Chapter 28

Charlotte Sanguinite

I haven't stepped foot in the compound since the day I left.

"Why did you bring me here, Terrence?" I ask, feeling uncertain. I already sent a quick message to Robert while Terrance was distracted. I haven't received a frantic phone call or message in response, so I assume he's fine with it.

"I want to show you the prophecy." Terrence smiles at me. "I found it, and I think you'll be really interested in seeing it. You were so curious about Jean Sanguinite, so I went looking for it, specifically."

I haven't told Terrence yet about what my father did and why, back when Terrence was in Europe and I still lived here on the compound. I don't really know if I should. Perhaps it would be best to leave the past in the past.

"I really didn't want to come here," I murmur. "None of my memories from this place are good. You could've just shown me a picture of the prophecy."

As curious as I am about my ancestor, if I had known it would mean returning to where all my nightmares began, I would have been happy not learning anything about her.

"Your abilities have returned, haven't they? I can sense your energy."

I glance down ruefully at my empty wrist. The day my powers exploded, which was a result of Robert's and my mating bond, the bracelet shattered. I didn't realize how convenient that bracelet had made my life.

"Yes."

"You must be happy about that."

"It's taking some getting used to," I reply, my hand rubbing my wrist. "Are you sure there won't be a problem with me being here, seeing as I killed my father?"

"Not much of a father," Terrence mutters under his breath, and I look over at him, wondering if he knows something. As he continues to drive through the large compound, he says, "Don't worry. Nobody will say a word to you."

We pull up in front of my former family home, and my insides tighten in abject fear. I really don't want to go inside.

However, when Terrence opens the car door for me, there's not much I can do.

"How is Arabella?" I ask slowly, following him up the steps of the mansion.

Terrence casts a glance my way. "Your capacity for forgiveness never fails to amaze me, Charlotte. After everything she did to you, you're still concerned about her?"

"You mean the attack on me at the cafe?"

"That, and everything else she did." Terrence looks around. "If you ask me, your family had it coming. They should have respected you. Instead, they became arrogant and decided to play games."

His tone puts me on edge. I've never heard Terrence sound so harsh.

"I haven't forgiven anything." My eyes roam over the place I once called home. "But as her sister, I worry about her. She wasn't always like this, you know. There was a time when she was sweet and loving. But my father had no room in his family for love. He needed his children to be strong and manipulative. He hated me because I was born a healer. Even with my abilities back, he still wanted me dead. More than that, he wanted me to suffer. He wanted me to pay the price for the humiliation he faced because of how I was born." My hand curls into a fist by my side. "So, no. There is no forgiveness inside me."

"Don't worry." Terrence smiles at me suddenly. "From today on, nobody will ever treat you as less than a queen."

Before I can ask him what he means by that comment, he walks away. "Wait here. I'll get you something to drink."

My eyes linger on his retreating figure, and I feel a sense of unease within me. Perhaps it's the fact that I feel like a guest in my childhood home? I can't put a finger on it, but I'm definitely uncomfortable.

Taking out my phone, I try calling Robert, only to discover there's no signal here. But then my phone vibrates, and Ricky's name pops up in the message notifications.

"No outgoing calls, but I can receive messages?" I mutter, confused. "What's going on?"

I'm about to open the message when I hear pounding footsteps, as if someone is running. My head jerks toward the main hallway, and a woman bursts out of it. The sight of her has me gaping.

My sister's flawless complexion is marred with bruises. One of her eyes is swollen shut. Her hair looks like chunks have been torn out.

My heart crawls into my throat. "Arabella!"

She sees me and rushes toward me. "Help me! Help me, please!"

There's no trace of arrogance on her face anymore, just desperation. "He's going to kill me! Please! Help me!"

"Arabella, who?" I grab her by the upper arms and give her a little shake. "Who's trying to kill you?"

Her eyes are crazed with pain. "We have to go! We have to g—"

"Go where?" comes a pleasant voice from the hallway.

I look up as Arabella turns white as a sheet, hiding behind me as she used to do when she was a child.

Terrence is standing there, and a feeling of foreboding overtakes me.

"What is going on, Terrence? Why is Arabella in this state?" I demand.

"She's paying for her sins." Terrence beams at me. "And I'm not done with her yet."

When his gaze settles on the cowering girl behind me, there's an intense hatred in his eyes, one I've never witnessed before. It makes me shiver.

