Dark Fates: Mated to my Ex's Uncle

Chapter 5

REISLYN

I had to say it. My heart raced as I opened my mouth, unsure of how to start. How could I tell him my past relationship with his nephew, Jeremy?

I was about to speak when, suddenly, the sound of a loud bell ringing made both of us pause. I stared at Elijah as he growled.

“The doorbell,” he muttered, raising a hand to rake through his hair. A few strands fell over his eyes, making him appear a tad roguish, and I bit my bottom lip.

Who could have come to visit at this hour? It was still considerably early in the morning, wasn't it?

Elijah didn’t seem to notice my curiosity and tilted his head as if listening. Since his senses were sharp, I didn’t question it.

Suddenly, I heard a growl leave his lips, just as a man wearing a suit arrived holding a napkin in one hand.

“Sir,” the man I presumed was the butler bowed to Elijah. “Wayne Corbyn is here to see you.”

I swallowed, my heart sank.

It was Jeremy’s father.

With a dark look Elijah nodded, “I’m on my way.”

Then he glanced at me, seeing the way I stared at him and the butler. I tried to contain my magic, which often caused chaos during times of emotional distress. My control was lacking at times, unlike Ashley, who was a bookworm and always trained her magic to obey her every whim.

Exhaling sharply, I smiled wanly at Elijah’s long stare, and he frowned at it before ordering the butler.

“Take her to my study.”

As he left, I heard a loud voice echoing, which made me stiffen. That familiar voice. It was truly Wayne Corbyn.

I remembered the one and only time I had met the head of the Corbyn family. It was Jeremy’s birthday and I had been snuck in through the back of the mansion to his bedroom. Being young, I hadn’t questioned it, hadn't asked Jeremy why he seemed so ashamed at me being his girlfriend. I went with it, with a smile and even let him shove me in the back of the closet when his dad had come in.

But I had been caught.

Recalling those dark eyes filled with contempt made me shiver. And Jeremy had just stood by and pretended to not notice. How had I not seen it before, the way Jeremy regarded me as a plaything before his mate, Lila Grey came along?

In the spacious study, I moved closer to the window, hearing voices emerge from outside. My ears picked up the words and I leaned closer, listening with my heart pounding in my chest like a drum.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” Wayne Corbyn’s voice thundered outside, the growls reminiscent of a wolf.

....

ELIJAH

“You are on my property, Wayne. Speak carefully,” I kept my voice cool as Wayne continued to rant and rave.

Ever since I had gone public with my company, Excelsis Inc, I and the rest of my ‘family’ had been at loggerheads. It was their own fault though, when they deliberately pushed me out of the inheritance that was rightfully mine. They started this war.

Even when my father left me only a pittance sum as part of my trust fund, pretending to be a good father at his deathbed, Wayne and the rest of the Corbyns wouldn’t let it be. They fought over every time f*****g scrap with me.

This time, I was winning, without their help.

They knew it.

Wayne finally paused in his ranting, taking a moment to breathe. His face was red, his eyes blazing with a glint that spoke of danger.

Keeping my cool I asked, “Are you done? The deal with the Gregorys has already been signed. They may have been your company’s clients once, but now they are mine. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You forget your place, bastard!” Wayne started again. If not for his own bodyguard and the presence of more than one of my men, I knew he would have started a brawl here and now. “You are still a Corbyn! Under this family, I am the head!”

I tilted my head.

“Is that so?” My words were ice cold. “Wayne, you cannot simply pick and choose when I am family and when I am not. After all, you yourself wouldn’t even dare to call me brother, would you?”

The 50-year-old Wayne Corbyn's face reddened further, almost like a ripened tomato, and I suppressed a smirk at the easy way to provoke him. For me, an incubus, it was easy to see the tendrils of anger that stemmed from Wayne, and a part of me ached badly to grab hold of that anger and twist it, stoking it more so I could feed off of it.

The urge to transform roiled within me and for a few seconds, the edges of my vision were stained red.

Kill him, my deepest, most primal urges resounded in my mind.

No, I thought, slamming down on my control, my jaw clenching. To distract myself, I shifted my thoughts to the other occupant in the house that mattered: Reislyn.

Sex was usually a way I could feed off of energy, even as cheap as a one-night stand. But last night had been different, and I felt not only energized, but aching for more of that sweet release.

Another reason to keep her, my mate, by my side.

Then I noticed something on the periphery of my senses and tilted my head.

A little witch has come to spy on us, hmm?

“You came here to humiliate yourself,” I cut off Wayne’s vitriol. I had long ago grown tired of such things. In the past there was nothing I hadn’t heard from those lips, aimed to kill my ambition and spirit. “Unfortunately, I have other, more important business to attend to. Jack,” I called for the butler who appeared by my side in a flash. “See Mr Wayne out.”

To be dismissed so suddenly was an insult to Wayne. Wayne’s growl echoed through the foyer and I saw his claws extend and held fast to my instincts which told me to reciprocate a hundred-fold.

Who the f**k did he think he was? In MY territory?

“I’d sheathe those claws if I were you,” I snapped, silencing his growls. I looked straight at him, letting a bit of my essence fill the air, choking his outrage in a split second.

Wolf shifters, or werewolves as most like to call them, were sensitive to incubi essence, a glamour skill that rendered even the most powerful creature a slave to my kind. They couldn’t stand to be within five feet of it.

My powers flared and I knew my eyes flashed red briefly when I closed it, opening them again seconds later as I gained my senses.

“See you on Friday, brother,” I said, reminding him of the upcoming banquet held for his son’s wedding - a banquet they had insisted I attend to flaunt their might before me.

It was like a slap to his face, his dignity shattered. Wayne let out another growl, more like a huff, before storming out spewing curses.

I hummed to myself briefly, closing my eyes again as I felt Wayne leave the house that was my stronghold.

Once I was sure the wolf shifter was past the gates of my estate, I released a breath.

“f*****g brute,” I muttered under my breath.

Now to deal with my little witch who deemed it fit to eavesdrop on me.