??A Howl In The Night??
?She’s mine?
?From Novel r0m@n�
?Chapter 28?
?What. The. Cra-p.?
My eyes open slowly, painfully, as if the movement itself hurts me. But it is the reality of life that I really wish to avoid.
The first thing I catch sight of after a moment of dizziness is a man with dark black hair. He is gazing at me warmly, smiling as I start to cough and sit up. “There there,” he pats my hand softly, “not too fast.”
“Who are you?” I ask him in the middle of my coughs.
He just looks at me, putting a large hand un-derneath my head. Gently he presses a switch, and the be-d tilts into a sitting position. “I am Legarius,” he answers me while reaching for a small cu-p of water. “Are you thirsty?”
My mind flashes back to the first night that I met Xavier, who had murmured the same words. Pain and loss strike as I search throu-gh the meager memories, trying to salvage the remnants of beauty that are left.
“Where’s Xavier?” I ask him urgently, my heartbeat skyrocketing. Horror races throu-gh me at the recollection of the Council’s words the day before. What if the entire pack is dead right now? What will I do with my shameful self?
“He is perfectly fine right now,” Legarius replies as I gr-ab his arm with a ferocity that surprises even me. “Who you should be worried about right now is yourself. Do you feel better?”
Do I? I hesitantly re-lease Legarius’s wrist and reach towards my own head. A terrible pain sweeps throu-gh me, and I gro-an . “It’s like a migraine,” I mutter, ripping my hand away. I don’t nee-d to be sick right now. I nee-d to be helping my friends.
“It’s okay though,” I try to protest as Legarius reaches for a bottle of pills. “I really just nee-d to see my pack. plea-se.”
“Take this, and you can go see them as soon as you wake up,” he as-sures me, holding the small yellow pill before my eyes. I look at it warily, as if it is an enemy.
“You promise?” I ask him as I take the pill and hold it in my hand. He nods, and I lift it to myl-ips slowly. Trying not to think about it, I hasten to throw it in my mouth, trying to swallow as quic-kly as possible. It ba-rely hits my stomach before I start to notice the effects.
“Easy, princess,” he laughs as I begin to see red, thrashing around like a bull in a china shop. Everything becomes dizzy again, and I m0@n .
“What kind of pill is this?” I berate him angrily. It is like fire in my insides, intensifying my migraine extremely. I soon find it ha-rd to move, like I am frozen in place. He just continues to laugh as the sleepiness takes over, my eyelids sli-pping. I am ba-rely conscious within seconds. I sl!poff into dreamland, vowing to kill Legarius as I go.
* * *
“She asked for me. Let me have a minute with her alone,” a low voice argues.
“I don’t know if we can let you do that. The Council never said anything about her meeting with her pack. You will have to have a consultation with them first. Just because she is off the hook doesn’t mean you are.”
“You heard it as plain and clear as I did. The Council gave her the power to do whatever she wants, except when she is ordered by one them. If she wants to meet with me, she can.”
“I don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to.”
My eyes sl!popen for the second time, directed towards the source of the bickering. In the corner of my vision I sp©t Griffin and Xavier by the door of the hospital-like room I inhabit. They don’t seem to notice me at all, arguing back and forth bitterly. Legarius is nowhere to be seen, luckily for him.
As I t©uçh my head, I notice that the headache is gone entirely. That awful pill actually worked.
“She’s awake.” Xavier turns towards me, and I nearly faint at the sight. I didn’t realize how much I have missed him. Griffin just looks at me angrily.
“You want to meet with him?” He asks, casting a glance with Xavier. “Surely you were just speaking out of delirium.”
I sit up again, trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. Yes, I want to meet with Xavier. However, I don’t want to make Griffin too mad. He saved my life, after all.
“I feel really tired,” I lament, lying throu-gh my teeth, “but this hospital be-d is so ha-rd and uncomfortable.”
“I’ll take you to your room,” Xavier says gently, coming over to my side. Griffin glares at him. “Don’t you have a meeting to go to?” Xavier asks laughingly as Griffin increasingly acts like a dog re-ady to bite off someone’s head.
“Yes, I do, actually. But I’m not leaving until I know Mona is going to be safe while I’m gone.”
I reach to t©uçh Griffin’s arm. “I’ll be safe. Trust me.”
Still looking annoyed, he backs away, knowing he can’t do much else. He can’t bring me with him, after all.
“Don’t hurt her,” he snaps to Xavier and retreats throu-gh the open doorway. A little laugh escapes me as he angrily walks away.