"She's the reason we couldn't be together, Charlotte." Terrence's voice is harsh. "After everything I did for this clan, all I wanted was one thing in return. You. And your father couldn't even keep his end of the bargain. To my face, he agreed to the engagement between us, but just when the clan began to achieve success due to my efforts, he backed off, claiming you ran off and died, and then arranging my engagement with your sister!"

I stare at him, shocked. "You knew?"

Terrence gives the cowering Arabella a hateful look before turning his attention toward me. "I wouldn't have found out if I hadn't arrived earlier than planned. I saw you in the street. I thought I was imagining things, so I followed you. And not just that day. For a couple of days, I followed you. I thought I was going mad. The animal shelter, your apartment, your place of work. And I realized it really was you. I sent word to your father, asking if he was sure you were dead, because I'd seen you. He asked me where, and I made the mistake of telling him. I didn't think he would have the guts to touch you. But I was wrong."

My brain is trying to process all this information. There are a lot of things that aren't making sense to me—especially the way Terrence is talking, as if my father should have been scared of him. Why would my father be scared of Terrence?

"Your father and sister decided the jig was up, and that's why Arabella took it upon herself to try to kill you."

"I was—" Arabella can hardly speak, she's crying so hard. "I was only going to scar your face. Father told me I had to! I had no other choice!"

"Shut up!" Terrence roars. "Don't pity her, Charlotte! How can you pity someone who was so cruel to you—"

"I did everything you told me to do, Terrence!" Arabella suddenly screams, clutching my dress as if frightened I'm going to abandon her.

A terrifying flash of rage crosses Terrence's face. "Do you think lying to Charlotte is going to save you? You and your father stabbed me in the back! You—"

"What do you mean, everything he told you to do?" I ask Arabella, my heart pounding.

"Everything!" Tears stream down her face. "He told me and Clyde to hurt you so that he could rescue you! Clyde enjoyed it, but I didn't! But he said I was special, and Father said I had to listen to what Terrence said!"

"Shut up!" Terrence roars, but when he moves toward her, I block his path, a sick feeling forming in my stomach. My phone vibrates again, and my eyes lower to it just long enough to read the message Ricky has sent me.

The macaroons had poison in them. Call me now.

The macaroons?

For a moment, I'm confused, not knowing what he's talking about. But when I lift my gaze to meet Terrence's, he looks unhinged, and I remember.

"The macaroons," I murmur, my head spinning. "You gave me those macaroons."

"So?" Terrence frowns.

Robert told me about the poison that had taken my abilities away. Of course, Ricky knows about it, too; Robert said the vet had been the one to discover the poison in the blood I threw up. There's been a lot going on lately, so I haven't had the time to think about everything properly, but Ricky's message is dragging me down memory lane.

"You always used to give me food to eat," I say numbly, staring at the man who proclaims to love me. "I lost my abilities after I met you. You poisoned me."

Terrence's jaw tightens. "That's nonsense. Who is filling your head with—"

"That day at the coffee shop," I cut him off, my brain beginning to put the pieces together. "I vomited because you put something in my coffee, didn't you? You didn't know that Robert had been feeding me his blood. You never would have thought that a wolf Alpha would do that. That's why I threw it up, along with all the leftover poison in my system. And the macaroons. You brought the macaroons because you remembered I used to like them. You put poison in them, too. You wanted me to lose my abilities. Even when I was a child. Why?"

My heart is aching because I genuinely believed that Terrence and I could form a path of friendship, when all he was trying to do was poison me. But for what possible reason?

"I was a child," I whisper, my ears burning with a painful emotion. "I wasn't a threat to you or anyone else." I look down at my trembling sister. "Arabella isn't lying, is she? She's finally telling the truth. She did all those horrible things to me because Father told her to listen to you. As simple as that. After all, who could defy our father?" Meeting Terrence's gaze, I see the utter lack of remorse, and I wet my lips. "So why did you do it?"

The betrayal hurts, but not as much as it could have had Terrence managed to convince me to accept him as my mate or had he gotten to me before Robert and I ever met.

"Fine." Terrence's eyes sharpen. "No more playing pretend, then. I knew who you were the moment I first laid eyes on you. The reincarnation of Jean Sanguinite. My family was her records keeper. My ancestor was her most trusted advisor. The Sanguinite bloodline retained my family as their advisors over the next centuries. Even when the clan decided to erase the shameful mark Jean left on our clan by mating with an animal, we were duty bound to preserve the truth. We hid it all away, the records, the scrolls, her legacy. It passed from father to son, including the prophecy that spoke of Jean's rebirth, born from the womb of the weak, the true Queen who would unite a continent under her rule. My father never paid attention to the prophecy, but I found it interesting, and when I met you, I realized it was coming true. Your mother was weak. A powerful healer, but a weak vampire. And you, Charlotte, would have gone on to become powerful, too. I had to intercede."

