Smoke and Mirrors {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-One: Soul-Bound

Damien BlacK

I could not hide the grin on my face as I strode back to my quarters after talking to my caged songbird. She actually believed me, actually truly believed me. I saw the hope that shone in her eyes, she actually believed that she could still save some of her pack. Such nobility, she was willing to give herself to me, something that she adamantly refused for the past few weeks and just one minute with me, she sold herself. I knew that there would be a high chance she would snap up the bait as the guilt she felt would convince her that she would need to do whatever it took to right the wrong she made. She felt as though she had failed them before, but I had always assumed that it would take days or weeks for her to finally agree to my terms.

Pack members avoided my gaze and moved out of the way as they saw the grin on my face, but I couldn't care less, finally, I would have her, something that was my right since I was born, she was going to be mine and no others. Sure, she would probably hate me when she found out the truth, but I am sure that after a few weeks of me breaking her in after the ceremony, she would just learn to live with the fact that Blackwater Pack was no more.

Yes, it was true that my scouts did find some of her pack camping a few miles away from the Blackwater Pack's Northern Border, but I never said they left them alive, they were loose ends that needed to be tied up anyway. It was easy to kill them as they were mostly the weak, injured and old that did not participate on the battlefield, so they were not much of a problem to my scouts. So if it was any consolation to her they died a quick and mostly painless death. So technically I did not lie to Sapphire, I just did not tell her the whole truth.

Every night, my sleep was plagued with nightmares of a burning castle and a woman's screams. It was fate that kept pushing Sapphire towards me, and now I shall finally honour her request. Sapphire would be mine, and mine alone. We will live as the King and Queen we once were, ruling over the packs.

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The whole pack stood before me as we waited for Sapphire to arrive at the main hall where we were all gathered. The soft light from the full moon shone in through the skylight, bathing the altar where I stood in its silvery glow. A small sound coming from the rows of seats distracted me, I cringed as I looked at Karmen's face.

It had been weeks since the fight but she still was unable to heal properly. Her wounds were still open, barely healing, and her once beautiful features were now marred with five red lines across her face. She also had been unable to shift as Sapphire had grievously injured her wolf to the point where even it was not able to heal from its wounds. Her wounds and disability still did not stop her from trying to share my bed, but her efforts were futile as I could not bear to let someone like that share my bed.

A hush fell over my pack as the guards in front of the large oaken doors slammed their ceremonial spears against the ground to signal that Sapphire had arrived. A groan could be heard as the large doors were pushed opened to reveal her, Sapphire Nightshade, a true vision in gold. Her copper skin glowed in the gold that her body was wrapped in, her hair shimmered like silk as they cascaded down her shoulders. All in all, she truly looked like an angel that had descended from the heavens except for one thing that ruined the whole mirage.

Her eyes.

They looked as they did when she entered the arena, full of fire and ready to engage in battle, that was what this is to her, a battle that she had to go through to save lives just as she did before. They looked at me, not with the passion one would expect from a mate, but rather with hatred, pure cold hatred. It did not matter much to me at the moment, she would just have to learn to love me if she wanted her pack to 'live'. I closed my eyes as she walked closer to me and when I opened them I saw her.