Chapter 3 Toxic Valentine

Rham's POV

I stepped out of Serenity’s room, still hearing her crying.

Seeing her cringe in pain, fear and disappointment were too much for me- yes, I know she is disappointed. If I’m not mistaking, and according to father’s research of who she is, she’s supposed to be the shifter who saves her kind.

Save them from what exactly, I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’m getting piss off more and more with dad and his stupid hunters.

If I didn’t promise mom that I would… the memory made me shrug.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I would have left my dad if it wasn’t for some stupid promise. But I like to think that I somehow live in a way my mother would have wanted me to by keeping my promise.

Every night I would have loved to hear her say how good a son I am, and I would tell her that it was all because of her, her, and my old dad.

The father I knew was sweet and jolly. He used to be the perfect dad- he taught me to play ball, ride a bike, even pushed me to give the girl I had a crush on flowers when I was just in preschool.

That was my dad.

Was.

But ever since that night… when my mother died, he was just a heartless shell, killing every shifter he comes across to, even men who provided him some information about the shifters.

At first, I thought him joining the hunters was just so that he had some sort of release for the loss of mom’s death. But when the killing began, I knew he had lost control. I tried to stop him, to make him understand, but grandfather had already brainwashed him too much. I was too young to do anything, and he would always tell me that I didn’t know anything- that the world would be better off without them.

And right after I turned 18, I left them with their scheming. Never wanting to be part of their craziness. Until grandfather died during one of their attacks on a pack of shifters, leaving father half dead.

Even then, I can’t blame the shifters. I knew they just acted on them to save themselves. I just wished that my father had the sanity to think of his own safety after that, but no. He just had to add it up to reasons why he wants the shifters extinct.

I had no words to make him see reasons, I went as far as leaving him and not associating myself with him, but he knew me too much. He knew I wouldn’t do that, that I was still his little boy no matter what he does.

And it was true. He is still my father.

But after the recent events, I think I have to rethink.

Serenity is just as human as the next person I come across. In fact, I could even say that she is better than some of the humans I knew. And that’s saying a lot as she is seen to be the epitome of the shifter’s deity, or at least, the daughter of their deity and a princess.

And what my father was doing to her was just not right. I don’t think I even have the heart to do it to my worst enemy.

Kidnapping her is one thing, but to kill the people, she’s supposed to be protecting? That’s a whole different thing.

And finding out the real reason why she hadn’t spoken one single word the past few months was just… amazing.

I’m a man of science. I believe in the scientific healing process, but seeing how she heal herself overnight every month, was just fascinating.

Of course, she didn’t know that I know this. In fact, it was all an accident on how I found out about her healing ability despite the silver on her.

She is defying so many things, even not shifting since she arrived. One informant told us once that the shifter does not acknowledge their wolf. They can die.

With the looks of things, she’ll probably die in her father’s hands and not due to some mystic reason such as not walking her wolf, and with father finding out her power over her kind, I should start expecting for the worst.

I sighed and heard the door open. I turned around and saw Kim, the maid, step out carrying a bowl of warm water and a wet face towel.

“How is she?” I asked.

She frowned and shook her head, “She doesn’t want to be touched; I had to wait for her to fall asleep to clean her up.”

I sighed and nodded, “You can go rest Kim, thank you.”

She smiled at me, “She may not say it a lot, but your presence calms her down.”

I forced a smile, “Well, apparently, it isn’t enough.”

She shrugged and left.

I walked back to her room and checked on her. She was lying in the middle of her bed, in a fetus position, and seemed to be in a deep sleep already. Probably too tired with all the drama she’d been through.

I sat beside her in bed and pushed away a strand of hair from her face, causing her to shiver. So I picked her up and set her underneath her comforters, tucking her in.

I looked down at her again and kissed her on the forehead.

She stirs and moved away from me a bit, “Eric…” she mumbled.

I frowned and stood up, staring at her. It wasn’t the first time she did that.

She told me about him, her Eric… her mate. I know she loves him with all her heart and life.

And she firmly believes that it will be him who will be saving her. I admired her for that- of her being so strong. But somehow, I want to prove her wrong.

I want to be the one who saves her, save her from my own father.

But I can’t. There was nowhere for us to go right now; my father would not stop until he gets what he wants.

I groaned and sat on the chair that I’ve sat beside the bed and stared at her sleeping body as I have for months. It was the same place that I realized that I was starting to fall for her, hard and fast.

Exactly what my father said.

But unlike what my father thinks, it wasn’t a bad thing for me. In fact, I love the feeling of me wanting to see her. Make her laugh and calm. Reassuring her that everything will be fine.

He was right about something else, too, though. She has a mate that she dreams of and is probably the only reason why she came with her father without fighting.

She was saving him. It was either her life or his.

The thought of that alone makes me want to kill him myself.

He wasn’t the one who’s been healing her. Taking care of her or watching her in her sleep, making sure none of the perverted hunters come into her room. No.

He’s probably back at home already seeing a new girl or something. If he isn’t, then where is he? Isn’t he supposed to be the one to save his mate?

I guess I should be happy that Serenity has a useless mate, or I would have lost her a long time ago.

Though it was hard not knowing what to do right now, I would prefer to have her near me anytime than let her kind find her and reunite her with her mate.

I will not lose her, not like that.

Not while I can help it.

“No… no… Eric!” she sat up, waking up from what obviously was a nightmare.

“Serenity…” she turned to me, pulling the comforter nearer to herself. “Serenity, calm down, it’s me….”

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

I smiled. I loved hearing her voice. It has been months since she had started the silent treatment.

“You know I can’t leave you alone here in case my father and his stupid men get ideas of visiting you.” she gave a weak nod and shrugged, “You ok?”

She shook her head and turned to me, her face lit by the lamp beside the bed, “I want to go home, Rham.”

I frowned.

“Please, I can’t be here anymore.” She starts to cry again, “Those wolves they killed… they were friends… almost family… they watched me grow up while I watch them be who they are. I can’t take any more of their deaths.”

I reached for her and wrapped her in my arms, then she broke down again, this time letting me hold her.

“We’ll work something out, princess.”

Lie.