He could smell her in her hiding place. He could smell her tears. He could smell her sweat. He could smell her fear.

It wasn’t much of a hiding place, but the dead, bloody bodies littering the house and obscuring his smell made locating her a bit difficult. But his nose picked up on her scent almost as soon as he stepped into the basement. He was never worried though; his people had already searched the rest of the mansion, so finding her was only a matter of time.

He made his way across the basement to where he sensed the trapdoor in the floor was located, hidden by an inconspicuous rug with a sofa on top of it for extra measure. The fire hadn’t reached this part of the mansion yet, but he could hear it crackling and burning just above his head, devouring its way downward. He threw the furniture piece aside and lifted the rug, revealing the steel trapdoor. He reached down and lifted it open.

Round brown eyes –much like her mother’s—stared at him with sheer, unadulterated horror. He felt something stir within him. Oh, but it was not pity; it was gratification. It was this very fear in people’s eyes when they looked at him that he’d worked for all his life. They feared him because he was strong. They feared him because he was powerful.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that her white skin was covered in soot and her dirtied clothes were charred at the edges.

It gave him great pleasure to fail her parents’ pathetic plans at hiding her.

He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her out of the hole she was huddled in. Her only response was to whimper miserably, her bottom lip quivering with barely-suppressed tears. She made no move to resist or fight him. He noticed then that she was clutching a darkened, dirtied teddy bear to her chest as if it were a lifebuoy. He dropped her to the floor and reached for the teddy bear in her hands.

She scratched his arm with tiny claws, barely breaking skin, and then bared her teeth at him like the wolf she was.

He stepped back, more surprised than hurt, and stared with slight bewilderment at her suddenly fierce expression. It was as if all her fear had melted away, and he now saw an incredible resolve in her eyes that did not match her young age. He could see that she would not relinquish her toy to him. Not without a fight.

The little girl had backbone. It was the Alpha blood in her.

Her teary eyes met his glowing ones. She didn’t look away.

Darius smiled.

He had planned to end their entire bloodline, but looking at her now…

Oh, no; that would be a true shame. He was presented with the wonderful opportunity to torture her father in the grave. Marcus would pay for taking away from him that which was rightfully his. So, in return, he would humiliate and debase his daughter. He’d make him roll in his grave.