(New and edited)
CHAPTER 2: Humble Home
The stare down between us was locked in, I felt the dark brush strokes of his aura reach around him in the room he believed was more appropriate than out in the main courtroom, in the hall, where his clan could see every expression, feel the hatred that I knew I was emitting his way just at the dark sight of him. Nose straight and pointed, skin pale where his Beta held a more olive texture. His dark strands sharp and raked back. Those eyes penetrate mine, calculating, anticipating my next move like his life depends on it.
I closed my eyes and shallowed my breathing as best as I could. I wanted to rest and be left alone, but the thing about hope—it's a dirty four-letter word for the wish on the well. I felt as though I didn't need to breathe much anymore. My lungs didn't want nor need more than such a minimal amount.
"How did you escape the beast, Celestine?" She asks me next. Reina looked to be the only talker of the room. Did they have any fucking idea who I worked for, I could throw them behind bars if I had the forces to do so, if I had the councilmen on my side, after giving my life to the supernatural council.
I slowly open my eyes. She wouldn't leave me alone, and she had no idea how much I wanted to be left alone. I lean my forehead against the wood, "Leave me alone." I didn't recognize my own voice, it wasn't a voice at all—it was a raspy, dying breath.
She stiffens where she sits, "What did you say?" She whispers. She looks at him cautiously, as if this hasn't happened before. He had to be delusional, or at least in utter denial of the truth, I denied him as mine, he isn't. I don't care of status or power behind this particular Alpha, he had no business claiming me.
I know she heard me.
"I won't be a mate to that." I mutter, the filth in front of me has his silver eyes that spotted me as if I were wearing neon in that auditorium, the council members and district of clans were meeting for the sole purpose of understanding whether to let in other supernatural tribes, specific ones being vampires who want in on political discussions, wants who haven't yet gone feral. Others included the elemental species, specifically higher groups in more distant countries, and realms.
I look at her, an empty, dull look in my eyes, "If you don't go away right now, I will burn this entire building to the ground, I will not care for the innocents who die under your Alpha's rule. Get the fuck away from me, you psychotic bitch of hell." I spit at her again, eyes staring into hers.
Her heart thrums.
She leaves, though. Even as she steps away from me, I watch in the reflection of the mirror as Alpha Julius stayed behind; he stayed standing there and staring at my form, searching for the whole puzzle and only getting pieces, some he has no clue what to do with. I refused to turn to him, wishing for my dagger. They checked for that. He caught the hint after that. He was slow to turn away, and often—he would pause every ten steps, shake his head, and pause again until he was finally gone.
I watched the snowfall.
My head was heavy. My back was numb.
I ate dinner in Miranda's room. She didn't seem to mind as she played solitaire on the table. I lay on the couch, staring into nothing. The sound of the door knocking could be heard, "Miranda, open up, now." The woman sounded urgent and my arm burned, meaning he was on the other side, and I could smell the others. Reina and Robert step into the room, thanking Miranda for allowing me to stay here when I refused to be near their Alpha. It was Reina who stepped inside first, Miranda curtsied as if made to do so and stepped out once both Betas stepped inside, along with the one and only Martin, who had to duck to get in.
I stared into space.
Blinking once every five minutes. Their Gamma slid in next, looking politically structured, calm and collected. What a pompous prick.
Gamma Dorian gives me a soft look, "Do you want your own room, Alpha Celestine?" He asks me.
I wanted him to burn.
"We share a different tradition here. Alpha Martin should explain this, but he can read most of your emotions, Celestine. We all know how mad at him you really are." Reina says to me, in consideration. Mad would imply an amount of caring involved, how wrong she was. Their English language lacking if she truly believes being mad at a man I didn't care for meant the possibility of caring in the future.
"Why did you refuse the bond, Celestine? How old are you, twenty-five?" She asks me next. She made it seem like they didn't have my file, like they didn't search me on the deep web, find a British intelligence file on me in the very least. Did they even have the qualifications to do so? Or even jurisdiction on the matter.
