I stared at him, the pieces finally fitting into place. My voice came out low, sharp.
We needed answers.
He continued. “Through what your father said, he made me realize we were related to Olivia, and he thinks she is the special one.” Damien shifted slightly, then exhaled-his voice calm. “After your father told me who she really was,” he said, “everything changed.”
My glare deepened. My wolf howled, rattling my bones, but I forced myself to stand still and listen.
Damien nodded. “I could have done that… but her enemies were too much.”
“You changed Olivia’s face with Rebecca’s and made us believe she was dead! You bastard!” I spat with pain and anger. It hurt so much that our favorite uncle could stab us this way. “You knew who Olivia was all this while, didn’t you? Speak! Fucking speak!”
(Damien’s)
I yelled.
“Olivia…” he said her name softly. “She’s the daughter of the family we were sworn enemies with. The very bloodline our kind was taught to despise.”
Damien pulled my hand away from his collar and arranged his shirt before darting his eyes between me and my brothers. “I’ll go straight to the point without cutting corners,” he said casually.
“But that,” he went on, “wasn’t what concerned me. What mattered more was the fact that our relatives wanted her dead. And I…” He hesitated. “I couldn’t let that happen.”
We stared at him, frowning.
My blood turned to ice. My wolf growled with jealousy.
But Damien didn’t flinch; he didn’t even look startled-like he’d been waiting for this confrontation all along.
He inhaled deeply, as if finding the courage to say what he did. “I used the body. I had one of my witches-one of the most powerful illusionists-perform a spell. A trade of appearance. We made Rebecca look like Olivia.”
Damien ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, his voice cracking slightly now.
Levi and I stood beside him, silent, but equally seething. We knew exactly what this was about.
“That’s when the thought came to me,” Damien said at last. “If Olivia stayed with Gabriel, she’d die. His sister’s demand for her head wouldn’t disappear just because he fell in love. The pack still wanted revenge.”
“And he agreed?” Lennox snapped.
Of course.
“So… you killed Rebecca?”
Sofia collapsed onto the floor, sobbing loudly.
His eyes met mine again, conflicted and heavy. “So he asked me: What do I do?”
It all made twisted, painful sense now.
(Damien’s)
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
He drew in a long breath. “So I returned to Gabriel’s pack. Took Olivia from the cell, and Gabriel placed Rebecca’s dead body there… made it look like Olivia had taken her own life by slitting her throat.”
My brows furrowed. “What choice?”
I shot him a glare that could have killed him where he stood. He looked down, then straightened, meeting our eyes again.
Footsteps echoed on the stairs. Damien appeared first. I didn’t waste a second-I attacked him and smashed my fist into his face.
Damien nodded. “He did. He was torn. But he agreed.”
He paused, his voice tight. “It was really Rebecca.”
My brothers and I turned and glared at our father. His turn was coming.
Our parents, who had just entered, froze in shock, but before Damien could even stumble back from the blow, I grabbed him by the collar, yanked him forward, and snarled right into his face.
“No!” Sofia cried out, her voice raw with disbelief, as she rushed at Damien. She grabbed him by the collar, her hands trembling. “Tell me you’re lying… Tell me Rebecca isn’t dead!”
Levi groaned. “Keep your fucking sorry to yourself and keep talking”
Damien’s eyes darkened slightly, but he shook his head. “I didn’t. Someone else did.”
My wolf growled.
“What did he want?” Lennox growled.
We blinked.
And I meant every word.
Lennox’s POV
A heavy silence filled the room. No one spoke. No one moved. Until I did. I took a slow, threatening step forward, my eyes locked on him with pure, blistering hate.
I stepped right up to him now, my face inches from his.
I didn’t care who he was anymore. I didn’t care that he was my uncle. He had touched what was mine. He had hurt Olivia in the worst possible way he could. 1
Damien frowned. “I knew I did wrong, but I was also trying to protect her… 1
He tried to push me off, grunting as he braced against my weight, but now I was stronger-fueled by nothing but pure, unforgiving rage.
“You made her reject us.”
My jaw clenched. My fists curled so tightly, I felt my nails pierce skin.
“You’re evil,” I said coldly. “You didn’t just trick us. You didn’t just rip her away us…”
Father didn’t speak at first. He stood from silent. His face was hard to read, his jaw clenched, his brows drawn. But I could see the war behind his eyes. The weight of truth pressing down on him.
“It was complicated,” Father said darkly.
Father’s eyes moved between us. “And Olivia is descended from those earlier children. From your great-grandmother’s first bloodline.”
Father looked at us, and by the shadow in his eyes, I knew… He was finally ready to te the piece of the story they’d buried for generations.
Finally, he exhaled slowly and looked at us.
“Yes, Father.” Levi stepped closer. “You and Mother should start talking, and we want the absolute truth.”
“ENOUGH!” Father’s voice thundered across the room.
We stared at him, stunned.
“You knew she was in danger. You knew people were hunting her. You knew she needed help. But instead of telling us-you used it.” I took another step. “You used it for your own twisted revenge. For your selfish plan. You took her pain and made it part of your fucking strategy.”
“You let her suffer!” I shouted. “You knew! And you still-!”
“You’ll pay.”
Damien looked away, but I didn’t stop.
Rage like nothing I’d ever felt before surged through me. My wolf growled inside my head, demanding I rip Damien apart right there. But I held myself back.
We crashed to the floor with a loud THUD, my fists swinging before anyone could stop me.
Silence fell again. I blinked. “The Blackwells?” I glanced at Levi, who looked just as stunned.
My head snapped back to him.
“I told Olivia I would only help her escape Gabriel if she agreed to have a change of face… and act as my wife.”
He opened his mouth slightly, but I didn’t let him speak.
Damien kept talking like he couldn’t see we were seconds from tearing him apart.
“She didn’t ask you to,” Louis barked.
“Which families are we related to through Great-Grandmother Hailee?” I asked cautiously, not sure I wanted the answer.
“Because I threatened her not to,” Damien cut in.
“There was a bracelet wrapped around her wrist,” he said. “That bracelet suppressed her wolf… her scent… even her life. It was enchanted. If she disobeyed me, if she spoke a word-“
I landed another hit-then another-knuckles cracking against bone. My wolf howled inside me, blood pounding through my ears.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.