18. The Truth

Konstantin

If I pace this room any more than I have, there will be a fucking dent in the concrete. "Are you

fucking sure?” I ask my brother, who has finally decided to reveal what the old Alpha told him.

"Why would I lie?” he scowls while crossing his arms.

I stop walking and look at him. “Okay, then why not tell Fenriz this as well? Isn't this something you

think he needs to be aware of?” I ask, still not understanding my brother's logic.

“The old Alpha asked me not to tell his son about this as it will distract him from his current duties,”

Kai says. I think he's referring to the newest wife Fenriz will be killing.

“So we're doing this without his help, now that we know exactly what we're up against?” I exclaim.

We need Fenriz now more than ever; actually, we need all the fucking help we can get.

Kai sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “The pack comes first for the Vega Lycans, Kon. I

understand how frustrated you must feel, but we have to do this on our own now. Yes, we could

possibly use his strength, but what use is strength against an Incubus?”

A fucking Incubus. I still can't wrap my head around Stefan being a bonafide fucking sex demon. I

swear if you told me he’s a dragon, I would have been more inclined to believe you, but a fucking

SEX DEMON?

How the hell is it even possible, and what the fuck does he want?

“Lily is like him; this could be why she can't resist him when he touches her; because he plies her

with what her demonic side needs. But you're the mate chosen for her by the Gods way before she

was even born. There's more power there than your average sexual attraction.” Kai says, sitting

forward.

I stop pacing the office floor and sit down opposite Kai, breathing out a pent up sigh. “Okay, so now

that we know what he is, how do we kill him?”

“This is the reason I have called for the witches to come to the estate tonight. If anything, they're the

darkest type of witches known to man and should be able to help us with this.” Kai says.

I know how much my brother hates dealing with witches, so the fact that he’s doing this for me

means more than I can explain. Kai, Fenriz, they've all given up so much and done a lot to help me

get Lily back when I can do nothing but accept their help.

But how can I be more helpful? What can I do on my own to get her back to me?

“I need you to go home and rest, for now, Kon. Try to get some sleep in; we'll talk about this after

I've spoken to the witches. You've been through a lot these past few weeks, go and sleep before you

burn yourself out.” Kai says and gives me an odd look.

I nod, then leave his penthouse for my own.

Get some sleep? Does my brother not know me by now? There's no way I'll be able to fucking sleep

knowing my mate is out there being violated, and there was nothing I could do about it. So what

the fuck do I do while I wait?

As I am making my way downstairs, I spot Caterina standing by the large windows overlooking

Central Park. She has her hands against the windows and seems to be muttering something.

“Caterina?” I ask as I walk over to her.

My eyes widen when her head snaps towards me, and I notice her eyes have gone white.

“Beware the rise of the serpent as he feeds on Volkov Epsilon blood. The Epsilon lives. The Epsilon

lives. The Epsilon lives.” she says, repeating the line over and over even as she turns away from me.

What the fuck?! “Kai, something is up with Cat!" I call my brother over the mind link, and within five

seconds, he’s downstairs, stomping towards his mate.

He cups her face with his hands and looks into her eyes. “Come back to me, little wolf,” he says in a

low voice while stroking her cheek with his thumb. Caterina’s muttering grows quieter, then stops as

she closes her eyes.

When she opens them again, her usual green is back, but she looks visibly confused.

"Kai?" she says in a trembling voice. “What... What happened? Why am I here?”

Kai smiles at her gently and kisses her forehead. “You were sleepwalking, my love. Let's get you back

into bed.” He whispers and draws her closer to him, stroking her hair.

When he looks up at me, there's worry in his eyes. /“Don't tell her about this; she has enough on her

plate.”/ He pleads over the mind link to me alone, then walks her upstairs.

I don't even know if I'm awake or dreaming this anymore. What did Zephyr call it? Like we're in an

episode of Supernatural or something. Last year we were an average Mafia Wolf Pack, now we've

become a haven for supernatural creatures. Where the fuck is Dean and Sam when you need them?

I suppose we'll deal with this tomorrow after Kai has conferred with the witches.

As I make my way to the elevator and am about to key in my code, I realise that the place will be

empty yet again. I'd rather not be alone with my own thoughts, so I key in the code to Dimitri's

penthouse and walk inside.