Then again, I hadn't seen a computer anywhere around, or devices. The lights weren't electric but made on candles and fireplaces. I despised this place more than the place in which I drew up and had to fend for myself for a while. Reina gives me a long look, "You smell as though you're twenty-five?" She wonders. Fantastic, she's sniffing the air around me. Delightful, hope I smell of a bag of fucking farts, she might then leave.
I sit up in annoyance, "Eighteen. I am eighteen-years-old." I whisper harshly, staring at the floorboards as I hold the sides of my head in my hands, Reina blinks once, then twice as she glances at her own mate, who leans his elbows on his arms.
I flinch when the feeling of the couch dipping very low on the other side of me was clear. I could smell his scent, only right now—it wasn't powerful because all my senses felt numbed out, dulled, and frozen. Something I was still recovering from and not doing the best job of it. I move to the far corner of the couch and far away from Alpha Martin, who sits with a pair of trousers and a black short-sleeved shirt on. Disgust wrenches on my features as I turn my head to the wall, and cross one leg over the other. I hated the smell of him now. Nothing I feel could change that.
"You're far younger than we believed." I hear Gamma Dorian say cautiously. Too young for what they were forcing on me?
"I doubt that would have made a difference." I slice the air with a breathy whisper.
I stare at the dull wall, hunching my thin, bony shoulders around myself. I could still watch the blood run through the water as I was pushed down by the current and forced to stay there because I was too frozen to get out of out. My training wasn't so extensive to deal with something just like that.
Reina leans forward, "Celestine, you need to know that rejecting an Alpha is of utmost disrespect and is an illegally-targeted decision in werewolf and lycanthrope history. Any other penalty is death, and you still did it in front of your courts, your own family. Child, I know this looked harsh, but this is something you needed to learn the hard way." She explains to me, softly. I stare at her, I did not need to learn her ways, there should have been a choice here.
I stare into the wooden wall, "Is that what you teach your children?" I ask her, glancing over.
She stills.
Like an ancient statue.
I turn back to the wall, "You're a known murderous pack. You've shown the council countless of times. This is how you build strength and power, loyalty and respect. You call it strength, we see it as the rippling of mind and muscle. You call it power, where we see it as nothing but self-righteous greed. Loyalty is done through submissive forces. Respect—there is no respect, only order." I recall each notation sent through my mind like a recording, everything I looked through.
I meet silver eyes, he wasn't denying it, "Power is the most powerful currency in our world."
He was wrong there.
Love is.
Yet he would never find it with me.
"You taught me the wrongdoings of rejecting a monster of our own kind which is punished with near death and you expect me to rush into your welcoming arms? You hide behind your arrogance of how you choose to torture people. You're monsters of the underworld. The rest of us know how to be civilized; there's a reason you're all isolated to the ruins of these mountains." I tell them, staring down at the wooden wall.
"You sound as though you're reciting a story? You were taught this in school?" I hear Beta Robert lean forward, he'd asked the question.
Not school, but I knew the stories of the twisted Alpha who ran the icy throne on this territory, one that collated with a certain elemental of the ice lineage back in the day, but finding records of which elemental district was involved is next to impossible to find on any kind of digital record.
"You're wrong."
The existence of this particular werewolf clan, changing the leader of such a territory that changed the laws set by the first one who ruled the land. Martin was a so-called positive change compared to the first Alpha that would seek resources from outside companies, including humans of societies who despised our kind, but could provide something in return for werewolf experimentation. Martin ended whatever transactions were made, but the damage was already done, he brought in people of his own kin just to rebuild the numbers and anyone in the crossfire of being in these trials were too far gone to survive the current times after being in captivity. So, what did Martin do?
He wiped out the weak, cured who could provide him with something in return. The only good thing he did was cut the line of ruins, remove the transactional swap of resources, land, even wealth for newborns of his kin.
