Konstantin: The Heartless Beta
28. Youngest Sacrifice

Lily

My head is killing me, and the sunlight peeking through the window is not helping. I sit up andnotice that I have been moved yet again, and this time Stefan has me shackled to the bed. I don'tknow how long I've been knocked out; all I can remember is that when my supposed “mother’returned, she injected me with something.

I guess she knew that I suspected her.

I don't know what Stefan has planned this time around, but my heart won't stop thundering, andfrom the movement of the babies, they must feel it as well.

I hear footsteps at the door and expect Stefan to walk in, but instead, voices get carried through thedoor. Did they think I'm still knocked out?

"... this better be the truth,” Stefan says, the anger in his voice making me lay down and clamp myeyes shut.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

The second voice made me sit up so fast that I saw white spots in my eyes. What the fuck? I knowwho that is... I fucking know them! But why are they here? Why...?

“No, you haven't,” Stefan says, but whatever else he says gets drowned out by the keys in the locksas he opens them. When he walks in, I don't see the person behind him but know for a fact that itwas someone I am supposedly close to.

“My bride, it's time!” he calls out, and before I can ask what he means, he scents me with so much ofhis sulphur that I fall back on the bed, unable to move. “Wait...”

Stefan rips off my clothing then unclasps the shackles at my ankle before scooping me up in hisarms and walking out of the room.

This Scenting is what he has been doing since he locked me up, and it is what keeps me complacentenough for him to do whatever he wants to me. It also does something to the Succubus side of meand makes me crave him. But from what he has done now, it seems like he could always control thelust pheromone in his scent.

Fucking asshole.

"Where... taking...” I can only get these words out, but I know he understands what I am asking.We're going downwards, and all I can smell is dampness, dust and blood.

Stefan chuckles. “You'll see soon,” he says, then when we come to a stop in front of a marble door,he barks at a soldier to open it.

I look around the white room and notice that it is made out of the same material as the door.Inscriptions are etched into the stone on every surface of the room, and in the middle stood a flatblack stone altar. I can see the legs of someone lying next to it but don’t know who it could be.Stefan places me gingerly on the altar, and when he shackles my wrists and feet to the stone, painsears right into my bone. Silver; he’s tying me down with silver chains. I try to fight him off, but hisfucking scent has made me weak. “Wait...” I mumble.

“Shhh,” he says with a grin, placing one hand on my belly and holding the other in the air. Then hestarts a chant in an unknown tongue, and his eyes flash that disgusting yellow colour.

Then pain overtakes my body; the feeling of my first shift amplified and on repeat.

I scream out and move, but every movement sends waves of throbbing pain through my entirebody. I've never felt pain like this before, not even when Fenriz broke me in at the fighting pits.Every bone felt like it was being broken and repaired over and over again with no end to the pain insight.

Stefan takes his hands from my belly and walks out of the room, but the pain remains; no matterhow much I scream and cry out, it doesn't lessen at all.

I feel exhausted and like I am close to vomiting, but there seems to be nothing I could do about thepain and shifting of the children in my womb. Surely this pain would stop soon, right? Surely there'san end to this magnified pain, this nauseating feeling of something tearing me apart from theinside.

I'm not sure, and I am not ready to give up because of it; my wolf told me that my mate wouldcome. I need to believe in her words!

I pause for a moment and take a deep breath. Perhaps if I can shift my focus away from the pain,it'd be easier to manage.

Wait! Wasn't someone lying on the floor next to this altar?

Taking a deep breath, I replace the chains to be a bit slack and pull myself up on my elbows, cringing atthe pain of both the baby's movements. I hope they're not dead, but looking at the blood pooled attheir head, I'm pretty sure they are close to it.

"Hey..." I called out, letting out a whimper instead of another scream. “Hey, wake up!”

The person lying on his side shifts his body, and when he does, I get a familiar scent from him. “Hey,are you okay?" I ask.

He should be blonde, but the blood in his hair has tainted it to more of an orange colour. His face,naked upper body and arms are caked in dried and fresh blood; as if he had been tortured over andover. Knowing Stefan, this is most likely the case. But why is he here along with me?

He groans and moves again, and when he turns on his back, I let out a gasp so loud that a searingpain shoots up my side, and I scream.

"NIKOLAI!"

This is Konstantin’s youngest brother! It looks like he has lost weight; he has a gaunt face, bruisedbody, and his hair seems longer. What the fuck is he doing here?! How long has he been here?!“Nikolai, wake up! It's me; it's Lily!" I call until he eventually opens his eyes and turns his head toface me. He tries to focus his eyes, then he frowns.

“Lily? What... Why the hell are you here?” he mumbles and tries to sit up, faltering.

“Wait, easy. Why are you not healing?” I ask.

Nikolai eventually sits up and holds his side. “I don't know; the fucking blonde bitch keeps onscenting me with something that smells like catpiss left in a hot car. Ever since then, I can't heal asfast as I used to.” He says, groaning, then looks up at me again.

"Why are you here?”

“I can ask you the same question,” I say, only just noticing he's also shackled to the floor by his leftarm and leg.

Nikolai holds his head and breathes out. “The blonde bitch called me the youngest blood sacrificefor when the child in the host's body dies. Apparently, I'm needed by her Master. She spoke a lot offucked up things while she tortured me, but I tuned out to most of it.” He says.

My bottom lip trembles at his words, knowing full well what they meant. If Konstantin’s child dies,Nikolai is to be used as a sacrifice and by the sounds of it, they need the blood of the youngestVolkov.

He looks up at me and frowns. “What about you? Why are you here?”

“I'm the host,” I say with a sad smile - and this is when he sees my stomach.

"What the fuck, Lily?!" he asks with wide eyes and stares at me dumbfounded. “Are you not Kon'smate?"

I'm taken aback by this question, my heart hammering. “Wait, you all know?”

Nikolai nods. “We were going to come looking for you after our search for Caterina, but I got takenthe night we fought the vamps by a tattooed guy who looked like Ilya. The last thing I saw before Ilost consciousness was him turning one of the dead vamps into someone who looked like me andthen tearing the body in two.”

I blanch; Caterina? Vamps?

He sees the confusion on my face and blinks. “Oh, yeah, you've been gone for a while. Caterina isKai's mate, and it's a long, long fucking story.” He says, then lays back on the cold floor and closeshis eyes. “I guess they think I'm dead; that's why they haven't looked for me.”

Did Kai replace his mate?

The pain in my belly intensifies, and I lay back down when the marble doors open again. Stefanwalks in with the blonde woman Nikolai spoke about, but her face matches Tienette; this must beher true form.

Walking over, she places a hand on my stomach. “The labour has been moved forward; it is time forhim to be risen.” She says and looks lovingly up at Stefan.

My heart pounds in my ears, but this is eclipsed by the harsh movements in my womb. I'm dyingtoday, and Stefan's Master will finally be born.