My Unwanted Mate

Chapter 5. Victor

Veronica

I hesitate only for a second before the pounding on the door comes back. My heart races as I shout for Victor to wait. As I do this, I fish out some jeans and a shirt from Geneva’s suitcase and quickly change into them, trying to ignore the cringe that comes with the thought I am actually wearing my dead sister’s clothes. I am about to take over her life, this is for real.

My heart pounds like crazy in my chest, but just like all these other times, I do nothing to stop the lie. Instead, I look at myself in the mirror, desperate. Victor is at the other end of the door, waiting for me, and I look nothing like he expects Geneva to look. I don’t have any makeup on, my hair is a mess, and my face seems haunted. But even as the fraud that I am, there is nothing I can do about it right now, so I hurriedly tie my hair in a loose ponytail hoping he won’t notice the overnight change in length, and rush to the door. 

My heart skips a beat as I face one of the tallest guys I’ve ever met. He stands almost a head and a half over me, even with the fact that I am not that short anyway. He is handsome though, I admit that. His eyes are just a few shades darker blue than mine, his jaw is squared and his light brown hair is styled elegantly in a way that says he cares how he looks but doesn’t give much time into it. He wears a fitted grey suit and looks like he just got out of a conference room, smelling of old money and big opportunities. Still, there is kindness in his gaze which immediately draws me to him - I am a sucker for the kind and calm people.

“You look like s**t,” he tells me nonchalantly as he rolls his eyes, but there is no malice in his voice. I sense no threat coming from him as he makes a few steps into the hotel room and turns to face me. “So, how did the solo trip to the city go?” His voice is calm, but his gaze burns with the temper he barely keeps inside.

I barely dare to look back at him. Partly because he is a male stranger and I don’t like strangers. But partly because this is the long-lost brother I never knew I had and Geneva spoke so warmly about. That same person who would probably throw me to the wolves if he knew who I really was. 

He does look like he cares for Geneva though, and suddenly my heart breaks for him - he lost her last night, he just doesn’t know it yet. The lie I am playing is a cruel one, I know it. But I am in too deep now to change it. Besides, would he prefer to know she is gone, or live in a lie? I personally don’t know which is worse right now, or which one I’d choose.

“Genie?” Victor prompts, folding his hands on his chest and smiling at me, his eyebrows raised in question.

“I am sorry I didn’t tell you,” I reply and lower my eyes, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. In my heart, these words have a completely different meaning and suddenly all I want is to escape to a dark, secluded place where I can curl into a ball and cry myself to exhaustion.

Victor doesn’t seem to catch my meaning, or he is just used to Geneva bullsh*itting him, so he doesn’t really give much thought to her behavior. 

“I just don’t understand why you ran off like that. Just because we had a fight over you talking to that Moretti kid…” he shuts his mouth and lets out a sigh as he realizes his voice is raised. “You know I don’t mess with your affairs as long as you are healthy and safe. Luca Moretti is the future alpha of the werewolves. The only thing you are going to get out of being friends with him is trouble.”

Luca Moretti, I think to myself. LM? Like in the message? Wait, did he just say the future alpha of the werewolves? Is he insane? Are all of them actually insane?

My eyes lift to see his face, but no, he is not kidding, he looks serious and actually concerned.

“I am not sorry for what I said,” Victor continues. “I am your alpha and you have to listen to my orders despite the fact that you are my sister. If I tell you to stay away from someone, you do that. Your eighteenth birthday is just tomorrow, and when your wolf finally shows up you will understand that all I am saying is true. The werewolves are not good people and we should keep our distance. It is for the best. Do we have an agreement on this?”

Victor speaks with authority and passion like he does believe every word he says. I have no idea why I am so quick to dismiss the alpha werewolf part, but I am, despite everything. I am practically unable to die and, for some reason, I don’t believe in werewolves’ existence, which sounds kind of ironic, I realize. But how can I? Just like I told Geneva yesterday, it is too crazy to believe it if you haven’t seen it first hand. Plus, what the hell does he mean when my wolf comes out on my birthday? Does he expect me to turn into a wolf and go howling against the moon at midnight?