I watch his Betas and Gamma leave.
He steps over to the bed and places his forehead in one hand, "How did you escape the polar bear?" He asks me quietly. Something hidden in his voice, I could tell.
He leans forward, "I have waited sixteen years. Sixteen years for you, Celeste. After ten, I stopped believing I deserved a mate and focused on my Alpha duties at keeping my territory alive and healthy, kicking and thriving. I haven't waited this long, so my bonder could reject me in front of my family. Tell me why you chose to do this?" He asks me, leaning forward as he looks at me. He looks at my profile.
I realise I haven't even answered him yet.
He sighs, "I didn't know you were eighteen." He whispers.
"That shouldn't make a difference. I don't know how you removed my rejection and made everything appear like it never happened, but I will never love someone who would treat me like that. What if I didn't follow an order or agree with a decision you make if I had accepted you? Would you have done the same, leave to me to die in the cold?" I ask him. He studies me, facial expression that tells me I wouldn't have died anyway.
He closes his eyes, "Of course not."
I scoff, "Your pants are on fire." I tell him.
He pinches the bridge of his nose, "What happened?" He asks me. What happened out there, gosh, I don't know, me wishing I put my foot up your arse and destroy your chances at fucking reproducing, or just being able to fuck in general? Point down for the alpha who's natural instinct to impregnate his mate which backfired when she ripped off his testicles like they were made of breakable plastic? Jeez, how to explain that to a doctor who can maintain professionalism and not just tell Martin that his balls are gone and to delude himself into thinking he'll ever be normal again.
He's quietly sitting there, contemplating maybe, "I have been through the exact set of exercises. That was why I wanted to train you first, show you what it means to be a part of this community, and soon rule it alongside me." He says gently.
I stand from the couch and strut towards the door, "You're a psychotic arsehole who just tried to kill your ex-mate because she wanted nothing to do with you. It's as simple as that." I snap at him, clearing my throat when I feel it burn as I slam the door behind me.
Gamma Dorian stands there with raised eyebrows, arms crossed as he stares down at me, "Well, at least you're talking now." I kick his shin harshly, ignoring the sound of the door opening behind me as he grunts with a wince, I strut past him in anger.
Beta Robert seems to be speaking softly with a male who looks exactly like him, only a younger version of him that looked almost my age stands there as he turns towards me. The exact same younger version who first welcomed me into this hellhole in the first place. I merely give him a glance and move up the stairs, not waiting another second.
"You can call your family if you'd like." Beta Reina. I didn't have any family to call.
I turn towards her, which means you ring to all of them, "Do you have any idea how screwed up your traditions are? Your entire pack is built on 'to the death and nothing less. Where is your court of leaders, supervisors?" I ask her.
She raises an eyebrow. The male next to her—a younger version of Beta Robert chuckles, "Man, they said you were funny, but honestly—I thought you were scarier than Alpha Julius when you walked down those steps. We don't have any court. Our leader will delegate, but Alpha Martin's decision is the ultimate, which is now equal to you, once you accept the bond." He says strategically.
I lean against the doorframe, I don't bother speaking anymore, merely stepping into the room. I had known hunger for quite some time as I sat in a forced position with Alpha Martin taking a silent seat next to me, holding his own plate in his hands, filled with various meat products, vegetables, and a whole cob of corn. I scowl, turning away from him as he sighs and begins eating.
Reina smiles at me, "This all might grow on you, Celestine." She murmurs.
I give her a flat look, turning back to my food, crossing one leg over the other. I stare at the range of vegetables on my plate, stabbing the well-seasoned beans and nibbling on them, "Mind if I sit here?" I hear on the other side of me before the closeness of a certain midnight-haired Alpha moves closer.
"Vulcan, where have you been?" Beta Robert asks his son, Reina smiles at her pup like he's her Christmas morning, birthday and grand holiday all tied into one.
