by Kassie Cox
“If I push a dagger through my own heart, will that pull you into death as well?” He’s angry with my words. His handsome face red, claws extending and eyes darkening.
“I will never let you get hurt, especially by your own hand.” It’s more of a growl.
A low voice from deep within him making a promise he truly believes can be kept. I can feel his anger, his disgust for the thought of my own death and it’s making me sick to my stomach.
I felt it so strongly, that I reiterate his words through my head. Perhaps we are bound in a way I never figured possible, or those sandwiches were old.
Either is a valid option.
“Am I going to turn into one of you because of the bite?” His body becomes less tense at the question, as if my interest meant anything more than curiosity.
“No, at most once we are fully mated you may find your instincts becoming more animalistic and a few features may change. You will remain human. Is there anything else you’d like to ask?” I shouldn’t feed into his excitement, not when I plan on getting the hell out of dodge as soon as possible.
“Find somewhere for us to sit and I’ll let you humor me with your answers.” The big man grins widely and immediately takes the lead, I watch as he practically skips through the brush.
I find it hard to keep a smile from my lips.
Chapter 13
I was under the impression that we’d find a little log, or perhaps a pond to sit beside. Something simple. I had not expected there to be a large cabin in the middle of their woods. The trees circled it perfectly and although it appeared to have never been occupied, I was enamored by the beauty of it.
Someone had spent a lot of time building this.
My eyes travel over the structure, only moving from it when Elias coughs awkwardly to gain my attention. His cheeks are flushed, and he fiddles with the hem of shirt like a nervous schoolboy. I’m amused by his stance.
“Did you take me out here to an old cabin to murder me?” My joke catches him off guard. I’ll admit it was decently lame, but I had expected a laugh or a roll of his eyes. Instead I received a wide-eyed wolf in front of me, which I decide to push past to get a closer view of the cabin.
The wooden stairs I walk up are sturdy, and I quickly make my way to the door. I want desperately to see the inside.
Maybe the savage would let me stay here.
I curse myself for the thought. Staying here was not an option. I would be leaving this place as soon as possible, or when I stopped letting this big sexy man distract me.
“It isn’t furnished or anything, just a few chairs-” I don’t bother listening as my hand twists the knob, excited to view the inside. It looked deserted, but it was still breath taking. This home had been carved into. The wood on the ceiling decorated in patterns that told a million stories. The staircase lead up the right side of the wall and I got close to inspect the rail, which held just as much work. A large living room, dusty and only adorned by a few lawn chairs, but with a quick clean it would be captivating.
Instead of listening to my heart and going to explore the entire interior of the cabin I decide to sit upon the dusty steps and wait for the wolf to stop his unhinged staring. I was here to talk, and I couldn’t let pretty houses, or men, take my attention away.
Elias pulls one of the lawn chairs closer to the staircase, his abundant frame making it look like a child’s seat. I almost offer to switch but find myself wanting to get a chuckle out of the sight.
“I suppose not many know of this place?” His broad shoulders make a quick movement upwards, giving it away to his disdain for the subject.
“The pack knows about this, it’s just off limits.” Elias looks away from me, his eyes finding anything and everything that isn’t a purple haired woman alluring.
I want his eyes on me. It isn’t something I can control as the need to have him watching me stems throughout my being. My body wants to know he appreciates every aspect of it. It wants to be laid out in front of him and have him speak his worship into the air, then burn it into my skin with his hot kisses.
I’m breathing heavy with the thoughts, uncomfortable in the room with no air as heat creeps throughout my wanting body. My need was probably seeping through the air, but the wolf is ignoring it, eyes closed now as he takes small breaths in.
“Why did you bite me?” Another shrug, quick and unsatisfying. I stand, my own stupidity getting the best of me. My body wanted his fucking eyes on it, and I would get just that.
“You would kill me if you got the chance, I could see that clearly. I bought time, that’s why I bit you. I want you to give this a chance and when you can’t kill me without killing yourself, I figured that was a very good option.” His eyes slowly open as I approach. A deep groan leaving his throat as I sway my hips a bit more than I should. I’m sure I looked ridiculous.
I had never done this before, and my body seemed to be in complete control of the actions. My brain was screaming for me to stop, begging my hands not to reach out to him. I barely stop myself.
“Most men don’t force the women they want to stay; they court them with sweet words and presents.” I taunt him.
“You don’t seem like the kind of woman who is wooed by sweet nothings and jewelry.”
I circle him in his tiny chair, wondering if the small thing would hold both of our weight. Quickly batting away the urge to try it out, I get behind him. Away from those eyes that drive me mad.
“Why does my body do this?” Another groan, the chair whines as the wolf shifts in it. He’s trying to crane his head to see me, but I keep myself away. I want to get away from his spell, but at the same time I want to drown in the pleasure it seems to bring me.
“It’s the mate bond. Your body wants to complete it just as much as I do, and it’ll push you until you’re begging me to end the heat that will come. Most mates don’t wait long to, well…you know.” I’m almost sure I hear embarrassment in his voice. When I place my hands on his shoulders Elias jumps a bit, he barely catches the growl in his throat.
