I would stop Enzo's wedding to Leilani even if it was the last thing I did on the moon's pleasant earth.
It was a promise which I made to myself. 'Leilani weds Enzo' would never become a reality. Ever. I wouldn't let it. No, never. My name wasn't Raven if I ever let him place a moon forsaken mark on her neck. Much less her on his. The thought itself boiled my blood.
I wandered through the hall thinking about how I would find that damned stone and stop their wedding all by the next full moon which was something like three weeks away? All that Willow told me three days ago still floated around in my head and I was confused. This game had so many players beyond just me and Nessa trying to manipulate Enzo's mind.
Enzo and I had both been ignoring each other since that incident in my room. In fact, apart from at breakfast and dinner, I never even saw him. He was probably too busy with his beloved. Too bad for her, I was done whining and finally decided that it was time to put an end to their romance. All I was gaining by ignoring Enzo was wasting time which I simply didn't have.
Alpha Enzo wasn't like the others. He actually ignored me back and I hated it. I hated it with every fibre in my being.
I had searched for him everywhere but he was nowhere to be found so I had my suspicions about where he was. The minute I heard the tune, I knew that as usual, I was right. Of course I was. When wasn't I?
It was the same tune that Enzo hammered away at the piano in his secret hidden away piano room. I didn't even bother to knock. I just walked in and stood there as he played. I watched him but he didn't notice me. His hair bounced everywhere and once again, I was mesmerised. Something like a trance fell upon me.
Whenever Enzo played, it was beautiful. The way he got lost in the music, in himself, how everything stopped to matter. It was just Enzo, his piano and the beautiful music which they made together. He reminded me of myself when I used to play the harp but still I don't think that I could be compared to Enzo.
When the music stopped, I had goosebumps running all over my skin. Enzo inhaled and pushed his hair back while I stared at his back. His curly hair was messy today and formed a curve over his upper back. His clothes were perfectly ironed as usual.
"Why are you watching me, Aoife?" Enzo said out of nowhere and I jumped because I was actually stupid enough to think that he hadn't noticed me. He didn't turn around instead he just stared down at his grand piano.
"You also watch me while we eat so I guess that now, you can say that we're even," I responded as I leaned against the door, shutting the both of us in as it closed from my weight.
"Do you need something, Aoife?" He went straight to the point.
"Yea, an explanation," I countered.
"Whatever for?" Enzo retorted as he turned towards me instantly.
"Why are you ignoring me?" I asked.
Enzo exhaled and leaned against his piano. I walked deeper into the room. He looked at me directly but said nothing, just stared.
"I thought that you realised by now that I'm not a witch. So what's the problem now?" I crossed my hands over my chest. Enzo kept looking at me. "So what, your wife-to-be is here and now I'm not interesting enough to you, anymore?"
Enzo's eyes scrunched together as if taken aback. Then he sat forward.
"Leave Leilani out of this. It's not about her at all," when he said this, I rolled my eyes at him and my jaw tightened. It was about her. Everything was about her.
As if he could read my thoughts, he continued.
"Aoife, I opened up to you about my family. About my brother, Aoife. About my parents, Ayla, my insecurity with Erica. I told you everything and what did you do? You ran away!" He was referring to when I left after seeing Leilani. When he stared me straight in the eyes, I saw anger flash through them. I felt something run down my spine but then it disappeared as quickly as I felt it.
I stood there not knowing what to say. Yes, I did run away but it wasn't from him. I felt overwhelmed. I needed to shift. Whatever happened afterwards was both unfortunate as well as unplanned.
"Enzo, I didn't leave because of what you told me!" I started and walked towards Enzo. I stopped right before him. "You went from telling me that you're always thinking about me to telling me that you're engaged. Then the next thing I know, I'm meeting your fiancée and you're taking her upstairs without even acknowledging me. How did you expect me to feel? Does any of this seem normal to you?"
Enzo thought for a moment and then he pushed his fingers through his hair making it more rough. His fingers got stuck in his curls and so he pulled it out hastily.
"I'm not saying that it's normal but-"
"But what?" I interrupted him. "She was standing right in front of me and I was so flabbergasted. I needed to get out of here, so I left. It had nothing to do with the other things which you shared with me. It had everything to do with her,"
Enzo remained silent for sometime and stared up at me. I matched his gaze. His dark eyes looked like they had wheels spinning. He always seemed to have some sort of wheels spinning now that I thought about it.
