DELILAH'S POV
"Did you touch Eric with these smelly, stinking hands?"
"He touched me!" the girl shot back.
"Are you gloating right now? I'm going to kill you. You know that, right?"
"Miss Duvall, I have done nothing wrong!!!" she shouted back at me. I saw red, a hot, animal rage. The world narrowed to muscle and motion. My boot found the first step and my hands shoved. I shoved her down the stairs; she tumbled, a graceless fall that ended at my aunt's feet in a crumpled heap.
I turned fiery eyes to the maid then, needing an answer. "Where is Mr. Blackwood?" I demanded. The maid swallowed and replied, "He appears to be sleeping, ma'am."
"I hope he wakes up and deals with this good-for-nothing piece of trash". Even as I spoke, imagined her throat being ripped out by the one she had given herself to. It would be satisfying in the basest of ways, a neat justice for a life I believed stolen.
I looked back at my aunt. Vivienne Duvall stood with her usual chilling composure. The girl's face was streaked with blood. "You look oddly familiar. Have we met?" Aunt Viv asked. The girl whimpered, her lips trembling as she answered, "No."
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "How can you know this despicable thing?" I demanded. "In what world would you have even met her?" I descended slowly as if descending into some performance I had rehearsed all my life — the perfect daughter, the rightful heir.
Aunt Viv straightened, the brief softness gone. "You are right." She turned to the maid, who stood trembling near the base of the stairs. "Tie the fool down," Aunt Viv ordered coldly. "Mrs. Blackwood will know what to do with both of you."
"No… please… no… I have to go. My mother will be worried," the girl cried.
Aunt Viv's response was swift and merciless. She struck the girl across the face with an open hand. "You do not speak in my presence unless I ask you to." The girl crumpled, her body curling in on itself, blood splattering the polished floor. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine from awe. My aunt could control a room like no one else.
"I did nothing wrong!" the girl sobbed again. Her defiance was tragic. "You have no right to do this! What kind of people are you?"
"I can do whatever the hell I want," Aunt Viv spat, standing over her. "You want my niece's life so badly, you pretend to be her? You want to carry the Blackwood heir, hmm?" She leaned closer. "You? You should have at least made an effort to pass as my beautiful princess. Pathetic."
Aunt Viv left the girl lying there, blood pooling beneath her chin, and gracefully took a seat on one of the chairs opposite her. She crossed her legs, utterly composed, as if she were about to discuss afternoon tea rather than the fate of a broken girl. Pulling out her phone, she dialed.
"Mrs. Blackwood needs to get back here and deal with this madness," she said.
I glanced once more at the girl. She lay still, her breath shallow, her eyes glassy but unyielding.
I turned to the maid, fury burning hot in my chest. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear her say you should tie her down?" The poor maid jumped as she scrambled to obey. I rolled my eyes and muttered under my breath, "God… where did Mrs. Blackwood get this fool from? She should take lessons about proper employment from you, Aunt Viv."
"She isn't picking up," Aunt Viv sighed, her nails tapping against her phone in irritation. "Come, sit dear. We will wait for her."
"How can I sit? I planned for this." I had prepared for today. I had been taking werewolf fertility vitamins for a month. For the Blackwood heir that was meant to be mine. My heart thudded painfully against my chest as I looked toward the window. "You said so yourself, Aunt Viv — today is my peak day."
"Calm yourself," Aunt Viv replied coolly, her gaze sweeping over me. "If not today, then next month. Come sit, my love." She gestured elegantly to the seat beside her. "Mrs. Blackwood will see reason. You will carry the heir. The girl?" she said with a dismissive wave,
"She's a distraction. A toy the universe threw in to test your patience. And you, darling, will not fail the test. I have dealt with people like her before and I always won."
I swallowed hard. Aunt Viv's words were meant to soothe, but they only fanned the flames inside me.
ERIC'S POV
I woke up on the floor with the comforter tucked around me. Panic crawled up my spine. I threw the blanket off and looked down, heart stuttering: my junk was sneaking out of my zipper. Of all the humiliations the Blackwood bloodline could serve me, this one felt terrifying.
If it were physically possible to strangle my mother without immediately becoming the villain in a thousand whispered family histories, I swear to the Moon Goddess I would. The thought flared hot and then pins-and-needles cold. She'd drugged me? Whose mother does that to her son?
The question was stupid because my family had never done anything the sensible way.
Adrenaline did the lifting for me. I stumbled to my feet, knees weak from the mix of sleep, and whatever chemical treachery had been slipped into my drink. My wolf was stirring. I felt it as a restlessness behind my ribs, a pacing energy that wanted speech and teeth. For years I'd severed the line of communication between us.
The wolf and I could exist in the same skin but we no longer spoke. There was no point in conversing with a thing that only wanted to tear and bleed and devour.
I zipped up my pants and headed out.
Through the corridor window at the far end, I saw them then: my mother stepping from the car. Beside her, the butler - Benedict — held the door. My pace increased instinctively; anger sharpened every sense.