Xavier walks up to me, scooping me into his arms. The warmth of his che-st envelopes me, and I drink in the wonderful scent he possesses. Without a word pas-sing between us, he carries me throu-gh the empty hallways.
When we finally reach the room I have stayed in, he crosses over to my be-d and lays me down. He expectantly looks at me, and I look back, puzzled.
“Aren’t you going to go to sleep?” He asks me impatiently, and I laugh.
“I only said that to get Griffin to st©p nagging,” I grin wi-dely. Xavier gro-an s, staring at me furiously.
“Mona, you make this so ha-rd on me.” His voice sounds strained as he looks away. “Just go to sleep like you said you would.”
A few seconds of silence pas-s while I try to figure out what’s wrong with him. He looks as if he is trying to restrain himself. Trying to f0rç£ himself to be cold to me. His beautiful face is bent in concentration, then reducing to a stoic expression. Alarm enters my b©dy.
He turns to go, and subconsciously I reach to gr-ab his hand. “plea-se… plea-se don’t leave,” I beg him.
He freezes, shivers running throu-gh both of our bodies. “Mona!” He nearly shouts in agitation, then rips away from me and almost runs to the door. He shuts it hastily, cl!çk!ng the lock as well. Nervousness erupts within me as I survey his handsome form. I have never seen him look or act like this before.
He crosses back over to me, scanning my face, my b©dy. I begin to feel even more nervous and self-conscious as I realize that not only am I clothed in a flimsy, see-throu-gh hospital go-wn over a tank t©p and shorts, but that we are totally alone. I am suddenly even more aware of him, of his attrac-tiveness. bu-tterflies flutter in my stomach.
He leans over me, and my anticipation mounts. Without a word he reaches forward and takes the sleeve of the go-wn in his hand, ripping it off in one fluid motion. I am so scared of him right now, but at the same time, I feel heart-wrenching de-sire. What is wrong with me? Have I caught another cold?
Is this the de-sire to “bond” that I heard the werewolves talk about? For it is consuming my every thought, my every wish.
I begin to grow delirious with nee-d as he clim-bs onto the be-d next to me, f!ngering the frayed edges of the go-wn at the t©p of my shoulders. His mischievous f!ngersdance onto my shoulder, s£nding sparks of heat throu-gh my b©dy. He t©uçhes my fading bruise, anger and an unfathomable emotion in his gaze. “Did he t©uçh you here?” He asks, sounding even more strangled than before. It takes me a second to register what he asked.
I hesitantly nod, remembering the way Griffin k!$$£d my arm with a guilty conscience. He tries to control himself, but loses it altogether. I stare at him as his eyes grow diluted, and then back to their normal size.
I look with wonder and confusion as he tilts his head towards my arm. An uncontainable delight consumes me as his softl-ips brush against my bruise, then down my arm. How can he make me feel this way? There is no way to describe the hunger that enters me at this moment, lvst arising like a tidal wave.
He rips off my other sleeve, then looks at me. I lose myself within his bright eyes, drun!kon the plea-sure I am now experiencing. “Did he t©uçh you… here?” He lets one f!nger linger on my other arm. I nod quic-kly, urgently.
His k!sses de-epen as they cover my slender arm, and his breath begins to get even more agitated. A growl rumbles in his throat, almost like a wolf, and he holds the n£¢k of my hospital go-wn and rips it. He flings it off me as if it nothing, and then his breath catches as he surveys me. “You are so beautiful,” he whispers, and I am speechless. This tenderness is so intoxicating that I nearly drown within it.
His attention immediately snaps to my mating mark by my n£¢k, and his head di-ps towards it. A small cry escapes me as he k!sses the mark, which starts to glow and s£nd waves of plea-sure throu-gh my form.
His k!sses are de-epening to the point where I can ba-rely stand it. “plea-se… Xavier, plea-se,” I beg, causing his eyes to light on fire. His hands are roaming over the edges of my b©dy, and he k!sses my collarbone.
With a hungry expression, he lifts the folds of my tank t©p, pushing it upwards so it expo-sed my stomach. His gaze darkens as he surveys the mark near my h!p. “Did he t©uçh you… there?” He gestures towards the mark. I just looked at him for a moment, then nodded. He immediately k!sses my stomach, every one of his k!sses surrounding the mark but none of them tou-ching it. “This is the one p@rt of you that belongs to him,” he angrily states, “but nothing else will.”
His hands run over my h!ps and hisl-ips soon join in. There is a fire that consumes both of us, overwhelming our bodies, hearts, and reason. He is so careful with me, his caution almost annoying to me in some way. “Xavier,” I whisper again, closing my eyes. When I open them again he is by my feet, holding one of my legs as he hastens to cover it in k!sses. It is a wonderfully distracting feeling, but soon I am drawn to the fact that I somehow want more.
