Chapter Sixty-Two
As I leaned closer to hear the answer, a little tap on my shoulder had me jumping up in the air.
"Shit." I gasped as I clutched my chest in order to calm my racing heart down. "You scared me."
A small apologetic smile graced Joseph's face. "I apologise, I did not intend to frighten you."
Before either of us could say anything further, the door that was only slightly open a few seconds ago, was now wide open and all five Lycans were staring at me.
"Leanne." Vladamir was the first to speak. "What is it? What do you need?"
"I want to go see my mum. She's been on her own for too long." I quickly explained, avoiding the sympathetic gazes I was receiving from all the Lycans in the room. I didn't want their sympathy, I wanted their help to find the bastards behind all this.
"We shall leave in an hour, we have more to discuss."
I shook my head. "I'm not going to wait another hour. I told her I would be right back."
"You cannot leave the premises on your own." Vladamir's tone was harsh and firm.
Rolling my eyes, I said. "I'm not stupid, I'm going to go on my own."
"We shall leave in an hour Leanne." Vladamir tried again but I wasn't having it.
"No. I want to leave now."
"I shall take her." Luca offered much to Vladamir's dismay.
"You will not take her anywhere."
All the other Lycans in the room let out a groan simultaneously. "Not again." Alexander muttered shaking his head.
Vladamir was possessive and overprotective at times when it came to me but for some reason he seemed more uptight when Luca was around. With the other Lycans he didn't seem to be fussed about having them around me but it was different with Luca.
I wonder why.
"Thank you, that would be great." I took Luca up on his offer, I didn't want to wait around for an hour for Vladamir to finish up. I wanted to go see my mum now and I didn't care who took me there.
"No." Vladamir snapped. "Go back downstairs, I will take you when we are done."
"If Luca is offering to take me, why can't I go with him? He's a Lycan just like you, he can protect me just like you."
For some reason this was not the correct thing to say as Vladamir's eyes narrowed dangerously and his jaws clenched tightly.
Just as Vladamir was about to talk, most likely argue, Jospeh interjected quickly. "We will not be too long Leah, it will not take an hour. Once we are done, Vladamir will take you to see your mother. She is safe in the hospital, Vladamir has guards stationed everywhere."
"Okay but !-"
"If they suspect anything, anything at all, they have been instructed to contact us immediately."
Joseph's words were comforting and reassuring causing me to step down from the argument I was gearing myself up for. "Okay. I'll wait for you guys to finish up."
Surprise flitted through Vladamir's eyes briefly before it went back to its usual guarded, blank look. Turning to leave, I paused slightly as I remembered what they were discussing before Joseph gave me a heart attack.
"Who were you talking about before?" I queried as I turned to face the Lycans again.
All five of the Lycans that were standing inside Vladamir's office stared at me with no expressions on their faces as if they hadn't heard the question I had just asked.
"Guys?" I waved my hands around to get them out of this stupor they had all seemed to have gone into.
"What do you mean?" Gabriel was the first person to speak.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I repeated the question. "Who were you talking about before? Vladamir said he wanted to gain someone's attention. Whose?"
"Eavesdropping were we?" Vladamir said at the same time Isabella said, "We are not sure what you are talking about."
My eyes flitted around each of the Lycans, none of them giving anything away. Their stance, eyes and body language were so causal and nonchalant that for a brief second I wondered if I had imagined it.
The doubt that had began to creep in was subsiding and I glared at them.
Were they trying to gaslight me?
Arseholes!
"Hmm. Fine." Surprising both myself and them that I dropped it so easily. It wasn't that I wasn't curious, I was but not enough to push them on it now.
It wasn't like I wouldn't find out anyway, once Vladamir was alone I would ask him about it. If I couldn't get answers from him, I would ask Nina. She could easily get anything out of Gabriel now, it wasn't like that at first but after everything that transpired between them, Gabriel told her everything.