I feel him shaking beneath me. Thick muscle everywhere my hands travel. My body is alive with the contact. I shouldn’t have come in this house with him, because now I keep imagining him taking me on every fucking surface.
“When we don’t complete it, what happens?” No longer is the male groaning in pleasure, he’s pissed. My words push further into the point that I don’t want him.
Rejection doesn’t sit well with the dominant male.
Elias is on his feet, standing above me like a ferocious god ready to take my head off, or ravish me. Neither are preferred.
“Why do you have to be so difficult?” A finger to my shoulder has me stumbling back, and I’m sure that side would be sore in the morning. I glare at the man as I regain my footing. He isn’t done, though. He’s moving with me, lightly pushing at me. “You live in a castle with people who do not care about you. They send you away, they let you get hurt. Those people don’t deserve you.” I push back at him; my strength doesn’t budge him an inch.
“You don’t know what I deserve. I’ve done worse than any of those men in that Kingdom. Hurt more people more than they’ve ever hurt me. I belong there, because I pledged myself to-” Elias fists the shirt I’m wearing.
Black eyes as he violently shoves my body against the wall, my feet kick as I try to touch the floor. He has me at least a foot above the ground. The human side is losing to the beast within, and I wait impatiently for whatever the beast decides to do with me.
“My mate belongs to no one. Our Moon promised you to me, not some snot nosed King with no balls to do his dirty work himself.” My mouth falls open at his words, shocked at such phrasing. He’d just insulted the man I served. “You can’t feel what they’ve done to you, the damage they’ve caused. I did. When I bit you every one of the emotions that has been bottled inside of you for the entirety of your life went thorough me. I hope that one day we can fix whatever these people did to you, but you won’t think
of them the same once you know what they’ve done.”
My hands grip his forearms as the words register with me. It made no sense that he had felt everything. Things didn’t bottle up inside of people and just wait to be released, not in such a dramatic way at least. I didn’t think they did.
I suppose I’m not the best one to judge that.
His face moves towards my neck, and I find myself craning to give him easier access to the side he’s already had his teeth in. It was a natural movement, something I couldn’t help but do. I hate myself for it.
A soft kiss is placed on the bite, which had yet to heal, and my body wraps around his slowly. Entwining our limbs and making sure I can feel the full hardness of his frame.
The urge to punch him is so strong, I push my fingers into his hair. Pulling it hard when he leaves an open mouth kiss on my neck and forces a gasp from between my parted lips. I should kick him. Hit him in that magical mouth.
Teeth scrape my neck, and I’m pushing my chest more into his like my life depends on this. One of his large hands moves to my waist, moving down until its cupping one side of my ass.
“This is what the mark does.” He whispers lightly, his nose trailing up until it’s touching mine. Our eyes staring into one another’s. I wonder what he sees behind my mismatched orbs. “It will burn you from the inside out, it wants us to finish this. Wants me to dig my teeth in your neck, fuck you, and make every ounce of your being mine.”
My body shudders at his words. I want to walk away. Leave this place and never come back because the thought of being owned made me sick. Knowing it would be by this male, however, made me pull him in closer. A little whine leaving my throat as I feel his erection pressing into me.
"That sounds like such a commitment.” I murmur, eyes still glued to his.
“It’s for life, My Little Fairy.” I narrow my gaze, curious.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Elias moves swiftly, no longer pushing me into the wall. Instead he’s moved us to the lawn chair, my legs straddling his thighs as he grips my waist tightly and smiles at me.
“You look entirely unreal. As if you’ve been sculpted by the Moon to trap men and women. But you always appear ready to run when you see me.” He looks over me a few times, a strange emotion behind his eye that I can’t decipher. One of his hands move to my hair, pulling my head into his chest as he leans back. “We’ll make those little wings sit still one day.”
The position is not something I’m used to, but my body melts into his. I don’t want to lose the contact, even though I should. I shouldn’t be cuddling a wolf in some cabin hidden deep within the woods.
I rest my head on his chest and close my eyes, for once feeling at peace around the man who couldn’t seem to let me go.
Chapter 14
Elias is quiet as we make our way back to pack, and I suspect he’s waiting for me to blow up. Surely, I couldn’t go this long without threatening his life, or begging to be let free.
I’m not sure how long we were in the cabin. We hadn’t spoken, and I hadn’t even thought about moving until Elias had murmured something and carefully pushed me from his lap.
He seemed sad. The thought of that disturbs me, but I push away the idea that I care how the wolf feels.
I’m not an expert of feelings or telling when something seemed off. But the air around us spoke of trouble and I was sure that today would not be going as smoothly as earlier had led me to believe it would.
“Adelina has come earlier than expected.” Elias speaks quietly, eyes remaining forward as we approach the packhouse. Our pace was already slow but at his words I practically snail crawl across the grass.
“Is that not a good thing? I can go home sooner.” He doesn’t react to what I say, not for me to see anyway. I had expected him to blow up, freak out again but he was calm. As if he knew something I did not. It irritated me.
