His Silent Temptation

Chapter 16 - She's My Wife

K I L L I A N

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Blood was blood. With the sins I’ve committed, the werewolves I tore apart, death never fazed any of the Thornov Pack men, nor me. I could drown the ocean with the bloodshed I’ve committed. There was even an amusing rumor that I killed one man a day to bathe in their blood.

Blood was just a red liquid dripping from a feeble body. It was only fluid. Yet, Selene had broken down like a puppy in my arms. She wept and choked, the pain reminding me of baby animals crying out for their protector.

I didn’t think the first sound I’d hear from Selene’s mouth was her anguished and suppressed noises. She tried her hardest to restrain herself, but still crumbled like washed sandcastles.

“What are you thinking about?” Nicolas gouged from beside me. He spun a sharpened blade between his fingertips with precision. With each twist of the knife, Leo flinched and groaned into his piss-soaked gag.

“Not who you think I am,” I responded, shifting an uninterested glance at my younger brother.

Nicolas’s steel grey pupil stared back into mine. He had my mother’s eyes. With an emotionless tilt of his head, I could read his mind.

Nicolas didn’t believe me.

“Funny,” Nicolas said under his breath with a shake of his head. “Who do you believe I’m referring to?”

I narrowed my eyes, my lips curling. Nicolas’s mouth twitched with amusement whilst rubbing a finger over his nose, knowing he had caught me red-handed. There was already blood dripping from my palm anyways.

Leo’s disfigured body twitched in my peripheral vision. Making him speak was more difficult than predicted, but he was just one less person I’d be torturing tonight. Glancing with disinterest at his discarded limbs on the ground, no thanks to Chester’s brutality, I leaned my head back and breathed in the stench of the basement.

“I’m thinking of what to do with Chester,” I seethed, tilting my head over to the silent and sulking twin.

Chester glanced over his hunched shoulder, a slight pout on his face, remorse swirling in his eyes. He pressed his lips together when he met my gaze. Instantly, he went back to sharpening his favorite knife. The boy had been quiet ever since I demanded him to come back.

“I said I was sorry…” Chester mumbled, his hands moving back and forth against the polishing block. I straightened in warning, but Nicolas grabbed my shoulder.

“You’ve done enough damage,” Nicolas pointed out to Chester’s split lips and bruising eyes.

“Not enough,” I snarled. “You were supposed to protect her.”

Chester frowned to the floor and then sauntered out of the torture room.

“Killian, wait—”

I stormed after him, ignoring Nicolas’s protest. He let out a sigh, slamming the metal doors shut behind him. Leo had been bandaged up anyways. He’d get to live another day of our torture. I’d make sure of it.

As Chester jogged up the stairs, he continued speaking. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d be attacked under our own roof—”

I smacked him upside the head. Chester spun around in shock. With full force, I punched him in the jaw. Chester staggered back in shock, clutching the sore spot. He spat out the blood that gathered and nursed the area, not once fighting back.

“And who’s fault is that?” I seethed, grabbing him by the collar. Selene’s haunted expression crossed my mind. Sweet, sweet Selene, with her innocent eyes, and gentle features. She didn’t deserve a single bruise on her fair skin. She didn’t deserve any of it.

“Who’s?!” I roared, yanking Chester close. f**k. I wanted to strangle him.

“Killian,” Nicolas warned, sliding a hand on my shoulder. “You didn’t nurse the twins to near adulthood, just to murder them before their eighteenth birthday.”

I grounded my teeth and stared into Chester’s eyes. We shared the same ones, inherited by the brutal bastard of a father we had. Looking into Chester’s guilt-stricken pupils reminded me of the night our father stood over my mother’s bruised body. It should’ve been me on the ground that night.

“I’m sorry,” Chester squeezed out again. “I—”

“She’s my wife,” I spat out.

Chester tensed, his face going slack with disbelief. Even Nicolas paused from beside me, warily glancing around.

“Your one and only sister-in-law,” I forced out, my voice barely trembling with restrained rage. I clenched his shirt so tight, it’d be permanently wrinkled.

“You’re to keep her safe at all cost, is that clear?” I warned, watching Chester’s attention flicker from my hand to my face.

Something inside of him clicked. Emotions shifted on his face, one that stabbed right through my chest at the same moment. My hand loosened.

“I will,” Chester promised, grabbing my wrist, his voice gruff. “I swear by it, brother.”

I searched for any sign of deceit, but we Thornov brothers never lied to each other.

“She’s a Thornov now,” Chester reassured. “And us Thornov men always protect those that share our name.”

He was uttering the same words I once said to him after pulling him from the locked room. The promise I made to my younger brothers when I took them out of Walter’s mansion rang in my head.

“Thornov men always protect what’s ours,” Chester repeated. “I won’t make the same mistake again, brother.”

I released Chester, my anger slowly simmering down.

“There won’t be a next time Chester,” I warned, my tone darkening. “You hear me?”

Chester instantly nodded his head. “You said it yourself, brother. She’s my sister-in-law. And we always protect family, don’t we?”

I grounded my teeth, my jaw tightening. Chester told the truth. Without another word, I squeezed his shoulders and brushed past him. My chest heaved with each step.

Nicolas remained behind to comfort Chester, but the boy was old enough to not need it. Chester was seventeen now, a full-grown adult. Even so, I could hear them walking up the stairs with me, but heading to where the first aid kit was.

“Killian.”

I stilled, glancing over at Nicolas briefly. We were in the foyer now and Chester had just disappeared in the direction of his wing.

“I’ll ask you again,” Nicolas said without hesitation. He remained in the foyer and I, a foot on the grand staircase leading to my wing.

“What are you thinking about?” Nicolas repeated, this time, in a much firmer voice.

We both knew the answer to that question. Hell, everyone in the mansion might as well. After my bloodbath not long ago, with Selene in my arms, every man and woman was aware of Selene’s status in the house. And if the decapitated, struggling Leo in the basement didn’t serve as a good enough message, I’d be damned.

“Or rather, who?” Nicolas corrected, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I said nothing. There was no need to say her name when it was also on the tip of his tongue as well. I silently stormed up the stairs, leaving my brother behind. Words didn’t need to be exchanged for him to also know where I was going.

Only one woman would make me eager enough to return to my bedroom. Only one in the entirety of this world.