He didn't disclose the information freely though, it was only given when asked. Better than Vladamir who rarely told me anything and when he did it wasn't the actual truth.
"We're leaving as soon as you're done." I spun around and left the Lycans to it. I could feel their burning gaze on me as I walked away.
I had an inkling that it would take longer than an hour for them to finish up and as anxious as I was leaving my mum on her own, Joseph's words had brought a little bit of ease into me.
After the fiasco with my dad I knew they would be paying extra attention to my mum. It wasn't that they weren't before, I knew Vladamir had people stationed near my mum to keep an eye on her but now they would be extra attentive.
Who would have thought that someone would steal my dad's body?
I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought away from me. I didn't want to think about that now, it hurt too much and I needed something else to distract myself with.
Those thoughts and feelings didn't disappear when my mind drifted off to other things, it was pushed to the back of my mind waiting to be explored again. It was like having a constant humming noise in the background, it wasn't loud enough to disturb you but enough to remind you it's there.
My new distraction would be finding out who they were talking about. It wasn't something I desperately had to know, it was something that had piqued my interest enough to keep my mind occupied and away from the heart-breaking reality of what my life is now.
To be honest I had no idea who they were talking about, Vladamir knew so many people, he had so many enemies, it could be any one of them he was trying to lure out.
If we were to compile a list, we would be here for days if not weeks. Vladamir had a tendency to piss everyone off.
"Are you leaving now?" Nina questioned as I entered the room. "I'm going to get off too then."
I shook my head. "No, they're not done yet. They said they'll be done soon."
"Oh." Nina muttered. "Why is it taking them so long?" She pulled out her phone and began texting. She must have felt my gaze on her as she quickly told me who she was texting. "Just checking in on Riya. Dad's amazing with her but she can be a handful at times."
The way she casually spoke about her dad babysitting her baby suddenly had me all chocked up. I didn't plan on having children but if I did change my mind, they wouldn't have a granddad and my dad would never see them.
It wasn't just kids, it was everything. I will never have anything else with my dad anymore.
That thought had my heart in a chokehold and I felt myself gasping for air.
"Hey, you okay?" Nina rushed over to me and began rubbing my back.
"Yeah." I gasped out as I wiped the tears that had made its way down my face. "Just choked on air." I lied not wanting to talk about the real reason I was upset.
"Haha." Nina's laugh was just as feeble as my lie and both of us made it a point to pretend to believe each other.
"I did overhear something strange though." I told Nina quickly, eager to change the subject.
"Oh?"
I began to explain what I had heard, there wasn't much to it so I was done just as quickly as I started.
"It could be anyone, Vladamir has a long list of enemies."
"It didn't sound like it's one of his enemies." Nina pondered as a thoughtful look came over her face.
"Maybe, maybe not? Who knows. Ask Gabriel and find out for me."
"Do you know what's strange?" Nina leaned over and whispered as if she was telling me a secret. "Why does Vladamir think your pregnancy would draw people out?"
"Lycan pregnancy, miracle baby, blah,blah,blah. Remember how it was with you? All of a sudden you were the main topic of discussion with Werewolves and Shifters."
"Yeah exactly, not just with Werewolves and Shifters, Lycans too."
"Okay?" I had no idea where Nina was going with this, yes her pregnancy did get all the Lycans here but my 'pregnancy' wouldn't have the same outcome as all the Lycans are already here.
"He's trying to get all the Lycans here!" Nina whispered, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"All the Lycans are already here."
"Not all. Oh my God, don't you see it?" Nina was no longer whispering and I wished she was as she almost busted my eardrums.
"See what?"
"Vladamir is trying to lure Victoria out of hiding!"
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A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter!
Do you think Nina is correct or is she reaching?
What do you think is going to happen next?
I will upload again soon but you can read the full story as well as Luca's story on www.patreon.com/kayy_b or on my subscription page on www.inkitt.com/kayy_b
Thank you for reading and thank you so much for your support 😊
-Kayy xx