𝐙𝐀𝐘𝐍𝐄
She sniffled, tucking her hair back and revealing more bruises around her temples. My anger simmered, my jaw tightening as she continued to relay the accounts of her torture.
"The human had scars too," my wolf, Volk, snarled in my mind. "Far more than hers."
I had noticed that detail when she was pinned against the wall by Kaleb. My eyes narrowed, flipping through possible explanations while Rafayel—
Unwrapped a piece of chocolate, his angelic, golden eyes tender as he handed it over.
She accepted it with quivering hands, her thin wrists marred with scars. Her body looked spent, and of course, my brother had noticed.
"Thank you," her voice wavered, eating the bar in one bite.
She was hungry.
"You'll need your energy for this," he said, taking the seat beside me. After that, the shift was instant. His face hardened. "Now, tell us about this human."
He spat the word 'human' like a curse. Which it was.
She picked up the cup of water beside her, taking a gulp before clearing her throat. "She is a devil," she began, her voice trembling. "But…" Guilt flashed across her features. "I never thought her capable of pilfering relics. I should have known." Frustration laced her words.
Rafayel's eyes flickered to me, and I leaned in with my elbows on the desk, my fingers steepled in front of me.
"What do you mean by that?"
Sonya's fingers twisted in her lap. "Aurora was loved—by us, by my father. But no matter how much I tried, she always seemed to loathe me. I thought it was because she was ashamed, being the only human daughter of an Alpha."
"And you being his biological daughter?" Rafayel's voice was silk, a gentle, prodding curiosity.
"Yes, but I never minded because my father loved her, so I tried to do the same," she said, dabbing the tears on her face. "But that was when it began to happen." The tremor in her voice rose, her skin paling.
Rafayel placed his hand over hers, steadying her. Her eyes snapped to his, startled, before filling even faster with tears.
"I am so sorry—" she hiccuped, her shoulders shuddering. "I—"
We gave her a moment to collect herself, Rafayel never withdrawing his hand. I watched with my arms crossed, assessing the mess that the human wretch had made of her.
It ground my gears to no end.
Finally, she wiped at her eyes, gathering her composure.
"So, tell us what began to happen, Sonya," I asked.
"She began to hurt herself." She dropped the bombshell. "And she blamed me for everything."
"Self-harming to frame you?" Rafayel was not shocked; his soft voice carried a dark knowing that suggested he'd seen such tactics before.
Sonya nodded, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "At first, I didn't understand. I'd find her with bruises, cuts, broken bones—and she'd point at me. No words, just those accusing eyes. My father would rage at me, punishing me by making me her personal maid, a slave to her depravity, but I swore I never touched her."
"And no one believed you," I said flatly.
"How could they?" Her voice cracked. "She was precious, fragile, human."
There was nothing precious about humans, much less this particular thief.
"I was the Alpha's daughter with wolf strength. The evidence was always on her skin." She looked down at Rafayel's hand still covering hers. "I started to think I was going mad. That maybe I was hurting her in my sleep and didn't remember."
Volk growled in my mind. "Something is not right."
I had that inkling too, yet all she had said was consistent with the innate parasitic nature of humans.
"And she intentionally absorbed the core," I snarled back.
Volk's agitation coiled like a snake in my gut as we absorbed more of the full story. A taste floored my mouth, bitter, a tell tale my body and mind were in disagreement.
That was the thing about us—we were analytically methodical, scanning for what lay beneath the surface.
She couldn't be lying.
No werewolf with intact survival instincts would willingly expose themselves to wolfsbane—the very toxin humans had engineered to corrode lupine tissue at the cellular level. The pain alone would be excruciating, the damage potentially permanent. Her repressed wolf might never resurface.
"She is a victim," I assessed. No doubt about it.
"The relic in the temple…"
Sonya cut in nervously. "Her contact was Zeta Garvin. He has been smuggling them for her for months."
The Council of Zetas were entrusted with our highest secrets and granted our greatest honors. Apart from us Scions, only they possessed keys to the Vault—and the maggot had exploited that access. But she would have had to give something substantial in return.
I raised a brow. "What did she promise him?"
"Sex," she replied, grimacing.
Seduction seemed to be the human's primary weapon. Classic parasite methodology—offering the one thing that required no skill and no honor, just a willingness to debase oneself for gain.
"Garvin is what, seventy winters old?" Rafayel's tone carried revulsion.
"Seventy-three," Sonya confirmed, her voice hollow. "But Aurora knew he'd been obsessed with her since my father first brought her home. She'd catch him watching her, and instead of reporting it, she..." Her hands clenched. "She cultivated it. Smiled at him. Let her hand linger when he passed her things. Made him believe that one day, if he was patient enough, if he proved himself useful enough…"
"She'd give him what he wanted," I finished coldly.
Sonya nodded.
I exchanged a glance with Rafayel before he faced her again. "We appreciate your cooperation." He smiled at her. "But we will not leave you empty-handed."
Some color bled into her features. "I—"
"What do you want, Miss Vale ?" I reiterated. "Money, status, power. Name it."
Her answer came faster than anticipated. "Spare my brother and mate."
"Done," Rafayel returned easily. "But this is about you, Sonya. What do you want for yourself?"
A tear slipped from her eye. "After this, I have no one left. No family—my father is gone, my brother will never forgive me, and my mate is in love with the human that ruined my life."
Disgust for the human churned in my gut, while something akin to sympathy for Sonya blossomed despite my usual restraint.
"Tell us," Rafayel pushed quietly, stroking a thumb over her pale, scarred hand.
"I want a home and a purpose." Her emotions quickly overwhelmed her, sobs now wracking her body.
"We will give you a home," Rafayel offered. "Here with us."
After what she'd endured and what she'd given us, she'd earned assimilation.
"And your purpose—" I unfolded my arms, offering a hand to her. "Will be to make sure Aurora Vale finds her hell on earth. You will take back all she took from you, piece by bloody piece."
Her trembling fingers closed around mine.