Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

”Did you meet Bruno? He’ll be assisting you with a lot of the work from now on,” Ragnar said as we sat in his study discussing office matters.

He looked exhausted. I could tell.

He spent the entire day searching for Gigi, then came home and sat down with his brothers to go over office work.

At night, he would make the rounds, checking the cameras and everything else.

Gigi had really gotten under their skin.

She was such a player. She knew exactly how to twist people’s views and change their minds.

”Yeah, I met him today. I didn’t know he was your cousin,” I said, sitting on the edge of the couch and feeling anxious.

The last time Ragnar and I had really spoken was when he caught me stealing from him by using his pc.

I wasn’t sure why he had never brought it up again. Maybe that was simply how he was.

But one thing was certain. We both knew there was still some unresolved tension between us.

”Yeah, he used to come around a lot, but a few years ago, he just stopped. Not because of any drama or anything. He had to leave to complete his studies,” Ragnar replied casually.

He wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about Bruno as Jaguar had been, but I didn’t think too much of it. That was just Ragnar.

He reacted to almost everything the same way.

I wasn’t sure anything had ever intrigued him enough to make him change his routine for someone.

Until Gigi.

”Right,” I murmured.

”Look, I’m sorry about that day. I only...”

Before I could finish, he raised a finger to stop me.

He looked restless.

”No need to talk about that. It’s over. It’s in the past,” he replied.

But I could tell that wasn’t how he truly felt.

I had broken his trust. Even if Gigi had hired me, the truth was that Ragnar had expected me not to be so gullible.

After all, I worked for the Alpha King.

If I could be influenced that easily, then I wasn’t exactly proving myself trustworthy.

I was about to speak again when Ragnar finally leaned his head back and fixed his attention on me.

”Why were you looking up the Fox King on my computer?”

My heart skipped a beat.

”And it wasn’t the first time you’d done it. You were supposedly so worried about the evidence against your brother, yet the moment you got the chance to use my computer, the first thing you searched for was the Fox King. That baffles me.”

Ragnar spoke calmly, but there was a storm beneath that calm.

It felt as though one wrong answer would land me in trouble again.

”I’ve just been curious,” I replied, keeping my expression steady as though I wasn’t lying at all. ”When I was a child, I used to hear a lot about the Fox King.”

That was a lie. I had never heard of him.

”In fact, Justin used to make up stories about the Fox King coming to save people in distress. So I guess I became intrigued by it.”

I paused and swallowed hard as Ragnar tilted his head.

”After everything that happened with Oliver, it kind of took me back to that dark period. I guess my stupid mind just clung to those stories, wondering what I could do to make the Fox King come and save me from all the stress. It’s stupid. I was just going through a lot. I was emotional,” I mumbled.

Once I had said everything I could think of, I fell completely silent.

I touched my hair, avoiding Ragnar’s eyes.

”There were stories about the Fox King once,” Ragnar said.

His words startled me.

I had only been making things up, throwing out whatever excuse came to mind.

I hadn’t expected any of it to actually hit the mark.

Ragnar rested one arm on the couch’s armrest and slowly rubbed his fingers against his chin.

”But those weren’t the kind of stories your brother had been telling you,” he added.

I shifted in my seat, crossed one leg over the other, then clasped my hands together and stretched them toward one side of my body.

”What kind of stories?” I asked.

My chest rose and fell slightly as my breathing became uneven, especially at the thought of my mate.

”People say there was a serial killer who used to wear a fox mask. He would lure women into the woods and kill them.”

Ragnar said it without hesitation, as though it meant nothing.

To me, it meant everything.

I didn’t move. I didn’t question him. I didn’t even react, even though the story was terrifying, rumor or not.

I simply kept watching his face.

”But it was only a rumor. Nobody had ever seen him. There were never any victims,” he finished.

I drew in a deep breath, but I couldn’t let it go.

I wasn’t relieved because the Fox King was real.

Or was he?

Had I actually stumbled upon a serial killer?

”People don’t really like stories about the Fox King, Miss Verity. That’s why we had to remove his name from the search results. It caused panic among the women. She-wolves wouldn’t want to go out during transitions. Even on full moons, they would avoid running beside their mates.”

He paused.

” It sounded like a poorly constructed story meant to frighten women into staying home. So we blocked it, and now nobody talks about it,” Ragnar murmured as he reached for his cigar.

He didn’t light it.

He seemed to be waiting for me to leave the room.

He used to smoke often, but lately, I had noticed that whenever someone was around, he would put his cigar out.

Especially when I was there.

I wasn’t sure why.

”I’m not sure why your brother told you such a false story about someone you shouldn’t even summon in your dreams.”

Ragnar said it casually before gesturing toward the door.

I could tell he desperately wanted to smoke.

I nodded, gathered the files, and stood up.

Before leaving, though, I had one more request.

I turned back with a heavy heart, knowing there was very little chance he would agree.

”Can I visit Oliver in the hospital? Just once?”