“You enjoy giving commands?” I asked, chewing my bottom lip, and his eyes lowered to my mouth briefly before lifting back to mine.
“Indeed, I do. I am a born alpha of House of Van Helsing and have been in control of the sub-houses since I became immortal before your mother was ever born. I am always in control and ten steps ahead of my enemies. I also enjoy being in command in the bedroom and controlling pleasure. As you discovered earlier, I am very dominant. When I want something, I go for it.” His gaze narrowed, sparkling while he watched my reaction to his words.
“Does he have a brother, by chance?” Nyx asked, reminding us she was there.
“Actually, he does. He promised to show me what heaven was like,” I smirked, watching the tick in Rhys’s jaw pulse at the mention of his brother, Cole. “I’m considering my options. Both are dominant and deliciously wicked. One seemed a little more… wild, I guess you could say?”
“While you’re considering your options, know this, Cole doesn’t care about anyone but Cole. He’s fought me for my seat as head alpha for one hundred years now. During that time, he’s sacrificed thousands of creatures to reach for it. He doesn’t even want the seat because he doesn’t want the responsibility, he just doesn’t like that I have it. Cole is selfish and enjoys sharing his toys to remind them that they are merely there for his entertainment. Tell me, Remi. Do you think you’d want two men destroying you? Because I assure you, I do not intend to let you leave my side, and if you chose him, I’d more than willingly accept his invitation to have you with him.”
“No, that isn’t something I would want,” I admitted, watching his lips curling into a dangerous smile that unnerved me. “Why would he fight for a position that he doesn’t want?” I slowly dropped my gaze to his mouth, remembering the feel of his lips against mine. A blush blossomed in my cheeks, and his smile turned wolfish, promising to draw blood.
“Because we both loved the same woman once, and she chose me over him. She was a game to us at first, and then we both fell in love with her. She’s been dead a very long time, and yet he cannot let it go. She wasn’t the first woman we shared, and I doubt she will be the last,” he stated meaningfully, watching my frown deepening.
“She was a Silversmith, wasn’t she?”
“Indeed, she was your aunt Roslyn,” he admitted, finally looking away from me. “Van Helsings are notorious for fighting over pretty Silversmith women. Even my oldest brother pined for one. Then your family betrayed ours and started a war between the lines.”
“And what did we do to betray you?” I snorted, fighting a frown as his eyes slid back to mine.
“Your mother’s father raped and murdered my mother. Donte Silversmith hung my mother from our castle’s battlements and left her bones for the carrion birds. He took my family’s castle by force, betraying us and murdering hundreds of innocent people who served our family and were under our protection. Your grandfather lost my mother to my father and took issue with it since she was not given to a Silversmith male. He found it to be a slight against him, and the lines that were to be claimed by one of the houses. So, he murdered my mother to send my father a message.”
“Ouch,” I flinched at the look of loathing burning in Rhys stare as he spoke.
“That isn’t the only reason, though. Your mother found us too low in status to marry and turned her Van Helsing match down because she wanted to marry up, and not beneath her. Your family was beneath ours, and yet a single fluke of magic created your line. That magic gave it the ability to control and create weapons that brought down immortal alphas easily.”
“And so we became the strongest house of alphas, and the world bowed beneath our feet,” I injected, and Rhys bristled with anger while he shook his head. “We rose and chose those in which we wanted to unite. That contract became endangered when your mother, one of the few Van Helsing women, married a demon prince, forbidden to her. Though he was mundane and not dark enough, we fixed that with a curse. You broke the contract first, and in doing so, your mother broke Donte’s heart and struck at his pride.”
“Donte was a cold prick who enjoyed inflicting pain on women. He was sadistic and raped his bride in front of their entire wedding party while staring at my mother. The issue with it was, he was too strong to fight against.”
“And yet you killed him,” I swallowed, watching the malice burning in his depths as he recalled the past.
“We did, little Silversmith. We tied his limbs to warhorses, and then we sent them in four directions. Afterward, we set fire to the House of Silversmith and watched them burn. Donte felt the pain because he was immortal. When the smoke cleared, we poured him a solid tomb of iron, forcing him to die repeatedly, until the end of eternity in iron, since silver is too soft to reach him.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Roslyn, who would have been your aunt, enjoyed the power her beauty and line brought her. She used us to gain footing into our world and turned against every lover she took between her thighs. She used Cole and me to lure our mother to your father, and in return, I set her on fire and watched the whore burn. Since that day, we have lured your people in one by one, allowing them to think we love them before we destroy them. You see, we don’t allow your kind to reach immortality anymore. Not unless you do so with a vow to be owned by another Alpha House. So if you choose to be free of us, you die, Remington Silversmith. You’re either mine or Cole’s, but you don’t get to walk away without a vow of ownership. Silversmiths become power-hungry creatures, and then they unleash hell upon those stupid enough to fall in love with them.”
“I’m no longer calling your family’s legend a fairytale. It’s more horror than romance, Remi. No wonder you’ve hidden for your entire life,” Nyx admitted.
“Oh, but she’s no longer hidden,” Rhys chuckled coldly, lifting his hand to push the hair away from my face. “And she already has two Van Helsings vying for her attention. She may not look like a Silversmith, but she is, right down to her silver soul.”
“I am not something you can own,” I snapped, pushing Rhys’s hand away while studying the intensity burning in his stare. “I’m a person, and this isn’t medieval England where you can own someone.”
“You’re mortal, and very young and naïve if you think that the year matters. You walked into my world, and I intend to own you one way or another. If I were you, I’d choose the way that allows you pleasure instead of pain. Unless you’re willing to let me give you both,” he whispered while leaning over, running his nose against my jaw. “There’s also the fact that Silversmiths and Van Helsings are cursed to be together no matter if they wish otherwise. I want you already, and you want me. How long do you think we can hold out against a curse our bloodlines willingly took within them to create a stronger line?”
“There has never been a Van Helsing and Silversmith coupling that created life together, Rhys.”
“No, there has not,” he agreed, but there was something cold and wicked in his eyes as he watched me. “You have no idea how fucked you are, little one.”
I swallowed hard before closing my eyes against the fact that I knew just how screwed I was at the moment. If Winchester and the others figured out that Rhys held me captive, they’d bring down the rafters on the House of Van Helsing. And then they would hang me outside of it as a warning to others.