"You think that I kept Leilani as a secret," Enzo noted and I looked away. That's exactly what he did. Exactly. Right to the fucking T.
"Didn't you?"
"I didn't even know that she was returning until that morning. It was never about deceiving you, Aoife!" He explained, a hand thrown up in the air and my lips glided together as old anger began to re-surface.
"Exactly! If she never returned, I never would have even known about her!" I argued back, raising my voice at Enzo and then suddenly, he stood up. He loomed over me a bit but I stood my ground. "You can't tell me that you weren't hiding her, Enzo. If she wasn't a secret then why did I only find out about her right before she arrived here? Why didn't you ever mention her before? Not even once Enzo, not even once did you ever speak of her!"
Enzo walked closer to me until once more, we were in familiar territory. He was so close to me that all I smelt was him and when he looked down at me and our eyes met, my heart skipped a bit.
"What reason would I have to hide her, Aoife?" He asked, eyes dancing around with emotions that I was dying to dissect.
"You tell me," I retorted.
You wanted to deceive me, Enzo. You wanted to make me a mistress and trap me, Enzo. Otherwise, why did you hide her? Why?
"I had a few chances to do whatever I wanted with you, Aoife but I have always respected you. I still do. Its not like we haven't been alone before. We are alone even now. Still, I haven't crossed my line with you apart from a kiss which you initiated, not me. I stopped you. So how can you think that I wanted to deceive you for my own selfish reasons?"
"I didn't say that," I gulped, staring up at him and feeling tickled tun over my skin. Was that even a kiss? It was just a mere brush of lips if I remember correctly.
"But that's exactly what you are thinking. That's exactly what you believe about me. I'm not a fool," The air became heavier at that moment and I wanted to look away from Enzo but I forced myself to stay staring into his eyes.
"You just want to get into my head so that you can make me your mistress, Enzo," Enzo's features twisted in horror as he threw his head backwards, taken aback. The tips of his hair grazed my skin. Then he took a hold of himself and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Who have you been talking to, Aoife?" He asked me and I kept my lips sealed. He didn't need to know about Willow. "Here I was thinking that you only thought that I just wanted to play with you for my own lustful benefit but instead, what you are thinking about is much more deeper. What you are thinking about is far more than I imagined and so it couldn't have come from you,"
"What? Am I wrong?" I fought back. He only tilted his head to the side.
"Who told you about the mistress leeway in my pack? You've been talking to someone. Who?" He insisted and then I felt those eyes on me strongly. He was fighting himself to not force the truth out of me. I could see the plight between him needing to know and him keeping his promise to not use his powers on me. "Did Leilani fill this mistress nonsense in your head?"
"No!" I refuted instantly. "I haven't even spoken to her!"
"Then who?" He pressed on. "Tinley?"
I thought for a moment before agreeing with a "yes." Enzo inhaled forcefully. He was upset. He released my shoulders. "Please promise me that you won't speak to her about it, please,"
I needed to protect my true source Willow. Enzo was not going to let the whole mistress thing go. If I told him it was Willow then it would create a huge mess. I still needed Willow. I took Enzo's hand in mine.
"Please Enzo. Please don't tell her that you told me or ask her anything about it. Please," Enzo shut his eyes and then nodded in acceptance. I felt some relief float around in my chest.
"What else did she tell you?" He hammered on. Is there supposed to be more?
I shook my head. "Nothing, just that people are suspecting that you plan to take me as your mistress after marking Leilani,"
"Incredible!" He asserted, pulling his hand away from mine and taking his seat by the piano once more. "And you believe this?"
His gaze was so pointed that I couldn't escape it so I sat next to him.
"I don't know," I answered, defeated. He was a fucking walking contradiction. How was I to supposed know what he was actually planning? What he was actually thinking? How was I supposed to know anything?
"Aoife, you really know me so little. It be-fumbles me," He shook his head and turned towards me then pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. His finger remained at the base of my earlobe and stroked the skin behind it. "Making you my mistress never even crossed my mind. Not that the proposal isn't interesting. You are very beautiful indeed. I just simply don't want a mistress. Not you, not anyone,"
"Why should I believe you?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Why shouldn't you?" He raised one back. He kept stroking the spot behind my ear and my pulse began to race. "If my intention was to make you my mistress, why would I need to lie about it? Who could stop me if that's what I truly wanted?"
