As I opened my mouth to excuse myself from that awful, awkward existence, Zeke cleared his throat.
“So, I was actually looking for you,” he said. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and waited, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“You found me,” I said slowly. “What do you need?”
After a heartbeat, Zeke finally looked at me and spoke. “I need you to leave,” he whispered.
I stared at Zeke, dumbfounded. “You can’t be serious,” I said incredulously, shaking my head at him.
He stared back at me seriously. “I’m quite serious, Elyssa,” he replied, shrugging one shoulder. I glared at him and shook my head.
“You can’t make me leave. I’m Reid’s Mate, I have every right to be here, even more of a right than that stupid human girl you’re trying so hard to impress,” I told him. Dmitri had told me that I had a right to stay as Reid’s Mate, so I was going to put my foot down and use that right, damnit.
Zeke scoffed. “As the head of the line, I can overrule anything. If I say you’re unwelcome here, then you’re not fucking welcome, woman,” he told me smugly. I still shook my head and he shrugged. “If you don’t want to leave, then it’s really as simple as being nicer to Roxann whenever you encounter her.”
“I never encounter the bitch!” I said, scowling. Zeke raised his eyebrows and I shook my head again. “She’s already afraid of me, so I do my best to avoid her. I think that’s the best you are going to get out of me, Ezekiel,” I spat.
He sighed. “I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to give Reid’s Mate the boot, but here you are, being stubborn as usual. I once thought that was something I liked about you. I suppose when it’s in regards to locking you up in the dungeons, it’s certainly something I do enjoy: little snarky comments and fighting back," Zeke paused to sigh wistfully. "But those days are behind me, I think. I have no interest in beating women anymore. Roxann doesn't approve of it and that's where I think I draw the line. I want to do well with this woman, so I'm going to change."
For some reason, an odd feeling rested in my chest, and I smile softly at Zeke. "You shouldn't have to change to be with someone, Zeke," I murmured, shaking my head.
Zeke scoffed. "Reid had to become a one-woman man to be with you," he bit out.
I widened my eyes and reached out to slap him across the face. He caught my hand and I wrenched it away from him.
"How dare you," I hissed. "Reid did not have to do anything to be with me, he was always wonderful. A bit flirty and far too wild to handle, but that was what made him, him!" I said emphatically.
He stared down at me with a bored expression. "He could have had any choice of the women around here, but he chose me. I'm the lucky one, you son of a bit–" I was cut off as Zeke slapped me hard.
"You don't call my mother names like that," he tsked at me. I held my hand up to my stinging cheek and glared at him.
"If I encounter her I will be as civil to her as she is to me. Considering the last time I came across her, she ran from the room shrieking vampire at the top of her lungs, it won't be all too civil."
He sighed and held up his hands in a 'what can you do?' type of motion, so I thought I won that one. "Then you'll just have to pack your shit and get the hell out of my castle," he said, smirking.
Something bubbled up in my chest and I shoved Zeke, hard. "Why are you trying so hard to impress her? She's nothing special. I bet as soon as she gets her story, she'll be out the door faster than you can keep up with her, gone back to her stupid newspaper to tell the secret of Lanistter castle!"
Zeke eyed me for a moment, silent as he absorbed my words and expressions. "Elyssa," he murmured, setting his hand on my cheek gently. I tried not to lean into it, but it was difficult; his palm was so warm and inviting, that I just had to press my cheek up against it further. He smiled at that. "Are you jealous?" he asked, breaking my tranquility.
I snatched myself away from him faster than I'd ever moved in my life. "Jealous! What, of that little witch? Hell no!" I laughed hysterically, holding my stomach as the giggles took over.
Zeke chuckled along with me, and fear took hold of me; he was definitely going to say something that would ruin my bubbly mood.
"You're protesting far too much, dear Elyssa," he whispered, stepping closer to me. I backed up, shaking my head in denial.
