Choleric

Chapter XXIII

"Why should you care?" She slurred before dramatically pointing a finger in his direction. "You. don't. like. me. Remember?" She giggled at his confused expression.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, disbelief coating his features.

"No," she lied, earning a groan from the man before her.

Sweeping his hand through his hair in exasperation, Cassius stepped towards her. "Whatever. Just come into the clearing before something happens," he reached out to her, his calloused fingers brushing against her waist. Celia jerked back instantly, her glazed over eyes sharpening into nothing other than hate.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped, stumbling as her feet got caught around themselves. "Don't you ever touch me," she growled lowly, the force behind her voice sent shivers to run down Cassius' spine. Growling in irritation he lifted his hand into the air as she stormed by with the coordination of a newborn fawn.

Stumbling into the clearing Celia turned and looked curiously towards Cassius. "Only three other packs stayed behind?" She asked suddenly, referring to the Alpha's in the clearing that waited behind with their dead pack mates.

"Two. Alpha Lauren is Alpha Neill's mate," he replied, voice void of emotion. Celia could feel the alcohol rushing to her head, pushing against the walls of her mind and turning everything into a hazy fog. The feeling caused her head to spin and suddenly she couldn't see as clearly as she had before.

"Watch yourself," she flinched as Cassius caught her arm, stabilizing limbs she had no control over. The uneven ground did little to support her as she stumbled forward and fell to her knees. The sound of her bones crashing into the earth resonated through the clearing and captured the attention of the Alpha's huddling around the fire; their glances were nothing short of disgust.

"Get up," he growled standing above her. Instead of listening to the deep voice that shook her bones, Celia found herself fighting a fit of giggles. When Cassius sighed in agitation, she bursted into laughter, her body shaking as the loud cackle forced its way from her body. "This isn't funny!" He hissed, anger forcing heat to rise up his neck.

"What? Scared your little Alpha friends will think poorly of me?" She asked between fits. "You care too much of what others may think of you."

"I don't care what anyone thinks of me," he replied harshly. Celia watched as he turned in agitation, leaving her again in the dark.

"Then why do you push me away?" She called after his retreating form, wishing for another bottle as she observed the muscles in his body become rigid.

"That's not a conversation for here," he stated.

"It's not a conversation for anywhere but we're going to have it sooner or later," he turned his head to face hers, his blue eyes piercing her heart. She became frozen, captured in his gaze as his eyes swam with something she didn't think she would ever experience in him. Emotion.

"Let it go, Celia."

Staring at one another the world became still, as if everything had abandoned the earth and scattered into the darkness; leaving the two of them behind. The fire stopped it's cackle, the Alpha's mumbling in the background was cut short and even the trees dared not whisper to one another. The silence was a blissful terror, cut short only when Celia's mouth finally found words.

"No."

"What?" He asked.

"No. I can't keep being shunned and silenced by you Cassius, that's not how this is meant to work. I'm trying really hard to be a good Alpha and a good person by giving you space but it's killing me," she replied, her fingers dancing in the dirt as she hid her sullen face with a thick curtain of hair. "I just want to understand..." she mumbled under her breath.

The crunching of leaves echoed through the night air, capturing her attention. Looking up she saw his large figure standing over her. "Understand what exactly?" He asked.

Her head still felt fuzzy from the alcohol and she found it hard to find the answer she was looking for. What did she want to know exactly? It was probably best if she asked an easy question first.

"I want to know why you don't love me," she slurred out, her glazed eyes trying to capture his.

Letting out a deep breath, Cassius ran a hand through his hair before looking down at her. "You are too drunk for me to answer that question... and I am definitely not drunk enough" he stated.

"Well that's easily solved," she declared trying to untangle her legs from underneath her body. Wobbling to her feet, she stumbled to the opposite end of the clearing, capturing questioning gazes from the people by the fire.

Cassius followed warily as she fell to her knees in front of a small pile of backpacks and began rummaging through them. "What are you doing?" He asked as he watched her tear through the pile of the packs that had been left behind until she pulled out a clear bottle and handed it to him.

"Now you have no excuse."

"Are you stupid? It's too dangerous to be drinking here," he stated harshly.

"What because of all the bad souls?" She asked in a shrill voice. "We killed like 100 of those things, they are long gone," she explained absentmindedly. Bad souls were too incompetent to stay in a group that large for so long.

"It's not enough," he replied agitatedly.

"You say that like you know how many there were," she threw back with a chuckle. It wasn't until the long silence afterwards that she realised what she said. "Oh fuck."

•••

hey! 

So very sorry for the extremely long wait but I moved out of home and started uni and all this sort of stuff so I was soooooo busy!!! Updates will be random (hopefully no where near as long as this one was)

Hope you all understand and enjoy the chapter (again apologising about the crappiness of it, I can't write drunk scenes so it will probably be my last once Celia gets sober)

Please vote and comment your thoughts! They all mean a lot and I read every one! xxxx