I know my feelings are all over the place, and this coming from someone who until yesterday believed had gotten so thick-skinned nothing would pierce their armor. The sting of pain at the thought of my sister immediately pierces my heart, but I clench my jaw and push it away. The logical part of my brain fights with whatever it is this concoction of feelings I feel inside, but it is not able to prevail.

Victor must’ve read something in my expression because he rushes to me and takes my hand in his. His palms are soft and warm against my cold skin and I barely suppress the sigh. It has been too long since anyone has looked at me with so much love and concern and my eyes suddenly swell with unshed tears.

“Hey, Genie, please,” Victor almost whispers, no trace of his authoritative tone from seconds ago. Suddenly, he is the goofball Geneva described him to be. When he speaks again, his voice is filled with affection and warmth, the way a big brother’s should be and suddenly I want to scream.“It’s alright. I don’t blame you for being good and wanting to be friends with everyone. Just remember that there are some people we should stay away from for a good reason.”

“I know,” I reply through my clenched throat, my mind drifting back to Bart. By now he must’ve come back and found out I didn’t ‘survive’ his last beating. Would he mourn me? Would he get rid of Geneva’s body and forget all about us? Would he do the right thing and call the police? Somehow, I doubt any of these. 

Suddenly, I am unable to look at Victor again. I just can’t, not when I am thinking about how our sister’s killer is going to throw her body away and she will never have a proper burial. She will be left to rot away in some dumpster, forgotten and unmourned. I send a silent prayer for her, hoping she will forgive me wherever she is now.

Some logical part of me tells me that there’s still time to fix this. I can open my mouth right now and confess the truth, and do right by Geneva. But as Victor looks at me asking me to promise never to run away again, I don’t say a word. Instead, I make the promise he expects from me, and following his order to gather my stuff, I do exactly that and then I walk after him towards the lobby.

“Smart,” he tells me as he pays for my room under mom’s maiden name.

I raise an eyebrow at him and he nods towards the bill. 

“Using a fake name to register. If you’d used someone else’s help to do it, I’d even be impressed,” Victor shrugs.

I stare at him with disbelief. Not because he is so against this Luca Moretti who obviously helped Geneva run away, but did he really not recognize my mother’s maiden name on the paper? Did he really not know who she was?

“What?” He asks with a smile as he signs to the receptionist, looking completely oblivious.

“What is going on?” I ask with suspicion because this is the most logical question that comes to mind as we walk out the lobby and towards the parking lot, Geneva’s bag in his hand.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” I look away, suddenly cowering at his scowl. “I ran off and used a fake name to rent a room in another city, and you are not mad?”

He stops and faces me in the dim sunlight, his eyes are hidden behind designer sunglasses now, which make him look like a model from a magazine. “

Oh, I am mad,” he growls. “My wolf wants me to knock some sense into your head right now, like lock you away and bite the hands off anyone who dares to reach you, and you know he never meddles with my human affairs. That’s how mad I am.” He says it like it should make any sense to me, to any sane person. And he does seem mad - tense and dark as he gives me a warning once-over. 

A second later he shakes it off and gives me a s**t-eating grin, his entire demeanor suddenly relaxed which makes me wonder if he is bi-polar or something. Like, who changes their mood so drastically? “But it is nothing compared to Genevieve’s rage, trust me. I have experienced that rage first hand when I was your age. So, I will just let her deal with your shenanigans for me. And right now me and Lorkan are just glad that you are alright."

 Lorkan. Is he Victor’s boyfriend? Does Victor call his boyfriend ‘my wolf’? Is this what’s going on?

I shrug a ‘whatever’ as I get into the black SUV which must cost three times Bart’s apartment, and lean into the leather passenger seat. The scent of cigars and some expensive cologne overwhelms me and I think back to what he said. Yeah, of course, he means his boyfriend, it makes so much more sense than talking wolves and whatnot.

