Lady and the Wolf [Book One, Lady and the Wolf Series] -Published-

Chapter Twenty-Five: Fate of the Human

The room was silent, as the blonde woman looked him over with a horrified expression. It didn't take much to coerce her to let him in, but in the time she had gone missing while he waited in the kitchen, she had gone and contacted the very man he had wanted to speak with. It was almost turning out too well.

Van Volkov stormed into the room, the urge to kill almost seeping from his skin as he slammed one hand onto the kitchen bench. Richard didn't flinch; Volkov would not harm him, not with the media already so far up his ass. The wolf needed Richard.

The older man chuckled. "How good to see you again, Van." His greeting was flippant, and Van probably expected no less.

It seemed the beast already knew what Richard was after. "She's not here, and when she returns, I expect you to not be here either." His warning fell on deaf ears as Richard simply smiled.

"Eleven years, you've hidden her for eleven years. I wonder how you have kept her so well behaved in that amount of time."

Van didn't look impressed as he growled, "What are you on about?"

Richard's expression fell into shock as he stared, baffled, at the Lycan. "That depends on what you're on about, Volkov? Eleven years and you truly haven't seen it?" he questioned, sincerely surprised. "I thought for certain that is why you fought so hard in court to keep her away."

At the time, Richard hadn't had a clue on who the people behind those God-forsaken lawyers were, but now, he understood. Only someone like Van Volkov could have thrown out money like that without a care.

It looked like he wasn't going to get an answer out of the woman or Volkov, so Richard quietly asked, "Has she had the dreams yet?"

The short gasp from the corner where the woman stood was the answer he needed. If she were having the dreams, then half his theory was at least correct.

"Emma, leave us," Van snapped, twisting his head to stare at human sneering in the corner.

Emma, although hesitant, nodded before exiting the kitchen. Van's attention swiveled back to Richard, asking, "What is it you want, old man?"

Richard seemed to know the questions Van would throw at him and answered almost instantly, "I want my granddaughter, Mr. Volkov. I've been searching for a long time, but now, I know why it was such a difficult task. What exactly would a Lycan want with a descendent of a L'ightat, I wonder?"

Van, just moments before, calm and tall, seemed to stiffen as his eyes glowed through his contacts. "What... did you just say?" he growled.

The graying man grinned at the wolf's reaction. "Well, I see that a shifter born of this world still has at least some knowledge of his roots back in Altholo. It shouldn't surprise a lowly human such as myself — Konstantin is one of the seven pureblooded Lycanthropes that were so cruelly cursed into purgatory on Earth, after all," he chuckled. His tone was haughty as he all but glittered with Van's realization. "Tell me, boy, is Konstantin serving his punishment well? It must be truly terrible, banished from one world, only to serve in another for the next thousand or so years."

Van looked as if he were about to rip the man to shreds. Richard wished he could have gotten a picture of the look on the beast's face. "My service to this world is none of your concern, human," he snarled.

"Your service? No, you were just the unlucky vessel Konstantin chose when he was thrown back like last week's stale bread."

Van's whole body seemed to shake as he snapped, "I see you've been in contact with the elders to know so much about me."