Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate-Chapter 133: The Last Straw

Florian hadn’t slept all night. He was so tired, but sleep only made things worse. The nightmares wouldn’t leave him alone, and each time he tried to escape them, it felt like something was keeping him trapped in his sleep.

When he was awake, at least he could fight back—push away the whispers, block out the shadows. But in his dreams, he couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. He was trapped, lost in a world where his mind deceived him at every turn.

He kept thinking about the beach incident, remembering how he truly believed it was real when it happened. Every detail was vivid and undeniable.

In time, he realized that Riona would never do what the voice had tried to make her do in his hallucination. Still, it had felt so real that it terrified him. Even now, thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.

He could still clearly feel Riona’s touch, and the anger and hatred in her eyes seemed so real.

"That’s because they were real," the voice whispered with cruel satisfaction.

"No!" Florian shouted back, his voice trembling. "I’m not falling for your lies anymore. I know none of it was real!"

"Your sister doesn’t care about you. No one does. Only I see what you’re capable of. I’m all you have now," the voice taunted.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Florian snapped, his frustration boiling over.

The voice laughed as if Florian’s burst of frustration was amusing. Indeed, the voice found it amusing.

"Poor child, you don’t have to suffer alone. All they see is your weakness. Let me protect you. Let me take care of you."

"No! Leave me alone!" Florian shouted, his voice shaking with desperation.

While he struggled against the dark voice in his head, desperately trying to hold onto his sanity, Riona was knocking on his door, asking to come in.

It was Riona at the door, her voice calling out to him, though he could barely focus on her words.

Something about hunting. The voice kept messing with his mind, making it hard to hear, though he knew she was trying to involve him in whatever she was doing.

"You can’t keep avoiding her forever," the voice whispered relentlessly. "Sooner or later, you’ll have to face her—and see the disgust in her eyes. And that’s going to hurt."

Florian clenched his head in his hands, repeating through gritted teeth, "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

But the voice only grew louder, drowning out Riona’s soft words until they seemed far away. "Why let her hurt you first? Why not stop it before it starts?"

Florian’s eyes widened in shock. "Wh–what do you mean?"

"Get rid of what’s causing your pain. Your sister. If she’s gone, she can’t hurt you anymore. Just one snap of her neck. It’s simple."

Florian was speechless. He couldn’t believe the voice would suggest something so monstrous. But what terrified him even more was the fact that, for one fleeting moment, he had actually considered it.

"It won’t hurt much if you’re quick," the voice urged. "Just like when you killed Puck in that vision I showed you. Remember? It was easy then. It will be easy now."

"No! Get out of my head!" Florian stumbled around the room, crashing into walls, toppling over stacks of blood bags, and kicking chairs out of his way.

Outside, Riona furrowed her brow at the loud thuds and crashes. She pounded on the door harder, calling his name again and again. Though she could hear movement inside, Florian still wouldn’t answer or let her in.

She pressed her ear to the door, hearing grunts and suspicious noises. Just as she was about to shoulder the door open, Florian screamed, "GET LOST!"

The words hit Riona like a slap. Naturally, since Riona didn’t know Florian had a malicious entity inside his brain, she thought the angry words were aimed at her.

She faltered backward. The hood covering her head slipped down as she hit the ground.

"Ow! Stupid sun!" she hissed, wincing as the sunlight burned her exposed skin. Quickly, she yanked the hood back over her head and hurried away.

***

After Florian yelled at her with so much anger, Riona realized there was no convincing him to join the hunt. She remembered what Thorin had once told her to calm her down:

Give him time. He just needs time.

But time seemed to be doing more harm than good. Florian wasn’t improving. In fact, he seemed to be slipping further away. And if things got worse, what was she supposed to do then?

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, she made her way to the gathering spot for the hunt.

Originally, the hunt should be held during the day, but Charna had kindly moved the hunt to nighttime to accommodate Riona’s vampire sensitivities. An idea that clearly had not won her any popularity points with the werewolves.

"Why do we have to change everything just for her?" someone grumbled.

"Yeah, she’s basically treating us like her personal doormats, and no one’s calling her out on it!" snapped another.

"Are we really going to let her get away with this? Maybe it’s time she learned some respect."

"You’re right! We need to remind her who’s in charge. She needs to know her place," another voice growled.

Grumbles spread like wildfire. Almost all the werewolves were unhappy, and they weren’t shy about it. They were upset that Charna seemed to favor the vampires too much.

And when Riona arrived—alone, of course—their annoyance hit a new peak. The werewolves let out loud sighs, shot her annoyed looks, whispered behind her back, and made sarcastic comments.

"Well, look who’s here! The princess herself. Too bad we didn’t roll out the red carpet for her. What if her precious feet get dirty?" Vesper said with a sneer.

"Honestly, Vesper," Morgan added mockingly. "Maybe you should carry her. She’s far too refined to handle something as barbaric as sand. Can’t have the Snob of the Night getting a speck of dirt between her toes, now can we?"

The laughter that followed was practically synchronized, like they’d rehearsed it. But Riona kept her head high, pretending their words didn’t bother her.

Or so she thought.

"Why is the princess alone? Where is the other one?"

"Oh, I know—he can’t even handle a simple hunt. Poor Riona, always babysitting him."

"Learning to talk must’ve gone straight to his head, huh? Too bad it didn’t make him any braver. What good is a kid who talks big but can’t actually do anything?"

"I bet Florian’s just staying quiet because that’s what he’s used to, right? Being mute. Maybe he should’ve stayed that way—at least we didn’t have to hear him whining back then."

Riona couldn’t take it anymore. She groaned and lunged at the closest werewolf, ready to tear him apart. ƒreewebɳovel.com