Victor jumps to the driver’s seat and starts the engine. “Seatbelt.” He reminds me with his dad’s voice. He doesn’t seem much older than me, five, six years maybe, but there is some aura about him, some presence that makes me want to follow his orders, so I obey immediately without batting an eye.

As we drive in silence for a few hours, I am slowly falling down the rabbit hole which is Geneva’s social media. At first, it was so I had something to do with my hands in the stretching silence if I didn’t want to go crazy with worry and guilt. I had to do everything to distract myself from searching the news for a girl killed by her abusive step-dad. But then it suddenly became so much more this snooping through Geneva’s recorded life. I am glued to her phone, my eyes sinking in every image, every note, my mind memorizing even the text she exchanged with people I was supposed to know nothing about. By the pictures and the tags I can tell who is who finally. At some point, I catch myself looking for the green-eyed guy named Dragon and immediately close the app, embarrassed.

“What?” Victor grumbles, his voice teasing.

“Nothing,” I lie, not even pausing to think how easy all these lies come to me now. “Can I ask you something?” I say to distract myself from feeling like I am floating on the surface of an unknown lake, from feeling like none of this is real. 

I steal a glance at the darkness that surrounds me, unsure, scared suddenly. I have no idea where we are going, I have no idea what it is to be Geneva, and yet, as unbelievable as it is, here I am, pretending to be her, like it is not the worst of crimes and betrayals towards her, our brother and everyone she ever knew. Hell, it is a betrayal against mom even!

“Sure,” Victor shrugs bringing me back to reality. He threw the jacket of his suit on the back seat an hour ago, and his tie is loosened now, and I realise how much younger he looks like this. Somehow this realization makes me feel sad for him. Like whatever his responsibilities are, he is too tired of them, even though he will never admit it out loud.

I lick my lips wondering how to approach this, but finally decide to bet all on a risky card. If I am to survive this, I need all the information I can get, and that wolf part really bothers me. “Well, can you tell me about the alpha thing?” I ask, my face immediately turning red at the absurdity of this question.

“The alpha thing?” Victor repeats and turns to look at me for a second, confusion written all over his face. Did I say something wrong? Did Geneva ever ask about it? Did she never speak of it? My heart skips a beat as worry flushes over me and I can’t think straight. But then I realise he is staring at me and I freak out for completely different reasons.

“Watch the road!” I almost yell, paralysed by the stab of fear in my chest. “Yes, the alpha thing,” I repeat when his eyes are finally focused back on the road and not me. I am really struggling to keep my voice from shaking, to add that light note to it which lingered in Geneva’s tone. “Can you explain it to me, like… as you said my birthday is tomorrow, and I am kind of nervous about…” I take a deep breath trying to look for the right words. What did he say about me finding my own wolf and seeing for myself that werewolves are not a fun lot? Then what are the lycans? I try to dig in my brain what I know of the urban legends related to these creatures but then again - they are just legends. Who knows what these creatures would be if they actually existed. “Well, about the turning.” I finish, my face getting even more flushed with embarrassment.

“It will be alright,” Victor says and steals a glance at me despite my warning. “It doesn’t hurt like it happens with the werewolves, because we are born to be wolf shifters, and we don’t force it upon ourselves. On our eighteenth birthday our wolf comes to us and we shift. It is the best experience ever to feel so profoundly connected to someone who will forever be a part of yourself. You will see. Oh,” he tilts his head to the side as if he is listening to something available only for him, then smiles like he is responding to that same invisible someone. “Lorkan says I am a goofball. He brags that he is the stronger one because I am too soft to be the alpha.”

“Lorkan is a douche,” I reply before I am able to stop myself, and flinch as if he is about to hit me for talking back.

Victor laughs out loud. “What? You love Lorkan.”

Yeah, maybe I love Lorkan. Right now I am terrified of him. Because if Lorkan really is some mystical wolf who lives inside my brother’s body, can’t he tell the difference? Can’t he smell Geneva’s blood on me, or because we are identical, it is not possible to tell us apart? My head is cramped with all these questions and I feel so confused and scared right now that my brain is frozen with terror that I will be caught and brought to justice. Like is prison even a punishment enough for someone like me?