"Checking perimeter, as usual." Vulcan shrugs, looking to his aloha with a slight raised eyebrow, the tension choking them.
I was almost too close to falling asleep as I played around with the steak, pottering it in boredom. It had been one hour where he listened to his Betas discussing a few matters on the current system of food production in the mere beginning of their apparent winter, "Do you want to dance?" I heard above me. His whisper surprised those around the table, I lost the will to bother looking that way anymore.
What crack was he on?
Dancing?
For someone who shoots first and asks questions later, yeah, let's do the tango, sweetcheeks?
Dumbass.
I close my eyes, "...wouldn't be caught dead in your arms." I mumble, moving my plate forward.
He's quiet again.
Reina gave him a small nod as if to calm him down, which wasn't surprising.
"Will you dance with me, Alpha?" I overhear a little girl whisper, thankfully not to me where a small, squeaky child with gentle brunette locks and a furry beige dress made from animal silk, deer maybe, asks the man next to me, who turns to her and gracefully steps up slowly, picking the girl up in his hands.
"Of course, Lorelei. Excuse us." He murmurs, glancing down at me. I side glance the child, stilled when I sense a different undercurrent of power. My wolf senses stilling and focusing on her. I glance at Reina, who's hand is in Robert's, they're both looking to Vulcan, who discusses the perimeter and what new changes still need to be developed.
I pull my legs out, sleepily bowing to both of them, "Evening, your highness, my lady." I fake it for the little girl who giggles at my tactics. I turn around, heading straight back for the steps, the large set of stairs that I'd traveled down when I'd gotten back here. I was halfway when a certain girly clearing of the throat stopped me.
"Please, Alpha. It's clear he wants to dance with you." I overhear behind me.
I looked over my shoulder. She stood tall in the tiny beige fur dress, her fingers fidgeting with each other. She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes as silence muses in the crowd, "I'm not your Alpha, kid." I tell her, turning back around with my eyelids half closed.
"B-but, we saw you." She stutters.
I study her, "You're not a wolf." I murmur, those doe eyes slid to nothing, I inhale, causing Reina to tense and stand in closer, the child's hand robotically moving to hers.
"You're strong enough to be a queen." Soft gasps filter the air as she takes one step down and shakes her head when I turn towards her fully. I take a small seat on the step, staring solely at her.
I lean in, "What makes you say that?" I ask her.
She studies me, little fingers cupping the other, "Strong enough to save us all from ruins. Save us, Luna. It'll bring a smile to Alpha Julius' face." What a strange thing to say. Saving someone from ruins should bring more than a smile to a leader's face. However I wanted this one to sink with his fucking ship.
I stare into her eyes, "Bravery must be adapted in the lines of fear, yet one must hold the courage to keep moving forward. If your Alpha has proved to have done just that and protected the pack you live, you might as well stand by it. You require a strategy with less risk of death and more on the balance of survival. The pack you live in, right here, what do you believe the enforcers here are built on?" I ask her, slowly waiting, slowly watching.
She gulps, "Strength in unity." She whispers.
"Did you ever meet the former Alpha Julius?" I ask her, my questions changing and the crowd's expression doing the same.
One male closest enough to us says loud enough for everyone to hear, "He's in the past, leave the bitch there."
I stare into plated silver eyes that slowly moved down a row of tables, "Run back to your Alpha, kiddo." I say, staring daggers as sharp as poisonous thorns into Alpha Martin's indecipherable eyes. I stand, turning back towards the stares, where two guards stand wary and waiting, unsure of what I will do when I step towards the servant door.
I grip the handle and twist, opening it before slamming it shut behind me once I stepped through.
Miranda raises my eyebrow when she sees me at the door, "So, it appears you're bunking with me now, Luna?"
I blink, "Please, don't call me that...and, yes, do you mind?" I ask nicely.
She gestures me inside, "Better than sleeping in a room with Alpha Julius? I guess I can understand that." I scowl in disgust at that thought. If the man is anything like his father—it warhorse be the worst, dumbest choice to make.