He's always been my go-to when I want to drink and forget, and I think these last few weeks, we've

all forgotten how to take things a bit easy. Right now, all I want to do is take it easy and not stress

myself out.

“Dimitri,” I call him as I walk towards his living room, and I notice that the place is dark and deathly

quiet. Could he still be at Dreamcatcher? It's peak student season, so it's possible. I call him over the

mind link when he doesn't answer, but still get nothing.

Oh, well. Guess I'll be heading back to the confines of my depressing penthouse then. So much for

unwinding.

But something doesn't feel right, especially when I feel a chill go up to my spine, and as I turn

around, I spot two silver eyes staring at me.

“Dimitri?” I ask when I finally see my brother emerge from the darkness of his living room with the

scent of murderous intent on him. His fangs are bared, so are his claws... then he lunges at me with

a roar.

“Dimitri! What the fuck, snap out of it!” I shout as he tries to pin me to the floor, but I twist around

and grip him in a headlock. “Dimitri, stop!"

Caterina told us about her vision of seeing Dimitri kill someone in his penthouse, and Kai says he

spoke to him about controlling his beast. Our little brother insisted that he was in control of it now,

but could he have lied?

If he did, why would he lie to us about this? Why not come to us for fucking help?!

He growls, slashing at my hands which are gripping his head. He manages to graze my neck and

forearms, but they heal too quickly for me to worry about them.

When I feel him grow slack, I hear the whimpering of his wolf and the sound of him crying. Then he

retracts his claws, and when I let go of him, he curls into a ball and starts sobbing his heart out.

“I'm so sorry, Kon! I tried!” He cries out. “I tried to control him, but every night it's like I am

permanently under the sway of a full moon! I can't stop it; I can't stop this need to murder and

devour everything in my path!”

I stare at my youngest brother wide-eyed and in shock. To feel like you're permanently under a full

moon would drive anyone crazy, but he’s lived with this secret for over 20 years and never bothered

to tell us about it.

"How the fuck have you kept sane all this time?” I blurt out without even thinking, but then I hear

him chuckle.

He sits up and rests his arms on his drawn-up knees. “Who says I'm sane? I'm just good at acting; a

smiling viper with nothing to worry about.” He says, shaking his head. “I don't know what to do

anymore, Kon. I feel like I'm losing more of my humanity every night this happens, and I fear the

next time I go to sleep, it will be my last time as a human with a conscious mind.”

My heart breaks at his words, knowing that I have no clue how to help him. “Why haven't you

spoken to Kai about this? Or me? We could have tried to help you; you didn't have to go through

this on your own.” I say, not sure how we could have helped him either way, but at least he wouldn't

have felt alone.

He shakes his head. “You and Kai have both been so wrapped up in the problems of the pack and

your mates; I didn't want to add more to it by telling you about my insignificant issue.” He says.

“Bullshit. If there's a problem, you come to us. No matter how fucking busy you think we are, you're

our little brother, Dimitri; you're not some problem we have to fix.” I stand up and hold out my hand

to him.

“Now come, we'll have Kai speak to the witches about a binding spell for you. For now, let's drink

our problems away and pass out.” I say. He looks up at me and grins before taking my hand and

lifting himself up.

"Kai said the same thing,” he says and chuckles. “Thank you, Kon,”

“Don’t mention it, brother,”

Dimitri walks off towards his cellar to grab us a few bottles of alcohol, and I take this as my cue to

call Kai.

/“Are you on your way to the estate?”/ I ask him over the mind link.

/"l am. Why what's up?”/

I tell him about how I found Dimitri and how he hasn't gotten his beast under control. I also

mentioned how he explained the feeling of constantly being under a full moon.

/“Fuck. Okay, I'll speak to the witches about this as well; perhaps they can develop a binding spell.

Why the fuck didn't he tell us?"/

/"He feels like a burden already.”/ I say.

Kai then goes silent, but I know what he’s thinking. Dimitri doesn't trust us enough with his

problems, and we still don’t understand why. Even Nikolai used to tell us about his difficulties and

every sordid little detail of his life.

A sudden feeling of sadness overtook me then; my youngest brother was dead. I haven't thought

about him in months, and there's always been a hollow feeling since he died. We don't address it for

some reason, and I believe that reason is Caterina

We've lost so much this year alone; how the fuck will we cope with another loss?