I gulped, not knowing what to say. His gaze grew darker.
"If that's what I actually want then no one can stop me, not even you. So I don't have any reason to lie to you or anyone about it. I don't have any reason to trick you. I am just not the type of Alpha that is interested in mistresses. Marking one female is enough for me. I don't need to dribble between two beds at night just because I can,"
I don't know if I felt relieved by his admittance or angered by it. Did I really not have that much effect on him or was I just not trying hard enough? At this point, I was confused about what I even wanted.
"What if I am interested in this whole mistress thing, hypothetically speaking of course," I placed my hand on the edge of his thigh.
Enzo tensed up instantly, the finger that was stroking the spot behind my ear stopping its motion and pulled away. I wanted to bring his hand back but decided against it.
"And why would something like that interest you? It's not a very respectable position, to put it mildly," He told me and I looked down for a moment.
My blonde hair fell over my cheeks as I bent. Enzo pushed my hair back and I inhaled deeply when his fingers grazed over my cheek.
"I don't have anyone anyway. At least that way, I don't get to lose you," I said softly as I peered up at him slowly. Enzo's fingers were still on my cheek and he kept stroking it. I leaned into his touch.
"That way, you won't have me either and it would kill you. And if we ever have any children, the whole pack would hate them. It's not something I want to put you through. You deserve better than that kind of life where I have a claim on you without a mark on your neck but neither you nor any of our children will ever have a claim on me,"
Something coursed through me as he spoke. The familiar tightness around my neck. The familiar feeling of having lost. I pushed it down my throat. Enzo looked at me with sad eyes. I didn't want him to stop stroking my chin.
"I..I didn't think about it like that," I breathed out. I mean, to be honest, I did but I didn't think that he was compassionate enough to think about it like that.
"I don't want to ever have to hide you. If I choose you then I won't ever hide you. Making you my mistress isn't choosing you. It's prioritising my desires over your emotional well-being. I can't do that to you," He paused before adding, "or anyone else."
"So you desire me?" I started and instantly, Enzo stopped stroking my skin. When he tried to pull away his hand, I held it in place. He stared down at my hand over his. "Answer,"
He nodded.
A fire lit inside me and I couldn't conceal my smile as the side of my lip turned upwards.
"You don't act like you do," I prodded as I stroked his hand over my cheek. Enzo's gaze darkened.
"I have very good self-control and a-lot of respect for you but yes, you are desirable and I'm definitely not blind,"
Let yourself indulge Enzo. Let yourself indulge for heaven's sake. I reached out to touch his hair. It tickled my finger tips and recoiled at I pulled it back. Enzo watched me.
"I hate your self-control," I admitted and Enzo chuckled, his Adam's apple bopped as he did. Out of nowhere, Enzo broke free from my cheek and pulled my hand away from his hair lock. Quicker than I could imagine, both of my hands were on my thighs and he patted them to rest.
"Hate it or not, it's needed between us. I just want you to understand that I'll never take you as a mistress not because you're not attractive enough for it but because it is a practice which I am firmly against. My father had mistresses and it hurt my mother deeply. So, it's not something which I can bring myself to do to another woman either,"
It always came back to Enzo's past. Everything always came back to his past. He's the living definition of trying to repent for your mistakes or others'.
"But if your father had your mother who was his mate then why did he need mistresses? Didn't you say that he forcefully brought her here? So why would he need anyone else?" I asked. It was something which I was very curious about, to say the least. Enzo pulled his hand away from mine and leaned back against the piano.
"He had them because he could," Enzo shrugged. "I can also. I'm just not interested in the practice because I'm not as unsentimental towards females as my father might have been. I watched my mother hurt over this practice. It wasn't easy for me. But I suspect that my father took mistresses in order to hurt my mother purposely because he always seemed more interested in them after a fight with my mother than on a regular day,"
"No actually, from what I know, my father didn't want a mistress at first. The problem came because of the nature of my parents relationship. The tradition in this pack is for the Alpha and Luna to have separate bedrooms. I don't know why. I find it stupid but it's practiced here and in a few other packs also. I can't understand why it would be normal to go into your wife's room or vice versa only when you want to be intimate and then leave. Especially if you are mates. Maybe in arranged mating I can get behind it but otherwise, it eludes me. If there's a problem and both of you aren't being intimate then the whole pack knows because they know that neither visited the other's room and how long it has been so. Like I said, its a tradition which I find stupid,"
It did sound stupid actually. It sounded like it was put in place to have strangers get a chance to dissect the relationship and poke at it. Poke at the problems in the relationship and ultimately, blame the Luna for her Alpha husband not wanting to sleep with her.
