Blood, fire and death

Chapter 21

"It's your fault you know." Eliza voiced as she walk from the shadows of her cousin's office. She had snuck through the window a while ago and could have waited in the darkness for him to address her presence. But thou her job relied on her abundance of patience, her cousin was known to run it dry. Paired with his recent bad mood, she did find it wise to challenge it. 

"I'm not in the mood" True to his recent habit, the alpha bit out the sentence with a growl. Somehow, he managed to do so without once looking up from his task. His hand scribbled away on the documents. Eliza watched him work for a moment, deciding wither he was calm enough to approach, in the end she placed her bets on the table and crossed the room to seat at the side of his desk. A hand bravely reached to cast a obsucting shadow over his work. 

"Tell me, what's happening?" She asked, once met with her Cousin's warning gaze. 

The silence that fallowed was heavy, he glared at her and she tried hard to keep her expression calm and calming. Hoping that her neutral state would calm the rage that steamed out of him in waves. Fortunaletly, he placed down the pen, leaned back in his seat and sigh. His head raised to stare at the ceiling. 

"I'm angry" He began, Eliza silently let out a sigh of relief. "I am rritated, and annoyed." Roy continued. " I want to howl and kill. I'm barely holding back the need to.." He trailed off, swallowing the rage that threatened to consume him.

"Go on a hunt. Run wild." Eliza advised knowning already that he had done both and more. 

"I did" The alpha confirmed what she already knew. Running a free hand over his face before sitting up and pointed his golden eyes on his cousin. She could see the pain in his eyes, but greater still was his hate, he hate this feeling, how it easily dominated his every waking moment and sometimes even his sleep. 

Roy turn his gaze away, he did not want to show this weakness, did not want to admite to it. 

"You can't let it rule you." Eliza told him. " You're an alpha right?"

Roy almost smirk at her words. It was funny, having this conversation with the cousin that made it a point never to acknowledge his position at the top of the pack. He could only imagine how low he must look to her. Taking a deep breath, he let the words sink in, so that it would reach his pride and leave a scar that would serve a great lesson. If Aaron was to return and see him like this...

"Even from afar he drives me to madness" He commented with a half laugh. But Eliza wasn't ready to drop the air of seriousness that surrounded her.

And so, she asked the question that had been hunting her since the moment she learned the reason behind Aaron's departure.

"Why did you do it?" She asked."You're not an idiot, you would have known he wouldn't have taken too kind to having things decided for him, especially like you did"

Roy had been asking himself that question constently, yet even with the consequences they brought he couldn't regret his actions. It was normal for him to want to protect that which is his own. His pack, his family, his mate. Not only as alpha but as both a man and a wolf. He regretted nothing, thus he had no intention of justifying anything, not to his cousin. Not even to himself.

With a look, the alpha was able to transfore this information, and Eliza was about to underst. Thus she didn't bother to say anything else and instead got to her feet and spoke her final piece on the subject. 

"I know that you think that you're protecting him. But part of trusting someone is leaving them to their own failures without doubt in their success. You're free to shield him if you think it's necessary, he's human after all but we aren't that durable either"

Meanwhile in a hidden mansion hidden amonsgt the tress, Aaron stepped out of the shower and instantly reach for one of two towels hanging on the drying rack. He first dried his hair before using the other towel to dry his body. When he was done, he wrapped his waits and moved to stand infront of the full body mirrior. Using the humid towel he'd use on his hair and face, he wipped the fog from the glass only to wince at the image that greeted him.

Tired eyes circle in black saggy skin. He looked pale and drain but what caught his eyes was the gash from neck to shoulder. No matter how well it was covered. Aaron's finger bypassed every barrier to claw at the flesh of his nape. It hurts, yet he felt numb, drugged by his sleepless nights and inability to keep anything down since he'd left Roy's side. It was detestable that he'd be reduced to such a state. Yet he found himself smirking at his reflection.

This was a test he will not fail. He would ignore the voices in his head that told him to run back to his mate like some lost pet. Pay no mind the the pull that tugged at his abdomen, pointing his way home. He refuse to be at Roy's side without the will to leave. He refused to be a prisoner of this need he'd developed. He will free himself. So that when he returned to his alpha's side, because he will return, it would be with the knowledge that he could leave at anytime. That his loyalty was of his own will and not the will of some being he cared nothing about. 

..........

Jane sat at her vanity. She didn't reside in the main house, nor anywhere near it like the rest of the members of the council. Instead she made a home for herself, a cabin a distance away.  She built everything herself, and what she couldn't do she financed at her own expense. The most recent renovation had all been done by hand. Even the the cutting of the tress and carving of the stones. 

It had not been fun, it was actually tidious but it was a test. A display of her own strenght and self reminder of who how far she had come.

She belt her sanctuary in her own little corner and covered it with proff of her stranght, her worth and and her the results of her hard work and ambition. She had to, she was obligated to to suround herself of what she was now, because everytime she looked in the mirrion, she only saw the girl she once was. 

Despite the traces of age around her blue eyes, despite her dyed blond hair she still saw that girl.  

The girl who was beautiful and naive. The girl that shee tears and threw herself at the feet of those who wronged her. The one that begged to be kept and stupiedly promised to turn a bling eye to all the other who shared her lover's bed. The same that felt despear and self pitty when reject.Despite the pain and the humiliation he'd cause, still she reduced herself to nothing, lower than a dog, telling herself that he was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Just because of the way her heart would beat in her chest, the fluttering in her stomach and the sparks that ligh into flames at his touch. She had trully felt honored to have his attention. And when she looked into the mirrior, she was reminded of those disgusting memory. Even know she thought of him when he had  cared so little for her that when she disappear, a spoil child attempt of catching his attention, he simply moved on. She'd ran away and he didn't even look for her.

The mating bound was joke, one were she had been the punch line.

So when she decided to move on, she chose the pack that hated the bound as much as she did. She trained, bleed and barely made it through the ceremony, she crawled her way up, not only to the position in the council but out of the mud, the grime and filt she had allowed herself to be swallowed in.

And on that journey of self redomention, she found a leader that was worthy to be respected, followed, adored and protected. From threats both foreign and domestic. But also from himself and Luna's cruel fate.

Jane tore her eyes from her reflection and gently smiled at ther picture that sat frame at the corner of her vanity. Her eyes shone as she looked at hit. 

"I'll protect you" She promised. "I'll always protect you."

...

As promised, thank you for reading.