The Beast Within Us

Chapter 25: Stone Cold

I follow Conan into the main house. As we walk in, I notice that not much has changed in my absence. I wasn't really expecting things to be different but, I wasn't expecting everything to be the same either.

"Everything looks so... peaceful," I state. "I feel like I never left."

Conan looks back at me and gives me a half smile. My face heats up and I avoid eye contact. I don't know what to call this relationship. We are still rocky, I can feel it, but at least he is willing to try. It feels good knowing that he wants to give us a chance.

I look around, noticing I am in a part of the main house I have never been in before. The walls are pure white and the doors are made of fine wood, different from other doors in the house.

"This is where all the Alpha business takes place," Conan speaks like he could sense my uneasiness. "Only high ranking wolves are allowed here."

I nod in understanding, trying to remember each room and what's in them. After all, I am going to have to familiarize myself with this place, aren't I?

My eyes drift towards a large stone block in a wall. It is clearly out of place here among everything else. I walk past Conan and up at the block of stone. It is taller than all of the other doors in length, nearly reaching the ceiling. I trace the cracks in the stone with my finger, mesmerized by it.

"Why is this here? It doesn't belong here, does it?" I ask, turning towards Conan.

I can see that he is lost in his own thoughts, trying to either muster up an answer or fight back the truth. I furrow my eyebrows as I stare at his pale face, turning my body fully toward him.

"Conan?" I speak.

His eyes snap towards me. He lets out the breath he had been holding in and tries to find the words to speak again.

"N-No. No, it doesn't belong here." He answers while walk towards it.

He presses a shaky hand against the stone block and closes his eyes. After a moment, he opens them up again and sighs. He balls his hand up into a fist, still pressing it against the stone.

"This is... was Juliette's study..." He finally answers. "It was the last place she spent her time before she died."

Conan looks at me, "I always wondered what she did in there, but I knew the memories would be too painful if I ever set foot in her study."

He allows his hand to slide off the stone and rest at his side. "I had the door replaced with a stone block as a reminder that whatever is in this room will be too heavy for me to bear."

I study his face. The pain he held onto was all too much for him, even if he is an Alpha. We all just see an Alpha Male missing his mate, but I see more. I see a man... hurting... because he didn't properly get to grieve because he didn't know everything.

"I'm sorry I talked about her..." Conan whispers.

"No. Never apologize for that." I state. "You miss her, you loved her... you weren't done loving her. I can accept that."

Conan stares at me, his eyes no longer held pain but a sense of sadness instead. He opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted by the sound of footsteps walking towards us.

I turn towards the noise and am met with the familiar face of Candice.

"Candice?" I question. "What are you doing here?"

"You think I was just going to watch you go into that challenge without the proper training?" She says. "I will feel more at ease knowing I've helped you as much as I can."

I furrow my eyebrows, looking back and forth between Conan and Candice, confused by her words.

"What do you mean watch? Are people going to watch me fight Alpha Caitriona... to the death?"

Conan sighs, "That's how it is with these old laws. Neighboring packs will come and watch everything go down."

I place a fist over my mouth. I felt as if I was going to vomit. I never feel as if I'm going to vomit. This doesn't need to happen, but Alpha Caitriona is too stubborn and prideful to see that. I step away from them, taking in deep breaths to calm myself down.

"Delilah, we know you're scared." Candice speaks.

I spin around and face her, "I can't kill another person... I can't take another innocent life."

"That wolf attacked you, Delilah." Conan sternly said. "It was self-defense."

"And now you need to defend yourself again," Candice adds in. "Alpha Caitriona will kill you if you don't fight back. That is a fact."

She places both her hands on my shoulders. She looks at me sternly, "You don't want to die, no one wants you to die."

"I don't want to kill her..." I whisper.

"You don't have a choice..."

I push her away- not hard enough to knock her down, just enough to get her away from me. Candice crosses her arms over her chest and stares at me.

"Alpha Caitriona already thinks less of you because your role was a Laborer. Was." Candice states. "I've trained you, you are much more than that. That will be your advantage over her."

I look between her, fear bubbles inside me as I think of the impending battle ahead of me. I can already smell the copper in our spilled blood, no doubt mixing on the ground as onlookers watch and wait for one of us to fall and never get up.

I was pulled back from my mind by the gentle touch of someone's hand holding mine. I look over at Conan, seeing in his facial expressions that he knows what is going on in my head right now.

I muster up a smile and I nod, knowing what he thinks as well. I have to fight, I have to live, not just for me but for him and Roze and Ms. Blackstone. I can't keep moving back and forth from being confident and scared, I have to end this.

I look over to Candice, "What do I need to do?"

She smiles, "We don't have a lot of time. What training and preparations we can do needs to be done now."

I nod in understanding, squeezing Conan's hand for reassurance as I felt the fear and worry leave my body.

"Alright. Let's get started."