“No. It was exactly what I wanted to tell you when I came in. You have her version of the story, so it’s time I give you mine. I… I won’t keep anything from you anymore, but, before I start, you have to know that it’s not a pretty story.”
She snuggled closer to his chest, her cheek pressed against the taut muscles. “I’m ready.”
“It all began one hundred years ago. We were getting close to the end of the war, but we didn’t know it yet. Europe was one huge battlefield covered in bloody bodies and torn limbs. The humans were getting better and better at killing shape-shifters, having learned their weak spots. We were in southern UK, Karl and I, with our packs. Jocelyn was here, at the Schloss, making sure no one passed through our gates. We heard the rumor that the humans had killed a dragon, and Karl simply lost it. You have to understand the news was frightening. In four years of full-blown war, no dragon had ever fallen. Sure, they had been wounded and sometimes chased away, but not shot down from the sky. At that moment, it sounded like we were losing the war, because if the humans had found a way to kill the weredragons, who were the most powerful shifters, then the rest of us, werewolves, werefoxes, werebears, and wereeagles, didn’t even count. Compared to the mighty dragons, we were easy targets. I tried to reason with Karl and convince him it was not the end, but he wouldn’t listen. We had a fight, and he stormed out of our hiding place with his Dark Wolves right behind him. I thought he only wanted some time for himself because of our argument, so I didn’t go after him.”
Max made a brief pause to gather his thoughts and prepare for what he had to say next. Avelyn rubbed his arm reassuringly.
“The next day, one of my scouts came running to tell me that the nearby village had been plundered and almost burned to the ground, and it looked like a pack of wolves had done it. Maybe he knew, my scout… maybe he knew it had been Karl, but he didn’t have the courage to tell me. You see, it was a poor farming village. Those people had never posed a threat, and there were mostly women, children, and men who couldn’t fight, so no one could actually defend it in case of attack. Our mission was to regroup, and that was why we had found a hiding place. Karl and I were supposed to wait for two sleuths of bears and then move farther south. We had no interest in that village. But it seemed that Karl, in his rage, had attacked at night and killed or critically wounded every living soul.”
“My God…” whispered Avelyn.
“I sent Kevin and two scouts to track him down, and I stayed with the rest of my wolves to assess the damage and see if we could help anyone. We changed into our human forms and covered ourselves with what we could find, then went from house to house to gather the bodies and look for survivors. That’s how I found Sabine Miller. She was lying on the floor, squeezing her brother’s small hand, and fighting to breathe. She was bleeding profusely, and she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even crawl. When she saw me, she tried to scream, but her voice broke and only tears ran down her dirty cheeks. She had a broken leg, and her hip had been almost smashed to pieces, but she hadn’t been bitten. A slow, painful death awaited her, mainly from blood loss, and I couldn’t let it happen. Right then, seeing her broken and helpless, so innocent and alone, I decided that I couldn’t let her die or, worse, kill her myself so she wouldn’t suffer. So, I took her in my arms and bit her, then stayed like that for hours, waiting for the venom to take effect and start healing her wounds.”
“That was a brave and kind thing to do.”
Max’s smile was more of a grimace. “I don’t know. Maybe I thought the same then, that I was doing the right thing saving her and taking her with me. Now, I don’t know anymore.”
“You couldn’t have known how things would change.”
“I guess… Anyway, Kevin found Karl and the Dark Wolves and brought them back. Karl was easy to convince. After his rage had subsided, he saw what he had done and calmed down. Maybe he even regretted it to some extent, but I’ll never know that for sure. We carried on with our mission, but I secretly sent Sabine to the Schloss with Caleb and Daniel to guard her and keep her safe. I would have sent Kevin, but I needed my Beta. On the other hand, I could manage without my Deltas for a couple o
f days. It took another two months until I could finally reach the Schloss myself. Until then, Christine and Jocelyn had taken care of Sabine and made sure her change went as smoothly as possible.”
“Jocelyn?”
“Yes…”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t see Jocelyn caring for anyone.”
“She’s a tough one, my sister, but she has a heart, you know? She and Sabine were quite close for a while. I think Sabine looked up to her.”
