Konstantin: The Heartless Beta
34. Equal Trade

Konstantin

"Any news?” I ask as I step into the living room where Kai, Cat, Nikolai and Marle are seated. Kai wasnow dressed in black cargo pants and no shirt, and Cat changed out of her bloody dress.

The witch looks at me and nods. “Morganna wants to trade Kai's child for the one housing theentity.” She says, confirming Cat's earlier assumption.

"We don't expect you to do this, Kon, so we won't even ask it of you,” Kai says, then gets up andwalks towards me. “We'll replace another way to get my child back.”

I shake my head. “What if there is no other way, Kai? I don’t want your firstborn to die on account ofme!”

What the fuck are we going to do?! We can't leave his child in the hands of the enemy, and we can'ttrade my daughter either. We're literal sitting ducks right fucking now!

“There's still tracking Dimitri down,” Marle suddenly says. “Last night, when he pitched up for thespell, I noticed something odd about him; his wolf had been tampered with, and a parasitic entitylatched on. This parasite has been influencing his shifting for the last twelve years and getstriggered as soon as he gets angry enough; it also thrives under the moonlight and looked to be thework of your previous coven.”

Kai's anger is palpable all the way across the room and for good fucking reason.

"Why are you only mentioning it to me now?!” He roars, slamming his fists on the table in front ofhim.

"Well, by the time we completed the spell, you were asleep, and the following morning I hadforgotten about it since I needed to prepare for Caterina’s arrival. I'm sorry, Alpha Kai; I realise nowthis was an error.” Marle says a horrified look on her face as the full realisation hits her.

But why would they have messed with Dimitri’s wolf? Those witches were burned as soon as theywere found guilty of conspiring against one of the 5 Alphas, so we can't even ask them why theywould do something like this.

“So does that mean-"

“No. Even if this is the work of some parasite, Dimitri is dead to me.” Kai cuts me off and startspacing the floor. “If you think back to every time something shitty has happened to Caterina, Dimitriis right in the centre of it. Why send her to DA Westcott's place? Who told Sergio that I would be atmy weakest during the eclipse, and the way to get my power would be to rip out my heart and eatit? And who the fuck was at her side when she went missing?!”

I really don’t want to believe that Dimitri would betray us like this, but if Kai puts it that way, then itall makes sense. No, actually, nothing fucking makes sense anymore.

“He never trusted us enough to come to us with anything; he always played the gentle one, the onethat wouldn't hurt a fly when in fact, he loved killing. We cannot trust him after this, Kon, Dimitri hasto die.”

I understand wholeheartedly where Kai is coming from; in the last few months, our entire pack hasbeen shattered with betrayal from those we would never have imagined. Everything fell apart butfell in place, and we have the arrival of Cat to thank for that.

“So what do we do about this? Where do we go from here?” Nikolai, the shithead, suddenly speaksup;

Kai shakes his head. “I don't know - I don't know the first place to-"

The sound of Kai's cell phone ringing snaps us all out of our reverie. It's so strange to hearsomething so normal during all of this, so it takes a while for Kai to actually realise his cell phone isringing.

He removed the thing from his pocket and frowns... then that deadly intent is back in his scentagain, nearly knocking me the fuck over. Cat walks over to Kai and takes the cell phone out of hishand, blanching at the Caller ID.

“It's... It's Dimitri,” she chokes out, looking up at Kai with wild eyes. “What do we do?”

I walk towards her and take the phone from her hand. “What the fuck do you want?” I growl as Ianswer the phone, then frowning at the sounds of sobbing on the other side.

"Kon? Kon, what the fuck is going on?” He sobs, “Why can't I hear anyone over the link? Where areyou guys?”

My heart drops right into my stomach, and I look up at Kai, not sure what to make of this. “What doyou mean? You fucking rejected the pack after you took Kai's pup, Dimitri,” I say, then put thephone on loudspeaker.

