Chapter 27
Nigel Quintin Ulysses
They are still following me, the people from Marcus' place. They keep their distance but I feel them following me, their eyes lingering on me. There's this urge to go back to where I left Marcus, to give him a comfort. I wish I could do that, but the werewolves come to life inside my head, and they are vicious, snarky, cunning, and deadly. The fear is strong, and no matter what I tell myself that Marcus is a good person (or a fucking werewolf for that matter), I just can't change my mind about it.
Marcus has taken care of me and did everything he could to make me happy. In return, I hurt him. I denied his love. I denied to be in love with him. Images of smiling Marcus plays in my head and it hurts. Tears begin again to stream down my face, and I can't do anything to stop them. My heart feels like it's going to explode because of the fucking pain I'm experiencing. I just want to curl down, let myself cry until it doesn't hurt anymore, until I forget everything because honestly, this is just too much for me. I didn't ask for this to happen. I didn't ask to meet someone like Marcus yet here we are, in this mess.
When I reach my home, as usual, there's no one inside. Even as I near my house, I feel the emptiness and hollowness, just like my heart. I get inside and find everything the way I left them before Marcus and I went to the school. I take a seat on the couch and take a sharp breath, replaying all of what happened today. Then I cry again for God knows how long.
I don't know how long I've been crying. Night comes and I still haven't moved from the couch. I was just staring into nothingness while Marcus was inside my head, torturing every being of me. I can't think straight, and all I can feel is the emptiness.
For a moment, there's a rustle, a movement, outside my house and I imagine that it's nothing. I refuse to believe that whatever happened earlier isn't real. I know it's dumb and totally stupid of me, but that's the only way I can think of to help myself from this state. Then there's another rustle again, this time louder, so I get up from the couch and walk slowly towards the window, moving the curtain a bit to peer outside.
The moon is full, dark clouds swirling above, indicating that it's going to rain any time soon. Trees stand tall outside, and there are no cars or people walking by on the road. Looking for a few more seconds, I let out a sigh and decide to head back on the couch and think of how I ruined Marcus' life. Just saying, or even thinking, of his name is enough to cause me pain. I have no tears to cry and I just stare everywhere, feeling helpless, hopeless.
Then the front door has been suddenly busted, breaking into several pieces and when I see the one who did it, my eyes widen.
Marcus' eyes are bloodshot, his skin pale. His breathing is erratic, chest heaving up and down rapidly. He looks like a mess and I feel guilty about it. He falls on his knees and cough out loud, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath. I immediately run beside him but prevent myself from touching him. The fear is still there, living in my heart.
"You need to get out of here," Marcus wheezes out, holding my arm as his eyes meet mine. "Get out of here, as far as possible. You... you need to get out of here."
What he's saying doesn't make any sense yet I try to understand him. But still, I refuse to touch him. His eyes glisten and just seeing it makes me want to cry again, but there are no tears anymore. There are no tears anymore because I just fucking cried all day and the pain hasn't faded nor it subsided.
"Marcus, just get out of here, please," I tell him, my voice breaking as I stare at him pleadingly. "I can't be with you right now. I can't.... I just can't."
"You need to get out of here right now, Nigel," Marcus blabbers as he tries to stand up, putting a lot of effort to help himself. I wish I could help him now, but my feet feel like it's glued on the ground, and I can't fucking move. "I... I understand you don't want me as your mate, but you need to get out of here now. As far as you can. As fast as possible."
"What are you talking about?" I ask him, finally having the strength to stand up.
"They are... they are..."
The windows of the house start breaking and I yelp, clutching Marcus' arms and suddenly, there's a figure standing in the doorway. A man. His eyes are red, his hair is as black as a void, and the way he smiles is sinister.
Standing frozen, Marcus' steps in front of me, extending his arm in front of me and for a moment, I'm glad that Marcus has come here. The man is tall and he's taller than Marcus. Marcus' eyes glow blue again and I'm starting to have a panic attack again. The man's complexion is pale, but not as pale as Marcus', and his aura screams danger and trouble.