"I think you're delusional," I breathed. He held my gaze with his lovely red eyes and I swallowed, continuing to back away from him as he tried to invade my space.
"Why are you running?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side as he finally backed me against a wall. I placed my hands on his chest and laughed once.
"I'm not running," I insisted weakly. "I was just trying to maintain my personal space."
He placed his arms on either side of my head, leaning over me as he propped himself up on the wall behind me. "You're the one touching me, Elyssa, not the other way around," he chuckled.
His cool breath fanned out across my face and I felt my heart stutter. Stop betraying me, body! I demanded, letting my hands drop from his chest.
As soon as the contact was gone, Zeke moved in even closer, until we were only separated by a few inches of air.
"Oh," I breathed, certain that my eyes were wide as a doe's by now. "I was trying to stop you from doing that," I whispered. Zeke smiled.
"Why are you trying to stop me from doing anything?" he asked, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "I thought you liked what I do to you?" he asked, lips grazing my ear softly.
All rational thought left my mind then as a shudder ran through my body. "Zeke, stop," I whispered, setting my hands on his shoulders. I couldn't push; he had me too weak to do anything.
I really couldn’t bear for him to continue; if he did, I didn’t know what might happen. Finally, mercifully, an idea came to me.
“What about r-Roxann?” I stammered. I was grasping at straws, but as I’d hoped, Zeke’s body stiffened and he slowly, painfully, withdrew himself from my personal space.
He stared down at me curiously. Under his gaze, my knees buckled, and he caught me before I could fall, slowly bringing me down to the floor. “What about her, indeed,” he murmured. I couldn’t see his face, but his tone told me he wasn’t too certain about the topic at hand.
About Roxann.
“Do you love her?” I whispered. A part of me dreaded the answer, but I was incredibly curious for someone who truly didn’t want to know the answer.
Zeke finally met my eyes, his expression unreadable. “I… Am not sure,” he answered.
“You should be happy,” I blurted. My words were sincere, but they left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Zeke released me and stood up. Then I was suddenly yanked to my feet, my arms gripped harshly in his hands.
He removed his hands from my shoulders after another moment with them just sitting there harmlessly. "You need to leave," he whispered, balling his hands into fists and crossing his arms over his chest. I choked back a sob and nodded once. "I mean, it isn't like you wanted to stay here anyway," Zeke went on to say. "From the very get-go you were all about leaving this place..."
As he trailed off, he looked away from me. I wondered what he was thinking, but before I could even hope to ask, he sighed. "Even when so many of the inhabitants here wanted you to stay, you wanted to go. This is me giving you your out, Elyssa," he said, finally looking back up to meet my eyes.
His were red-rimmed and if I didn't know any better, I would think that he had tears lining his lower lash line. But it was Zeke, of course he wasn't crying over me leaving.
"I'll go," I said. "Right away. I don't think I need anything here except for my identification –"
"– And Reid's bank account information," Zeke interjected.
I glanced up at him sharply, questioning him with my eyes. "What do I need that for? I have my own money."
"You are his Mate, and since he is no more, you are the one who shall receive his funds, so that you may live comfortably wherever you choose to settle." I
could hardly breathe at this information.
It made me sick. I wasn't going to take Reid's inheritance, especially since I was the one who had performed the fatal blow that took his life. Especially since I slept with Zeke mere days after his demise...
"I don't want it. Hold onto it in case someone else here needs it. Or donate it. I don't care," I mumbled, turning away from Zeke to leave. I ran to my room to grab my backpack, shoved one set of spare clothes into it along with my ID card and birth certificate information, and fled the castle.
Once outside, I winced at the glaring light of the setting sun, but paid it no mind as I headed to the gate. Hesitantly I pulled it open, letting my hand linger there for a few moments longer than it needed to.
I truly didn't want to leave like this. Without any goodbyes, without it being on my own terms...
Although I supposed that on some level, me not fighting Zeke, agreeing with him instead, was somewhat an admittance that I thought this was what was right for me, for everyone in the castle.
