Chapter 227: Bonus (3)
Matthias watched his bustling, noisy family and genuinely wished he could cancel the entire celebration. His mother and little sister were still at the hospital, and he honestly felt that without her, this gathering lacked any real meaning. But his mother had called that morning, putting her foot down and insisting they not disrupt their guests’ plans and celebrate properly as scheduled. In the end, the chaotic party went ahead, and everyone except the twins had already handed over their birthday gifts.
Standing off to the side, Damian chuckled quietly as he watched the suspiciously red-faced twins, his thoughts drifting to his mother. That fiercely resilient woman had saved him from a twisted psychopath fifteen years ago. It was solely thanks to her that he had a real family, growing up into a functional werewolf instead of a broken, discarded outcast.
She and his father had given him everything he possessed. Above all, they had taught him how to live. They had drilled into him the strict boundaries and discipline without which he likely would have snapped, killed someone in a blind rage, and landed behind bars years ago.
Damian knew precisely what kind of darkness lurked inside him, remembering all too well how often his mother used to get called to school over his violent outbursts. He had always apologized to her with genuine remorse, convinced he was somehow defective or abnormal since she was constantly being summoned because of his fights.
Yet one day, after yet another trip to the principal’s office, she had crouched down right in front of him and calmly said that she visited the school just as often as Magnus got hauled in over Matthias’s kindergarten brawls. She assured him she would never love him an ounce less for it.
That was only the second time in his life Damian had ever cried—though he had locked himself tightly in the bathroom so no one would see.
Magnus had taught them how to carry themselves in the world. When Damian got into his first serious brawl and broke the nose of another kid two years his senior, he had braced himself for a ferocious lecture from his parents.
Instead, Magnus had merely glanced darkly at the massive shuffer under his son’s eye and dryly announced that Damian’s sessions with Ulvar needed to resume immediately. As for the beaten-up kid, Magnus couldn’t care less. He had simply wired the boy’s parents enough cash for a top-tier plastic surgeon and refused to pick up the furious teacher’s calls.
It only took Magnus showing up at that school in person just once to ensure they were never bothered over trivialities again. Teenagers fought; it was a brutal law of life—you either stood your ground and fought back, or you took it like a coward. Period.
Still, everyone felt the glaring absence of their mother today. She never missed a single family milestone, and without her, the house felt subtly out of tune. Even though Matthias was a grown man now, Damian could clearly see how desperately the eldest missed the grounding warmth of a mother’s hand on his shoulder.
Taking a sip of the strong whiskey Matthias had just handed him, Damian watched his brother narrow his eyes at the twins. The pair were clearly plotting their next disaster.
"Think they’re going to sneak in to hand over their present?" Damian drawled, a knowing glint in his eye as he anticipated the answer.
"If those massive charges to an elite adult novelty shop on my linked card the other day are any indication, I am genuinely terrified of what those two little punks bought me," Matthias muttered.
"Please. I ordered that stuff myself; they’re way too young for that kind of catalog. I personally hacked their devices and locked down the router to block that kind of garbage. The second they tried accessing the site, I got an immediate ping. So I marched in there and delivered a heavy dose of preventative, traditional parenting." Saluting his brother with his glass, Damian took a long, smooth swallow of alcohol.
"—You know that constantly enabling their dumb ideas is going to bite you in the ass eventually. Remember when they tried to boil condensed milk in the microwave?"
"I remember having to scrub the entire kitchen ceiling afterward," the younger man replied with a low chuckle. "Relax. I already put your gift in your room. Tore it right off my heart—total exclusive."
"Thanks. I’ve got a fantastic life without your damn handcuffs, bro," Matthias muttered, rolling his eyes.
Stepping up behind his sons, Magnus dropped heavy, anchoring hands onto both of their shoulders, forcing them to spin around in synchrony.
"I have a gift for you, Day," Magnus murmured softly, offering a brief nod toward his study.
"Figures. It’s my birthday, and the gift goes to Damian. Dad, am I even your biological kid?" Matthias drawled mockingly, watching his father flash an exhausted, long-suffering look.
"No. You washed ashore in a woven basket during a storm. Your soft-hearted mother couldn’t leave you behind, and now I’m stuck suffering through life with you," Magnus grumbled as he turned toward the heavy study doors.
"Pfft, yeah, you’re really suffering. Your two biological little baskets just filched Uncle Sayan’s vintage wine collection and are probably slurring their words by now," Matthias shot back, completely unfazed by his father’s rumbling.
Was it really his fault that yacht had clipped a reef and sunk? No. Granted, he’d only been ten at the time and hadn’t realized the vessel was entirely computer-piloted. He’d just panicked when he saw no one at the helm and proudly taken the wheel himself. Was his old man going to bring up that boat for the rest of his natural life?
Stepping into the darkened sanctuary of the study, the two young men were shocked to see Magnus pull an actual, physical pack of cigarettes from his desk drawer—something he hadn’t touched in years. The atmospheric pressure in the room shifted instantly, turning heavy and suffocating.
A thick, unmistakable scent drifted through the air: honeyed apples. The exact scent of their mother, who was missing from tonight’s celebration. Evidently, the Alpha was craving her grounding presence right now more than ever. The situation was dead serious.
"Father." Damian’s tense voice cut cleanly through the suffocating silence.
"Sit down, both of you. Before I hand this over, you have to swear to me you won’t lose your minds and go tearing off to pull some reckless bullshit. Matthias, that includes you."
The brothers dropped onto the leather sofa, muscles coiled like springs. Taking one final, deep drag of his cigarette, Magnus crushed it out viciously in a heavy crystal ashtray. He rounded the desk, picked up a printed sheet of paper, and pinned a solemn, piercing look on Damian.
Stepping forward, he wordlessly handed the document to his adopted son. Damian froze instantly, his eyes locking onto the image with a hungry, unblinking intensity. The windowpanes in the study let out a faint whine, spider-webbing with fine cracks. Matthias leaned over his brother’s shoulder, caught sight of the photograph, read the name listed in the file, and let out a low, stunned whistle.
"Is this definitely her?"
"Yes. I’m certain," Magnus rasped, watching the manic, blazing hunger flare in Damian’s eyes. Amelie. His Amelie had officially submitted her university entrance applications...
"Yes. We ran her through every database. Officially, she’s registered as the biological daughter of those people. The paperwork was forged with terrifying precision—she might as well have been born to them. Except, before I gave you this hope, my men tracked down that village and discreetly sniffed around. It’s her, one hundred percent. But there’s a massive problem," Magnus said quietly, spinning his laptop monitor around toward the boys. "She was abducted three weeks ago. And she’s scheduled to be auctioned off at a closed, underground black-market sale in a week."
Damian’s gaze flooded with an uncontrollable, abyssal darkness. The windows couldn’t take the sudden spike of his wolf’s rage; with a deafening crash, the glass shattered outward, raining a fine dust of crystal shards into the night...
***
Dear readers, with these final Chapters, the main story of "Mark of Sin" is officially over!
I have, however, prepared the continuation, which is mostly focused on the story of Damian and Amelie, although our beloved Rainn family will still be there (including Matthias!).
Please let me know in the comments if you are interested in reading about Damian and Amelie, and I will continue writing!
Thank you and happy reading <3
P.S. Please leave a review if you can––this helps the novel’s visibility and attracts more readers. Thank you lots!