“I’m sure he t©uçhed you here,” he points at each one of my toes, and casts me a glance so de-ep that it gives me the shivers. I’m pretty sure he didn’t, but I nod anyway. Just as I expected, each one of his k!sses make me yearn for more.
He st©ps for a minute, looking at me as he is lifting his head. I pout a little, annoyed both by the lack of k!sses and by the idiot he has turned me into. I ba-rely even recognize this side of me, this strange p@rt of my being that aches for Xavier in ways that I don’t even know of. However, I can’t help myself, and I turn towards him and reach with one hand. He takes it, and suddenly he is almost on t©p of me before I realized he moved.
It is now that I notice his hunger that has intensified by so much since this whole thing started. He wants the same thing I want, and something tells me he knows exactly what that is.
His face is inches from mine, and both of his hands cu-p my face. “Did he k!ssyou here?” He looks at my eyes, and doesn’t wait for a response as he k!sses my eyelids, then my cheeks and nose. Myl-ips burn, but he never t©uçhes them. With a smile his mouth reaches my ear and teeth ni-bble the edge with a gentleness that surprises me. Finally, he returns to my face, looking at myl-ips the same way that I’m looking at him. We are both so close… so incredibly close.
“Did he k!ssyou here?” We both know what he is talking about this time.
I stare at him for a minute, dazed by his clos£ness, and softly murmur, “no, Xavier.”
“Good.” He nods in satisfaction. “Then I will be the first and only one to taste this delicious p@rt of you. To finally bond with you.”
Excitement builds up as I eagerly close my eyes and tilt my face forward. Hisl-ips descend upon mine…
THUMP, THUMP!
We are both jo-lted out of our own world as a furious hand ra-ps upon the heavy, soundproof doors. “Griffin,” I mutter. Words can not describe how angry I feel at this moment. I feel… cheated.
“Act asleep,” he whispers urgently, gr-abbing the fragments of my dress and throwing it in the garbage chute. He sweeps the covers over me and walks calmly to the door, opening it slowly.
Griffin is obviously furious, so I f0rç£ my eyes to close and steady my breathing from a hundred miles per hour to a normal rate. “What do you want Griffin?” Xavier asks calmly.
“What did you do to her?” He yells.
“Calm down, Griffin. Don’t be loud, she’s slee-ping.”
There is silence for a minute, probably because he is trying to calm down. “Do you really have to lock the door?” He finally asks.
“Well, I’m imagine if someone like you barged in here without the door locked, she would have woken up easily. And she nee-ds rest.” His voice lowers, “Griffin, she’s slee-ping. How could I have done anything to her?”
“It is always folly to un-derestimate someone, and it certainly will be the death of me to un-derestimate you,” he replies slowly. “Just know this. Even if she does not now, she will belong to me. And when that time comes, I would prefer it if you stayed away from her.”
“If she ever does ‘belong to you’,” Xavier laughs, “I will do as you say.”
There is silence, then loud footsteps. The door swings to a shut, and Xavier moves to my side. “I am obviously not welcome here,” Xavier chuckles as he reaches my side, stro-king my hair lightly.
It is time for me to st©p acting like an idiot and start acting like the woman I am. I search within my br@in for something to say. Something that will make him just as crazy as he makes me. Wow. This is difficult.
“You are always welcome right here,” I pat the place next to me, then nearly kick myself. I am so bad at this.
Nevertheless, I still notice the hunger entering his gaze. It diminishes slightly as he laughs. “You are so funny, Mona. You make it so ha-rd for me to resist you.”
“You don’t nee-d to resist, Xavier,” I whisper, looking into his eyes, “you really don’t.”
He stares at me for a moment, stone-faced. “Mona, that’s not fair. You aren’t supposed to say that.”
“I can say what I want to say.” I t©uçh his face, slowly lowering it to mine as I f!nger one of his azure locks. My f!ngersdance across his face eagerly.
“I have a lot of things to teach you,” he laughs, “but looks like you have alre-ady mastered how to tempt a man.” He smiles again, then suddenly delves towards me. Ourl-ips meet in a startling union that shocks me to the bone. His k!ssde-epens and I respond almost violently, tou-ching his face and hair. For some reason, I cant get enough of him in these few moments, and he is calmly dealing with me as if I am a child. He is the one who eventually breaks away from me, grinning wi-dely. I have never known of such satisfaction and plea-sure in my entire life, which I guess isn’t saying too much.
If I knew his k!sses were this good, I would have bonded with him earlier.
