This is-
My wolf?
His father took a step back, just in case, there was a towering pile of terror and darkness looming over Damsel's body, invisible to the eyes, but completely apparent to the nervous system of everyone in the room.
"Mate."
The words made their way out of Damsel's gritted teeth, making even Damsel himself, who had no control over his own body anymore, surprised.
"Ereloc wants." The possessor pointed at Damsel's heart. "His mate."
His mother stared agape at what she thought was her son, and his father struggled to keep back his alpha instincts.
"Ereloc will never take anyone but his mate."
On the ground, Matthew coughed, and as surprised as she was, his mother took the chance of distraction to pull Matthew up, putting his arm around her shoulder and hoisting her up.
The other backup guards flooded the room helping their comrades with the same thing.
The guards surrounded him with caution, trapping him in a circle cage with their hands hooked on their walkie talkies.
"Ereloc will never bind with anyone but his mate."
Ereloc stared down his father, tension going back and forth between the two, but unlike Damsel, his father leashed his wolf back in his head, even though it was begging to jump upfront.
"Ereloc will kill anyone who gets in the way of getting his mate." Ereloc started, slowly walking towards the man that was his father, with steps that shook the tension.
"Ereloc will kill kill anyone who harms his mate."
Then he stopped, just infront of his father, with a slow, slow smile.
His eyelids stretched up threateningly, revealing his wide, terrifying flooded black eyes that glared down at nick's. Then, the next words that came out of Damsel's mouth sent his deep, toxic pheromones to flood the room.
"I, Ereloc, will kill Damsel, if he betrays my mate."
The toxicity of the air weighed down everyone's backs as the guards were forced down on their knees, anyone who was present in the room could feel their hearts clogging up in fear, and his father only barely managed to keep himself on both feet.
It was like the strength of his pheromones were grabbing him by his throat, suffocating him with curled hands gripping tightly.
He couldn't believe the words that had come out of the his son's wolf. Shock and disbelief were words too small to describe the emotions he was feeling.
A wolf killing their body hosts was completely possible,
but also extremely rare.
It would only happen if the host goes strongly against the wolf, to which the wolf would be driven by wrath and anger, resulting in the host being completely eaten out, from the inside.
It was a self-destructive button to put it simply.
"You-.." Nick staggered back. "You wouldn't!"
The fear traveled in Nick's veins but never made it to his facial muscles or skin. His complexion remained pale and Matte, his eyes as steady as if he were shopping for shoes. But deep down he was petrified of his threat,
If Ereloc killed damsel, he'd be killing himself aswell.
In other words,
If Ereloc's mate died, then Ereloc would kill himself to be with them.
Damsel would die along with him.
And just like that, the odbsisb atmosphere that once weighed down their systems disappeared entirely as though it had completely disappeared with a click of a finger.
With that, Damsel regained control over his body, the amount of force that he had gained suddenly drained from his knees, causing him to buck forward, If not for the guard that caught him quick on his feet, he would've likely ended up suffering from another concussion.
The people coughed for their dear breath that was stolen away from them.
-
-
Nick placed around the hospital room that had turned upside down 30 minutes prior, it took 15 minutes itself to help the guards out, and another 15 minutes to persuade the hospital to refrain from taking legal actions, promising to pay them their desired cost which the greedy administration took instantly. Cassandra had helped the limping Matthew out into another hospital room, making sure that he was escorted out without making the two look at eachother.
And now here they were.
Damsel nervously picking his nails and fiddling with the ring on his index finger nervously, refraining from looking up at his father.
"Damsel,"
His father broke the silence with a shaking voice,massaging his temples and making the boy flinch.
But the taller man sat brought a stool next to the bed that Damsel was restrained to again, the screeching sound of its legs scraping along the floor caused Damsel to wince.
"I know you didn't mean to hurt him like that," his father said defeatedly, looking at Damsel right in the eyes. "I know you would never do such a thing."
