Reorganized Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 12)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Yes, I wanted to turn to you because I was scared,” I confessed under my breath even if I knew Enzo could still hear. “I wanted you.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

  “I understood why you weren’t.”

  “I would have been even if it meant swallowing down my shit if I’d known,” he swore to me. “You matter more than my jealousy with Brian.” He waited until I nodded, raising his head and looking behind me. “Did you get this part of your deal from her? Did you learn whatever you needed to?”

  “Yes, I believe I did,” Enzo admitted.

  “Then may I have the rest of this be private? I wish to make up my failings to my Alpha in private.”

  “Of course, as long as you keep what you’ve learned to yourself as I’m not to be here helping her on this private matter,” Enzo countered.

  “Agreed.”

  “Then I bid you both good night. I’ll check in with the teams and stay with them tonight.” He let out a dark chuckle. “And find some provisions since the dire wolf ate my dinner.”

  “Thanks, Enzo.”

  “We will still have a chat about Ms. Jezebel’s shop later.”

  “Of course we will,” I sighed when he was almost to the door.

  Eugene waited until he was gone and out of hearing range. “Do I even want to know?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Dance with me?”

  I nodded as he led me over to the stereo that hooked up to the sound system for the TV. I bit back a smile. This was another part of Eugene only I got to see. He was such a closet romantic. I knew our not having sex yet wasn’t simply because I was making him and Axel chase me—or my promise to Axel that no one who’d worked for the council could have me first—but Eugene’s old-fashioned ways.

  He was serious about me and to him, that meant taking his time with me and doing things right.

  “My feelings for you have changed, Sera,” he whispered halfway into the song.

  “Oh?” I swallowed loudly, fear clutching my heart even though every sign he’d given me told me he wasn’t going to say anything bad. Anxiety wasn’t rational after all.

  “They’ve deepened. They’re stronger,” he murmured against my skin, pushing my shirt off my shoulders so I was standing there in a bra and pants only. “I want this to be real. I want to be one of your consorts or mates one day. I never thought I could want that but I do if it’s you. I’ve moved past wanting to see what’s here to knowing something real is here and we’ve not even made love yet.”

  I accepted his kiss when he tilted my head up, losing myself in him but not forgetting we needed to talk.

  “Is it only me?” he worried as he searched my eyes.

  “No. This is real for me too.” I cleared my throat and moved my hands to his chest. “Which is why we need to talk. This is more than what the wolf elder did. The Moscow Alpha…” I trailed off when his eyes fully changed to his wolf’s and the snarl that came out of him actually made me want to take a step back.

  He shook his head and got himself back under control. He went over to the stereo and turned off the music before holding out his hand to me. “It was cold out today and you were all over with the tour. Take a bath with me and let me tell you my past and family?”

  “Okay,” I agreed, accepting his hand, knowing this was hard to him. I felt his relief and my wolf was whimpering inside to comfort him.

  But I saw in his eyes that it meant the world to him that I agreed. Yay for me that I could handle something right for once.

  Plus, it wasn’t really very hard to talk me into a hot bath with a sexy naked man. Could anyone blame me for that?

  17

  “My family ruled Russia the way yours—the Dorcuses—do Greece,” he said once we were settled in my huge tub with relaxing bath salts and a glass of wine each. He nodded when I couldn’t even keep the shock off my face. “We’re part of the reason Russia hates supes so much. Granted, the humans did a lot to mess up the country that they blame all on us now but we deserve a lot of their hate.”

  “Wow, just wow,” I whispered, turning so I wasn’t facing him but more sitting between his legs so his right thigh was my back rest. My wolf wanted to be closer to comfort him when this was clearly so hard for him to talk about.

  “I truly believed absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he whispered, tucking my wet hair behind my ear. “I thought for over a century your family would be just as bad as mine and their fall imminent. The only true way for there to be power without complete corruption and insanity was through the councils, and even then I hated the lifetime appointment as it was too much power.”

  “What changed your mind?” I asked, using his knee as a bony pillow as I glanced at him.

  “You. Them. Getting to know all of you,” he admitted. “I think it’s your strain of wolf. Your power stems from love—even if it’s the lust kind. We can sense lies as wolves, but there are truths you cannot hide from a siren you can other wolves. That was what was missing—what was needed to keep the corruption and sanity in my family.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He gave me a sad smile. “Of course you are. You weren’t even alive yet, did nothing wrong, and yet I’m sure your heart hurts because you’ve already pieced together that I had to kill some of my family that went off the rails from what I’ve told you.”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry, Eugene.”

  He swallowed loudly before leaning in and kissing my forehead. “Me too. Me too. Every day I’m sorry too.” He sighed. “For now I will tell you what everyone else knows, but forgive me, I will keep the rest private until I know…”

  “Some things I’ve only ever told or shown Dain or Brian,” I told him. “They only have that piece of me because I know it’s forever. Honestly, if you and Axel hadn’t seen me at one of my lowest points when I lost myself killing Thomas Spelling I don’t know I would have been able to open up to either of you.”

  “No, you already did Axel as he pulled you back from the edge,” he argued. “Me I think you let in as I didn’t judge you for how you behaved.”