For Roxann.
A snort of laughter escaped my mouth at the thought of Roxann, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
I didn't care about her at all, and I sort of actually despised her for how she was changing Zeke.
"If you're going to change," I whispered, turning halfway to look back up at the castle. "Then you should be changing for yourself, at your own pace. Not for her comfort, and at her speed. You should stop for you," I breathed.
Tears stung at my eyes and I covered my face with both hands in an attempt to stop them from falling; to stop myself from having a breakdown right in front of the castle.
After a few moments, I was able to recompose myself, and with one last glance up at the third floor – Reid's floor – I silently bid my farewell to the Lanistter Castle. As I turned back to the gates, I thought I saw a small blond figure watching me from one of the windows on Reid's floor, but when I looked back to that window, there was no one there.
I pushed it out of my mind and stepped around and out of the gate, departing from the castle grounds finally.
To think that this was what I wanted for the first few weeks of me being here, I thought as my foot touched the ground just outside of the gate.
As soon as it made contact, though, I was thrown backward, back through the open gate and onto the drive of Lanistter Castle once more.
"What the hell?!" I growled, looking around myself frantically. What just happened? I wondered to myself as I slowly picked myself back up off the ground. Dusting myself off, I looked around again in an attempt to see what might have tossed me back onto the grounds. No one was there. Not even a breeze was blowing for once – the thought made me long for Reid's playful winds once more.
I tried to step out once more, only to have the same thing happen. I felt panic rising in my chest and I rolled to my feet quickly before darting back inside the castle.
When I got inside the castle, I nearly broke down. I was no longer wanted there, and yet I was unable to leave. What more could possibly happen to me at this god-forsaken castle?
I lost it then, sobs breaking free from my chest.
Soft footfalls met my ears, growing louder and faster the closer they got to me, until Zeke was there beside me once more, clutching me by my shoulders.
Why was he always there?
“Elyssa, what is it?” he asked urgently, shaking me gently.
“I can’t leave,” I got out between sobs.
Zeke sighed, his arms dropping down to his sides. “You have to though,” he murmured, his voice more tender than I’d ever heard coming from him.
Shaking my head, I clarified what I meant. “No. I can’t leave. I just tried. Something threw me back onto the grounds,” I said, calming down slightly.
Not only was he always there, but he presence always brought a sense of calm to me whenever I needed it…
I looked up at the man before me. He was looking around us furiously, hyper-aware of anything that might have been amiss. “There’s no one on this end of the castle,” he muttered. “What the hell is going –“
His abrupt silence alerted me to the fact that his thoughts were going down a negative pathway. I tried to think of whatever could possibly put such a look of dread on Zeke’s face, but there were any number of things that he might have known about that I didn’t.
“You might be trapped here,” Zeke breathed. “I think the only thing that could keep you on these grounds would be a spell…”
His pause made me wonder and semi-fear where he was going with that. “But…?” I prompted.
He glanced down at me. “But… The only one who knew a spell that could do that was –“
“Tywin,” I finished. “But he’s gone. So how will we undo it?”
Zeke shook his head. “If he was gone, the spell would have lifted…” My body went cold.
“Are… Are you trying to tell me that you think that Tywin is still alive?” I demanded weakly. Zeke’s silence spoke volumes.
The thought made my stomach churn and I fought down a wave of nausea.
“This means that Reid died for nothing,” I said suddenly. “We killed my Mate to get rid of Tywin and it didn’t work!” I shrieked.
Zeke grabbed me and held on tight as I broke down. He stroked my hair until my sobs subsided and rocked me back and forth.
“He died as a way of stopping my father,” he said slowly. “There was a reason behind it. Tywin was just craftier than we thought.”
I didn’t reply. If I opened my mouth to speak, I knew I would just start crying and screaming again, so I kept myself still and silent in Zeke’s arms.