Damsel merely continued fiddling with his ring, staring at the ground in absolute guilt. "My wolf." He whispered. "I've never met him before."
His father stayed quiet.
"I've never communicated, nor felt any of his emotions. I've never interacted with him, dad." He brought his knees to his chest, burying his head. "Will he really kill me?"
His lower lip trembled.
Is it you controlling your body, or your wolf?
"Why did Matthew say that?" He broke through a whisper.
His father avoided his eyes, letting out an exhale, the same goddamn silence shook Damsel to the core,
his anger levels rising again, as quick as ever.
His father was quick to notice, and gripped Damsel's wrist with much force, he squeezed until Damsel forgot about the anger and more so concentrated on the pain that made him hiss.
"That's not important right now, Damsel." His father informed, "Just calm down, please."
"Let's talk about this another day."
Not important?
What the fuck?
Damsel opened his mouth-
"Your wolf has proven his distaste in the idea, and although I'm as keen as everyone else for this marriage to work," he started.
"It would be a faux if your wolf murdered you for betraying your mate, and there'd be no use of the marriage."
Damsel scoffed, looking to the side, oh he was fucking boiling.
That's why you're having second thought?
You fucking selfish sack of bullshit.
Fucking pussy of a father.
In that case, Ereloc saved my ass, I wouldn't mind him fronting all the time.
I wouldn't mind if he killed me right about now, either,
a quick death would be 100 times better than walking into a territory that's made it their agenda to torture and kill me. Not only Darren, but their whole pack would enjoy skinning me alive and mentally abusing me till death.
His father let out a long sigh which brought Damsel back to reality.
"I'll contact Carter for a meeting tomorrow at 1pm sharp for a reconsideration, I'll take you with me, his eldest, your betrothed, will also be there. We'll be discussing the marriage, but more so, we'll be throwing cons at them at every side." He gave the plan, in which Damsel immedietly brightened up at the idea, now listening comfortably. A sense of happiness and hope climbed his nervous system, maybe, maybe it wasn't the end. He would really have a second chance at this!
But the word betrothed made Damsel internally gag, though normally one would blush at it, it was such a disgustingly horrid word when used to describe Darren, never in a million years would he have guessed that a day would come where his father would use that word. It still felt surreal that there was a 99% chance that he'd be forced to marry that waste of space.
"Let's just hope your fiance is also against this. Maybe if his son is reluctant, he'll propose a different idea for fixing broken mends himself rather than us bringing it up."
Darren.
Oh he better be fucking against it.
No matter how shitty of a bastard he is, if he actually agrees then there's be a whole new combust of hate ready just to grow into his direction, although the asshole he is, surely,
Surely, Damsel thought.
Surely he wouldn't just give up on that damned mate of his, even if his mate is equally as annoying and fucking trash, surely he wouldn't give up his other half. We're talking about our missing halves for fuck's sake.
The plan had a 99.99% success rate.
Actually, even though the two grew up together, he never actually heard Darren talking on the topic of mates, much less giving his opinion on ideals.
But all werewolves shared 2 traits.
Their longing for their mate,
and their tendency to stick with their packs on a religious level.
"Fucking bitchass." Damsel brought his finger to his lips, biting down on his nails. "Let's do it." He finally gave in, he wouldnt go down without a fight, so it was either this last shot or abusing Darren physically and mentally for the rest of his life as revenge. He wouldn't be surprised if Darren actually accepted the marriage simply out of spite, that seemed like a dick move he'd do.
"Then rest."
Nick pat his head, letting out a sigh of relief with a smile, the moment his hand made contact with Damsel's mop of curls though, Damsel wanted to rip that hand off the man infront of him and dispose it into a shredder.
"Don't fucking touch me." Damsel growled, taking his hand and throwing it back at him in an aggressive manner.
"Get the fuck out of my room."
His father's eyes darkened.
"Damsel, I'm being extremely patient with you right now." His voice boomed threateningly. "Don't push me."
