Hello everyone, me again. Yes I am indeed alive. I realized I need to put it out here for you guys that I have been away from writing for a long long loooong time now and I'm deeply sorry for disappearing... (I know yet again).
And to make it official, my updates are going be hugely irregular but I will complete this story.
Here's another one. Enjoy!
P.S Pour your thoughts in the comments, I love reading them.
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Aurora
"You're healing at a good pace Aurora but it's still not normal for a werewolf," Andrew spoke as he examined me. He took a look at my arms. "The bruises are near-gone." Then a look at my neck. "The mating mark, however, is not looking good. Are you taking the herb mixture I gave?"
"Yes," I lied uncomfortably. I thought I had given Andrew the slip but he flashed a knowing look out of the corner of his eye.
Right after Demetrius' proposal, almost a week ago, I had met Andrew. He was sort of a doctor to the pack and was helping me to heal. Well, physically anyway as Demetrius had instructed him. We had formed that doctor-patient type of bond but Andrew always tried to push the boundaries and make me feel at ease.
"You know I can help you, only if you want to get better. The herb mixture will help you relax your mind and when your mind will start to heal then and only then will this mating mark." Andrew advised, taking a seat behind his wooden table.
"I do want to get better. It's just..."
"But not for Demetrius."
I would have been shocked but with the way Andrew was, I wasn't. Even though I had learnt enough of Andrew in the few days we'd spent together, I wasn't about to share my thoughts with him. He could be in on Demetrius' ulterior motives as well.
"It's just that the taste was too bitter for my liking and it made my head go all fuzzy, the first time I took it."
"Oh." Andrew looked surprised. "I can fix the bitterness, that's easy. The fuzzy feeling you got was just a minor side-effect. Nothing to worry about. You should have it mixed with warm water every night before bed and regularly. Especially regularly for it to work."
"For it to work?" I asked. What exactly was in that herb mixture? It wasn't like I could ask for the ingredients from the local drug store. Plus my dear friend Google was out of the question.
Andrew chuckled. "I'm not going to poison you Aurora. Just medicinal herbs to calm the mind because that's what your mind needs right now."
"What my mind needs is to get away from this cursed mating." I mumbled underneath my breath.
I decided to head back to the kitchen to grab something to eat, hearing the thunderstorm rumbling in my belly.
Before I could get up, I smelt Demetrius making his way over to Andrew's room. This time around his scent was getting familiar to my nose and I could have easily picked it up even in a crowded stadium. Demetrius' attitude had changed ever so slightly towards me. Nowadays he didn't make it a point and his special agenda to go out of his way and make me miserable. He just let me be. I liked it that way. I could pretend that he was non-existent.
I could tell he was standing right behind the chair I was seated in.
"Well Andrew. Can she return to school tomorrow?" The words were spoken emotionlessly. He was serious!
Hope rumbled loudly in my heart but I stopped my Cheshire grin cold in its tracks. There must be a 'but' around the corner.
Andrew nodded. "She's getting along quite well. Although I don't think tomorrow is a good idea."
Oh no! I should have taken that medicine!
"I feel well Andrew. Really." I sounded so desperate.
Demetrius must have motioned Andrew to leave because he got up and closed the door soundlessly behind us.
Yet again as if an old habit, his scent settled deep into my pores. Now it'd take ages to get off.
"I really have healed. Andrew just said that because the mark is not showing much difference," I began to reason.
He walked round and casually leant against the table so that I had to look up to him. He never let go of the chance of power-play. He was dressed just as though he'd walked out of a corporate meeting - his pants black and a white buttoned shirt folded up to his elbows.
He studied me with scrutiny and finally spoke, "And that mark is my top concern. It has not healed well enough, it has not changed much at all, in fact." He tilted his head subtly. "That mark can only improve with one thing."
"What?" I asked, willing to do anything in the hopes of seeing my friends and clutching to the link of my real life.
"You have to accept me..." He paused as though debating to say his next words. "...as your mate."
I knew he would say something impossible and throw my hopes to the wind. I had to do something! This could be my last chance to get home!
I had to make him understand. I could try at least. Lies were sort of becoming an easy thing to me.
I had started to fidget with my hands, clasping and unclasping them. "I-I can try. I can start to try. If you send me back to school I promise to try and accept the mating."
I couldn't tell if he was pleased or not but he definitely knew that he had me on the ropes.
"I would like to see you try now. Kiss me."
