MATED TO FATHER, FATED TO SONS-Chapter 38: THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

AMARIS

The name Victor had come up in a lot of statements since I got to this pack. From Nia, Rowan and vaguely from Ryker.

I had always had this picture of an ugly man with a scar on his face, a devilish grin and a stamp on his forehead that shows his wickedness and sheer evil.

But here he was. Victor hale in person and he looked nothing like what I had thought he would look like.

I stared at him and my brain finally connected the dots between the charming man I had been talking to and the name that had been whispered like a curse around Gravemoon since I arrived.

"Wait," I breathed, taking a step back. "You are the Victor that destroyed the pack?"

Victor laughed, the sound rich and genuinely amused like I had just told the funniest joke he had heard all year, "Is that what they are telling you?" He tilted his head, something that looked almost like pity sitting in his eyes. "They sure wouldn’t tell you the full story."

Fear hit my stomach cold and fast but I kept my face straight, kept my breathing even, kept my hands still because showing weakness to predators was never a good idea and this man was definitely a predator.

"Why do you look scared?" Victor moved closer and I forced myself not to step back. "You didn’t seem scared before."

"Then I didn’t know you were a killer," I shot back, lifting my chin.

He stopped a few feet away, his expression shifting, "Now that you know, why are you still talking to me, if you are so scared why haven’t you run back inside screaming for help?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again because I genuinely did not have a good answer for that.

"I don’t know," I admitted.

Victor smiled and closed the remaining distance until he was right in front of me, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his dark eyes, "I know why," his voice dropped lower, "because you want to know more, because they haven’t told you anything and you are curious."

"That’s not true," I said, but even I did not believe that when it came out.

"Okay," he challenged, crossing his arms, "so what do you know about me."

I pulled together everything Nia had gossiped and Rowan had warned me about, "I know that your girlfriend turned out to be Alpha Corvin’s fated mate and you got vengeful and killed half the pack because of it."

Victor threw his head back laughing, the kind of laugh that came from somewhere deep and genuine, "Come on Amaris," he wheezed, wiping his eyes, "don’t tell me you are that naive, that you think it is just that simple."

My cheeks went warm, "I only believe what I am told."

"So you don’t want to know more?" He leaned against the railing, watching me with those sharp eyes.

I bit my lip.

On one hand this was Victor Hale, the man who had nearly leveled Gravemoon, the villain in every story told around here. On the other hand the men in this pack told me half stories, kept things from me, treated me like I was an outsider or too irrelevant to deserve the whole story.

So basically my options were either to trust the half stories I was getting here and never getting to know the whole truth or trust the Murderous stranger with the jaw scar.

Great choices, Amaris. Really spoiled for options here.

"If you want to tell me your side," I finally said, crossing my arms, "sure, I will humor you."

Victor’s smile widened, "Wow, you really are more than just your looks."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"You are not disappointing me at all," he countered, pushing off the railing, "well if you must know, Freya didn’t just cheat on me, Alpha Corvin—"

"What are you doing here you bastard!"

The voice came from behind me loud and furious and before I could turn around Ryker was already there, a blur of black and rage, his fist connecting with Victor’s jaw with a crack that made me flinch, Victor stumbling backward with blood already appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Stay away from her," Ryker snarled, both hands grabbing Victor’s shirt and slamming him hard into the railing.

I stood completely still, my brain trying to catch up.

Ryker hit him again, Victor’s head snapping sideways, and the strange thing was Victor did not fight back, did not even raise his hands, just took it like a man who had decided this particular beating was not worth his energy tonight.

And it made me wonder who the hell Victor Hale is because his personality didn’t match at all what had been said about him.

"Ryker stop," I grabbed his arm with both hands, "stop it right now."

He shrugged me off like I weighed nothing, eyes still locked on Victor, jaw tight, his whole body rigid.

I grabbed him again, wrapping both hands around his arm and pulling my full weight against it, and I felt how coiled and hard his muscles were under my hands, still shaking with the effort of not doing more damage than he already had.

Victor used the gap to push Ryker back and straighten up, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, and when he looked up he was smiling, which honestly said everything about Victor Hale that needed saying.

"Ryker," Victor chuckled, voice rough, "always the impulsive one."

"Get the fuck out of here," Ryker growled.

Victor smoothed his jacket, ran two fingers through his hair, then looked at me, "We will be in touch Amaris, you really do want to know what they are hiding here."

Then he walked past Ryker and back into the party like he had simply stepped out for some air and a light beating.

The second he disappeared Ryker turned on me.

His hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me into his chest and the impact knocked the breath straight out of me, my palms landing flat against him, his heart going absolutely haywire under my hands, and I could smell him, that smell of fur that always intoxicated my wolf recognized faster than my brain did every single time, which was a personal betrayal I was getting very tired of.

"Why were you talking to him," he said, his voice rough and tight.

"I didn’t know it was him," I said, pulling back, which did nothing because his arm had come around my waist and pulling back just pressed me closer, which was the opposite of helpful.

"When you knew," his other hand came up and gripped my chin, tilting my face up to his, his eyes still red at the edges from his wolf being too close to the surface, "why didn’t you walk away, do you know what he could do to you. Victor is a dangerous man,"

He was close enough that his breath was on my face and his jaw was so tight I could see the muscle working in it, his eyes stared at me like he did inside the hall and I knew he was already picturing me bare or with less clothings and it made my next breath come out a little shorter than the last one.

I was surrounded by dangerous men in this pack.

Ryker has proven to be the worst of them all.

One wanted to breed me and discard me, one had kissed me in his organized bedroom and sent my wolf into complete chaos, and now this one was gripping my chin with blood still on his knuckles from beating a man for standing near me. Let’s not forget he had his mouth between my legs days ago; he was definitely playing games with me.

I needed better life choices. I truly did.

"Maybe I am a magnet for danger," I shot back.

His grip on my chin loosening slightly, his thumb pressing there instead, and his eyes dropped to my mouth for exactly one second before coming back up to mine.

"Why do you say that," he asked, his voice dropping lower.

The air had ceased to exist the way it always did when we were this close, his hand at my waist, his thumb at my chin, his chest solid under my palms, and my wolf was already pacing and completely unhelpful as always.

I looked up at him, at this infuriating man who had beaten someone bloody for standing too close to me and would never in a million years admit why, and something cracked open in my chest. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Because I keep attracting you to me," I said, and shoved hard against his chest.

He did not move.

Not even slightly.

He looked down at me with those dark eyes and the hand at my waist tightened instead of letting go, his thumb dragging slow across my chin, and the way he was looking at me made my whole mouth go dry.

"Is that a complaint? because I am attracted to you too," he said. "And Amaris, I want to be the only danger to your life, no one else."

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

Which was honestly the most embarrassing thing that had happened to me all week and a lot had happened to me this week.