The Mate He Shouldn’t Have Claimed

Chapter 5: The Moretti Mansion

[Seraphina's POV]

I could not get rid of the feeling that I was drowning. Viktor's words were haunting me in what I did like a ghost to whom I was stalked wherever I might go. He wasn't a mafia king or an overbearing alpha but also my other half—the man I am to have to endure this life at least with. And now with his blood in my veins, his child inside me, fate has become heavier than ever.

The storm hit, and now it was too late to walk back. Sitting with me at the tiny kitchen table of my apartment, my hands beat out the top in an absent-minded rhythm. My head was turned topsy-turvy; it was a jumbled mass of violence, confusion, and some wild, obstinate pain that I could not let go.

I'd attempted to block it out. I'd attempted to convince myself that I could run, that I didn't have to allow Viktor's world to engulf me. But the very things within me were screaming something else. I could feel the connection between us growing stronger, and I loathed it. I loathed the extent to which I required him, despite the fact that the life he lived could never be mine.

I was never weak. I wasn't someone to mess around with. At those moments when darkness fell upon me, where I had carried the weight of the world on my shoulders, he silently drifted in and out of thoughts. Dark eyes. His body pressing against mine. The possessiveness with which he had completely engulfed me and how that engulfment burned into my very soul.

To have slipped away into slumber, to have gained at least a few hours of relief from the torture of my thoughts: that had been my hope—but sleep had let me down. I woke up gasping, skin slick with perspiration, body in agony from the phantom of a caress.

His hands, his mouth, the merciless scrape of his teeth against my mark—it still lingered like a brand. I felt the bond throbbing between us like something animate; he was awake on the other end, aware, amused. Interesting, really, how you were thinking of me again. Not my thought: his again, drifted into my mind like smoke.

I snarled and clamped down on my mental barriers, but it was too late. A dark chuckle reverberated between us, and I felt him pulling away, leaving me trembling—with rage and something even worse.....Need.

My wolf whined, agitated and hungry. I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. This wasn’t me. The bond twisted me, made me want the man who had destroyed my life. But as I thought it, my body went into betrayal, remembering the heat of his skin, muscle flexing under my hands like in that alley—

A sharp knock on my door — Alpha Gideon.

The moment I heard him walking, I became rigid, for his steps were quick and forceful and those had the characteristics of a warning. My hand was on my shirt's collar, pulling it higher to hide the still fresh mark on my skin that was radiating a reminder of something that should eventually end. I took a few slow steps with the intention of crossing the room, my heart banging in my ears as if it would jump out any second.

While I unlocked the door, I saw Alpha Gideon in front of it, the same as he had been when Nature was angry—tall, with broad shoulders, and his presence so cold that it could really make one’s blood freeze. His ice-blue eyes pierced through me, small and cold and so intense that he could actually have been able to knock me out by just his stare.

"You’ve been avoiding pack training," he said, voice low and edged in steel. Not a question. An accusation laced with something darker—suspicion.

I put all my effort not to let my voice tremble, and at the same time, I repeated the lie I had prepared. "I needed time to recover from the rogue attack," I said, barely speaking. Although I was still speaking, I saw the flare of his nostrils sharp and deliberate, scenting the air for any hint of deception. I just stood there, feeling that my lungs were in pain because I was holding my breath and trying to get my pulse to drop to the level of relaxation.

He was staring at me for a long time, reading something I couldn't hide. It took him a little bit of time but at last he greeted, "You’re back on patrol tonight. Don’t be late."

In the same manner, he turned around abruptly, the ground trembled loudly with the steps of his boots as he vanished down the corridor, and there was this way too much tension in the air all of a sudden that was really suffocating. Only with trembling hands did I close the door, feeling tight in my chest, my breath shallow.

My skin seemed too tight, and very hot, it felt like something was growing, changing, and threatening to break the person who I had been. I had to get out of this; I was tired of pretending that everything was okay while the connection inside me deepened and changed me in the most unexpected ways to control that. And Alpha Gideon knew...

My stomach twinged, and I was numb, icy with fear. I put my palm to the hidden mark again.

I needed answers—fast—before it became too late.

[The Moretti Mansion]

The Moretti mansion rose in front of me, all menacingly grey steel and haughtiness. I should not have been there but I had to see him. My enhanced vision from the dark side of a nearby rooftop captured every guard, every camera, every weak point in their defenses. Viktor, inside the penthouse, was seen through the window delivering a speech at the head of the table and his subordinates were arranged around him.

Although he was far from me, the impact of his authority was still evident.

I observed the way his men made sure not to miss his word and the way they stared at him as if nobody else was worth it. It was a person to be afraid of. The realization of him being an Alpha, not a monster, had just hit me for the first time. The thing that stood out was the way he controlled—not with bloodshed alone but also with faithfulness. His response to the worries of an elder wolf, the way he impeded a wrong plan and yet saved the dignity of the person not punished, seemed like... was not what I was looking for.

After that, a quick gesture of movement. Right at that moment, when Viktor turned his face up to me, my heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t be! Even though I was beyond their reach and tucked away safely; he gave a smile that registered on my face as well. Caught red-handed.

I hopped back, my heart pounding like a drum. I felt so.... unable to control myself, I headed for the door, but stopped when the connection gave me a jolt of chilling anxiety. A threat. I leapt down fire escapes and sprinted through alleys without a single thought. The bond acted on me and pulled me towards the place that... gunfire.