Awakening The Silver Wolf

RAVENNA POV 

Yes. I felt everything, from how wild and hard my heart was beating, to how heated my body was, to how warmth was pooling in between my legs.

I fucking felt it all. 

I looked back into Darius' eyes and there was a vulnerability that shouldn't be there. "Yes, Darius," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Yes, I feel it."

The vulnerability cleared from his eyes only to be replaced by something I couldn't name. He leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose softly before he pulled away and my body immediately missed his warmth. 

He rubbed his face before he turned, his back facing me, his shoulders tense. 

I heard him inhale before he turned to me again, his features composed but only just a little. 

"There's something I need to tell you," he said, his voice hard. "Fuck, there's a lot of things I need to tell you."

I watched him curiously. I keep seeing a new part of Darius every day but I wasn't complaining. It was fresh to know those talks I'd heard of him being completely heartless weren't true.

"Start from anywhere, Darius. I'm all ears." 

I still couldn't tell what that look in his eyes was.

"I am falling for you, Ravenna," he admitted softly and my heart skipped a beat. He snorted. "What am I saying? I've fallen for you. I've reached the bottom where I think I couldn't fall again but oh, how wrong I was." 

A pause.

His eyes bore into mine, and the raw honesty in them left me breathless. I wanted to look away, to shut it all down before he said something I couldn't come back from, but I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

"I was a monster," Darius went on, his voice rougher now, as if each word was a battle. "No, I still am. But, god, Ravenna... you make me want to be something better. Something worth the space you've given me, even when you shouldn't have."

I swallowed, the weight of his words pressing down on me. My chest tightened—was he saying this?

"You're the last person I ever thought I'd fall for," he continued, his tone now barely above a whisper. "The one I thought I'd always fight, always compete with. And yet… here I am. A fool, really. A fool in love with you. With everything you are—your fire, your strength, your courage. All of it. You made me believe in something I thought I'd never had."

I felt the sting of tears threatening to fall, and I hated that. I hated feeling this vulnerability and rawness towards a man I know I should hate but can't. What does that make me? I couldn't speak, I just stood there, frozen, my heart hammering in my chest. 

He stepped closer then, his gaze never leaving mine. "I don't deserve you, Ravenna. I know that. I'll probably never be the hero you deserve. But I've learned that maybe… maybe love doesn't need heroes. Maybe it just needs two people willing to fight for it." 

He reached out, his fingers trembling as they brushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. 

"So here I am. Telling you, in the most pathetic way possible, that I love you. And if you can ever find it in you to love me back… maybe we can figure it out together. And… and if you don't, it's totally fine." 

His confession hung in the air, fragile and trembling, like something on the edge of breaking. And as I stood there, the bitter taste of everything we had been to each other mixing with the raw sweetness of what he had just said, I realized something—maybe we didn't need to be fixed. Maybe we just needed to be.

"Darius," I whispered, all other words but his name failing me. 

He brushed his finger on my lips and I shivered. "Ravenna."

I opened my mouth to speak but he placed a finger on my lips, shushing me. 

"I need to tell you something before you make your decision," he said. 

I nodded. "I'm listening."

He pressed in closer, his body once again on mine and my heart rejoiced. He leaned in and traced his lips on my ear, sending delicious shivers through me. 

"I am not a good person, Ravenna," he whispered, his breath hot on my skin. "I'm trying to be, I swear, but it's not just me. My heart is already blackened and I'm afraid nothing can cleanse it." 

He pulled back only to stare into my eyes, his fingers tracing my eyebrows, his other hand cupping my backside. "I've had plans that have been in the making for years. Plans that are now wavering because of you but it's still there regardless."

I stared back at him. "What are you talking about, Darius?" 

"What I'm talking about, Silver Wisp, is that I plan to expand my territory," he says, his voice low, husky. "I plan to destroy the wolf world only to rebuild it as I want." 

I blinked up at him, my eyebrows furrowed. In a much lower voice, he said, "I plan to be the king of wolves." 

"King of wolves," I repeated, my head pounding. 

I watched him watch me intensely as the pieces slide into place. "That's why you roam from pack to pack, waging war against the wolves."

Darius shook his head. "I don't just go into a pack and declare war like a mindless animal. I offer them an alliance and if they reject it then I wage war."

"Roman rejected your alliance."

Darius hummed, his hand on my backside squeezing. "He and so many others rejected it. I would call them fools because they make my work harder, and I would call them smart because they saw through my lies." 

"What lies?"

"When I offered the alliance, I promised partnership, a path forward together. But my true intention was to destroy them from within—sow discord, watch them crumble, and when they were weak, I would strike and seize their pack for myself."

Darius' voice had grown cold as he spoke, his eyes even colder. That man who confessed his love to me just a few moments ago is gone.

I pushed Darius away, and hurt flashed in his eyes before they became blank again. He released me and stepped back, his hands in his pockets.

"What do you hope to gain?" I asked, my voice harsh.

"Power, Ravenna."

I shook my head. "This is madness, Darius. Stop this your so-called plan."

"No," came his curt reply.

"No?"

"No, Ravenna. I will see this through." 

We stared at each other, my fist clenched at my side and him just indifferent.

"People say your father was a good man," I gritted. "A peaceful ruler. He would be disappointed in you."

Darius flinched as if I struck him. He stared at me with eyes wide with pain before he threw his head back and laughed, the sound humorlessly. 

"A good man?" he asked, his voice raised. He laughed again and his body shook. I didn't know if it was from laughter or rage. 

His hands shook as he took off his suit jacket before removing his tie.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying not to panic. 

Darius ignored me and continued to undress. When his hands shook so badly that he couldn't undo his bottom, he tore the shirt, sending buttons flying everywhere and making me gasp. 

He stood and stared at me with his chest heaving heavily and said, "This is what a good man does to his child." He turned and I choked on my tongue, my hand covering my mouth and my heart beating furiously. 

I felt like I was going to throw up.