He sounds so confident, so cocky.

My phone is vibrating, but I don't dare look down, knowing he'll break it if he sees it. Moving my finger, I accept the call without looking at the screen.

"So this is about some wackadoodle prophecy?" I hiss. "You messed up my life because of some stupid writing on a piece of paper?! You didn't even know that the prophecy was about me or that I was Jean's reincarnation—"

"I knew!" Terrence spits out the words. "I had Jean's portraits. I knew what she looked like as a child, as a woman. The prophecy was that you would reunite with the animal Jean kept by her side. Did you think I was going to let that happen? I had to be the one to stand by your side. I had always been intelligent; I was ahead of every child my age. I had to be the one to rule this continent, the clans. It was my destiny! So, I knew I had to isolate you from the clan. I had to make you lean on me, trust me. I was going to become your whole world. You would be weak and helpless, and I would be the one to protect you, to guide you. And once the time was right, I would show the prophecy to everyone, a version of it. With the prophecy and your portrait as proof, the clans would submit to you. And I would rule them all. I was going to wipe out those filthy, infested animals, or keep them at our feet, where they belong!" Spittle is flying from his mouth. "But these idiots ruined everything! The drugs started to work, and I had wrapped things up in Tallinn. It was time for Beruth to honor his word. Instead, he brought her to stand before me! Your father wanted this bitch as my mate! He thought he could control me if Arabella were mated to me! All my years of work, undone. He'd hidden my letters to you and let this crazy creature think I wanted her! As if I could desire something so mundane! She's got nothing to offer aside from her looks, and even there, she doesn't compare to the regal queen I chose!"

Arabella is crying now, hysterical sobs, and my whole body is trembling in a combination of horror and rage.

He's crazy. He's absolutely fucking nuts.

"You're the one behind the drugs and the murders," I snarl. "You killed Robert's friend!"

"Which one was he?" Terrence looks like he couldn't care less. "All those animals are the same. I have to say, though, I am disappointed in you, choosing to go down the same path as Jean, getting into bed with a flea-infested mutt, when you could have had me. I have single-handedly destroyed seven wolf packs. I perfected the recipe for a drug that is going to put us on top of the food chain. We will become the apex predator, thanks to me!" He lets out a shuddering breath in an obvious attempt to calm himself down. "Anyway, you're here now. I've made preparations. The clans are arriving as we speak. I will announce the truth, show them the creatures who now serve me, and we will declare you as my mate."

He steps toward me, his hand coming to cup my face. "You have been making a string of bad decisions, Charlotte. I cannot let you take any more missteps now. You will take the Ersa root after this meeting; it will return you to the way you were. I think that will be better. I'll take care of everything. You are merely going to be the face of this clan; I will make all the decisions for you. Once that Alpha is dealt wi—"

My hand moves of its own accord, and Terrence stumbles back, clutching his left cheek.

"Nothing is going to happen the way you think, Terrence," I say coldly. "Did you think I would just sit here and let you do all this? Willingly ingest a poison so that your plans can come to fruition? But that's exactly your problem, isn't it? You live under the delusion that everyone will just fall in line with your scheme. That you are entitled to me. You will never make any decision for me. Ever. And I will not stand in front of anyone and feed into your lies."

Terrence snarls. "You slapped me? I have put everything into you, and this, and us! You think you can raise your hand to me and I won't punish you?"

"I'm not the scared seven-year-old you remember," I sneer. "I'm not weak any longer. And you are dealing with not one but two adult vampires." I grab Arabella by the arm, pulling her to her feet. "You think you can take on the both of us, Terrence?" I ask coolly.

I'm not a fool. I may not be able to hold Terrence off for much longer, but I know my mate is on his way. I can feel Robert's fury and urgency vibrating within me. I won't go down without a fight, and I will never let Terrence win. I haven't forgotten the way Robert mourned his friend. I want revenge. I want Terrence to pay for the suffering he put my mate through.

"A vampire and a healer, you mean. And do you think I'm an idiot?" Terrence suddenly laughs. "I've known you've had a call connected to someone all this time. Is the wolf Alpha coming? Is he bringing his pack? Because I've made preparations for him, as well. As the clans arrive, they will witness a spectacular massacre. In fact," he raises his head toward the front entrance, smirking, "it seems that it's already begun!"

