Chapter 19

Chapter 19

My stomach twisted.

The sound of my brother's voice was always familiar, no matter how much time had passed by. My hand reached over the railing of the staircase and I glanced down. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear more of him echo through the silence along with Malik's footsteps as he went to get food.

What was Gerald doing here?

My ears perked, senses heightening. I wanted to rush downstairs, but fear held me back.

"I searched for my little sister everywhere, but I couldn't find her—" There was pain in his voice. For what? "I thought she would be dead, but she wasn't. I couldn't find her body either. I promised my father I would take care of her as he would go and now, I need to find her." he continued, his tone, his front—a complete facade.

My brows furrowed in confusion. It made little sense to me why he'd come here. To kill me?

I took a step down, my hand still tight on the railing. A shiver crawled down my spine.

"I know she isn't dead and I wouldn't be here if someone hadn't informed me about a young, lost runt lingering around here."

My stomach tightened even more. He knew I was alive, and I was here and nothing was going to stop him from coming after me and removing his buried rage. For as long as Dad was alive, he couldn't touch me, let alone kill me, but with his death, he was going to do as he wished.

"I'm meant to take care of her after our father's death. She just turned twenty and is quite young to be on herself alone. I need to confirm." There was nothing in his voice, not true emotion. His intentions were different.

Completely different.

There was silence that lasted for a long minute.

"I can assure you there isn't a runt in my pack and if there was, I would be informed about it." Nicholas said.

My heart skipped. A smile curled on my lips. It wasn't what I expected, but it was exactly what I hoped.

My eyes fluttered shut, and I sighed in relief. Gerald couldn't get to me or fulfill his bloody fantasies by killing me.

It made little sense to why Nicholas wouldn't put me out to my brother, especially when I was only a few seconds away, resting in his home, in one of his bedroom, but I was glad he didn't.

"If you get informed, please, let me know. April means a lot to me, and I need to make sure she isn't in any trouble." Gerald said, the trickery still in his voice as it was going to work.

It didn't. I heard them shuffling and only a few moments later; I watched Gerald and his friend Asher—who both wanted to kill me in the pack house—walk into the foyer. The doors opened, and they left. I hid behind the stairs as I watched him leave.

He couldn't smell me, especially since I hadn't ever shifted.

No one could smell me.

When I slipped away from the wall and back to the front of the stairs, I found Nicholas, his head raised and his intense gaze frozen upon me. A lump formed in my throat itself.

What was I meant to say to him now? Hopefully, it wasn't anything.

He came up the stairs, and I stayed there, waiting till my eyes were levelling with his shoulders and his tall frame was hovering over mine.

"You didn't say anything to him. Why?" I asked before pressing my lips together. It was a bit startling to why he wouldn't.

"Because you aren't going anywhere." he responded and suddenly, there was a strange feeling of relief and unease at the same time.

My brows slowly closed. The sound of footsteps heading upstairs reached my ears, and we both turned at the same time. Malik reached up, holding a flat tray in his hand filled with food that I had told him to get earlier. I forgot about it and the hunger in my belly after hearing Gerald's voice.

For a minute, I was panicking.

"Leave it in her room." Nicholas said.

Malik nodded and walked into the room, which was close to the stairs. I followed him in with Nicholas while a response remained in the back of my throat, a response he needed to hear.

As soon as he was gone, I turned to him and said, "You can't keep me here forever!" My tone wasn't as loud as I meant it to be.

I stopped near to the doorway where he stood, his head quietly meeting with the ceiling while I barely held my eyes to myself after remembering the interaction from earlier.

Amusement flashed in his eyes, but not on his face. "I can do whatever I want to with you—keep you here or free you to the rogues—anything." he replied, cruelly.

My chest became tight, "What if I want to go?"

"You came here on your feet and I spared your life. Don't expect for me to simply let you live the way you want to. It's in my hands and I'll do whatever I want with it, whatever I want with you," His shoulders became stuff as he entered the room, and began to back me like a wolf creeping up to its prey, or a rogue. Anyone weaker. "And tonight just confirms there won't be anyone looking for you. Making you completely vulnerable to me and my help."

Dread coiled in my stomach, growing second by second. I blinked, hoping I hadn't heard what he had just said. All those words—it was cruel.

My back pressed against the wall of the room. The little light from the lap beside the bed shadowed over us, making his face line perfect, but his eyes dark.

He didn't say Gerald about me to save me in any way—he didn't say anything so he could have me in his way.

"Tell me, April, what should I do?" he asked, his head lowering to mine, lips inching closer and closer.

Air emptied from my lungs, and at the loss of words, I said nothing. My lower lip quivered while I stared up at him.

"I'll run away..." I whispered, my heart hammering in my chest. It wasn't the best idea to tell the person who was holding you hostage that you were going to run away, but it wasn't like I had any other option.

"You can try all you want and I'll find you. You can only leave if I want you to leave. Otherwise, make yourself comfortable." He withdrew his hands from the wall behind me and stepped back, giving me room to breathe.

His eyes still lingered over me. My lips sealed shut while my heart still went thud, thud, thud.

"And I suppose anywhere is better than in under your seemingly sweet brother's protection. With the desperation clear on his face, I can tell he can't wait to get his hands on you and kill you. What terrible things have you done to him?" he asked, this time sounding a bit confused.

How could he even tell?

My brows closed, and I shook my head, "Nothing! I did nothing to him."

And truly, I had done nothing to him. His hatred formed when I was young, unable to shift, and he despised my existence since then. He believed it was useless, and somehow my birth weakened my mother, which later on lead to her early death.

She was young when buried. Werewolves could live for a lot longer, some centuries even.

Nicholas turned, nearly leaving the room this time, but before he did, he turned to me. "I better not find you wandering around again or there'll be consequences. You're only entitled to your room and your room only. I'll let this one mistake pass."

He left with another threat.

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