07

CHAPTER 7: A Deadly Revelation

I was convinced something was possessing him, I spoke to an old Luna colleague I had before she because the Luna of her clan, she told to accept that sometimes an Alpha mate gets angry, they lash out without respecting their female mates, this however is just never done when the female is pregnant. Has society accepted the fact that werewolf males, ones like these will stand, is allowed. If I took this bastard to court, I could win every penny he had, every asset he claimed under his name.

Martin side glances me during dinner, “You’re angrier than usual, it’s been a week.” A week since he caged me, six days since I saw another man’s reflection in a puddle of water from snow I melted with my hands alone. Something I didn’t mention to anyone, the face I saw, the ice I melted with an ability I shouldn’t have, and when I burned him before.

He swallows his slice of steak next to me, “I’m sorry for my behaviour, Celestine.” He whispers to me.

I don’t even look at him, shoving my napkin on my half-eaten plate, “You might as well have whipped me, arsehole. Knocking me out in a silver cage is almost as torturous. Tell me, does your kin agree with how you handle me?” I ask him, my voice not screaming, but it caused a few heads to turn this way, forks are moved on a quieter notion while Robert tenses next to a wide-eyed Reina.

Lorelei stills where she eats next to Vulcan, the supposed brother. Martin’s silver eyes stare only at his food, I stare him down, “The tournament consists of all council members to be there, I have a voice and I have a say as being a loyal member to the board, all I need is a mind-reader considering your loyal subjects will lie for an abusive swine, but I will not.” I say to him, my face empty, dull, but not broken.

Never.

Martin grabs my arm, he drags us out of the room and I rip my arm away from him, “I am sorry for what I did to you, I know that was wrong, I know it. I don’t know what the fuck I was even thinking when it happened, alright, I’m fucking sorry, Celestine.” He pleads for me to look at him, he grabs my waist and I stare at him incredulously, this fool was kneeling in front of me, down below.

“You’re doing this because you don’t want to be pulled publicly as a domestic abuser, and you are one. That is not how the law works—you said to me, that there is no such thing as equality, huh? I’ll have you examined under a fucking microscope if you so much as touch me again.” I shove him off and spin around, I wasn’t putting up with this.

“You won’t touch me! You won’t even try to make this work!” He roars from behind me and in horror, I watch his eyes deepen in colour, darkening to a charcoal void. My neck is grabbed painfully,“You put me in front of the board and I’ll kill you without remorse.”

His tone of voice was a snake-like hiss, it reverberated across my spine and I choke on his grip, feeling my lungs burn with need before it’s released. The air rushes in with crashing waves as he gulps in his own horror, his eyes glassy as his hands shake, he reaches out to me, pain in his face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—I—I—” I hide the tremble in my hand, swallowing as he drops his head against my stomach, pressing soft kisses against it as he apologises profusely. I stare beyond him where his Betas and Gamma stand taut, unsure, and shaken too.

“I swear, I’m not like this, I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Challenging an Alpha is dangerous. His fingers scrap the skin of my waist from the crease in the shirt that lifted up ever-so-slightly. The aura in the air was strong and bitter, thick and heavy, it suffocated those around it and shakily, I place a hand on the back of his head as he cries out in painful sobs, each ‘sorry’ breathed out made me review the situation. I had to think safely, logically. He was too dangerous and he had to have known why we weren’t compatible. What I needed to understand is what the hell made him think we were.

He slept on my lap in his grand bedroom with an arched ceiling. I couldn’t sleep, no sane girl would while he had his arm locking my legs together, sleeping soundly. I stare at him, he had the ability to use my abilities, sometimes even my power, like the ability to teleport was a hidden one. I hadn’t even shown the courts I had such a supernatural force in its rarity on my side, in my blood.

I look down, his head is cuddled in, my hand on his bare back remains tense. He doesn’t sense it, I feel his wolf, completely at ease with no motion, no fear, no anger, just an inner peace that I found more disturbing than anything else. He believes his skin turns me on in a way, holds some sort of electrical energy that lets him know I’m his. His wolf kept murmuring it in his head, snuggling and purring like a kitten in his mind. I watched the beast, muscular and uncontrollable rest soundly while Martin was resting and I was sick. Sick to my stomach after what he’d done, after his actions and he thought I would just let it slide by.

I made it look like it would, but I needed a plan, I needed to come up with a way to remove him from any equation of mine, presently and for my future, for the safety of it, I had to. The pillows were riddled with my scent, I swapped my position for one and he stirs but cuddles the woodenly made pillow. Harder than the others, good enough to pass off as I slip out the door and move to his office.