  Fair enough and I said as much.

  “They ruled behind the throne and there is much more to the overthrowing of the human czar and his family than history still tells,” he confessed as he moved his arm around me. “I had struck out on my own long before under the guise of educating myself, becoming worldly before I took my proper place, but the truth was I always knew something was wrong with my family.”

  “Proper place?” I asked.

  His eyes flashed shock. “I was heir. I was Melicent, the next to wear the crown of Russia as she will in Greece.”

  Now it was my turn to be shocked. “Oh, so yeah, no wonder people like this match, huh?”

  “Which was exactly why I planned to never, not ever, associate with any Dorcus,” he admitted.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re not exactly like them either and I mean that as a compliment. You’re your own woman just as I was my own man.” He leaned in and claimed my lips, kissing me quiet before I could read into that statement too much. “I only came because it was a wolf issue and I was the strongest wolf team leader who handled the most difficult wolf shit.

  “Yes, I wanted to check you out because I knew you had Axel’s tail in a knot and that amused me as his friend but I never thought—I never considered you would be… You.” He kissed me again. “I’m so fucking glad I assumed you could never interest me and went, because you are everything I ran from and everything I absolutely want, Sera. I want to stand at your side and I never wanted that position.”

  “I don’t understand,” I sighed, leaning into him.

  “My greatest fear is becoming like my family. Power corrupts. Their insanity is in my blood.” He shook his head. “They lost their minds. They thought themselves gods. They ate humans, Sera. They would cook them up like pigs and serve them at feasts where that wouldn’t even be the sickest thing to happen. Live hunts of hu
mans and more would happen. Rapes. Anything and everything at all was allowed gods.”

  “Oh boy,” I whispered, shivering as I pictured it even though I had my ring on, glad I did. “Why did you have to do it?”

  “I was the only one who could get in without getting hundreds killed to take them out,” he explained. “It was my responsibility. They were my family and murdering not just humans but any supes they wanted or who didn’t follow them. They were monsters. I—it was my duty to handle the monsters of my family. I did it and I did it without honor as it wasn’t an official challenge.”

  “Hey, you did it to save lives. Those rules are for those not breaking laws already and a threat to all of us,” I interjected, realizing he was worried I would judge him. “I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but you saved lives and that’s honorable. A sniper saves lives taking a shot from a long, long distance away and it might not be some bullshit of pistols at dawn but it’s not without honor.”

  He blinked slowly at me several times. “You’re the first who’s said that to me and in such a way that it makes complete sense to me.”

  “I have my moments,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

  “You have many of them,” he growled, kissing me again. “Thank you. I have carried that pain for almost a century and this is the first time someone has made a real chip in it. I fought with my wolf and myself for almost a decade after and thought I would lose myself and my mind over it. I almost went feral.” He quickly blinked away the wetness in his eyes and I could see how hard this was on him.

  And I believed it. After the fight I had with my own wolf after sending my birth father to Greece after he showed up with Topher I fully understood. I leaned in and licked his lower lip, giving a sign of submission. “We’re our own family now and that’s more than blood as we choose each other.”

  “Yeah, it is with you,” he agreed, nuzzling my face as his hand touched my side as he pulled me closer. “I would take the stage I was born to if it would be next to you, Sera. You would never let any of us go insane. That’s the gift of your bloodline and more importantly, who you are. You can’t picture so many lovers or consorts but I think that is what never lets any ruler go over the edge.”

  “I don’t know about the stage or ruling but I… This is real for me,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks flush. “My feelings deepened as well. I wouldn’t have recovered the way I did without you and even if I hate Enzo could figure out what I was feeling, he was right. I do want you when I’m scared. My wolf does. I feel safe with you when I’m scared about threats against the pack or what we’ve built here.”

  “I would never let anyone hurt you or take any of this from you,” he swore to me. “I will keep us safe. Let the councilman work the politics and hunt the way vampires do best, but know I am not without my means and contacts as well. The battles that are won with the biggest defeats are done so on multiple fronts.”

  “Thank you,” I breathed, leaning fully against him. It was nice to have a backup plan or idea more than just Enzo. “Now tell me about Brian and hitting him.”

  “He deserved it.”

  “Probably but I’m not okay with fighting between you guys. That’s my biggest fear.”

  “Then he needs to not act like fucking Alpha of you and talk to the men in your life he deems the valid ones and handle things on your fucking behalf,” he said with a snarl.

  “Is that what you told him?” I asked, agreeing with him.

  “Yes, and then I punched him, warning him I could hit much harder and I was an Alpha wolf, submissive only to you, so next time he pulled any shit I would kick his ass all over the place. And Axel felt the same and his tiger would rip him to shreds. I think he’s getting a quick lesson on being a supe he should have thought of first before deciding to become one.”

  Again, I agreed.

  “Can I tell you a secret?”

  Eugene chuckled deeply. “I already know you’re turned on that I defended you like that and punished one of your weaker wolves for stepping out of line and upsetting you.” He nuzzled my neck. “It gets me so fucking hot that you approve of me doing that for you, my Alpha. I’d knock anyone back into line who upsets you. I promise.”

