weapons and hunt down the bad guys. I didn’t want to spend my life hiding, so I ran away. I came back because something was wrong, and ended up as your silver, and I don’t even fully understand what it means. It must be something huge if none of my family has ever gifted it before. I get that I’m basically your medieval wife, or whatever, but that’s where my knowledge ends. You’re no better than my mother. She kept so many secrets, and by the time I was old enough to be told the truth, it was too late.”
“Had I taken your silver, and not given my vow, our arrangement would have been one-sided, Remington.”
“That means nothing to me, even though I know it means something to you.”
“Your soul belongs to me and mine to you. Whether we’re going to end up lovers, friends, or enemies, well, that will depend on us. What we choose to be to one another will determine our path when we’re reborn.” Rhys stood to grab the whiskey from the hutch, setting a glass in front of me. I fought the panic threatening to consume me. “Our arrangement isn’t just for this lifetime. It’s something souls do when they’re given. In this case, between our bloodlines, it is silver weapons, or a promise of a knightly duty that, once given, cannot be taken back. If I hadn’t taken your silver, Cole would have, even with my name on it. You’re innocent. Cole would have asked, and you’d have handed it to him. I accepted your offer, so that you wouldn’t become his because the thought of you belonging to anyone, well, I couldn’t allow it to happen.”
“You could have told me what it meant and allowed me the choice to melt it back down. You could have told me that I was sealing not only the rest of my life but every lifetime after this one too, Rhys. You don’t even like me, so why would you do this?”
“To ensure peace remains, and that your family doesn’t rise up to start World War III, slaughtering humans in the process, as they did last time. It wasn’t just my family who stood outside your family’s house, watching them burn, Remi. We all did. Every alpha in every branch helped us trap the Silversmiths into that mansion and set it ablaze. Do you think your sweet mother is going to forgive us? Or do you think she will want to avenge the children we slaughtered? Her children and her mate were within that home, and I assure you, they weren’t immortal. I know, because I buried them.
“My family returned the next day and gave yours eternal rest because we did owe them that much because not all of them were evil. It was more than they had done for my mother. Knowing what I do now, that some survived, I’m willing to guess it wasn’t any of the good ones because they’d never have left those children behind to die by fire. Fire isn’t a good death, not when the flames moved faster than the smoke, offering them no relief from the pain. So no, Remington,” he stated, handing me the glass of whiskey, “I couldn’t let you walk away because you are going to mean the difference between winning this war and losing it.” His eyes held mine, and I lowered them, peering anywhere but into the cunning stare that was smug as shit.
“You are not evil. Not yet, anyway. I could have done this differently and told you the truth, but had I done that, you’d never have believed me, let alone trusted me. At the end of the day, I’m a Van Helsing, and you’re Remington Silversmith. You were born my enemy, and I chose to become yours. Don’t choose an alpha tomorrow, because then I’ll have to kill them to claim their child should you produce one during the festival of fertility. I respect most of the alphas because we’ve worked very hard to bring order to our world since it crumbled at the hands of your family. As an alpha, I can take the child of a beta as my own and raise it. I’d never wish to remove a child from its father, but in this case, because of the nature of the blood you carry, I would. You can go.” Rhys stared at me as I sat there, numb from what he’d dropped in my lap.