I narrow my eyes at the bunk bed in the room. She closes the door behind me, "You can choose which one you'd like? I plan to have a shower." She says to me, covering up a yawn; I nod once after thanking her for allowing me to stay.
I waited to sense the atmosphere, long enough to know most of the werewolves on the floor were asleep. I flip off the mattress, landing on the balls of my feet with great silence as I glance over my shoulder to make sure she is still sound asleep. I slowly open the door, tip-toeing out into the corridor.
I looked towards the steps, taking two at a time. I swiftly opened the door to the main lunchroom, the tables were empty, and the chandelier candles had blown out. I scowl in annoyance as I stand blankly. There were no rooms or possible basements under Miranda's, the snow-covered her windows.
I glance to the side and quickly move up the next set of stairs. Finding cabling for different outlet units was far trickier than I thought as I listened closely to the circuit. If he had the ability to control camera drones in the storm outside, he had a bloody cellphone, not to mention the kinds of cars he owns.
I walk down several hallways, searching for anything more than just a library, a courtroom, another lunchroom, and more bedrooms for the many enforcers he keeps in this palace-like structure.
I took two hours to come up to another hallway on another level. I was on the sixth level when a familiar burning seared in my arm; my eyes widened at its effect as I twirled around. He stood there, hands in his trouser pockets. His chest was bare. He was barely breathing.
I scowl at him, giving him a menacing glare, just as the candles around us suddenly light up.
I snap my eyes to him, "Great. I was kind of hoping that was another rumor of yours." I tell him, taking one step back and hurriedly ripping the rug on the floor forward, the one he was standing on, I was hoping he'd fall on his arse; he flips and lands on his heel.
I dump the rug, grabbing the desk chair on the side, "I've had it with this bloody tattoo of yours!" I growl at him, ready to scrap his cheek with the ends of the chair. He captures it in his hands and twirls it out of mine.
I expected it, kicking my shin out, he whacks it with his palm facing down, I wrong my fist towards his cheek, he deflects it too, capturing my wrist and twirling me around, flushing my back with his chest and his other hand curled around my hip, "It's not a tattoo." He whispers.
I shove my elbow back into his ribs, twice, before I snap my heel out and kick it into his shin; happy to hear the snapping of bone as he kneels once again before me. I grab the back of his head and shove my knee into his nose. He clutches my thigh, flipping me over his head, and my back slams against the floorboards.
I watch him flip through the air and land on the balls of his feet. I smirk, kicking out both his legs in an attempt to make him drop in the splits. He grabs my wrists tightly in his hands, straddling me. His thighs squeezing mine together as he puts me in a difficult position. The skin of his hands against my wrists sends a bout of calm through mine, removing any adrenaline I had before as his grip loosens, "I'm not going to hurt you, Celeste." He murmurs to me, calmly breathing.
I look at him disgusted, "Get off of me." I tell him, trying to wriggle out from under him. He gently pulls his hands away, allowing me to crawl out from under him as I sit up and hold my left wrist, which stiffened more than the other one.
He sighs in defeat, sitting on his knees, "You should be getting more rest." He murmurs.
I stand from the messed-up rug and turn away from him, scowling as I roll out my wrist, he straightens the rug behind me, "You're quite strong. Who taught you how to fight?" He asks me gently.
It angered me more, "What? You're suddenly nice to me now after throwing me outside to die in this freaking snow storm, and you dare to ask me a whole bunch of questions as if you hadn't seriously just tried to kill me because I rejected you?" I spin on him, fisting my hands.
He stares me down, "You don't even know me, and yet you so carelessly broke a sacred code to our species. Of course, I was angry, but I didn't leave you out to die, Celeste." He excuses.
