Page 124 of Villainous Fate

One day at a time.

That’s how I will lead.

Before I can stop myself, I feel my mind sorting through the threads, looking for hers. I know it isn’t fair. I know it isn’t right, but I tug on it, feeling her emotions coursing through the bond that connects us. It’s a mixture of grief, melancholy, pride, and shame.

The hole in my heart searches for a response to the feelings, wishing I knew which thoughts they were attached to. I take on her grief and her melancholy, adding it to my own. Grace deserves to be happy. I’d always wanted it to be with me, but despite her circumstances, Grace is the kindest person I know. She deserves more than a life filled with regret.

I feel the moment she realizes I’ve siphoned her emotions. Anger emanates across the bond before her walls slam into place, and I feel empty. The loss of her feelings is another missing piece of me.

I’m pathetic. Sitting here taking her pain away when she’s the cause of a huge chunk of mine.

I’ve lost my girl and my brother.

I’ve lost myself.

In a few days, she will join a new pack, and our connection will be severed for good. Luca will be laid to rest, and I will stand alone as the Alpha of his pack. The fear simmering beneath the surface finally slides in, filling the empty spaces between me.

Without Grace’s light and Luca’s goodness, how will I keep the darkness at bay?

Maybe it’s time to use the darkness within me to balance the scales.

Chapter 61

Marcus

WhenFranktoldmeabout Deacon’s request, I was both grateful for a chance to talk to him and terrified of what he would say. As I walk up the steps of the packhouse, my mind is filled with scenario after scenario, each worse than the last.

I hadn’t spoken with him since our last phone call, well, except for our argument in the diner parking lot.

That was more fists than words.

I approach the third floor, wondering where he’ll be so that I can meet him. I start toward the Alpha’s private office, my eyes looking up and catching the cameras on the roof.

I give them a wave as I progress to the last door, opening it to see Giovanni’s secretary, Linda, packing up her desk. Standing behind her, leaning against a desk, is Deacon’s younger sister, Ashley.

She’s dressed in jeans and a deep green crewneck sweatshirt, and she wears her exhaustion on her makeup-free face. I notice the dark circles under her red-rimmed eyes as she examines me. She's probably deciding if I’m friend or foe and wondering how she should treat me.

Are her tears for Luca or Giovanni? Her brother or her father?

Over the six months I’d been here, I had seen Ashley around from time to time, but she usually hung out with Grace on days I couldn’t; still, I felt like from both Deacon’s stories at the retreat and Grace’s recaps of their time I knew a lot about her.

Fifteen years old, social butterfly, wants to be a photographer.

“Uh, I’m here to see Dea…the Alpha?” I say, unsure if I’m making a statement or asking a question and who I should say this to. Frank only told me Deacon wanted to see me before Grace and I leave later this afternoon.

The older woman stops, turning to show me the frown etched into her weathered skin. She looks like she tasted something sour and then continues throwing her items haphazardly into the box.

Out with the old, I guess.

“Hey Cap, he will be right with you. He’s on a call with Alpha Amato. Have a seat. I will let him know you’re here,” Ashley says, her voice lacking her usual bubbly tone as she points to the couch on the opposite side. Her eyes dance as she sends the mind-link to her brother.

I couldn’t imagine having my little sister in my head.

Juliet never shuts up. My mom used to say Juliet was the only person on Earth with her own therapist telling her to shut up.

Maybe it was that she ‘needed to be less verbose’ but toe-mAY-toe, toe-mAH-toe.

I lower myself into the plush eggshell loveseat, prepared to wait him out while watching Linda make a show of putting every pen, staple, and post-it note she ever bought into her cardboard box. Ashley sits patiently, with a polite smile that reminds me of Grace when she’s working. She is courteous but not inviting.

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