Mated to Her Alpha Instructor (Eileen and Regis) novel Chapter 179

Chapter 179

An orphan

“Maybe Or… Mira lowered her voice further. Or someone who needed to disappear. Someone running from something.”

The words settled over me like a shroud. Could it be Silas?

“We should keep an eye on her.” I said finally, “Make sure she’s okay.”

Mira nodded, but her expression remained troubled. “Eileen… be careful, yeah? You need to put yourself first.”

“I know, I’ll be careful.”

But as 1 left the compounding room and headed toward the patient wards, I couldn’t shake the feeling that careful might not be enough. Not if Nina was already in Silas’s sights.

I was heading back toward the dormitory wing, intending to knock on her door whether she wanted company or not. But after no one answered, I pushed the door open to find the room empty. Unease settled in my chest. I needed to leave for the cottage soon–Regis was waiting for me. Reluctantly, I sent Mira a quick message asking her to let me know the moment Nina returned.

Walking down the familiar path, I was mulling over whether to tell Regis about today’s strange encounter–maybe he could look into whether Silas actually knew Nina–when I heard voices drifting from the direction of the birch grove on the east side of the trail. One voice was raised in what might have been protest or pain, the other lower, soothing in the way that predators soothe prey before the kill.

My feet carried me toward the sound before conscious thought could intervene. The path through the birches was well–worn, used by villagers who wanted a quick route to the main road. But as I drew closer to the voices, I found myself slowing, moving with more caution.

Through the white trunks, I could see figures in a small clearing–two of them, one significantly larger than the other. The larger figure had their back to me, broad shoulders blocking my view of whoever they held pinned against a tree trunk.

Then the larger figure shifted slightly, and cold recognition washed through me.

Silas. And trapped between him and the birch tree, barely visible past his bulk, was Nina..

I dropped into a crouch behind a fallen log, my heart hammering so loud I was sure they’d hear it. But neither of them moved, locked in their awful tableau.

“…thought you could hude forever? Silas’s voice was conversational, almost gentle. Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize my own handiwork?

Nina made a sound–not words, just a whimper of pure terror that made every protective instinct I possessed scream to intervene. But I forced myself to stay still, to listen, to understand what I was witnessing.

“You were such a little thing then, Silas continued, and now I could see his hand, pale against Nina’s throat. Barely spoke at all, as I recall. Your mother had more spirit. She screamed quite beautifully before we broke her.‘

Oh gods. Oh gods, what was this?

Nina was shaking, I could see it even from my hiding place, but she didn’t try to fight or flee. She stood frozen, like a rabbit caught in a wolf’s jaws, waiting

1/2

Chapter 179

for the bite that would end it.

The resemblance is quite striking, you know, Silas murmured. “Same eyes. Same delicate bones. Though you’ve filled out better than she did at your age. And all this- his fingers brushed her thick bangs, making her flinch, -the shapeless clothes, the hair hiding your face. So clever. Who would ever guess witch blood runs in your veins?”

Witch blood. The words echoed in my skull. Nina was descended from witches? And Silas knew, had known her mother, had done something terrible.

Comments

2

Write Comments

SHARE

2/2