That's when I hear the sounds of fighting coming from outside.

I begin to run toward the noise, only to be seized by Terrence. "I don't think so."

Without a moment's hesitation, I elbow him in the stomach with all my might before crashing my fist into his nose. He stumbles back, gripping his face, and I flee. Throwing open the doors, I see something that is the stuff of nightmares. Wolf shifters fighting against hairy, deformed creatures that look like they ascended from hell. The creatures are vicious, and wolves are falling.

"Like my handiwork?" Terrence's smug voice comes from behind me. "I used my own blood to create these drugs, so they obey me. They are invincible, and once they bring me your precious Alpha's head, I'm going to display it in our bedroom. You're going to look at his decaying face each night when you surrender your body to me."

I give him a horrified look. There is something incredibly sick about this man.

"Behold!" Terrence suddenly shouts, his voice echoing over the fighting. "These are the wolves we once feared, Clan Leaders. And look at them now. They will be our slaves, nothing more. Roll it down!"

I hear the rustling of cloth from above and look up to see something being unfurled from the upper floor window.

"Jean Sanguinite has returned to us. I sent you the message with the prophecy. Our Queen has returned. She will lead us back into our golden era! It is because of her we have been able to subdue these animals! The Nelo Clan pledges its allegiance to her."

His declaration spurs shouts from the men standing on the edges of the battlefield.

"The Risa Clan pledges its allegiance to the Queen!"

"The Azure Clan pledges its allegiance to the Queen!"

As the cries sound out, fury fills me. No wonder Terrence was so confident. He had lied. The clan leaders had already been told about the prophecy. And he'd planned to implicate me in front of Robert and his pack. He really did cover all his bases. Except, this man keeps trying to put me back in the box he created for me when I was a child.

I can see Arabella behind him. She is looking at me, her eyes helpless and distraught. My lips press into a thin line.

"You didn't account for something, Terrence," I sneer, finding him ridiculous.

He gives me an amused look. "I have always been two steps ahead of you. There is no way out. If, let's say, your lover does survive, he will never accept you—"

"Not my lover, Terrence." I blink twice at him. "My mate. He is mine, and I am his. And that's the truth."

The smug smile slips from Terrence's lips. "You're lying."

"I'm not." I take a step toward him. "Now, what are you going to do in front of all the clans who have just sworn allegiance to me? Will you kill me? And say what to them? If my mate dies, by logic, I'll die too, right?"

From the frustration on his face, he clearly never thought of this.

His hand grabs my neck, and it's my turn to look amused. "Go on. What's your next step? Are you going to kill me?"

His claws dig into my neck.

Arabella creeps forward, a blade in her hand.

"You whore!" Terrence spits, his eyes mad with rage. "You mated that animal?! After everything I did for us—"

I knee him in the balls, and he goes down with a strangled sound. Arabella runs forward with a cry, stabbing the knife into his shoulder. However, Terrence plucks it out and shoves her backward. "This is your fault! I'll kill you!"

The knife descends, and for a heartbeat, I see the frightened little toddler who used to follow me around, calling my name. My body moves instinctively, and the knife stabs me in the neck.

Blood spurts out, and I hear an enraged howl almost instantly from somewhere among the fighters. From the corner of my eye, I see a large, familiar-looking wolf running toward me. Terrence appears horror-struck as I fall into my sister's arms.

"No! Charlotte—I didn't mean—"

I weakly yank the knife out, and more blood spills. He got an artery.

The terrified look in Arabella's eyes has me wondering how much of her hatred was real and how much was her way of survival.

The wound is healing, but not fast enough considering the amount of blood flowing from me. I need to drink some...

Robert jumps in front of me, shoving Terrence away. He shifts into his human form, naked, and cradles me.

His expression is grim, and he seems to know what I need. He bites into his arm and presses it against my mouth in full view of his pack and the leaders of the other clans. I gulp down the blood greedily, my body ice cold.

A shadow falls over me, and my eyes find the reason for it behind Robert. My mouth pulls away from his arm as I see Terrence bring down the knife.

"No!" The scream emits from my mouth, and out of nowhere, someone has grabbed Terrence's wrist.

My eyes widen as I see who it is. Or rather, what it is.

One of Terrence's creatures has his hand wrapped around Terrence's, stopping him from stabbing Robert.