Page 78 of Our Little Monster
My stomach dropped like lead.
“Bastian is there because of me,” Nox admitted, looking down before meeting my eyes again. “When we went to the pub, I wanted it to just be a fun day out for us, but when you were attacked, I moved to protect you. Someone saw what happened and reported it back to him, putting him back on your trail.”
“On my trail? This man was on my trail? I did well to cover my tracks. Everyone thought Serina Velika was dead.”
“When you were on your war path, you were paying close attention to Vampires and what they were doing. You were taking out his people without realizing all the connections, and it put them on your trail. Everyone wanted to find out what hunter was killing and moving so quickly. We have been keeping them away from you all this time.”
“Wait… are you telling me you guys knew who I was before I came to town?” I whispered in shock.
“Yes,” they both answered.
Nox went on, “At the time, we thought he was our friend… but we discovered that he had the ability to control us.”
“Who’s he?” My brows furrowed. I needed to know.
He said the name like a curse, “Victor.”
“He was controlling you? How?”
“Compulsion. He has the ability to compel anyone, even Vampires. It was a power of his that surfaced just over a year ago.”
“You knew who I was and where he was this entire time… Were you a part of this man’s hierarchy?” I asked, anger lacing my tone.
They both nodded.
Nox said, “We were—are. Listen, it’s complicated, but we aren’t under his control anymore. We only pretend to play by his rules until we come up with a plan to take him down.”
“Why would Bastian go willingly to him?” I demanded.
“I think you already know the answer to that,” Nox said flatly, and my eyes darted between them and their emotion-filled gazes telling me what I already knew…
They cared for me, too.
“How did you know I wouldn’t kill all of you just like all the others?” I questioned.
Nox cleared his throat. “Bastian figured if we made ourselves useful by harboring information, you wouldn’t kill us.”
“And if I would have thought you were lying?”
“I guess we’d all be piles of ash, and things would have gone a lot differently.” He shrugged. Those unspoken feelings floated in the air between us.
“Is Bastian… hurt?” I murmured. “Why else wouldn’t he have come back?”
When I looked up to both of them again, they just nodded their heads.
Thorne glanced down at his healing knuckles, and I realized something. It would make sense for how tormented Thorne looked when he came home.
“He had you do it…?” I asked, and he nodded.
Emotions swelled in my chest at how twisted this man was for making Thorne abuse someone so close to him.
“Why?”
“Because he is a sick fuck who wants to ensure he gets the answers he wants, but we haven’t given him anything. Bastian is doing this to keep us safe… to keepyousafe. Bastian doesn’t want him on your trail. Our plan wasn’t supposed to change.” Nox’s stare settled on me.
“And what exactly was this plan of yours?”
They both looked at me knowingly. The pieces all started coming together.