  Damn. I really did find that sexy. That had to be a wolf thing because as a human I would have been… I wasn’t really sure. Maybe I was forgetting what it was like to only feel human.

  Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

  I tossed back my wine and set both our empty glasses on the floor. “Then why don’t you finish telling me what I need to know so I can show you how much I really like it. On my knees.”

  “Don’t joke about that, Sera,” he growled as he crushed me against him.

  “I’m not,” I purred. “Let your Alpha reward you and show you she’s serious about you like you are me. Let me comfort you and give you what you need tonight. I know it’s been hard waiting and it means a lot to me.”

  “You’re worth waiting years for,” he promised. “Shit, I dream of you sucking me, Sera.”

  “I know.” I saw it in his mind every time we were intimate. He might submit to me but Eugene was an Alpha wolf and he wanted a woman who would kneel before him even if he respected me and knew I was more powerful.

  He growled again and nipped my ear as he pulled me to straddle his lap, letting me feel how excited he was. “Once I get inside of you, you better clear your schedule for at least a long weekend and be prepared to be sore and spoiled by me all at the same time.”

  “Looking forward to it,” I chuckled as I rubbed my nipples over his broad chest. “Just know I’ll reward your wolf for waiting so long by letting you drive the first weekend, but after that, you will submit to me on any whim and play all my games too.”

  “Looking forward to it, Sera,” he threw right back. He moved my body against his dick, driving me crazy.

  “Finish the story and then finish me,” I panted, hugging him to take the sting out of my rejection.

  He sighed, wrapping his thick arms around me as he nuzzled my neck. “I did what I did to limit the bloodshed and violence. The council knew. We were betrayed. The plan was to cut off the head of the evil and allow the human czar—who was a good man and their family noble—to regain control and settle the situation. My parents and siblings were too far gone besides my youngest brother.

  “Him I would save and my older second cousin would stabilize the supes with the blessing of the council. That was the plan. I would one day take my place. I knew I needed to but I was too young no matter how strong I was already. The immediate circle of my family and cousins were all too close and tainted.

  “It had to be someone further removed to stabilize the situation. And later my strength would keep consistency and power just as your family does in Greece. That was the plan. That was what I was willing to kill my own fucking family for.”

  “What went wrong?” I whispered when he got choked up, rubbing his back with one hand as my fingers dug into his wet hair, knowing he was getting lost in the memories that haunted him.

  “We were betrayed. A feline elder decided it was the perfect time to seize vast power and wealth,” he rasped. “The guards who came to aid me were his and the moment I cut down my parents and siblings they could not take on, they killed my little brother and younger cousins who were to be spared. It was all a trap. They dragged them all to the throne room and cut them to pieces.

  “Then they attacked me when I was struggling with what I did and crippled with grief. My wolf was destroyed and rage was all we could feel. I slaughtered them all but the damage had been done. They had more guards and my second cousins—all of us, every remaining Vasiliev besides me, was pulled from their home or bed and killed that night. And I had led them right through the door to do it.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I choked out, his pain crushing me and my wolf, even my siren destroyed at what we were getting off of him.

  “They coordinated with the humans and the human czar and his family faced t
he same. His whole family, the entire bloodline, was slaughtered over the next year, no longer just imprisoned for a revolution I didn’t know was brewing in conjunction with what the feline elder had been plotting. I was hunted across Russia, almost falling many times but one thought, one need kept me going.”

  “Revenge,” I whispered, knowing he would never have stopped until he got his pound of flesh.

  “And I got it,” he chuckled darkly. “When I got back to the council, I walked right into their meeting hall where they were trying to figure out what happened, just having gotten word. He was spewing lies as he thought me dead, and I made him confess his betrayal before I killed him slowly and as painfully as possible. Then I found every single one of his aides or any who knew and killed them as well.”

  “Then what?”

  “They locked me up because I was going feral,” he whispered. He shook his head when I growled. “It was the right thing. I was so distraught and out of my head—I was a threat and a danger. It was the right thing and the only way to save me. The council did the best they could but the situation was a mess. All the supe leaders in Russia were taken out and new, corrupt families took over.

  “They gave me updates but some made me worse and others helped. They were able to bury my family at least at an undisclosed location that was family property. The human czar and his family did not get the same fate. The government that came into place betrayed the supes that helped get them in power and it has been the same since.

  “History has been rewritten that my family never existed as it did but many know. Many remember. The current government does and many have tried to take me out as I am now and forever still a threat.” He must have felt my confusion as he cupped my face and sighed, leaning away so I had to look at him. “I go by Eugene and some remember Vasiliev as like the Dorcus family but that’s not all.”

  “Tell me?” I asked, trying not to push or demand as his Alpha.

  “I was born Evgeni Godunov Rurikids Vasiliev,” he answered, searching my eyes for recognition.

  I thought back to where I knew those names and it took me a moment before it hit me. Rurikids was the family name of the Rurik dynasty, which was the original ruling family of the lands known as Russia according to “modern” recorded history. There were mentions they went back to BC times but my knowledge wasn’t that good. But when the line died out, the Godunov family took over.