CHAPTER 59

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
COLLINS’ POV
I furiously sharpened the knife in my hand, refusing to look at the old man sitting at the corner of my living room with a cigarette between his fingers, occasionally taking a puff from it. When did he even start smoking again?

“So are you really not going to talk to me because of her?” he finally broke the icy silence in the room.

I slapped the knife down, turning around to meet his eyes,” You tried to kill her, Dad. Excuse me if I’m not warmed up to the idea of the woman I like so much being killed by my own blood father,”

“Are you blind? She is a threat, son. Not an object of whatever fantasy you’ve got. Just because you two had some fun night in Vegas, doesn’t mean you need to exclude the fact that she could be the end of our kind,” he rose up, approaching me as he lowered his voice,” You will stay away from her. At least this time you should be able to do one thing right,”

“You fucking tried to kill her, Dad and somehow you want to justify this? You killed her entire family and what for? Because you think she might be a threat?”

“You know after that whore, I thought you might have learned a lesson or two but clearly I was wrong. All this love bullshit you keep roping yourself into is going to be the end of you if you aren’t careful enough,” he warned in a tight-lipped tone.

“And you are always going to be the same cold-hearted killer,” I snapped.

“Oh son, we are all killers. It runs in our blood,” he patted my shoulder before walking out.

I didn’t exactly hate my father but I could not exactly stand him either. He was never the kind to accept he was wrong and for every bad decision he made, he always found a way to justify it or blame it on someone. Fuck! I needed some fresh air and with Trina gone, we had lost the only leverage we had against Drake. I grabbed my coat and phone before walking out of the house.

“Going somewhere?” Danny intercepted me at the exit.

“I need to breathe. The old man is giving me a severe headache. So I thought of taking a walk and probably grab a beer later on, “I shrugged.

“Then I’ll join you. I can’t stand being unable to find answers to the mysterious werewolf assassin. Nothing credible has come up yet and now that we’ve lost Trina to Drake, we have no way of trapping that fucking hybrid. I just hope this killer doesn’t strike again,” He blew out a breath, joining me as we walked out of the compound.

Tonight the sky was even dark to match my mood. Never had I dreamt this was how my time with Nadia would be cut short. I finally had her and then boom! She couldn’t stand my presence. All this because of the old man that seemed to have a problem with anything I did.

“Do you think maybe your father is right?” Danny broke the silence that had engulfed us.

“Right about what?” I raised an eyebrow, glancing at him.

“About Nadia,”

“Not you too,” I groaned. I had already received the exact same lecture from Ethan and why wouldn’t he? My beta had always been one who took his role serious, *perhaps too serious*, and if the worst was ever to happen to me, I knew the pack would be in capable hands.

“Hear me out. I’ve grown up watching your old man lead this pack into the greatness it holds today. Even at the worst of moments, he always got it all together but today when he got here, there was a certain fear in his eyes. I’ve never seen him this shaken before. I know you don’t want to hear this but what exactly do we know about her except from the fact that she comes from a family line of the original hunters and that she was supposed to have died in some fire?”

“Can we just have a quiet evening without talking about anything remotely connected to Nadia? She doesn’t even have all her memories and to be honest you were the last person I expected would be talking like this about her,”

“Maybe I’m just trying to open your eyes since you’ve clearly lost your mind over her,” he suddenly grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a stop at the deserted pavement,” I get it. Nadia is extremely gorgeous and you are whipped for her but has it ever crossed your mind why she easily cheated on her fiancée with you? We are talking about William Hale, a man worth billions and who happens to be your father’s business rival too. I don’t know man but since your father’s arrival, I’ve been thinking a lot about this whole Nadia issue. There is just too many missing pieces about her. Just think about it,” he pointed out.

“We have a killer on the loose, Danny. How about you focus on that, huh?” I snapped, then walked off.

This was supposed to be a quite walk of unwinding but somehow my best friend just had to ruin it. Just because my father claimed Nadia was bad, it didn’t mean that was what she was. I needed to believe that at this moment she was reacting naturally to seeing the man who murdered her entire family. Soon she would come back to me when she finally realizes I was nothing like the old man. I just needed to hang tight and show her that I was there for her. Making up my mind, I changed direction, heading towards her house but before I could quite get there, I was hit by surprise. Nadia was stepping out of car, dressed in a rather elegant yet sexy red dinner dress with Drake’s arm going around her waist. He dipped in to whisper something in her ear, eliciting a flustered giggle from her lips.

“Nadia?” I called, grabbing her attention as I walked over to her.

For a second, surprise mixed with a tint of vulnerability crossed her eyes but she was quick to replace it with a neutral expression.

“Collins,” There was no trace of emotion in her voice.

“What are you doing here with him?” I questioned, ignoring the jealous crawling on my skin. I wanted to be the first one to take her out and not Drake of all people. He was nothing but a curse and if only my father and him hadn’t appeared in my life, then I would be the one taking Nadia out for a date in fancy restaurant, my arm around her waist tonight.

“I think the right question should be; what are you doing here Collins? Stalking me?” Her witty tongue was quick to counter.

“We need to talk,” I pressed on despite her tone.

“And I need to eat. I’m hungry and Drake here was pretty willing to spend the night with me,” she smiled lovingly at him before returning her gaze towards me. What the hell was going on?

“So what? You are buddies now? You trust this half vampire person?” What happened to the woman I was developing very strong feelings for?

“Was I supposed to trust the son of the man who murdered my entire family and deprived me of one of best friends?”

“Look, I understand that its going to be hard to accept me but…” I paused, searching for a hint in her eyes that she still cared about me,” When you eventually do, I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere despite what anyone says. I’ll protect you till I draw my last breath even if you’ll hate me for being related to a murderer,”

For a split of a second, her expression softened and behind the hard stare, I got a glimpse of the real Nadia.

“Okay, I’ve been standing here quiet because it looks like my date can handle herself pretty well but you are forgetting something little wolf,” he let go of Nadia, his eyes now focused on me,” Nadia is mine. Her and I will soon share a bond that no little wolf like you can break it,” he leaned further in to whisper in my ear,” Do you know what happens when I finally fuck her tonight? We get bonded for life and you on the hand, you’ll be left lonely and sad waiting for Papa to pick up the pieces of your broken little heart. Trust me, once I have her later on tonight, every bit of feelings or attraction she holds for you will be gone. You’ll mean nothing to her and that would make it so fun to watch,”

“You do admit she has got feelings for me but what you don’t realize is that you just admitted you are not man enough either to fight for her and instead you plan to use a shortcut. Are you really that insecure?” I raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled as he whispered back,” Challenge accepted,”