Although it was hard for Adeline and Nicole to believe Marcel’s words, but Klaus seemed to take his side and this made the girls cool down a little. It was then that Adeline finally noticed that Klaus’ neck was bleeding, and in the place of the most abundant blood, two holes were visible, similar to vampire fangs.

She ran up to him, put one arm around his waist, and put the other hand on the wound.

- It’s nothing. – he said, hugging her back and kissing the top of her head.

Adeline smelled of the freshness of the forest, and her skin was cool from the frost, but still he felt warm, native and serene, intoxicating warmth.

- Raphael knows that it’s Thea, so we can be sure that she will be all right. – he said, giving even more calmness to the two friends.

Although they couldn’t help but wonder how he could have known until Nicole slapped her forehead with her palm.

- God, how could we be so stupid? – she said suddenly. – It’s so obvious that I wonder how we didn’t understand it right away?

- What do you mean? - Adeline turned her head slightly in the direction of her friend.

- He’s a vampire, Ada. Think for yourself. – she said, thinking that Adeline would guess. – He wounded her in a duel and it is likely that he just smelled her blood.

- Listen, it really makes sense! - Adeline was inspired. - And why didn’t I think of that myself?

- That’s why he left Lourdes so quickly back then, allowing Eugene to cure her. - Nicole said and nodded her head, as if confirming her own theory to herself.

Adeline rummaged in her travel bag and took out a small bottle with a potion, which she smeared on the wound on Klaus’ neck, wrapping a cloth on top. This will not cure him at lightning speed, but will increase the rate of regeneration of skin cells.

-I’m more interested in something else... - Marcel suddenly growled. – How the fuck do they even know each other?

He was bursting with anger that Thea had kept silent about this nuance when she told her story.

Adeline cast a brief glance at her friend, expecting that she would help them out of this situation, but Nicole was silent as a fish. In the end, it was Adeline who had to explain.

- She told me about her escape from Riliya, didn’t she?... In fact, we found out about it ourselves just a few days ago. -Adeline said. – It turns out that Raphael kidnapped her. That’s how they met, and I don’t know all the details to tell about it.

She shrugged her shoulders and lowered her head dejectedly onto Klaus’ firm chest.

There was a deathly silence in the living room, which was broken after a while by Irma, who came accompanied by Urum.

- This is just lawlessness! She shouted, waving her arms. – I don’t understand why I can’t come to my own house.

Her angry gaze immediately squinted at Marcel, who was very unhappy that his naughty wife had come to a place that was full of dangerous personalities at the moment.

- Get your hands off me, Urum! Immediately! – she squirmed when the man she came with tried to take her back out.

- It’s okay, leave her. - Marcel waved his hand. – Come here, Irma!

He patted the seat next to him, inviting her to sit down, but Irma was too hurt, so she plopped down in the chair opposite him, withering him with a furious look.

- I had to deal with everything first. I can’t put you and the baby in danger. – he said to reduce the degree of tension between them. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

- Is that why you came here alone and didn’t take anyone to help you? - she hissed. – And I’m not such a mediocrity that I can’t stand up for myself on my own!

She was very angry at her husband because he restricted her in everything after they found out that they were expecting a child. This made her life boring and monotonous, which together diverged from her usual way of life.

- Well, why... Klaus was here. – Irma’s face immediately looked like she had eaten something sour.

While Irma and Marcel were arguing with each other, Rafael appeared at the top of the stairs. There was an incomprehensible expression on his face, but his eyes were like traps for Klaus, who realized that he had come for him again.

A blow to the jaw, a blow to the stomach, a blow to the knee with the face. Marcel immediately got up to protect the girls.

Adeline, on the other hand, seemed to be obsessed with rushing to help Klaus, but the Alpha was categorically determined.

The beating continued exactly until Klaus was sprawled on the floor, barely breathing. A little more and he would have definitely said goodbye to his own life, but Raphael stopped in time to prevent this.

- If she dies, you’ll be the first one to follow her. - He growled, kicking him hard in the stomach.

Adeline covered her face with her hands and cried uncontrollably, continuing to call Klaus’ name. Her nervous system malfunctioned from seeing the brutal beating and the fact that she could not help in any way, she could not even conjure here and it was killing her from the inside.

- I will repeat myself again... No one should come in and disturb her, otherwise I can’t vouch for myself. - he said ultimatum and sat down next to Klaus, staring blankly at the floor.

Everyone was silent, no one wanted to get into a hot hand.

Adeline crawled up to Klaus, being immediately noticed by Raphael, but he didn’t say anything to her, allowing her to take him to another room to help him. Nicole left with them.

- Now tell me what happened? - His question was addressed to Marcel.

- We were attacked by Bliars. – he told Rafael how he met three witches in the forest and how he eventually took them with him, but they were attacked when they stopped for the night. – She... fuck, I still can’t explain it. What is going on in this world?

Marcel rubbed his temple hard, frowning and biting his lower lip. Raphael had been waiting patiently with a stony face all this time.

- Somehow, she was able to use magic. - he took a deep breath, catching his breath and noticing the surprise on his wife’s face. - She created a dome of snow through which we couldn’t see anything until he fell. All this time we were so busy with our enemies that we didn’t notice that she was fighting two bliars alone. She was able to kill both of them, but... you can see for yourself how it ended.

Raphael turned his face a little to the wall, and images of that day seemed to flash before his eyes, as if he himself had been there. He was interested in what he heard about the use of magic by Thea, and he was once again convinced that his girl was special and this gave him faith that they would be able to find a way out of her situation. He will try to help her survive.

Raphael said nothing and only nodded passively.

- Irma and I will stay somewhere else for now. And you stay in our house with that girl. No one will bother you. And yet, as soon as the situation settles down, I’m waiting for a heart-to-heart conversation.

He got up and gave his hand to Irma, who pointedly waved her shoulder and walked past to the exit. Still angry.

"And here I am wondering again – who are you, Princess?" – he mentally asked himself a question and touched the wound on his arm that Marcel had left him.

The pain was already more or less bearable, but the wound was still healing too slowly due to the werewolf poison in his blood.

***

- I suppose envy speaks in you, because no one gives you bodily consolation. Her tone was full of sarcasm and she instantly felt the suffocating aura that was escaping from Raphael.

Thanks to the fact that she was a friend of Thea, now a large amount of feigned courage has accumulated in her veins. She was sure that he would not touch her as long as she did not overstep the bounds of what was allowed.

Adeline looked at him purposefully, with her chin raised proudly. She still hasn’t forgiven him for hurting Klaus. Of course, Klaus was partly to blame for not being there at the right moment, but Raphael was just as far away, unable to help her when she needed it so much.

Therefore, this blame could be safely laid on both, but on Raphael more, because he was immortal, and therefore could not be afraid of anything and no one.

- You’re playing dangerous games, witch, if you think it bothers me that you’re her friend. - Raphael hissed, looking at Adeline with disgust.

In the few days they had been in the same house under the same roof, Adeline had tried Raphael’s patience more than once and it was still amazing how she hadn’t driven him crazy.

Thea’s condition was improving and this was another mystery to him, as well as the fact that she could do magic in the werewolf lands. Not only did she not die, but she was also on the mend. Of course, it is worth noting that every day several times Raphael gave her his blood diluted in water. This helped her wounds heal faster, expelling the poison from her body.

Marcel held several meetings with his pack and Raphael and he had to hold the line, because many did not agree that a vampire was so simply on their lands. But the common problem eventually brought them together a little to conclude a new agreement regarding the bliars.