Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Chapter 443: Get away.

Darius.

For a moment, it felt as though my world had come to a stuttering end and suddenly, I could no longer tell the difference between what was real and what was not.

My hands clutched desperately at the hem of my shirt, and for the first time in bloody ages, I felt my body shake. Not with anything else but fear.

Intense fear of the unknown.

Fear of the man standing right in front of me.

And more fear because I genuinely do not know if he is Uncle Ragnar, my adoptive father or Uncle Theon... Well, whoever Uncle Theon was to me.

My heart skipped a beat when he approached me slowly with the pace of a man who had nothing to fear or lose, and trust me, men like that were the only ones capable of getting under my skin— just as this one has.

"You are Alpha Darius, aren’t you?" He drawled in a rich deep baritone that shook me all the way to the depths of my soul.

Once again, my breath hitched, and I found myself nodding slowly while at the same time convincing myself that this was not Uncle Ragnar.

That this could not be him.

I mean, Uncle Ragnar would’ve called me ’son’ not ’Alpha Darius.’

He wouldn’t have used all of these formalities either.

Goddess, what the fuck am I even saying?

Uncle Ragnar was dead!

I tilted my head upwards proudly (yes, he is over a head taller than me), a flicker of hope creeping up my spine as I responded cockily; "Yes, I am Alpha Darius. Who are you?"

And at my response, he chuckled low and deep under his breath, and goddess, something about that sound made my body shake. It made my knees wobble and filled my soul with a kind of fear that I haven’t felt in a very long time— since before the death of my mad biological father.

Tiny fragments of the courage I once felt began to disintegrate, leaving me bare and messy in front of this stranger that felt familiar yet oddly foreign all at the same time.

"I am Michael." He said slowly, softly, his voice drifting into my head. "You may not know who I am."

And I wanted to believe that.

I wanted to believe that he was indeed who he said he was and that my mind was only playing tricks on me by conjuring up images that weren’t there. But deep down, I knew that that was false.

That he was no Michael.

I couldn’t see into his thoughts like I would with anyone else due to the insanely large mind block he had going on; but I could feel his aura. And it was intense. Too intense for a mere ’Mister Michael."

I hissed: "Nice to meet you, Mister Michael."

And even as I said those words, they felt insanely wrong. Like I was being disrespectful. Like he was one of those few people who could easily break me and make me.

I gulped.

Micheal cocked his eyebrows at me like he had things to say but couldn’t go through the stress of doing that and then he turned away, but not before saying;

"Are you here to see someone?"

I frowned then glanced at the reception. "Yes. You?"

He shrugged. "I am here to see a Ms Leilani Sinclair but I am told that she isn’t in."

"Is anything the matter?" I rushed out, and after realizing how prying that had sounded, I cleared my throat and took a step back. "I am here to see her as well but I was told that she is unavailable."

"Then I think she is indeed unavailable," he drawled, moving away.

But something in his voice made my nerves stand on high alert. Something about the way his voice and eyes softened at the mention of her name.

He turned and began to walk away and hell, I should let him go. Right?

I shouldn’t want to remain in his presence especially with how uncomfortable he’s been making me feel, right?

So why the fuck did I find myself saying: "wait!" just as he was about to walk away?

Why the hell does it feel like he knows me a little too well, and knows about Leilani too?

I couldn’t hide the suspicion from my face as I let my eyes watch him with close intensity, and then I muttered;

"I feel like I know you."

"And you do," he answered coldly, without missing a beat. Heavens, there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in his voice. "You remember some time four years ago?" He drawled, and at the mention of that, my heart skipped several beats all at once.

Why?

Because no one ever talks about four years ago.

No one at all.

"You remember how you betrayed a member of your family simply because you became greedy and felt that you were next in line for the throne? The throne with which you now sit on?"

The way he said those words so quietly... so calmly like he was talking about the weather made my blood run cold.

I thought no one knew about that...

"What the hell are you talking about?" I hissed but I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice nor the one which now made my hands tremble slightly.

He smiled, exposing his pearly whites and the four canines which looked a little too sharp. "You know what the hell I am talking about, Darius."

"I don’t," I tried to argue but stopped when he cast a sharp glance at me, making my breath hitch in my chest.

"You and I know that your father, Ragnar would’ve never been easily caught by those filthy werewolves if they were never helped by one of us..."

I frowned, rolled my eyes and hissed; "And you think that the ’one of us’ is me?"

"I know it is you." He drawled with surety, interrupting me; and with a nonchalant shrug, he added; "...and I know this because I made you who you are now. I trained you into the man you have now become. I saw and heard about what you did. But I survived..."

And at the mention of those words, my heart plummeted, falling deep into somewhere deep inside my guts.

My throat suddenly felt tight and I found myself—for the first time— stuttering as I said;

"You are... you are—"

"Late Alpha Ragnar, son. Did you think your stupid plots could get me killed? And even if it did, did you think you could get away with it forever?"

I froze.