forward, dismissing his ominous declaration. My only concern remained my child and discovering the reason behind this suffering. "What’s the connection, Dorian?"
He rose to his full height, and I noticed a subtle transformation in his bearing and presence. Those eyes, still locked on mine, held a cold fury that chilled completely. "You’re looking directly at the Ruined Fang’s rightful heir."
The revelation struck like a physical assault, crushing the breath from my body. My mouth fell open as my mind struggled to process his words. "What?" I gasped, shaking my head frantically. "That’s impossible! No one made it out alive! Everyone who investigated afterward reported that everything was completely incinerated, including all the people! You couldn’t have survived! How..."
He completed my thought with a voice like grinding steel, saturated with hatred. "Your father, along with their allies and your father-in-law, murdered everyone. Most importantly, they murdered my father. My entire family."
My reality shifted violently off its axis. My blood turned to ice, then blazed with complete disbelief. My father involved in sothing like that? No, it couldn’t be true. "Impossible," I whispered, shaking my head desperately as tears burned my eyes. My father couldn’t have participated in that. The people responsible had to be pure evil. They left no survivors! Nothing could justify what was done to that pack.
Dorian smiled with cruel satisfaction, twisting his lips in a way that made my stomach revolt. "Oh, your father played a significant role. And if you doubt my word, go ask him directly. Or better still, go question your mate."
My mind rejected the possibility. Julian couldn’t have known about this. He couldn’t be connected to sothing so horrific. It was unthinkable.
"This entire ti," Dorian continued with accusation dripping from every word, "you’ve been calling a monster. anwhile, the true monster is your own father."
His words involuntarily reminded of a conversation with my father. He had confessed to doing sothing terrible in his past. Sowhere in the depths of my mind, a horrible understanding began forming. The pieces fit together too well. But I couldn’t force myself to accept it. How could he? How could my father commit such an act? He might not have given proper love and attention, he might have been emotionally distant, but he couldn’t be that level of monster. He couldn’t have killed innocent children who bore no responsibility for their Alpha’s cris.
Dorian observed the dawning realization on my face with grim satisfaction in his expression. "It seed perfectly logical to seek revenge against the two n who killed my father," he stated with hard, uncompromising resolve. "And what better thod than to take sothing precious to both of them? That sothing is their granddaughter."
My daughter. My innocent baby. "She’s done nothing wrong!" I cried as tears stread down my face. "She bears no responsibility for this! She’s just a baby!"
"The children in my pack were innocent too," Dorian responded with emotionless flatness, his voice like a cold mirror reflecting my anguish back at . "But that didn’t prevent your father and those other Alphas from slaughtering them."
I understood completely that no apology or comforting words could ever heal his wounds. What happened to his pack and family was horrific and unforgivable. Yet I still had to attempt sothing. For my daughter’s sake.
"I understand," I managed to say through my raw throat and unshed tears. "I know that even my deepest apologies won’t bring you peace. What occurred was monstrous. But please, I’m pleading with you. For her life. She carries no guilt."
Dorian’s gaze remained fixed on my face, and for one brief mont sothing seed to shift. "I do have weakness where you’re concerned, Seraphina," he said with surprising gentleness, though steel remained beneath his words. "So I’ll offer you an opportunity to make things right."
My head snapped up as hope began building in my chest. "What?" I breathed almost inaudibly. "What are you asking for?"
He stepped closer until his shadow engulfed completely. "I want you to eliminate Alpha Quincy. Your father-in-law. In exchange for your daughter’s return."
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