Everlasting

Chapter 4 - B

"The union has been accepted."

Those words burn into my memory, awakening me from the darkness. I wasn't certain on how long I'd been out, but I knew the pain had knocked me unconscious. It's not the first time it's happened, despite this being the first time my brain hurt instead of my body.

Blinking as I strain to open my heavy eyelids, I quickly realise there's a rather sharp ache still pulsing within my skull. Bearable, enough so that I push myself up off the stone slab, slowly. The last thing I want is to go dizzy right now.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Alpha Hardin questions me, his tone clipped with anger.

Lowering my aching eyes, I give a small shake of my head as I brush tiny stones off of my palms gently. Even if I don't get what the big deal is on his end, I know I have to give some response that shows a flicker of remorse, or guilt. My father never liked it when I didn't take the blame, it made him feel like it was his fault, which it was.

"I didn't mean to." I hoarsely whisper, my throat still rough from screaming.

Hardin exhales sharply, turning from me briefly as if the mere sight of me infuriates him. I didn't understand why he's so angry, other than the fact that I couldn't let him into my mind. I suppose for an Alpha as powerful as him, it's irritating that he can't just jump into my memories as he pleases.

The silence is short lived as my shoulder begins to itch, a searing burning sensation filing the bite Hardin gave me. I couldn't help but whimper, gripping my neck in attempt to conceal the pain. Thankfully it didn't last long, only a minute or so before it fades to a dull throb. I didn't have to touch it to know that it's tender.

"They accept you." Hardins sudden whisper catches me off guard. It wasn't his words, it was the awe in his voice as he said them, like part of him couldn't believe it himself.

Being fully aware of what comes next, no thanks to Triss, I couldn't help but to edge back a little on the stone. I could move a mile away, and it wouldn't be far enough away from Hardin.

Rough hands grip my shoulders, firm yet gentle and I freeze instinctively. I could feel his eyes burning down into my skull, the patient Alpha unwilling to let me get away. Fearing what the rather gentle Alpha is truly capable of if angered, I didn't want to deny him, yet at the same time it would be truly against my nature to give him what he wants.

First the ancestors must accept me, then Hardin himself is to gaze over my naked form and accept me, and thirdly, the pack must also see me worthy of their Alpha. It's a full circle, and somehow I must win them all over even if I don't want any of this. Triss said the pack will make it perfectly clear should they dislike me, if everything runs smoothly then as sunset approaches Hardin will take me to a chosen spot and finalise the mating ritual, and wedding. Like it or not, today is happening.

It'll be easier if you give him what he wants. Triss's words ring through my aching head, a warning that she clearly meant. I see it in his posture, the urge to snap me into place.

I didn't have to look up, to know he's glaring down at me, a silent warning to not disobey.

Slowly I rise from the stone, Hardin steps back to allow me only enough space to undress. I begin to remove the lemon yellow fabric, the jewels gleaming as the sun shines through the gap above. The sound of the jingling soothes me slightly, a noise that I find quite comforting.

Untying the fabric from my chest, It falls from my back, forcing me to hold the front of the material against my chest. Instinctively I turn away from Hardins heavy gaze, the action impulsive, one that makes me freeze the second I realise what I did. Turning my back to him is a big no, he's an Alpha, it's disrespectful.