“She thought this was important enough to rush here for, which I would not classify as good.” I don’t like the tone he gives me, so I stay silent.
Wolves swarmed the large home, most in their fur as they seemed to protect whatever stand behind the door, I’d grown accustomed to stomping out of. Everyone moves from our way, head bowing for the man they call Alpha.
I try to get ahead of the man, wanting to see this witch standing before me and understand why she had been brought here. I’d never really gotten a reason behind that due to me believing I’d escape before she would arrive.
My own stupidity I suppose.
The door is barely opened when the feeling of dread washes over me. That’s what I would suspect it to be, anyways. My stomach flips and mouth goes dry at the thick air that’s filling the pack house. We close the door behind us, and I feel like I’m being suffocated by a power that I cannot understand.
Adelina looks at me with recognition, her long face is pale white. I’m sure she was once the most beautiful woman to walk this earth, before had skin had wrinkled and those big green eyes lost almost all color. Her full lips set in a permanent frown, slender body looking worn and hungry.
“You look exactly as I’d thought you would.” I am surprised at the calm velvet voice that leaves her aged body, my eyes widening a bit. I had expected nails on a chalk board, or a rough sound. Not a soothing sound that seemed to curl around me.
“Do you understand why you’re here?” Audra asks, beating everyone to a reply as she takes a step forward. A protective look in her eyes, and I wonder if I would be allowed behind her shield.
Adelina smiles wryly at the she-wolf, a swipe of her hand has the wolf backing down. Seemingly calmed by whatever the witch has done.
“I’m here to see what my actions have created. Not the nonsense you called me here for.” Elias takes a step-in front of me, trying to hide my frame. I’m drawn to the woman, even though I have the urge to puke my guts up. My head is foggy, filled with little thoughts that don’t go together. Filled with questions I’ve never known I had.
“What are you talking about?” Elias questions, I push him to the side so that I can watch the witch. She doesn’t pay him any mind. Instead, she looks over me again and again. Seemingly more disturbed with every view.
I knew I looked rough, but I could not be that bad.
“You want to know if your little Luna has had any magic cast upon her, correct?” Still the woman doesn’t look away from me. A long stride forward brings more growls than necessary from the wolves around us. She doesn’t stop. Only when she’s an arm’s length away does she stop.
“She can’t feel- “
“Anything. You’ve never felt a damn thing have you.” The look on her face is a mixture of pride and regret.
My mind goes back to the conversation I’d had with Mirela before my departure. She’d warned me something like this would happen, and instead of listening I’d blown her off. I had never put any weight on that woman’s words before and now I was paying for it.
I should’ve questioned her, demanded she give me the answers. Instead I stand in front of a witch who was surely about to blow my mind. I’m sure those around us were confused, and I could feel the irritation radiating from the male to my right. His large hand finds its way to my arm, the contact bringing heat but calming my need to puke. Perhaps he was a little useful.
“How do you know me?” I finally ask. Her eyes light up at the sound of my voice, the strength behind it seeming to surprise her.
“You are the child that has haunted me for the past two decades, Sweet Girl. I know you because I am the one who has ruined you.”
An audible gasp from the she-wolf in the room has me moving my eyes. Audra has realized something, and I can’t wait anymore to figure out what it is. I need to know. Would this be the answers that Mirela had spoken of?
“You don’t make much sense.” Elias grips my wrist, a warning that I don’t care for. I would do and say as I pleased, whether it be to the most powerful witch in the world or not.
Adelina takes a few cautious s
teps around me, my frame seeming to interest her. Anything other than the answers I wanted caught the woman’s attention. I do my best to keep my impatience from being shown, but I’m sure it was felt by everyone in the room.
“Perhaps we can go to my office. Sit down and discuss this in a more professional way.” The male tries to bargain, clearly not liking the direction this was heading. A soft laugh leaves the witch.
“There is no professional way to tell this woman her past, and future, Elias. You aren’t even sure what I have to say, but there is no way to break the news lightly and an office with comfy chairs and no space to think will only worsen this situation.” The woman is mad, green eyes ablaze as she glares at the wolf. “You want to know how to fix this, how to get your perfect mate. You won’t achieve that; it will never happen. Get that through your skull right now, otherwise this day will end with a very angry Alpha and a very pissed off witch.”
Elias growls at her, taking a step in her direction as his beast is held back by a thread. He did not enjoy her attitude, but I do. She’s full of spunk and honesty, which has me breaking into a smile. A crazy time to feel amused but anyone who can get under this man’s skin has to be pretty good in my book.
“You’re stalling. You rushed here to face me, and now you can’t spit the words out?” I’m a little surprised by my words, but when the witch looks at me with respect, I know I was correct to voice this observation.
“I’ll be talking to the girl alone.” Adelina spins around, her heels clicking on the wooden floor as she makes her way to the office, somehow needing no direction. I give Elias a shrug before following her.
I can feel Elias’s apprehension the entire way.
I watch the woman as she sits across from me, her green eyes unfocused as she prepares herself. Her teeth bite at her lips, and I can hear the quick patting of her foot on this floor. It may take a while, but she would eventually get to it.