Deadlier Than The Male - Excerpt Exclusive for Steemit - Bitterness and Betrayal

In the aftermath of the fight with Hazel or Red or whatever the hell she was calling herself these days; Darius took a long time to simmer down. He had long since decided that if he could not have her as his concubine – by now, even he realised that was never going to happen – then he wanted her destroyed. Humiliation, discredit and death would be the icing on the cake but he wanted to be there when it happened.

He played the fight and the events leading up to it over and over in his head, trying to see where he had gone wrong and what he could have done to prevent her victory. One thing was for certain, she was far stronger than he had imagined she could be. Her strength and metamorphosing skills equalled and he supposed even surpassed his own and he knew that he had almost four centuries on her.

One thing that she didn’t have was the added help from his discovery. The added boost that he would need was not out of reach. It was unfortunate that he had not the foresight to have utilised it when he had needed it. Testosterone was one drug which was not available for recreational use; he was saving that particular surprise for later.

When he had come to that conclusion, he then turned his thoughts back to other memories. Reminiscences were taking up a large part of his working day at the moment, but he knew that thinking over his mistakes was the only way to prevent future errors.

If he thought hard about it, he could almost pin-point the moment that he had become dissatisfied with the regime. His protégé, Luke had decided that he wanted a woman to be made Wolf. Luke discussed his desire with the Lycaeon first, even before his mentor and had gained the necessary permission and even blessing. It was only then that Luke had approached him, the Wolf that had taken great pains to educate and tutor him to the extent that he was now counted almost as family of the Lycaeon.

To rub salt into the wounds, Luke then asked him to bite the woman for him so that she would become Piaculum for him. This was meant as a great honour, that Luke loved and trusted him so much that he entrusted the fate of his mate-to-be to him, but he had not taken it as such a great honour.

Yet, when he saw her, he could also see why Luke was so taken with her. Even though she lived in the same village as his Hume wife Katherine did, he had never taken much notice of their neighbours or any of the Humes – including his wife.

He decided then to pull rank on Luke and ask for this woman for himself. When the permission was refused for the obvious reasons, he hid his disappointment and anger well, but decided to wait until Luke grew tired of her and he could take her under his wing for his own pupil. He was quite right in thinking that Luke would never make a good tutor, but he had not planned on Victoria taking a hand in her lessons, nor had he any idea of the strength of character that this young and naïve woman would develop.

The onset of war in fifteenth century England gave many opportunities for greatness and as many for downfall. Once more, he took offence at an opportunity for him to rise not only in the esteem of the Lycaeonship, but also in ranks of power in English royalty. Instead of accepting his orders without question and waiting to see what the outcome was, he allowed himself to become bitter and petulant. He almost killed Hazel in a fit of anger and refused to acknowledge when the Lycaeon again tried to cover for him and bring him back to the fold. His wealth and reputation were to grow in leaps and bounds from then on, but resentment and hatred would grow in proportion.

He shook himself from his reverie, it was time to focus. If the Sentinel Exemplar was not killed in the forthcoming battle, then she would be without her main guardian, the Lycaeon. With only a small force of Sentinels still loyal to her, she would be more vulnerable than ever she had been since the day that he had bitten her and brought her over to Wolfkind.

Although he had tried numerous times to overthrow the Lycaeon by bribing strong and ambitious would-be usurpers, each attempt had failed and he had become more and more frustrated. This time, he was certain that he would not fail.

He accepted that he had been fortunate in the fact that none of his schemes had ever led back to him but now, if this one was tumbled, he doubted that he would be so lucky in escaping detection.

His attention was drawn to the figure that was slumped and almost forgotten in an armchair in the farthest corner of Darius’s spacious office. The figure was beginning to stir. Phillipe had demanded that Darius see him and Darius had agreed, knowing full-well that Phillipe would not be compos mentis at the start of the meeting and had allocated a quiet time in his schedule so that Phillipe could ‘sleep it off’ before any meeting began. Darius also knew that giving Phillipe plenty of time to get it together would also piss-off Claudia, who would no doubt be waiting for her father in Reception.

