BLACK

(40) Mate in Laws

EDITED

-Oren-

Pain.

Blossoming pain. Anything I touched hurt. I knew it was coming. I felt the build up. Her anger. All over. There was nothing safe from its touch. She was drowning me in it.

I barely had the jeans tugged on and zipped up before I was racing through the front door of the Vierr house. My shirt still in my grip, no time to throw it over my head as the bond wrapped and wrapped around me.

"Easy, son." Gen appears in front of me just before the stairs, and it's a challenge to keep Black from shoving her to the side.

"What happened?" I'm twitchy in an attempt to keep Black from exploding and over taking.

"Just an argument with her sister, it's all taken care of." Gen tries to dismiss us.

"An argument shouldn't cause that much emotion," I say. "I felt her in pain."

Gen's mouth opens, ready to talk but her tongue cements to the roof. She swallows. "Some mean things were said, yes. Noire started a very tiny scumble, but nobody was hurt."

Black snapped and side stepped his mother in law, bundling up the steps. Her sigh could be heard in the distance, but he raced down the hall to her room, ready to face her bleeding and broken body.

Only disappointment met Black as she was perfectly fine, however. Tucked into a blanket, head level on her pillow. It was strange and new to see black hair twist under her arm and not continue down the other side. She looked even more beautiful than before, and the thought let thorns of guilt push in. I couldn't help but feel glad her long curls were gone. They were a part of her past, a part of her mates, and she had cut it off. Yet I also resented the change. The twinge in my mind that stared at her seconds longer every time I try to recognize her with short hair, pushes those thorns in. I met her when she had long hair. The same long hair in my visions. Hair she hadn't thought of cutting in years. And then she meets me, and cuts it. The thorns push in so deep the ruggedly slice through any happiness they can find. She cuts me.

And I'm proud of her for it.

The painful tensing in my stomach is quickly forgotten at the sound of a bang from the corner of the room. Still in control, Black inhales strongly for the scent of the intruder. The wafts follow from under the connecting door, mixing with the scentless water droplets that made the smell fade. Like a pie, the sweet and savory fragrance nearly makes my mouth water. Nearly. Instead, the taste of another female makes Black's hackles rise.

Rosalia.

They tell you when you meet your mate, their scent is the most delectable thing in the world. What they forget to warn you, is that even the proximity of any unmated female, your senses will shrivel, and your mind will fry. Instincts take over. Repulsion fuels you. A mate is a dangerous weapon.

The feeling drags me to Noire's side, slipping under the lavender covers behind her. One of my arms props me up, adjusting idly on the twin bed. My other arm folds over Noire's stomach, and immediately her sleeping hand interlocks with mine and curls up by her chest. Her small action breaks a grin across my cheek, and Black lowers our head to her neck. Now that's a smell we can tolerate.

The disgust for Rosalia runs deeper than the mate bond, I realize as I watch the little sister's shadow under the doorway. Recalling their mother's words, my pulse only drums quicker. Noire is fine, now. Her discomfort plagued me like wildfire, spreading from an impulse thought to a shredding shift as Black came forward. The tiniest thought blossoming. She had felt pain, but as I remember it wasn't constant. For a split second, but enough to encompass me. The discomfort was her mental nudging when she didn't feel safe, but the pain was piercing.

Rosalia caused that pain.

Why does she care for that vermin? Black communicates. She is a bratty pup.

He wouldn't understand, for the same reasons him and Maryse do not get along. As an Alpha, he has only ever been alone, depending on himself. He doesn't understand the importance of family. If he ever wishes for one with Noire, he's never going to get it with this attitude. Noire cares for her sister, no matter how disrespectful, because she is family. You break your back for family.

The bathroom door cracks open, that cinnamon scent full blast and suffocating. I keep my nose close to Noire's neck, the only thing keeping me sane. Her eyes match mine, and instantly widen with apprehensiveness. Her hair is straight from the weight of the water, and droplets stain her shirt where they can reach.

In Black's ears her pulse increases substantially. Her gaze flickers to Noire's, lips parted in a hesitant utter for help. She won't do it, though.

Prides a funny thing.

At her first step towards leaving the room, Black speaks. "Rosalia."

She freezes, breathing sharply before finding her voice. "Alpha Black."

The intimidation feeds him. "I hear you have some disputes with my mate."

The bravery in her eyes is evident as she keeps them level to mine. "A few."

Had I been anybody else, a teacher, a friend, a parent, she would raise her voice. Perhaps being an Alpha was an exception, but apparently being a Luna was not.  "How often does Noire visit?"

"Not often."

"Then I assume you know very little from her?" Black taunts.

She nodded scarcely.

"Good," Black says. Her eyes widen more if they could. She thought he would be angry, disapproving. All that she's used too, all that she's experienced. "Keep it that way. Upper class families prefer to cut out the weak."

Her jaw unhinges slightly. Black keeps his face stoic, inhaling so close to Noire's neck to refrain from the sisters putrid offering. Though she stood where he lain, Rosalia held no power. Black saw right through her to what she truly is: a shell of a girl.

"You want me to be nicer to her," Rosalia interprets. "You want me to treat her like an angel. Well I won't. She's not who you think she is. She's a liar, and she's spiteful. Just wait until you set her off."

Black had already witnessed her maliciousness. Experienced his mate's wrath. Her deception, manipulation. Always luring him in just to throw him back out again. And he returns to the same bait.

"You can go now." Black demands, and the Alpha tone sends her skittering out the door. It closes gently with her better judgement.

When Noire kissed me, in the trailer. Made my brain burst with her acceptance until she shoved me away. The reason the kitchen got trashed that night. The reason I thought a stupid change of scenery would change her.

Nothing can change a girl this head strong.