“How did she…” Avelyn swallowed heavily. “How did Sabine welcome you?”
“She was amazing. In those two months, she had gained a bit of weight, her skin had gotten a nice tan. She was happy and full of energy and life. She kept thanking me over and over for saving her and giving her a new home. The wolves liked her young, wild spirit, and she loved running in the woods around the Schloss and hunting with them. It was like she had been born to be a werewolf. Soon, the peace treaty was signed and the Council was formed. The next few months were peaceful and uneventful. Karl moved away to London, which was a great relief, because it would have been crazy to expect Sabine to live under the same roof with the one who murdered her family. They didn’t talk to each other anyway. Although, I remember Karl coming back from one of his morning jogs naked, bruised, and in a foul mood. He said it was nothing, but then I saw Sabine gloating for, like, a whole week. Jocelyn and I came to the conclusion that she probably found the perfect time and place to corner him and ruffle his fur a bit, give him a taste of his own medicine. She was a strong little she-wolf, but not strong enough to actually stand up to him. He probably let her have that victory.”
“How kind of him.” The irony in Avelyn’s voice was evident.
“Things got complicated when… when I realized she had fallen for me. We had developed a strong friendship, so when Sabine told me she loved me, I was bewildered. Later, Christine told me I had been a blind fool for not seeing it all along. She said Sabine had felt that way even before I came back to the Schloss. Our relationship grew in time, little by little, step by step. We took it slowly, aware we had all the time in the world. After one year, I decided we should have the full moon ritual. It was only normal for her to become my official bride. That was the first time when Jocelyn and Christine showed their disapproval. Of course, the reason was that Sabine would never be able to offer the clan heirs, but I dismissed it and told them that could very well fall on Karl’s shoulders. I…” He made a long pause, unsure how to say the words. “I…”
“You loved her,” Avelyn finished the sentence for him in a small voice.
“Yes…”
“It’s okay. I’m not jealous, I promise. It happened a long time ago. I wasn’t even born.” She chuckled lightly.
Max kissed the top of her head. “Just a few months after the ritual things started going downhill. It was like she had become obsessed with trying to get pregnant no matter how often I explained to her that it didn’t matter, I didn’t care, and I was perfectly fine with being with her just the way she was. She insisted that it was unacceptable, and that the Crescents and the Moon Children had started turning against her, accusing her of trapping their main Alpha in a childless marriage. It wasn’t true. Even though Jocelyn had turned a bit bitter towards her, she had by no means accused her of anything or even told her anything unpleasant. It was all in Sabine’s mind, and I waited for it to pass, thinking it was only a phase. It’s unbelievable how naïve and irresponsible I was.”
“How long did it take…”
“For her to go completely insane? A little over 40 years. Her sanity slowly degraded, but it took us a long time to see it. There were little things. Paranoia, small crises of jealousy… A couple of times, she accused me of having an affair with the human maids, but I simply reassured her I would never do something like that to her. She was insecure and scared I’d eventually leave her for a woman who could offer me children. She became suffocating. I couldn’t take care of the clan’s business from Dunkelstadt, because she’d come to my office twice a day to check on me. Soon, it was impossible to get any time alone because she’d start freaking out and asking me if I was seeing someone else. Then… the most terrible thing happened.”
“She killed those two maids?”
“No… I mean, yes, but it didn’t happen all at once. First, Frida disappeared. She was a 20-year-old girl who worked in the kitchen. She came from a poor family, and her job at the Schloss helped her take care of her sick mother. We thought she had run away or something, tired of her life, determined to find something better. She was seeing a young lad in Dunkelstadt. A Crescent found her body buried in the woods. The earth had removed almost all clues, so we weren’t sure what had happened to the girl.”
“And the second one?”
“Christine advised me to keep an eye on Sabine because she was more and more unstable, so I asked one of Josie’s Deltas to follow her around, but keep his distance. She attacked Hilde when the girl was going home for the weekend. Her family lived in Dunkelstadt. The Moon Child tried to stop her, but he was too late. Sabine hurt him badly when he tried to restrain her.”