“What do you propose to do with this army, Darius?” Phillipe asked as though continuing with a conversation from moments rather than an hour since.

“What army would that be?” Darius asked calm enough to almost fool the sweating and mistrustful Phillipe.

Phillipe’s appearance and demeanour was far different from the man who had confronted the Sentinel Exemplar in the observation gallery at Victoria’s house as to render him almost unrecognisable. His hair was dirty, greasy and unkempt, his face was blotchy and damp with sweat, his expensive suit was rumpled and his white shirt dingy. He had the beginnings of a nervous tic under his left eye and he could not keep his hands still for a moment.

Darius looked up from his paperwork and, as though noticing him for the first time, became concerned. “Phillipe, you don’t look well at all. Perhaps you would feel better if you fed?” He left the temptation hanging in the air over Phillipe, close enough for him to grab at and make his discomfort disappear.

“Not this time, Darius, or at least, not just yet. I have been thinking a lot since my grandson was killed.”

“Yes, she is such a cold and calculating bitch isn’t she?”

“She always was, but it was not necessarily her fault that Jervais died.”

At that, Darius looked up from his paperwork again, only taking enough time to hide his anger. “Of course it is her fault, hers and the other bitch, Victoria. They have been plotting to hurt you since the fifteenth century, since Hazel was first made, don’t you remember? You, Francois, Luke and I had to track them clear across the continent. They had tricked your great-great grandfather into tutoring Hazel to the detriment of your own studies. You could have been Sentinel Exemplar if it had not been for her. Anton would have taught you all he knew and then you would have become one of the most powerful and influential Wolves in our entire society. Sentinel and heir to Lycaeon – you would have had it all.”

Phillipe became confused for a moment and his perspective turned to the distant past. He could almost see how it nearly had been, what opportunities had passed him by if it hadn’t been for her. Yes, Darius was right; it had all been a plot to take away his birthright. Anton could have been persuaded to name him as his second heir after Victoria. It was within his power as Lycaeon and in the time until he inherited Anton’s legacy and became Lycaeon, he would have risen to Sentinel Exemplar. Instead, Anton had given it all away to females; he had decided to allow Victoria to name her own successors.

Darius seemed to see into Phillipe’s head, he knew what he would be thinking through the fog of his withdrawal symptoms.

“Even as just a Sentinel, you would have been in a position to help Wolfkind in our struggle for supremacy. As Head of all Sentinels - as Sentinel Exemplar - you would have been able to appoint your own staff – including Jervais. He would have been immune from your investigations then of course. Your daughter would not have suffered the rumours and disgrace that she has. Your progeny would have been numerous but…” Darius paused to make certain of Phillipe’s undivided attention, such as it could be. “Most of all, you would have been in the best position of all, that of protector of Lycaeon. Her gratitude and trust would have fallen at your feet when you, not Hazel, had killed that would-be assassin a few decades ago.”

“But Darius, we plotted that attempt. It would have been ourselves that we stopped.”

“And we would have either been successful – and you would now be Lycaeon – or the attempt would have been foiled and her undying gratitude would have been laid at your door. Do you see?” Darius spoke slow and calm, as if to a child, explaining with great care but simplicity so that Phillipe’s drug-befuddled brain had chance to understand. He took Phillipe a glass of clear, colourless liquid.

Phillipe looked up at Darius and offered a half-hearted protest. “But that’s not what I meant.” He said, just above a whisper.

“Drink that, Phillipe. You will feel much better after it.”

“But I need you to explain it all to me. I need to understand what we’re doing.” A note of desperation was creeping into his voice.

“No you don’t, Phillipe, you just need to top up on our wonderful discovery, to make yourself stronger and fitter so that when the time comes to fight, we shall all be ready and we shall be victorious.”

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