The Enemy of My Enemy–1
Sebastian’s POV
My rage bubbled up fast, threatening to boil over. Despite what Hawthorne said about Graves not being a suspect, I hadn’t crossed him off my list.
This guy had kidnapped Thea. Nobody does that shit without some twisted motive. And
Hawthorne’s explanation made zero sense. If he truly didn’t want to hurt her, why kidnap her and force me to make an impossible choice?
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled at him.
His gaze swept over me, then scanned the others in the room. Though everyone stood alert, that didn’t seem to shake him in the slightest.
The most dangerous thing about Graves was his sheer insanity. Sure, I was a cold, dangerous person, but Graves took that quality to a whole new level., but Graves took that quality to a whole new level. He was a psychopath and sociopath. Three of the most powerful Alphas in the region were gathered here, and he looked completely unfazed, like
he was in his own damn room.
“I’m here to see Thea. What the hell do you think I’m doing here? Coming to see your
pathetic ass?” he asked with a wicked smile.
Gold began to flash before my eyes, my wolf snarling and grinding his teeth. I clenched my fists, fighting to keep him from taking action in the fucking hospital. This was where
Thea was, and I absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
“You really think we believe you?” Damien asked him. “You kidnapped her just a few
months ago.”
He turned to my brother, his eyes radiating a bone–chilling coldness, as if the man had no
soul whatsoever. Maybe he didn’t. Who the fuck knew?
“Honestly, I don’t give a fuck what any of you think, because I’m not here for any of you,”
he said without losing his cool. “Now tell me how she’s doing, or should I find her physician myself?”
His condescending tone and attitude irritated the hell out of me. I didn’t even understand
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The sy
way be’ll show up in the first place.
Why should I tell you anything? For all we know, you could be the bastard who ordered best bit I stisk
He wished his eyes at me, then threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing off the waiting room walls. When he abruptly stopped, his gaze locked onto mine.
“Trust me, if I wanted Thest dead, she’d be dead,” he said, his tone utterly flat.
If you’re not the one behind this, why are you here? I don’t understand what her health has to do with you, Seraphina spoke up.
His gaze left me, scanning the others. It finally landed on someone behind me. I turned slowly to see who. It was Sophia.
His gare lingered on her for a moment. He looked almost fascinated, and Sophia seemed unable to look away. Finally, he visibly struggled to drag his gaze away.
Interesting
He focused his attention on Seraphina. “She’s carrying my niece, of course I care about
ber
He delivered the statement so calmly, yet it stunned every single one of us.
The guy had to be delusional or something. There was no way I’d heard that right. How the fuck could he be this pup’s uncle? As far as I knew, he had no blood relation to Thea. Unless he was her long–lost brother.
“That’s–that’s impossible,” Iris stammered.
From Seraphina and Maximus’s reactions, Graves couldn’t possibly be their son, so if what he was saying was true, his connection to the pup had to be through some other means.
I studied him carefully, and suddenly it clicked,
“You’re Kane’s brother,” I stated, seeing the similarities between them flash through my
mind.
“Bingo, he replied.
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The Enemy of My Enemy–1
“But how is that possible?” Seraphina whispered. “When we adopted Kane, we were told he had no other living relatives.”
“I was in another state at the time. I learned about Kane being in the foster system from one of my father’s underlings. I had them tamper with his records to make it look like our father was his only living relative,” he paused.
“Like I told Thea, I wanted him to have a chance at a normal life. So I gave him that chance. I didn’t want him becoming a criminal.”
“Yet he still ended up in prison,” I said sarcastically.
He smiled, but this time it wasn’t cold. It was almost warm, if you could call it that.
“Thea said the same thing.”
We were silent for a moment until Maximus spoke up.
“From your tone, it sounds like you’ve been in contact with my daughter.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘contact… we’ve been corresponding,” he began to explain.
The Enemy of My Enemy–2
Then he told us everything. His plan to kidnap Thea, and how afterward he went to find her, asking to be part of the child’s life. Thea, bless her kind soul (which might get her in trouble someday), had agreed.
“You know she could get in trouble if the authorities find out about your connection,
right?” Sophia asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m working on a plan,” he gave her a playful smile, but didn’t
elaborate.
“Since you’ve been in touch, did she mention anything to you? Maybe feeling unsafe or threatened? Anything at all,” I asked. We needed some leads to start investigating.
Graves told us about when Thea first received a note, continuing with the two that followed. She’d received the final note yesterday. The day she was shot.
A sickening feeling rose in me at the thought that she’d turned to Graves for help instead of me. Before it could consume me completely, I pushed it aside. None of that mattered
now. Not when she was lying in a coma.
“I hate that I couldn’t protect her. I should have investigated deeper, maybe could have prevented all this,” he said.
I saw an emotion in his eyes I never thought I’d see. He was struggling with it because he’d never needed to feel guilty about anything.
No one spoke because we were all battling certain emotions. We all thought we could have prevented this somehow.
I sat down with a sigh when Aurora walked into the waiting room.
The second Graves saw her, all warmth and guilt vanished. Before any of us could do anything, he lunged at her, grabbing her by the throat and shoving her against the wall, sharp claws instantly extending to dig into her neck.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Roman shouted at him, but he didn’t stop.
Aurora let out a choked cry, not daring to move. Fear covered her entire face.
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The Enemy of My Enemy–2
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “Let her go, Graves.”
He didn’t listen. In fact, his claws were fully extended now, almost breaking her skin, and the scent of iron began to fill the air.
Roman growled, trying to pull him off his sister, but Graves didn’t budge, his strength surprisingly powerful, enough to challenge a werewolf who had inherited the Alpha position months ago.
“If I find out you had anything to do with hurting Thea, I swear I’ll gut you. Like those animal organs you love to eat, understand?” he snarled.
I had no idea how he knew about her liking for animal organs. Then again, nothing he did or knew would surprise me anymore.
She nodded tearfully, eyes wide. Graves flared his nostrils, deeply inhaling her scent of fear, seeming to verify her genuine reaction, then released her, claws slowly retracting to
human form.
“You bastard!” Roman roared, swinging at Graves, who easily sidestepped the blow.
“Try to hit me one more time, and you’ll be buried next to your father within a week,” he
warned.
That seemed to cool Roman down quickly. He backed away from Graves. He knew this wasn’t an empty threat. If Graves said he would do it, he damn well would. And judging by Derek’s ultimate fate, I believed he could.
A nurse walked in, breaking the tense atmosphere.
“Alpha Ashworth, I’m the head nurse…”
Before she could finish, I interrupted her.
“How’s the baby?”
She gave me a small smile. “She’s in an incubator, as you already know, but she’s doing
well so far. We’ll need to keep a special eye on her for the next few days to make sure what happened to her mother didn’t leave any permanent damage, but we believe she’ll
survive.”
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The Enemy of My Enemy–2
I let out a breath of relief, feeling Graves do the same beside me.
“I came here because we need to give her a name. Do you know what name Thea had
chosen for her?”
For a moment no one spoke. Until a small voice behind me answered:
“Phoenix.”
I turned to see Leo. He’d been with my parents.
He immediately let go of their hands, took a few steps to grab mine, then looked up at the
nurse.
“She didn’t know if the baby would be a boy or a girl, but she told me if it was a boy, we’d call him Orion, and if it was a girl, then her name would be Phoenix.”
The head nurse gave him a gentle smile. “What’s her last name?”
Leo answered confidently: “Kincaid.” He paused briefly. “Her name is Phoenix Willow
Kincaid.”