“Good bye, Mona. There will be more later.” He wi-nks at me, then leaves the room quietly. For many minutes after I am still holding two f!ngersto myl-ips, completely and utterly shocked by the wonderful feelings racing throu-gh my b©dy and the tingle of hisl-ips still dancing upon mine.
* * *
It is time for me to appear before the Council, and I am ashamed to admit that I am frightened. I have the feeling that this is the time that they will deliver my fate. Throu-ghout this last week, I have been allowed time to recu-perate in my room, and I have not seen any of the pack members or Griffin since the last time Xavier visited me.
I am perplexed at this disease I am catching. My skin still shivers at even the thought of his name, and even today I have been shamefully dreaming about him. I feel like even the sight of him will cause me to throw myself at his feet, begging once more for his t©uçh. I have degraded myself by thinking about a man like him in this manner. I deserve the worst of tortures for acting like the worst of women.
I have heard of them; those women who lvst for a man’s t©uçh, who would die for their chos£n man. They always suffer from carrying this type of sickness, although they always claim that they are better because of it. I have never un-derstood these women and children my age who profess to truly be in love, because it seems like a troublesome emotion that everyone would do better without. Of course, except when you are trying to heal a Shifter.
And now I have been reduced to this. I feel like saying a line from old-century poetry.
It has to be because of the bonding. Why the cra-p did I let him k!ssme?
“Woe is me!” I exclaim dramatically, falling upon the be-d. After a second of recollection, I jump back to my feet as if shocked by lightning. It is true—I really do have this disease—and even a t©uçh upon the be-d that both Xavier and I were in brings a wave of emotions that I would rather forget. I feel dizzy, sinking to my knees.
“Xavier, what have you done to me…” I m0@n softly, putting my head in my hands. I am corrupted forever as a result of just one of Xavier’s t©uçhes.
A knock on the door interrupts my regretful thinking. Straightening to my feet, I hesitantly walk over to the door. Creaking it open, I soon am confronted with Griffin’s enchanting face. Guilty attra-ction tugs at me, although it is slightly different from the nee-d that washes over me whenever I think of Xavier. Smiling brightly, he reaches for my hand.
“I’m here to esc-rt you to the meeting room,” he says, looking devilishly handsome in dark p@n-ts and a black bu-tton down shi-t. My hand burns in his grasp as he reaches and places a delicate k!ssupon it. He really is sweet. I would be better off dreaming about someone like him.
For some reason, my hand burns in a bad way, almost as if to leave a black mark on my skin that will not disappear. I frown, ru-bbing at the sp©t as we walk into the hallway.
“I’m… sorry for b!owing up on Xavier while you were recovering. I’m an awful person,” he says sadly. I smile in response.
“I was never mad at you,” I acknowledge softly.
“I was just extremely jealous, Mona.” He looks at me, eyes of worry. “I lost you once… and I don’t ever want to let go again.” He seems so sincere that I can’t help but believe him.
“Were you completely serious about everything you said the day I met with the Council?” I ask him honestly, surprised to find that I am not even frustrated at him. I feel like I should be mad, but the emotion doesn’t come as I reach for it.
“That is exactly how it happened,” he answers me with a little laugh. His auburn hair glows in the light from the gigantic windows stretching from wall to wall. Silence reigns for several minutes. It feels almost awkward to me, with Griffin trying to not even look at me as I think.
“All right, we are here.”
I suddenly realize that we are standing right before the big wooden doors that I had seen once before. Consumed in my thoughts, I had not even realized that we were still walking. A twinge of sadness enters me. I would have enjoyed hearing stories from when I was young. When we were together.
“We can talk about whatever you wish later,” he laughs and t©uçhes my arm softly. “I’m glad you got to think for a minute.” The same burn as before occurs, shocking me immensely. I don’t really un-derstand this feeling, which consists of such attra-ction and mild repulsion.
The guards standing by the doors push them open slowly. Fear and sadness pounds in my heart as I survey the familiar room. It is covered in vines and budding flowers—almost exactly decorated in the same way it had been before the Shifter attack—and at the same table sits the entire Council. “Come in!” a voice booms, nearly frightening me out of my skin. “We have been waiting for you.”
Markus stands up immediately as I approach, offering a heart-breaking smile. He gestures to me in a way that I have come to recognize, and I mirror the movement. “Have you recovered during this last week?” he asks genially.
“Yes, High One.”
The other council members look impatient as plea-santries are exchanged. “We have been heavily discussing this matter over the past few days,” Gizelda speaks finally of the issue everyone is desiring to hear about, “and we decided to inform you of your current situation and of new responsibilities and privileges that will come if you choose to accept the position we offer you.”