We can hear his sobbing throughout the living room. Kai's jaw is clenched so tight that he mightjust snap his fucking teeth, and Cat looks on with tears in her eyes, her hand in front of her mouth.“I- what?! ... I don’t know what you're talking about, Kon! Why would I... this doesn’t make sense!”He cries, and more sobbing can be heard. “I was just next to Zofia at the fair, and now... now I'moutside where the Estate is supposed to be, but I can't replace it!”

I look up at Kai when Dimitri says this - the exact same fucking thought crossing our minds. ZofiaPlec was Dimitri’s best friend who died when she was 17 years old - a hunter got to her two daysafter the fair.

“The fair... Dimitri, how old are you now?” Kai asks, his voice suddenly growing softer. If he'sthinking what I'm thinking, then...

“I just turned eighteen two days ago, right? Please, Kai, I don't know what the fuck is going on, andI'm scared out here! I don't recognise my own voice, and I can't hear you guys over the link!"

Kai grabs the cell phone from me and kills the call, looking bewildered at the entire conversation. Hecrosses his arms and places a hand over his mouth, looking at Marle, “How old was that parasite,you said?”

“Twelve years; it would have been implanted in Dimitri“s wolf when he was about 17,” she says, thena light seems to go on in her eyes as well. “Oh... oh, dear.” she finishes.

Oh, dear, doesn't even fucking cover it, old lady.

"So that parasite was implanted twelve years ago so Dimitri could do its bidding?” Cat asks.

I shake my head. “We can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, Cat. He's been fooling usfor the last twelve years; who's to say this isn't him bullshitting us again?”

Kai nods. “Exactly; he can't be allowed back into the estate with Lily and her babies here. We need totake him someplace else. Nikolai, you stay here with the rest.”

“But-"

“I love you, and I am glad you're safe, but don’t fucking test me right now, little brother, not withthe disgusting way you rejected your mate. Stay here and keep your ass out of trouble - rest, eat, dowhatever the fuck you can to get your strength back.” Kai interjects while pointing a finger atNikolai. “Come,” he says to me and walks out of the room.

After being reprimanded by Kai, Nikolai has a shocked look on his face, but I cant fucking blame mybrother for saying what he did. I suppose he has his own reasons for rejecting Nova, but that'ssomething he needs to figure out for himself. Also, I don't think he fully realised what he's just doneby rejecting his fated mate.

We walk towards the SUV and see Nova passed out in the back seat. “Where will she go from here?”Kai asks with worry lacing his tone. I guess he’s also taken to the little librarian as I have.

I sigh. “Cain has offered her a place in his pack if things don't work out here, so there's that.”

Kai nods. “Cain is a good Alpha; he'll look after his own.” He says, blowing me the fuck away withthe compliment of the Rogue Alpha. “What?” he asks when he sees the look on my face.

“Nothing,” I laugh and shake my head. “I'm glad you like Cain too.”

"He's trustworthy and has proven himself a worthy ally,” is all he says before we come to a stop infront of the SUV. Kai gets in the driver's side and gently takes the keys from Nova's fingers beforestarting up and hauling ass out of there.

"Are we taking him to the penthouse?” I ask, thinking of the only logical place to take him.

Kai nods. “Nikolai's,” he says, and with that word alone, I know what he has planned for ourtraitorous brother.

We reach the outside of the Estate and spot Dimitri a few feet away from the actual entrance. “Don’tdo anything; stay in the car,” Kai said, and before I could protest, he’s gotten out of the car, theintimidation thick in his scent.

Dimitri sees him, and a look of noticeable relief floods into his face. “Kai-"

But Kai cuts him short with a blow to the head and throws him over his shoulder. He gestures forme to pop the trunk, and when I do, he throws Dimitri in. Hard.

“Let's take Nova to Cain before we do this,” he says, then scoffs at the obvious joke when puttingthe two Rogue's names together before speeding off.

I guess torture is in our cards this evening.