That was it. How he could look so cold and unfeeling when he said those words to his mate? Forced mating or not, I couldn't help but feel dismal and rejected. I diverted my eyes away from him to the wooden table behind, willing my heart to stop pounding away. The steady lub-dup roared in my ears and he could hear it as well.
My priority was to get away from this man. How ironic.
Mind over matter, my feet made me get up and close the meagre gap between us. His steely eyes shot scrutiny but I looked past everything and reached up to kiss him.
Fight or flight mode it is then. This would mean nothing to him and that should be the same case with me. Still, I couldn't quell my emotions.
I closed my eyes, drawing closer. My lips brushed against his close set mouth and his hands took hold of my shoulders. He pulled away and said, "That's enough."
His gaze drifted downwards and then back to my face.
"That's not how you kiss, if I recall correctly'," I spat not able to control myself. I knew his stubborn male ego would be longing to get in the boxing ring with mine. In the end he definitely would get his way.
He stood and watched, his arms still on my shoulders. "With you, I've understood one thing." He let go. "Tomorrow you can go to school."
Demetrius
Her lips trembled ever so slightly when she drew nearer, she was desperate. I wondered how far was she willing to go? And how far would I let her go before I lost control? The effects of Andrew's potion were looking futile as she came willingly to me. Her eyes were closed now but her heartbeat was frantic. Oh she was so desperate.
Her soft lips pressed against my mouth and my body burned. I pulled away.
"That's enough."
A glance at her neck showed me that the mark had started to improve already. The effect was immediate.
"With you, I've understood one thing." I let her go. With this little one, you had to wait for her to come to you. Her vulnerabilities were useful. "Tomorrow you can go to school."
She quelled in an instant and her pounding heart relaxed.
Andrew told me to not force her into doing anything but I figured if I just teased the borders it might do the job. By pulling away, I had planted the seed of confusion in her mind about my behavior. What she needed was emotional healing. Even if the heart cannot be persuaded, the mind was a fickle thing that could be.
If I offered her solace then she could be manipulated.
"Tomorrow morning at 7.30, I will drop you there." I filled in. I could tell she was still hesitant to believe me but that was fine. As long as that mark healed.
Her face was sunken. "Why are you doing this? And why now?"
"So that you heal. Go on, look at your mark."
Her hand flew to her neck and she felt the difference. There was only smooth skin there with a smudge of redness as any indication of a diseased mark.
"And what is your real motive for doing this?" She questioned, a steely expression resting on her face.
I had come to admire her courage. She wasn't someone to be broken physically.
I took a step forward. "I can't have my mate wasting away in front of my eyes. I chose you for a reason... Aurora."
Her deep-set eyes widened in apparent shock. First, probably because I said her name and not mutt. She hated that nickname.
She stood her ground. "What reason?"
I couldn't help but feel drawn to tell her, wanting to tell her why I was doing this. Needless to say the desire for my inner wolf to ease my mate's suffering was overpowering Andrew's concoction.
Giving in to the impulse, I put my hand at the small of her back. She stiffened instantly but didn't pull away. Even she felt comforted by our contact. I drew her close.
"Why are you doing this Demetrius? Why did you have to ruin both our lives by doing this?" Her voice quivered a tad. "I had a life, my Dad, my friends! You took it all away from me. They will never accept me now. Even if you let me go, I can never go back to my old life."
"And why is it that they won't accept you? Ask yourself that. Have you changed so much that you have become a stranger to them? Why won't they accept you?"
She remained quiet for a while. "The Elders. T-they... I'm mated to a rogue... my blood.."
"Precisely. They have labelled you as having contaminated blood just so you have been mated to me. Just for that sole reason and nothing else. You didn't commit a crime so why is it so that you will be shunned? Your so called Elders are nothing but a group of hollow, pretentious pricks who have claimed power for themselves. What part of this seems right to you?"
The color left her face.
"Open your eyes and see the reality of the society you live in. These Elders... who gave them the power to make decisions? They took it Aurora... they snatched the freedom of countless werewolves and turned it into power." I poured angrily. "And this pureblood bullshit... I'd like to see the blood of the Elders when they bleed and then tell if it's pure or not. All these baseless rules that bind werewolves today, making limitations and taking away our true freedom - that is what contaminates blood! And do you know what the sad part is?"
She was at a loss for words.
"The sad part is that purebloods are prisoners and they don't even know it. At least we, rogues, have that much."
She stumbled with a jerk and collapsed on the chair. Her face grew as pale as the moon outside and her emotions hit my wolf like a derailed train.
"I am not the bad guy here. Wake up before it's too late because for so many people it already is."