My nostrils flare, "Is it because you're an Alpha that the bond cannot be severed unless you accept my proposal?" I ask, stepping forward; now it made more sense. The fact he was a clan leader, an Alpha female rejecting the bond wouldn't be enough, given the responsibility.
He furrows his bushy eyebrows, "You did this because you were afraid of the responsibility this holds...and my eyebrows are not bushy." He says.
I freeze in shock, "Holy shit, how the hell can you read my mind?" I ask, stepping back again. He slowly looks down at his arm. My eyes widen when the ink turns glossy almost against the muscle of his forearm. I glance down at mine, which does the same against my pale skin.
"What is this thing? I've never seen anything like it before." I growl, staring at my arm as if it had gotten infected and no cure came to mind.
He stares at me with an indecipherable look, "I knew you were mine before I even got into that courtroom. With my abilities, I knew something was off when you looked at me when you watched me. I knew you weren't going to agree to this easily. This was the only way. It's a rune." He tells me, stepping forward, but I flinch away from him.
"What is a 'rune'?" I ask him snappily.
He moves to fix the chair under the desk, "An ancient binding." He whispers.
I narrow my eyes at him, "What for? You bind me to you and punish me for the rejection; you send me out in an unknown, foreign land, making me think I was set out to die, when you had a freaking rope tied to us both to make sure I wouldn't die, just get injured, or was it to prove whether I was strong enough Alpha?" I growl lowly, staring into him. He stands straighter, giving me a masked expression, hands in his trouser pockets.
He just...stands there.
I shake my head with a scoff, turning away from him and walking forward, "You can't even admit it." I muttered over my shoulder as I strut forward. I figured he'd stay there, maybe get the hint to leave me alone. Not grab me around the waist and teleport me to Goddess knows where.
What. The. Fuck?
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he'd teleport me into the outside dungeons, where snow-infested rats crawl along the tiled floor. However, I was surprised by his power, that certain ability is distinctive. Which is why I never tapped into mine and yet, he used it without a thought. He rips his burly arms off me and teleports through the rustic, silver bars. A cage, so damaging to our kind.
Silver.
I choke on the strength of the metal, flooring to the floor as he watches me, "You will learn to be my bonder, whether you like it or not." He spits, pointing down to me. My mouth salivates at the lava burning through the rune he has me tied down to.
I spit out the spice of snow against my tongue, "You'll imprison me now? You're doing a fantastic job making me want you, a piece of shit of an Alpha." I spit at him in a low growl. He slams his hand against the silver rustic metal. I scream at the burn; it opens against my palm. He stares at me with utter darkness as I drop on my back and writhe, meaning one thing.
He sniffs the air before his chest rumbles in a low, animalistic growl, "You'll remain here for the rest of your heat." He says, lowly, before disappearing.
I squeeze my watering irises when my bones snap. My femur first as I howl at the raw pain. Sweat cascaded down the middle of my spine as my blood curled. It was a slow process of snapping each bone, each tendon stretching to form my pitch black wolf. I watched the bones in my fingers curl and form larger tendons as my fur lengthened. It runs up my left arm as I crawl closer to the snow. The wind no longer spliced against human skin, but rather it caressed my fur strangely.
My chest rumbles in darker tones. My abdomen clenches as I turn my green wolf eyes to the front paw, a muscular sequence with burnt skin and ink swirled through the seams, through my pores. The black rune illuminates deep into my fur, tainting it when a slither of pain rushes down my back legs. I growl lower, my chest rumbling darker when a shadow shoots into the distance and the metal container bangs loudly.
A growl far lower than mine enters the air.
I lengthen my claws, attempting to subside the pain in my gut as the shadow bangs head on against the rustic metal, slicing open one of them. I bare my jaw and snap loudly at the intruder. His smell told me exactly what I needed to know as my green wolf eyes met liquid silver ones. He was at least three times my size in muscle as I scanned the width of his muscular chest and the bulk of his front legs. I growl, another warning against him, not wanting the midnight-furred beast anywhere near me.
BANG!