Chapter 132: A NAME SHE COULDN’T FORGET
KEISHA’S POV
I kept moving backwards until my shoulders hit the rough stone wall surrounding the back gate.
There was nowhere else to go.
The lunch basket slipped from my trembling fingers and landed on the ground with a dull thud, but I barely noticed it. My entire body had gone rigid as Orin continued closing the distance between us with slow steps, his smile widening the closer he came.
"Stay away from me." My voice shook. "I mean it, Orin. If Alpha Callum or Dane finds you here, you’re finished."
The smile disappeared from his face as though I’d slapped him.
His eyes hardened, and for the first time since I’d known him, I saw something in them that made my blood run cold. There wasn’t obsession in them anymore. Only hatred.
"So that’s all you have now?" he asked quietly. "Their names?" He laughed under his breath, but there wasn’t a trace of humor in it. "I risked everything for you, and now every warning out of your mouth is about another man."
"I never asked you to risk anything."
"No." His jaw clenched. "You just threw me away."
"I rejected you because you refused to take no for an answer."
His expression twisted and without warning, his hand disappeared beneath his jacket.
When it came back out, a dagger glinted beneath the afternoon sun.
My breathing stopped and my head spun.
The blade wasn’t particularly large, but it didn’t need to be. He was crazy enough to be skilled with it.
Instinctively, my palm flew to my stomach. The babies. My babies.
I took another step back even though the wall was already pressed firmly against me. "Orin..."
He lifted the dagger lazily, letting it catch the light as though admiring it himself.. "I’ve been hearing interesting things while I was away."
My heartbeat pounded painfully inside my ears.
"They say you’re pregnant."
I didn’t answer.
"They also say everyone believes those pups belong to Dane.". His gaze lingered on my stomach. "Tell me..." His voice softened in a way that somehow frightened me even more. "Are they really his?"
Fear seemed to wrap around me like a cloak.
I couldn’t think or even force myself to lie.
The silence must have amused him because a crooked grin slowly returned to his face.. "I knew it," he murmured. "You’re hiding something."
"I don’t owe you any explanation."
"No." He nodded once. "But you’ll give me one eventually."
He took another step closer and every step forced me harder against the wall until there was nowhere left to retreat.
A thousand thoughts blurred through my head at once.
How did he get back into the estate? The guards knew his face.. Callum had personally exiled him.
There should have been no possible way for him to walk through Ashveil’s gates without someone sounding an alarm.
As if he had plucked the question straight from my mind, Orin chuckled. "You’re wondering how I got in."
I remained silent.
"I didn’t sneak in."
That caught me off guard. Oh?
"I walked in."
My brows knitted together. "Impossible."
"It would’ve been." His smile turned smug. "If I were still alone."
A chill crept down my spine. "What do you mean?"
"I’ve got someone backing me now. Someone with enough power that people stop asking questions." His eyes gleamed with frightening confidence. "The next time I come for you, no one will be able to keep us apart."
My stomach lurched. "You’re insane."
"No." He shook his head slowly. "I’m patient." He tightened his grip on the dagger. "This time, Keisha... you’re going to be mine."
The words had barely left his mouth when a shrill ringtone shattered the tense silence and his face darkened with annoyance.
For a second, I thought he would ignore it. Instead, he pulled a phone from his pocket and answered. "What?"
The irritation in his voice quickly faded as the person on the other end began speaking. He didn’t interrupt again. He simply listened, his expression changing little by little until even he seemed frustrated by whatever instructions he was receiving.. "I said I almost have her," he muttered. "Give me five more—"
Whoever was speaking cut him off and his jaw tightened. "...Fine."
There was another pause. "Yes, Madam V."
Then, the call ended.
Madam V?
The name rang warning bells inside my head.
Orin slipped the phone back into his pocket before looking at me one last time. There was disappointment in his eyes now, but it wasn’t the disappointment of a defeated man. It was the confidence of someone who believed he’d simply been delayed.
"You got lucky today," he said quietly. "Tell your precious Alpha to keep watching over you." Then he turned and disappeared beyond the trees without another glance.
Diane seemed to finally breathe when he left her voice floating in my head. "Was that—"
Oh god.
The day when we were going to the hospital with Nadia, it indeed was Orin.
How long had he been in the pack? That was a while ago. Oh fuck. How long had he been watching me? And I was an idiot. What if he had harmed me?
I didn’t move for a while because I couldn’t.
My legs refused to listen to me long after he had vanished from sight.
Only when a minute passed before I realized how violently I was shaking.
The babies.
I pressed both hands protectively over my abdomen, fighting to steady my breathing as panic threatened to swallow me whole.
"I’m sorry," I whispered shakily. "I’m so sorry..." It took several long minutes before my legs finally carried me away from the gate.
I left the lunch basket exactly where it had fallen and I forgot all about visiting Nadia.
By the time I reached the annex, my hands were still trembling, my mind replaying only two things over and over again.
The cold glint of that dagger and the name that refused to leave my head.
Madam V.
Who the hell was that?