“When you shift, you will become stronger, and all your senses will get better,” Victor continues, oblivious for my inner troubles. “With time they will get perfect. You will be able to hear other people’s heartbeats, the change in their breathing. Like right now, are you really that freaked because of the shift? Your heart is about to break out of your chest, kiddo.”

I blink like an i***t and move in my seat uncomfortably not knowing what to say. Did he really hear my pulse fasten and my breath coming in rugged puffs out of my chest? Is that even possible? Just to be safe I murmur a yes and don’t dare to look at him again.

“And the mating thing?” I prompt after a while remembering Geneva saying something about Victor not able to find his mate and our grandmother acting as a queen of some sort because of it.

The moment the words are out of my mouth, I can see the pain that overwhelms him. Suddenly he looks lonely and sad, his shoulders slumping visibly and his expression tensing.

“After we shift and…” he blinks awkwardly and takes a deep breath, “connect with our wolf, they can sense our mate from miles if they are near. Sometimes it happens right away, sometimes it takes longer to find our destined mate… sometimes it never happens. You know what a mate is. When you were little you never stopped dreaming of finding your mate, the prince of your dreams…” 

I flinch at that. The only thing I dreamt of when I was little was me and my mom getting as far away as possible from Bart. But Victor doesn’t know that. I pray he never learns I existed. He continues with a sad dreamy smile. “The mate is… someone special made for us as we are made for them, our other half. It is the person who loves us the most in the world, and who we love the most. That special someone that will sweep us off our feet and make us feel whole.”

So, my brother is a romantic after all, I realise with sadness. He is nothing like the crazy alpha wolf I’ve seen in movies, but who knows, maybe that part is for the werewolves. And both him and Geneva said we are something else. Lycans. Well, they believe they are something else. I am not sure about me yet. I feel just like I have always felt and it is really hard to believe that something might happen to me the moment the clock turns 12 a.m. tonight and my eighteenth birthday comes. But then again, why would Victor lie to me if he thinks I am Geneva and he obviously can’t tell the difference, wolf or not?

I don’t have much time to dwell on all this as we finally reach a sign saying ‘Welcome to Redwind, population 37421’. It is dark already and everything around us is covered in the orange and yellow hues of the street lamps, but I can see glimpses of nice buildings and empty sidewalks. Victor soon turns left and we are driving towards the end of the town.

We pass by a large property, filled with wolf statues in different positions. I can barely see them in the dark, but their white marbled bodies glimpse under the moonlight daringly, and I can’t look away for some reason. The question what this installation might be burns at the tip of my tongue but I still have some common sense left so I keep my mouth shut and don’t ask Victor about it. I may google it later.

For some reason I can sense someone, something, is watching us. The feeling creeps at the back of my neck and squeezes at my throat. I don’t like it one bit. I don’t know this place, I suddenly realize. I don’t know these people I am about to infiltrate and lie to their faces like there is no tomorrow. Even though the two in this family I met seem nice and sweet, it doesn’t mean I should trust the rest of the Valentines. If anyone ever finds out who I really am, I won’t be safe, no matter my reasons to do what I did. Especially if they really are werewolves, or lycans, or whatever.

Soon, we come to a clean and neat drive walk, tall trees surrounding us from both sides. The large iron gates in front of us open on their own and lead us in and I can’t look away, all logical thoughts gone out of my head.

When Geneva said mansion, I imagined it would be big. I imagined it would be expensive, but… this is something beyond even my wildest dreams. Ahead of me, there is an enormous yet elegant three-story building with an exquisitely white facade and tall marble columns supporting the second and third floors, which seem larger. In front of it, there is a large fountain with a big cherub squirting water constantly. The garden is huge too - covered in neatly trimmed dark green grass, wide gravel lanes cut through it. It is like I am on the territory of a real castle. 

And the queen is waiting for me outside with a hard expression, ready to wreak havoc on my head.