Dmitri
They’re both headstrong. Beautiful and smart. One, pale as the moon, the other a gentle coffee color. Both have green eyes that are heavenly to stare into…
“What is wrong with me?” I growled to myself. How could I be comparing Ollie to Elyssa? One was my Mate; she deserved more respect than I was giving her. “God, I’m all fucked up in the head.” I grabbed my hair and gave it a solid tug with both hands. It didn’t shake my thoughts from my head, though.
One recurring thought that was especially a problem in the equation was Elyssa. She kept popping up even when I didn’t want to deal with her. To be honest, though, those times where I didn’t want to deal with the woman weren’t very often.
Elyssa was full of interesting conversation, loved the time we spent sparring with one another, and was quite fun to be around in general. She didn’t pressure me to do things that I wasn’t up for, and we didn’t spend most of our time fighting with one another.
“Come to think of it,” I mumbled, “we never fight with one another.” Maybe it was because we got along so well, or maybe it was just because she wasn’t my Mate. Either way, we didn’t fight, which meant that time with her was pleasant and worthwhile.
I was tired of avoiding the problem I had. And yes, it was a problem. Two beautiful women being stuck in my mind all the time. It was especially a problem because I had a Mate already, one who wasn't really as bad as I always made her out to be to Elyssa. The only real problem we had was that she only wanted to have sex whenever we had time to spend with one another.
As I thought more on Ollie, thoughts of Elyssa tore through like a tornado, ripping through my mind in the most reckless of ways. Where Ollie was always a horndog and trying to get my pants off, Elyssa hadn't expressed even the slightest interest in me. That wasn't to say that she couldn’t feel the same about me of course.
"Whoa!" I muttered to myself, shaking my head. "Feel the same way about me? Seriously? Who's to say I even feel anything more than friendship for the woman?" I challenged myself, growling when her smile popped into my head and caused my heart to race.
"Okay, so maybe I don't just think about Elyssa as my friend," I huffed. "But I have a Mate already. Everyone knows this. And she certainly isn't interested in me, that's for sure. Otherwise she wouldn't have sought out Zeke's attention in the first place. T
hough, maybe just maybe that was an accidental occurrence?"
I shook her from my mind again, and hauled myself off my bed. I needed to get out of my room, away from the reminders of Ollie that only served to create pathways for me to think about Reid’s Mate.
I ran down the stairs of my tower quickly, careful to not trip over my own feet as I headed to the main part of the castle. I needed time to myself but there was nowhere I could go that wouldn't bring other people raining down on me in only a matter of time. I supposed that I could always go to my gardens, but what use was being out there when there was nothing to tend to? I’d already fixed the parts of the garden that I’d wrecked, and the parts that Reid had wrecked as well.
So where could I go?
Should I attempt to leave the castle, to go out and have a good time on the town away from all of my problems? But that was a bit selfish, I knew, to go out without my Mate when she was supposed to be my wife.
Once more, a sigh left my mouth as I reached the main hallway.
Before I could exit through the large double doors, though, a figure ran past me, holding her hands over her mouth as she rushed to the guest bathrooms that were just off the main hall. I followed, curious as to why Elyssa was getting sick.
Vampires didn't really get sick...
"Oh, my god," I breathed, picking up my pace as I heard the telltale sounds of someone vomiting into the toilet.
"Elyssa, are you okay?" I asked as I stepped into the bathroom behind her. She nodded, and I rushed over to catch her hair before any of it could fall into the toilet. She groaned her thanks and I was torn between grimacing and chuckling at her attempts to still thank me even though she was clearly not feeling well enough to speak.
“Do you know why you’re sick?” I asked her softly. I had a sinking suspicion that I knew, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Also, the thought that was trapped in my head left a sour taste in my mouth; if I was right, then I really had no right to have any feelings other than friendship for this woman…
“No, no idea at all,” she rasped, reaching up blindly to flush the toilet. I helped her to the sink so she could rinse out her mouth and held her hair back for her there as well.
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