Damsel wanted to scoff, but the alpha's vibrato stiffened him in his place.
And the next thing he knew, his fathers footsteps made their way out the door, leaving Damsel in the quiet room to fend doe himself against the monsters that were his thoughts.
The silence caressed his skin like a cold gust of wind, smoothing his burning soul, taking away his jagged edges. It had been one hell of a rough day. He'd be released tomorrow, but now he was dreading that tomorrow never came, that instead he could return to the day before, to stop himself from making the one mistake that changed everything in a single day.
He felt so numb and rid of any emotions, he'd only ever known anger and longing, but now he had neither.
The more anxious he became the more pronounced became his intellectualization of the whole process. He rationalized and viewed the problem from different view points. But he just couldn't. Rather than figuring out ways to solve the mess, the only thoughts that flooded his mind were things he felt he should have done and said, things he could've changed from the whole situation, coupled with his perceived failures dominated his mind. He thought about his actions and words, finding them completely irrational now that he looked back on them.
He placed his head in his hands,
and just cried.
his shoulders trembled as he desperately hid his tears and sorrow in the palm of his hands, his slouched back shivered at the constant feelings of fear and guilt.
It had come to a point where he feared for his life,
It had come to a point where he feared for his mate's life.
It had come to a point where he feared for his whole pack's life.
All this responsibility of life and death was weighed down on the already-breaking back of a 17 year old boy who was already internally struggling.
If you looked at it from a bigger perspective, how mentally unstable would a young boy turn if he cracked under all that pressure?
Not to mention the guilt that followed every time he thought back to everything rationalizing it all being his fault, only dragging his mental state more and more down into the sea of rushing tears leaking out of his poor eyes.
His nerves were frayed to the quick. In his building anxiety he constructed elaborate rationalizations for why everything would turn out alright, but still the nagging voice in the back of his mind spoke of nothing but doom ahead.
What was he going to do?
How could he possibly fix everything?
Everything that started from a punch.
Well, obviously the only thing he's ever done at lonely times like these.
He glanced at the table next to the hospital bed, where his wallet and phone were resting untouched, of course he grabbed the phone with utmost desperacy as he scrolled through his contacts as though he were competing in a marathon.
The moment he found the contact name he was looking for, he dialed. The buzzer of the extension phone went off like an annoyed rattlesnake.
Ringing!
Riiinggg..
Riinggg..
the sound violated his eardrums.
Then it stopped, the caller on the other side picked up.
"Hey plum."
Vincent's groggy voice answered again, he just woke up again, he was a college student after all.
Damsel could feel the soft panic that grew, the panic that held a knife up to his neck, he opened his mouth to explain his thoughts and feelings but it was too much of a capacity to fit, there were so many words he wanted to say that in the end all that came out was a sob.
"Plum-"
"Vincent- I dont- Fuck." Damsel cried into the phone, he felt so shitty, the only times he called that number on his phone were times he was at his worst, he was always crying. "I don't know what to fucking do-." Damsel started tripping on his words as he desperately tried getting thousands of words out at once, to no avail obviously.
"Calm down," Damsel heard the shuffling of sheets and cloth on the other side, most likely Vincent had gotten up from his cries. "Speak slowly, it's okay."
"I-," Damsel paused for a hiccup to come through, before whimpering. "I-.. I've to get married to that shit-head."
When he said that sentence it seemed like he had to really accept it, the thought merely pulled even more tears down, he was ugly crying.
"What?" His voice suddenly became more dangerous and low.
For the next 30 minutes Damsel sat explaining(while pausing every 2 seconds to catch his breath) everything that had happened since the last time he called, him fainting, the hospital room, the news, Matthew flipping out on him, and their plans for tomorrow.
"Plum, listen to me." Vincent re-assured.
"Go with Nick's plans, it's the only option we have."
"But Vincent, what if the shit-head goes along with no problems!" He cried.