I slipped in undetected.

Staring at the numerous bookshelves, I felt as though I was staring at a mountain of files in a lawyer’s office, bloody ridiculous, I didn’t even know where to start, taking the beast to court seemed like such a mundane act, I wanted more rights to kill him over jailing him.

Moving past shelves of scrolls and what smells like a line of ghosts hidden in and behind the shelves, I moved further down just to take note of the number of books registering the multiple packs. I found the one with Darkling on it, the closest one, and pulled it off the shelf quietly so as to not wake another soul.

To my hope, at least.

I turn around with it, moving to one of the tables where a set of candles magically light, this time it wasn’t my doing, at least not knowingly. Opening the cover was a heavy entrapment, used to lure me in by the front page with some stupid picture of a castle I vaguely recognised. I pause when I look at the lock tower at the hilt of second tallest room, its sharp roof edge and doorless, windowless edges refined and trimmed in the drawing. But it was unmistakable, a woman’s shadow, hair down, face to the side, no clear image of her in detail, but she was there.

I shake my head, focusing more at the task on hand, I open up the book and just find the multiple battles waged and won by the ridiculous clan who disappeared out of thin air centuries ago. Reason being, unknown. The council couldn’t have done it, but other races, I have no say for, no explanation for, either. I needed something in this wretched castle, flicking the pages, I read further about an alliance with an elemental, a powerful one.

I still when I look at a drawing of such an elemental, in a uniform but not a school one, frosty pale hair, eyes of midnight blue, but what was even more fascinating was the sharp icicles drawn around the male. An elemental of the water lineage, something easier to refer them too when they prefer using ice as weapons over the point of drowning their enemies.Artemis Fawn,or ratherArtemis Frost,according to the notes written here. I stare at him, unknowingly caught off guard...he looked easy on the eyes, calm and collected, a little too much so considering I see a streak of darkness, even in the Armani modelesque drawing of him.

His involvement with the Darkling clan was rocky, he became a head leader of a nation, surprising his allies given he had an older brother, one that dissapeared after the reign of their kingdom was given to Artemis, not the older brother who led armies, fought battles more detrimental than even Artemis Fawn himself. However what was more interesting was the Darkling Kingdom, in a realm unheard of, I don’t even believe it would be in any archive, the Fawn Kingdom in the same ancient lands. The Elder Nations.

A place only certain magical folk could locate.

“Is learning our history more important than sleeping with your mate?”

His voice is a conundrum of curiosity and a darkness I didn’t want a scent or taste of, yet got it anyway. I don’t know if I could ever truly describe a man too possessed by his own beast to see logic when its sitting in front of him waving a red flag and demanding freedom when he won’t release the noose he has around my neck, “I thought you needed the sleep, perhaps it will make you more lenient tomorrow, my mistake.” I mutter, moving to the next page and stilling when hands move to my waist, he leans me back.

“I’m sorry, baby.” He whispers against my hairline. I clench my jaw, he moves to the chair next to me, taking a slow seat, his silver eyes a stark contrast to the dark strands atop his head.

I look over him, “Why do you have a cage in your room?”

He studies me, “I use it to centre my wolf, I never believed I’d use it to make my mate comply when her anger continuously assaults’ my senses, its making my beast aggressive when he shouldn’t be.” He thinks that’s enough to explain.

I give him a dry look, “Do you understand the term ‘abusive’? Right next to it, as an example under the definition is a picture of you face and details, like your name, age, occupation and a warning sign to avoid you at all costs. I found it when I had to cuddle you just to stop you from ripping my throat out. Perhaps next time I’ll find something more lethal to take you down.” I tell him, my voice so flat it sounded dead. An empty case screwed with sarcasm.

He raises an eyebrow at me, “Good thing that term does not match my appearance or anything else, I have been far more lenient than others are with their mates.”

“That misogynistic crap should stop.” I spit.

He sighs in defeat, “Yet your leaders don’t address such miniscule matters.”

I’ll make his face a fucking miniscule matter.

“How would you like it if I caged you?” I throw it back on him, see if he would step into my shoes, but in other words, I was fluffing around, this conversation was pointless when discussing it with a man who didn’t treat any other being as an equal, like his beast alone has a right to be so uncontrollable to hurt others. Like Martin doesn’t have a say in the matter.

Did he think I was delusional?

Too weak to fight back? Was he testing the fight in me and just waiting until I crack enough that I will give in?

“I’d be impressed, and perhaps even turned on.” He chuckles, looking relaxed.

I blink at him, he stares at me, not the book before me, “Why are you reading up on a dead elemental?” He asks me.