Page 19 of Branded By Shadow
She wouldn’t meet my eyes, but I’d expected that. Her mind was fighting what her biology had already accepted. Time and proximity would erode that resistance. That is… If nothing else went wrong with her heat. And most importantly, if Helena didn’t intervene.
Helena was waiting for us in front of my father’s portrait. Her fingertips trailed the gilded frame with surprising tenderness. She’d loved him too, in her own way. “A difficult night, Damon?” she asked without looking at me.
A distant memory flashed through my mind. My father, a storm of darkness and power behind his desk, the very air in the room seeming to bend to his will. And Helena, sitting opposite him, calm and unshaken. She was one of the few who never flinched from his presence, her quiet power a defiant anchor against the oppressive weight of his shadow magic.
She wouldn’t be intimidated by me either. But that hardly gave me pause. “Nothing House Hades can’t manage.”
Helena turned to face us. She ignored my territorial posture, her gaze shifting to Cora. Her expression softened with a genuine warmth I had rarely witnessed. “Dr. Ellis,” she began, her tone gentle in a way that set my teeth on edge. “Are you alright?”
The simple question was a key turning in a lock that had been rusted shut. Cora’s carefully constructed composure shattered.The confession came out on a raw, broken whisper, her body trembling. “I’ve been better, Mrs. Winters.”
Helena pursed her lips, having obviously expected that reply.“Call me Helena, child. And let’s sit. You don’t need to stand before anyone in this room.”
She placed a hand on Cora’s arm, guiding her toward one of the heavy leather chairs facing the desk. It was a pointed gesture, creating a small sanctuary for Cora that excluded me. A low growl rumbled in my chest, an instinct so primal it bypassed thought.
House Hera and House Hades stood together. But I knew Helena’s loyalties had their own ancient hierarchy. First and foremost, before any political bond, Helena Winters served the cause of Omegas in need.
I had seen her stand with my father against his enemies. But now, with Cora trembling before her, I was not Victor’s son and her ally. I was an Alpha who had taken an Omega against her will. And in Helena’s eyes, that made Cora’s welfare the only cause that mattered in this room.
“He kidnapped me,” Cora began, the words tumbling out, catching on a sob she refused to let fall. “From the conference. He brought me here against my will and he… he kept me locked in this estate for days. Helena, I need your help. I don’t know what he plans to do. You have to get me out of here.”
Helena’s hand came up, resting on Cora’s arm in a gesture of steadying support. She didn’t look at me, but I felt the weight of her condemnation all the same. “What has been done to you violates every principle House Hera stands for,” she stated, her gaze finally flicking to mine, hard and unforgiving. “But I am here because there is a more immediate danger you need to understand. One that makes leaving this house impossible for now.”
Cora’s head snapped up, her expression a mask of confusion and dawning fear. “Another threat? What are you talking about? What could be worse than this?”
“Alexander Stormwright,” I growled, the name a curse on my tongue.
Helena gave me a sharp, acknowledging nod before turning back to Cora. “He has been busy.” She grimaced, somehow looking even more disapproving than before. “There’s something you need to hear.”
As she spoke, Helena reached into her coat, producing a piece of obsidian that seemed to drink the light from the room. A recording crystal, of House Hephaestus make. I recognized the faint, geometric lines etched into its surface, the tell-tale sign of their masterwork craftsmanship. The air around it grew heavy, humming with a low, contained power.
“What is that?” Cora whispered, her eyes wide.
“It’s the truth you deserve,” Helena replied simply, pressing her thumb to the center of the stone.
A soft light bloomed within the crystal, pulsing with a pale, golden energy. The air grew still, and then, a voice filled the room, tinny and distorted by the artifice.
“...no one’s heard from her, Mr. Stormwright. I just don’t know what else to do. She would have called me by now. Something is terribly wrong.”
Cora made a small, wounded sound, her hand flying to her mouth. “Theo,” she murmured. The name came out fractured, as broken as the whispers I sometimes heard from the void.
Then, Alexander spoke, smooth as poisoned silk. “I’m aware, Dr. Caldwell. I was so impressed by Dr. Ellis at the conference, and I’ve been deeply concerned since I heard she was missing. I want to offer any resources House Zeus has at its disposal to help find her.”
Cora flinched, her entire body recoiling from the sound. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the armrests of the chair. Every tremor of her body stoked the fire in my gut.
A cold, precise fury settled in. Alexander wasn’t just my rival. He was the source of my Omega’s pain, and that made him my target.
“Can you think of anything that might have triggered this heinous act?” Alexander asked in the recording. “Were there any specific signs?”
“Nothing I can think of.” Caldwell sighed. “But we’ve been so focused on our presentation we might have missed something obvious.”
“Of course. I understand entirely. Dr. Ellis’s work is revolutionary, and her determination all the more admirable. But in this particular case, I think we can both agree the person is far more important than any formula.”
If he’d been in front of me, I would have snapped him in half. He knew exactly what buttons to push, understood what incentive would throw Dr. Caldwell off his guard. His manipulation was just as effective on the phone as it was in person.
“That’s exactly right!” Caldwell snapped, an outburst of temper that spoke volumes of his mental state. “Everyone just seems to be talking about the damn suppressant. But Cora… Anything could have happened to her. And no one will help us. Olympian House matters, they said.”
Of course they had, because it was exactly what Alexander had wanted. Cora’s shoulders slumped, and tears were trailing down her cheek.