"So my mother used to lock her bedroom door. She didn't let my father touch her at first. And he didn't want to force her physically, if you understand what I mean," I understood and instantly, I balled my fists. "He also really wanted an heir because he was paranoid about the witches planning his assassination. So he took his first mistress. It was more like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it was meant to hurt my mama enough so that she would give in and on the other hand, he wanted the mistress to get pregnant so that there would be some security for his lineage if something ever happened to him,"
"Did it work?" I asked, curious. I thought Enzo could play mind games but what he was describing about his father was just grandmaster chess playing skills. Who uses their mate bond in such a way? What the fuck.
"Yes and no. He would let my mama feel his emotions when he would be with his mistress in order to frustrate her enough to give in. The issue came with my mother's heat. When it was coming, my mother knew that she couldn't hold out anymore. So she struck a deal with my father; she would give in to him if he would stop the mistress practice. Otherwise, she would expel her heat. I heard it was a big fight. My father was desperate for not only an heir which was basically the point of my mother's heat but also to finally touch her as they had been married for a year at this point,"
"So he agreed. He let his first mistress go and sent her far away. The problem again came when my mother did get pregnant but like I told you, their first child was a still birth. It infuriated my father. He thought that my mother was either faulty or her family did witchcraft on her or she purposely killed their first child together to spite him. The man was paranoid about witches, I don't know what to say about his thought process. Anyway, so he started the mistress thing again and my mom knew that the only way to make him stop was to give him a son. She said that the mistress thing tormented her because he purposely let her hear his thoughts and feel his feelings while he touched whoever was his mistress at the time. Torture for her, I can only assume,"
Definitely torture. Their father was just something else. And I thought that my dad was bad.
"So she used witchcraft on my father. She did something. I forgot the details of it but basically, it made my father unable to get anyone else but her pregnant and if they did get pregnant, they would miscarry. My father hated her for it because now he knew that everything he needed was in her hands. Neither could his mistresses give him his heir nor did my mother want to. So he hit her where it hurt the most. He took away her powers. She was left without any powers and inability to use any magic or witchcraft or whatever it was that she practiced. After this, he isolated her and made no one speak to her. They were only allowed to link her and my mother didn't even understand our tongue. So she couldn't fight the man anymore. He had won and they both knew it. Then Rhys came along and everything was perfect between them. He stopped the mistress thing. Then Erica came and my father was upset that she was a female. Then I came along and my father was happy once again,"
"He didn't have a mistress again for years after I was born until him and my mama started to have problems. Mainly it was a huge difference in opinion on parenting styles. So he took to his mistresses again and he never really stopped after that. My mama eventually got used to living with him that way. We also adapted to it,"
I really didn't know what to say. It was alot. His father nailed emotional manipulation down to the T. He got all he wanted from his mate by using her own emotions against her and still, he lost nothing. He had her and other women also.
How could Enzo have come from that man? As I stared at Enzo, fear coursed through me. Enzo's father was a wicked man. Enzo didn't seem to be like him but what if deep inside Enzo, blood was actually thicker than water? What if...
"Whatever my father did to my mother, I saw it first hand how much it affected her so it's not something I feel like I want to put some-" Enzo stopped speaking suddenly and his face became straighter then he turned his face away from mine and looked towards the door.
"Leilani, come inside please," there was no response and then he stood up and walked towards the door. When he opened it, Leilani stood right there. Her cheeks were flushed red. Enzo didn't look impressed as he shook his head.
I didn't miss how her unnatural light green eyes turned black when she looked at me.
~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤～🖤~
If you got a message for an update earlier, it's cause I was a complete idiot and mistakenly published the chapter while editing it.
What do you think about this chapter?
Thank you for the support ❤️💜 please remember to vote, comment and follow😊❤️
~Эмма✌🏻💕