Chapter Four
Sebastian Gregorovitch observed Rose Talbot as she slept, a strange feeling lodging in his throat. He'd lied to her a little about what Filip wanted.
His grandfather, although certainly amongst the nicer of the old generations Sebastian had spoken to, still held some interesting notions about what people should do.
Including the fact that he had asked Sebastian to take on the human as his mate, by any means necessary.
Nothing at all like the nice, polite suggestion Sebastian had implied to Rose. Filip seemed to believe that Sebastian liked her, clearly enough to take her with him when he had failed in his search for Ivelina, but gained her baby in return.
Unfortunately, Sebastian had also given the impression to the old patriarch that Rose had agreed to stay with him.
So, somehow, he needed to convince Rose that it would be a worthwhile investment to stick around. He liked her looks. The vibrant, blue eyes in her ghostly, alabaster face that looked so wide and innocent, those plump lips, her soft, curly red hair that resembled a sunset, the way she smelled like spices, and that hesitant, calculating way she stared at everything around her certainly captured his attention.
He admitted he might have panicked a bit when it came to the decision to knock her out and spirit her away to the Gregorovitch family estate. It also boiled down to the pressure he'd been getting from his grandfather to find a nice, eligible young woman soon. All the female werewolves of the region had been accounted for. Filip wanted him to find a nice, strong-willed woman – not someone who had a tendency to weep and whine. Werewolf children needed a solid, formidable set of parents.
All well and good, except Sebastian never found anyone who appealed to him. He'd slept around, tried different women with limited success, finding them too fragile or unsuitable to introduce to the werewolf world.
Then, he had taken Rose before she even had a chance to be scoped out.
And somehow, she might actually be perfect.
Standing at the doorway and peeking at her might not be the best way to endear her to him. Neither was threatening her to not reveal the existence of werewolves – though if Sebastian had to be perfectly honest, probably about two percent of all humans in the world likely knew or at least suspected the presence of werewolves anyway.
She looked so beautiful, so peaceful lying there, without any worry crinkle burnt into her features. Filip loved her looks as well – Sebastian remembered his grandpa having a great love for redheads, saying they had wonderful, fiery personalities and strong genes.
His mother and father didn't care quite so fanatically as Filip. They just wanted their son to be happy with his choices – and to not make the same mistakes the Lubanovs and Armanevs made.
I wonder if she can learn to like me? I wouldn't want to force her to be something. I would like... to see her smile. To laugh. To not be afraid of this world.
He breathed deeply, surprised at the excitement pooling in his stomach, and the quiver of arousal that came with the infatuating idea.
Before Rose woke up and spotted him creeping on her, he silently removed himself from the room, and strode down to Filip's study, where the old man currently sat on his favorite armchair, puffing from an ivory pipe.
Sebastian's cousin, Kostya, was talking to the ancient in a low undertone, his gray eyes drooped in sadness. The mood of the room dropped – the chill became palpable, and Sebastian walked up to his relatives, dreading the news that might pass. Maybe one of them had died in the clan clash over Musala peak. Maybe they still hadn't found Ivelina.
“Grandson,” Filip said, waving an old, veiny hand. His white, bushy brow displayed creases like mountain crags, so deep-set that they might have been sculpted there. The waft of strong tobacco poisoned the air. “Young Kostya here has revealed to me some bad news. I am sorry.”
Kostya faced his cousin. Sebastian emptied his mind of all thought, not wanting to leap to any assumptions.
“Ivelina Lubanov is dead. Her body was found in the early hours of this morning. We're unsure of who her assailant or assailants are, as their scent is unfamiliar. But it does look like she had very good reason to keep running from us.”
Sebastian knew Filip would be lamenting the loss of the descendants of his great-grandmother's children – he had been so upset to learn of the corruption that held the entire bloodline in a choke-hold. The Lubanovs were once their closest allies.
As for Ivelina herself, Sebastian never knew her. He only knew of the need to track her down, once she had emerged from whatever hole she'd been stuffed down.
“Her child will never know his real mother,” Sebastian said, a strange edge of desperation combining with his initial sorrow, because he knew that there would be increased pressure on him to take Rose for the job. “I find that sad.”
Kostya's gray eyes flickered with an indiscernible emotion as he nodded.
“We have a substitute mother. Sebastian has managed to snag a beautiful woman whom the baby seems to be quite attached to. So I am positive things will work out in the end,” Filip said, with a beaming, proud smile directed at his grandson. “I look forward to seeing her at some of our family dinners.”
“Is that so?” Kostya peered at Sebastian in interest, caught off-guard by the news at the same time Sebastian broke out in a fresh sheen of sweat.
“Yes. She's called Rose.”
Fuck. I need to somehow make this work. Or my grandpa's gonna murder me.
“We'll need to change the baby's surname, I think,” Filip said. “Lubanov still triggers people. So we might need to formally adopt him as a Gregorovitch. Though we'll need to deal with the human authorities on the right of adoption. So that might be a headache.”
Most of the statement went over Sebastian's head. He was too busy panicking over the fact that he needed to get Rose to like him enough to stay.
Should not have lied. I'm an idiot. I'm the one who uprooted her entire life. I'd hate me.
When he left the room, he headed straight to the kitchen to nab a drink.