"Damsel, think about it realistically," Vincent's tone turned soft as he started his explanation. "As much I hate to admit it, Darren's a strong-headed guy, he wouldn't throw away his mate bond for anyone, especially not for you." Damsel heard a sigh from the other line, "The guy hates you, and you hate him, he's probably feeling the same thing as you right now."
Damsel stayed silent, wiping his eyes as the tears magically for some reason.
"But.." Vincent carried off. "Let's say he does rebel against his father."
"Then?" Damsel perked up, bringing the speaker closer to his ear.
"Then.." Vincent started.
"Then propose a deal, tell him to give you six months after your 18th birthday, if your mate doesn't show up within those six months, then you'll submit to a consensual political marriage." He spoke with utmost confidence in his voice.
Damsel panicked, did he expect his mate to come ringing at his door with a bag an belongings?
All thoughts of the cold air banished behind a wall of worry. Half his brain gave him the reasons that what Vincent was saying was going to work out and the other bombarded him with every realistic mate bonding that took years, or maybe even decades to form. I mean his parents met after 7 years of turning 18 for fucks sake! It wasn't just a ding, dong, I'm here because you just turned 18 and now we can immediately live happily ever after!
"But- It takes years for people to find their mates, some pairs are on the other sides of the worlds to each other!"
"You'll find your mate, Damsel." The confidence and assurance in his tone was so clear that Damsel felt goosebumps, he wanted to ask how he was so sure about it, but he was quickly interrupted.
"McDonalds said all that, though?" Damsel heard a snicker, Vincent was on the other line laughing his ass off.
"It's not fucking funny, Who knew Matthew was in it for the pros only, what the fuck?" Damsel wiped his eyes aggressively with his palms.
"Matt isn't that type of guy."
Vincent stopped laughing, talking more seriously.
"I thought the same thing, but look who turned out to be fucking wrong." Damsel spat, clenching his fists.
"No for real," Vincent cut in, his tone more questioning than factly, "Maybe something happened to him, I know Matt wouldn't say that shit-."
"Well he fucking did." Damsel was quick to interrupt.
"And even if he was going through some shit, it doesn't change the fact that he was already having those thoughts."
"Words don't come from nothing, they come from the mind and heart, Vincent."
Vincent stayed quiet on the other line, before talking.
"Did you have to beat him up like that?" Vincent asked, "You could've just demoted him-."
"He fucking ordered me, his alpha, to kill my fucking mate, then proceeded to call me selfish for not wanting to go into a hell hole!" Damsel yelled through the phone, angry tears pricking out and his palms turning white from their circulation being cut off.
"Damsel, you know he wasn't the one telling you to go over there, it was the board's decision, and you know Matt never loses his cool unless it was something important." Vincent spoke softly and slowly, using a calm tone unlike the others that Damsel had confronted today, it didnt feel like Vincent was scolding him nor supporting him, it was like Vincent was just informing him about something.
"You know Matt's situation, he's the last person to care about the rest of the pack." Vincent laughed,
"I'm betting my mate that something else was said to him beforehand-"
"I know!" Damsel yelled, immedietly causing the other line to stiffen.
"I know.. Matt's been with me for my whole life, I'd know if something was wrong, today, when I looked in his eyes- his eyes were puffed and red- he was crying before, but I lost it when he brought my mate into it-"
"I-, I didn't mean to-. I didn't mean to jump on him like that! It was like I was out of my own shoes, I couldn't control my arms or thoughts," he frantically placed through his words to find a good reasoning,
"Ereloc!"
Damsel remembered the name. "That's my wolf, right? He came out- for the first time. It wasn't me-."
"That wasn't the first time, Damsel."
..
"What..?"
"Ah, I've gotta hurry and get to class." Vincent quickly rushed through, talking as if he was reciting the dictionary as he didnt let Damsel even get a word in. "Update me, yeah?"
And just like that, he hung up.