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That was yesterday when Daniel had attacked me unexpectedly. Vladimir pretended to be oblivious to all of this. He didn’t show any interest in Daniel. Rather, Vladimir was ignorant of Daniel’s presence. He evaded every chance that would land him within five feet distance from Daniel. That included me because Daniel was following me around like a lost puppy. It drove me crazy but I didn’t know how to shake him off.

Daniel’s eyes had turned red yesterday. I wonder how that was possible. In the past, I might have read something about that but I was not quite sure. I needed to look into the old books again to find something about it. For that I had to contact Moonstone pack.

“Hello Dave,” I murmured into the phone.

“Sera?” His shocked voice asked me. I could imagine his wide eyes and open mouth.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“You called? You finally called after three weeks?” He asked in half mocking tone.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I did.”

“Let me guess. You need something?”

“You are right.”

“That’s so rude of you Sera. You could have at least lied and said you missed your only brother. But no, you have to hurt my feelings.”

“Stop being so dramatic brother. You should have been born as a girl.”

“What? No!”

“Why? You act like a girl.”

“I don’t. If I did, Manny won’t be pregnant.” He protested.

I chuckled at his words. “You’re so gross Dave.”

“So… how’s your vampire?” He asked me and I froze for a moment. Vampire? Of course Dave knows this. When I had left, Alpha Wayne told Daniel about that also. But right now, Daniel is acting as if he doesn’t know that I’m a vampire.

“Hello? Sera? Are you there?” Dave’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Gosh! How could I have been so careless? There’s definitely something wrong with Daniel. Besides, he had red eyes yesterday. That makes me wonder if he really is Daniel or not.

“Dave? Where is Daniel?” I asked.

“Daniel? That jerk? He left after a week after you did. Didn’t say anything and just disappeared. Alpha Wayne had to give me the position of Alpha because there were no traces of him.” He explained. “Why are you asking about him?”

“I just- um- do you know about Arophanous?”

“Yeah. It’s a herb. If it mixes with werewolf blood then he goes crazy and starts attacking everyone around him. Why are you asking about it?”

“Dave, please do one thing for me. Find about all the medicines and drugs that are made by using Acrophanous. If necessary, search in the books of black magic also. I need to find about it.”

“Why?”

“Do it as soon as possible. I need to go right now. Bye.” I hung up and sat on the bed.

I’ve been too careless in past few days. The fear of being caught by Blood Devil weighed too much on me that I had forgotten to use my brain. I have to do something. I have to do something soon and find out what exactly happened to Daniel. After that I will focus on steering away Vladimir from finding out the heir.

## ##

“Hello Sera,” Daniel greeted me while I was taking a stroll in the garden. I mentally groaned in annoyance.

“Hi,” I muttered grudgingly under my breath.

“What are you doing outside?” He asked me.

“Counting stars,” I answered sarcastically.

“But it’s still afternoon.”

“Yeah,”

“Did you hit your head or something and you are seeing stars now?” He asked with a suggestive tone that made me frown. “Come here, I will make it good for you.”

He pulled at my arm so that I was pressed against him and caressed my face. I felt uncomfortable under his touch. It didn’t feel like Daniel at all. It felt all too wrong. As if something very evil was looming over me, ready to pounce at any time.

I squirmed in his grip but he held me tight to him. My eyes widened in surprise. How had he grown so strong? I couldn’t even push him away. He was never this strong before. What had suddenly changed him? He smelt like Daniel. He looked like Daniel. But he didn’t behave like Daniel at all. What was us up with him?

“Leave me alone!” I gritted out.

“But I don’t want to leave you alone. What I want is a kiss.” His eyes turned red again when he said that. Then his face was leaning in.

“What the hell is going on here?” A booming voice interrupted. It was Kyle.

Daniel pulled away from me, his eyes back to their blue color. Beside Kyle, Vladimir was standing with a frown. I glared at him.

“Sorry Kyle. I was just talking to my mate.” Daniel said raising his hands up.

“Didn’t look like talking to me.” Kyle glared at Daniel. “If you do that again, I will be throwing you out of here.”

Daniel only smirked and apologized once again before leaving. I really need to talk to Dave. The more time I spend with Daniel, the more I see that he is not the same Daniel I knew. He is a different person. Around everyone, he acts like Daniel but when he is alone with me, he shows his all new sadistic side that confuses and even scares me.

“Are you alright Sera?” Kyle asked me as he came to my side. Concern was evident in his voice.

I nodded my head and then looked at Vladimir who was staring in the direction in which Daniel went.

“I’m going to my room.” I muttered and walked past Vladimir to the room given to us. That man is going to be such a problem to me. This way, it won’t take everyone long to realize that we are not mates.

***

“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me feel uncomfortable.” Vladimir asked as I sat on the bed and glaring him removing his clothes. Don’t get it wrong. My eyes were only on his face.

“You are a crappy mate.” I stated flatly.

“I’ve got a crappy mate.” He retorted.

I ignored his comment. “Werewolves are possessive creatures. They don’t like it when any other male wolf interacts with their mate. But you, you don’t say even a single word as Daniel flirts openly with me. Jealousy and possessiveness are vital signs of a werewolf male. Firstly, you look so pale. Secondly, you can’t transform into wolf form. Thirdly, you don’t act like a possessive werewolf. You don’t have any werewolf quality in you.” I moved in front of him. “This way your cover will be blown up and there werewolves will kill you. I will be killed too.” I whispered through gritted teeth in front of his face.

“I can’t be killed.” Vladimir said. His breath fanned my face and I stepped back.

“I know. But revealing your identity will cause a big problem.”

“That won’t happen.” He said with conviction. His eyes were blank and I didn’t know what he was thinking. We were staring at each other for a couple of minutes until my phone rang.

I pulled the phone out of my pocket. It was Dave. Vladimir scrutinized my phone with narrowed eyes.

I answered the call.

“HEY SERA WINTERS!” Manny’s voice came from the phone. She must have shouted into it because the sound was so loud. I pulled the phone away from my ear and winced. That was unexpected.

Vladimir raised an eyebrow at me. His sensitive ears heard everything Manny was saying. Most of it was her babbling and calling me a horrible friend for not contacting her soon. After that she started crying. I could hear Dave trying to soothe her. Pregnant she-wolf is dynamite. She just proved it.

I walked out of the room and Vladimir didn’t bother to follow me. I went to the garden. It was night time. Jason saw me from afar and waved his hand. I waved back and pointed to my phone indicating I was talking on it. He nodded his head and then started conversing with boys surrounding him.

“Is she alright now?” I asked Dave who said she had fallen asleep. She had called to scold me then.

“I found out about the red eyes you were talking about. There are various medicines that use Arophanous. What surprised me the most was its use in black magic! You should hear this one.”

“What is it?”

“Arophanous can be used with some secret herb. Once injected in a werewolf, that werewolf can be controlled by someone who is specialized in telepathy. This is a top secret technique and was developed several centuries ago by a vampire called Blood Devil.” My heart stopped momentarily hearing that name from Dave. “He used to control werewolves with it and use them to find something.”

I was silent. This is related to Blood Devil. That means Daniel is being controlled by Blood Devil. He must have specialized in telepathy. I don’t find that part hard to believe. And to find something… could it be he was trying to find the heir.

“And Sera you won’t believe. The person who game me this information about black magic is Alpha Wayne. That man is really knowledgeable.”