"Cute," the man speaks in a deep voice and his eyes tilt to the side as his red eyes train on me. My heart hammers in my chest and I scoot closer to Marcus', hiding myself behind him. "What a great ending. Your mate finally accepted you?" His lips curl into a smile and his eyes seem to glow redder.
"Leave him alone," Marcus says through gritted teeth.
"Ah, I see he didn't." The man says then stares at me again. "Forgive me, but I shall introduce myself. I am the leader of the rogues, the Great Alpha of the rogues." Then in a swift move, he's already in front of Marcus and punches him hard on the face. The man winks at me upon seeing my reaction. "Is this the Guardian of the Werewolves? So weak. I thought you were stronger."
Marcus rolls onto his side and kicks the man on his stomach, making him stumble back and he bares his fangs. Marcus tries to stand up and falls on the ground. Slowly I back away, and when the man sees my movement, he bares his fangs at me and lunges himself. Marcus intervenes, grabbing the man's foot and throwing him on the wall with so much strength that the wall of my house has been destroyed.
"I see you haven't recovered your power," Marcus says through ragged breath. There's already blood streaming down his temple. "I won't let you touch my mate."
The man is running again towards us and Marcus prepares himself. As soon as the man is within an arm reach, Marcus throws his fist into the man's face and the man ducks, gaining an advantage of hitting Marcus on the side. He bares his fangs again and spreads his fingers wide, revealing the nails so pointy that it could slice anyone or anything. He begins to claw Marcus, but Marcus keeps evading it. Marcus seems tired. He is tired and yet here he is, protecting me from this evil man.
My back is already on the wall as I watch them fight and break things. For a moment, I watch the man struggles, and Marcus has the upper hand to defeat him. Marcus looks awesome. But he's tired and it looks like he wouldn't last. There's already a blood gushing out of his side, and he's trying to compose himself as he fights the man. Even though the man hasn't recovered his powers as what Marcus said a few minutes ago, the man is still strong. I can't think of anything to do to help him. And the fact that I'm afraid to the both of them isn't helping my situation. The man is already bloodied as well and he's glaring hard at Marcus, then a sly smirk curls into his lips.
"Marcus, how does it feel to be rejected by your mate?" he asks Marcus, but the sly smirk doesn't leave his lips. Marcus seems to be having an emotional breakdown. "Even after you killed me, your mate will never accept you. Even if I didn't have the chance to kill you now, your mate will. Because in his eyes, we are all a freak, a monster. The vicious ones."
"That's... that's..."
"That is the truth, Guardian," the man grits out. "Humans are scared of us, that's why having a human mate is forbidden as it led to the Hunters being born. Now history will repeat itself just because of a Guardian having a human mate. Your mate will never accept you." He makes sure that Marcus understand every word that comes out of his mouth.
"That's a lie..." There are tears in his eyes again.
I want to tell him no, that I could accept him but I can't even say anything. It's like the words are stuck in my throat and I lose the capability to speak at all. Marcus stares at me with sadness in his eyes, waiting for me to say something. But I can't. The fear in my eyes is evident, but that fear is not because of Marcus and his kind anymore. It is because of the evil man grinning as he watches me and Marcus. Then Marcus' face falls down and I want to tell him that I'm not afraid of him anymore; that I want him to be by my side; that I could love him just as he is. But he sees a different thing from me.
"It's time to die," the man states as he growls. At first, he moves towards Marcus' direction, but then he changes course and everything becomes a slow-motion scene to me.
The man's pointy and deadly claws are just meters away from me.
There's a glowing blue aura.
Marcus is suddenly in front of me, his forehead resting against mine.
Then he whispers, "You know I will always love you, right?"
My eyes widen.
Blood splatters everywhere.
There's a gunshot.
Marcus' eyes start to close as we both fall onto the ground.
The man is nowhere to be seen around.
And I watch as Marcus loses his life while the tears come in heavy.