All I can think about is the word position. Position? Are they going to f0rç£ me to be in their werewolf army? I picture myself in a battlefield surrounded by sweaty, unfamiliar werewolves and shudder.
“Griffin mentioned that you were a Candid@t£ before the Shifter attack. Do you know what he meant by that statement?” she asks me. I shake my head rather fiercely.
plea-se don’t let it be something bad. plea-se don’t tell me anything that will give me another heart attack.
“A Candid@t£ is our term used to describe someone who is eligible to complete the prophecy that defines our existence. The prophecy has no name because of its vast importance to our race.”
“I have re-ad it before,” I say, “although I didn’t make much s-en-se out of it.”
“As you know, werewolves have a very keen s-en-se of smell. They are even able to detect emotions and some can even re-ad thoughts throu-gh the scents of others. In this way, we are able to detect a Candid@t£. At your birth, and the birth of several others like you, you re-leased a smell that every single werewolf recognizes, though even we cannot describe it. It is such a compelling and powerful aroma that we are instantly able to locate the baby from hundreds of miles away. However, this aroma vanishes within a few hours, and we lose track of the boy or girl if we do not have a werewolf trailing them. Usually the Shifters somehow kill them before they reach adolescent years, despite the protec-tion we offer. Your Guardian, of course, was Griffin.” Gizelda casts a slightly sickening glance at Griffin as he stands beside me. “And in case you were wondering, he wasn’t supposed to mate with you. That’s not normal for a Candid@t£ and Guardian relationsh!p.”
Griffin blus-hes and shrugs helplessly as a tiny giggle escapes me.
“Several years ago, you were reported to be dead by Griffin, and therefore eluded our supervision for the rest of your childhood. We do not know all of the details, but your pack member with the blue hair told us he found you in the forest a few months ago. We are also led to believe that you displa-yed your powers to Pack 101 while in their company, correct?”
I nod slowly. This is confusing me.
“Your extraordinary power to control the shifters, even drawing them out of humans, has proven you to be the one special Candid@t£ we have been looking for. Before now, such an ability was unheard of. The prophecy is very vague on this matter, but we see the truth very clearly, especially after the displ@yyou put on a week ago. You are not only the last living Candid@t£ we know of, but the Chos£n One.”
“Chos£n One? Is that my position?” I ask in alarm. What does a Chos£n One do? Does the Chos£n One have to lead an army?
Griffin notices my fear and laughs, slightly brushing against my arm. Sparks fly throu-ghout my b©dy.
“Not so fast,” Cyrus laughs, “we have a proposition for you.”
My heart races so fast I feel like it is going to explode. Strands of bright red hair fall into my eyes, but I am so frozen in place that I can’t even brush them away.
“We invite you to live here, at Headquarters,” Cyrus begins, “Where you will be given anything you ever de-sire. You will be able to learn how to master your skills un-der our extremely talented instructors, how to become so powerful that you are unst©ppable, and most importantly, how to truly become one of us.”
There is a pause for a minute while I try to register what he said. When realization hits me, I nearly fall to the floor. Did they say anything about an army? Because it sounds a lot like they want me to un-dertake military training. I’m really not good at that stuff.
“This is only the ti-p of the iceberg,” Markus adds quic-kly after he notices my extremely pale face.
“In addition to these things, we would normally offer you the highly sought-after rank of being the heir to the throne’s p@rtner, but seeing that you have… complicated circu-mtances surrounding your mating, we thought it would be better to offer you something slightly different.”
plea-se don’t grant me leadersh!pof a werewolf army.
“If you decide to stay, we will allow you to have Griffin as a p@rtner and he shall obtain the rank of heir to the throne. We will also be willing to conduct a ritual known as Sharuken, which is a long and difficult process that will allow you to be freed of your second mating. We have used it only once before, but we are confident in its abilities to re-lease you from all attra-ction, bonds, and any feelings of love you may hold towards your mate.”
“WHAT?” Ferrars roars, jumping to his feet in anger. Griffin just looks at Cyrus in confusion.
But the thing that startles me the most is not the same thing that Ferrars and Griffin are surprised about. All of that other stuff has not even crossed my mind yet.
The dizziness expands to encompas-s my entire vision. I stumble and trip on air and hurtle towards the floor. This is not happening. They did not just say they could re-lease me from him. That I could be freed from this awful, terrible disease.
I fight to escape reality once more as my head hits a ha-rd surface, and succeed as the pain shocks me into unconsciousness.
The last thing that crosses my mind is the word free.
T B C
Who do u prefer for Mona?
Xavier or Griffin