Black Fire | The Rejected Mate |

|5| Suspicious Visitors

Alexa's POV

I let the brush softly glide across the surface of the blank canvas, the movement bringing a peaceful smile on my face.

Drawing and painting have always been my favorite pastime. It always makes me happy and also helps me think. Right now, I'm trying to perfect the drawing of my mother and father that I made from their wedding photos.

"Damnit, we messed up mum's jaw again." Alia lightly cursed in my mind. I tilted my head a little bit to look at it properly.

"Meh. We'll fix it up later." I chuckled. I want the drawing to be as perfect as her, but it's not like I can kill myself if I don't get it right.

I honestly don't know why it's so hard to draw her face. I had no problem drawing dad's. But then again, trying to get the right shape and angle is the fun part.

With all the chaos that's been going on in my life in the past few years, I just wanted a little calm and drawing has been able to help me with that.

I remember when I was a kid, my parents would make silly poses with my sister for me to draw, and my drawing back then was even sillier, horrible even. But I didn't care, and neither did my family because we all had fun doing it and my mom would put them on the fridge.

I still have one of those drawings.

And now, when I draw, it helps take me back to those days. Makes me feel like my parents were still alive and my sister hadn't disappeared and they were all still here with me.

Everything is so peaceful.

"ALEXANDRIA!!"

I spoke to soon.

"Aannnnd you jinked it." Alia groaned.

"Alexandria! Get your ungrateful ass down here!" My aunt screamed again. I quickly dropped the pencil in my hand and scurried down stairs into the kitchen.

"Yes aunt?" I asked quietly, keeping my head down trying not to anger her more by looking her in the eye.

"I want you to clean the house, we're having guests today. The whole place should be spotless, understood?" I nodded. "Good. The guests are arriving by 7pm, do everything before then." My eyes widened as I read the time on the wall clock.

6:30 fucking pm! How the hell am I supposed to clean a 2 story house in 30 freaking minutes?!
(A/N: 2 story house in this context has the ground/ 1st floor and one floor on top.)

"But-"

"I don't care what the time is!" She cut me off. "Just get it done." Then she walked out of the kitchen.

I looked to the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and groaned.

"This is going to be the longest 30 minutes of our lives."

🕰️ 30 minutes later 🕰️

I collapsed on my bed with a groan, completely exhausted. Finally done, I had to use my werewolf speed, but it got the job done.

"I'm sure no one would mind if we close our eyes for just 5 seconds." Alia yawned. Yeah, just 5 seconds, not a second more.

"Iris!" I jumped up at the booming sound of my uncle's voice in my head. I groaned rubbing my temples.

"Get dressed and get down here and serve our guests you stupid child!"

I groaned. Oh goddess, why art thou forsaken me? Why can't I just lay peacefully on the not so soft mattress of my bed without being disturbed?

I dragged myself off the bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. The hot water from the shower really relaxes my sore muscles and woke me up a bit. I got out and put on a soft pair of sweatpants and a white loose cotton shirt.

I'm definitely going for comfort rather than fashion right now.

I quickly ran down the stairs knowing that my Uncle will be really angry if I take too much time to follow his instructions, and I'm definitely not in the mood to get hit with a belt this evening.

I could hear soft chatter in the living room and I caught the scent of two unfamiliar male persons, it must be our guests.

Hmm... but they're not from our pack, that's for sure. I can tell from their scents.

I went into the kitchen to get out the drinks for my Uncle, Aunt and our two guests. Jack isn't in the house, probably partying out with the other higher ranks.

I put their choices of beverage as per what my Uncle told me through the mind link a tray and walked into the living room as all chatter stopped.

Keeping my head down, I quietly walked to the coffee table and put the tray there. I briefly glanced at one of our guests. He had reddish brown hair and a strong jaw with a light stubble. I couldn't really tell the color of his eyes from such a brief glance, but I do know that they were fixed in a glare.

I quickly looked back down and started pouring the drinks into the glasses. The man's intense stare was fixated on me and I was starting to get uneasy.

"Is this her?" I heard the man coldly speak.

"Yes, it is. I'm sure that she meets your standards."

"Hmm." He hummed in affirmation.

If I was uneasy before, then I'm just plain uncomfortable now. They were talking about me as if I wasn't in the room and I have a bad feeling about these visitors.

My hand began to get a little sweaty. I handed my Uncle and Aunt their drinks, as well as the first visitor. But when I got tho the guy who had been glaring at me since I walked in, his cup slipped from my hand...

And spilled the red wine all over his white trousers.

It felt like time stopped as I felt all the blood drain from my face and dread fill me. I started shaking in fear as I look up to his eyes, fury undoubtedly clear in his cold eyes. It sent a cold shiver down my spine.

"I-I... I'm s-so sorry sir. I-It was an accide..." I was cut off by a hard slap to my face, making me fall to the floor.

I felt the shock as I held my cheek. I looked up at my attacker to see my very furious Uncle.

"You stupid bitch! You can't do anything right, can you?" I felt him kick my stomach hard and emptied the air in my lungs.

"I'm sorry." I cried as I felt more blows to my body as my hand flew up to my face. I'm feeling so much pain and he just keeps punching me.

"Enough!" I heard the red headed visitor boom. My Uncle immediately halted in his assults and took a step back.

The man stood up and walked towards me. I gulped in fear at his dark glare and started crawling back. He rose his hand in my direction and formed it into a fist.

I suddenly felt like I was being choked. I was being pulled in the air by an invisible force and it felt like my blood stopped flowing through my body. Then I realized that it was the scary man who was doing this.

He must be a Water Elemental to be able to stop my blood.

I squirmed in the air trying in vain to get out of his invisible hold on me. I was starting to feel light headed due to the lack of blood flow and spots started dancing in my vision.

"I will break you." I heard him say darkly as I finally passed out.

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A/N: Hola Bitchachos!

Yeah, sorry about not updating last weekend, I was suffering from writer's block, but I've figured it out now.

Happy Eid-el-kabir! School's closed for the Sallah break until Monday, so I'll have a lot of time to write this short holiday.

Meaning that the next update will be coming either tomorrow or Saturday 🎉🎊🥳

Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE and FOLLOW.

See ya!
Word count: 1372

July 2nd, 2023.