Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 271: What are you?

Leilani.

"Oh, Leilani! It’s a pleasure to see you here today!" Darius chimed, sounding excited— too excited if you ask me.

I do not know what sort of evil spirits must’ve possessed me into coming here, but as soon as I stepped into this overly extravagant looking hotel lobby and bumped into the person who coincidentally was the reason I was here in the first place, all my courage disappeared, cast out into the wind like some sparkly fairy dust!

And do you know what?

In its place came shyness. Embarrassment and an overwhelming sense of self consciousness that came with a touch of reminding myself that I was still so sweaty.

That I haven’t had my bath after that encounter...

That I still reek of sex.

I bit the insides of my mouth until I tasted the metallic tang of my blood and with a shrug, I seethed; "It’s not a pleasure to meet you today, Darius."

And maybe it was how cold I had sounded, or maybe he was just being overly dramatic because then he slapped his hand over his chest, leaned back to meet my gaze and frowned;

"You hurt me."

"Same way you did too!" I hissed back, "what was that package you sent to my house earlier today? What was your deal with the Moonveil draught antidote that you sent to me?"

At my words, his frown deepened. He plopped into one of the waiting chairs, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when one of his several minions rushed over to give him a glass of white wine, bowing her head slowly as she drawled; "Alpha, your drink,"

"You can go!" He dismissed her with a flick of his wrist, not even looking up to acknowledge her presence or existence.

Before she scurried off, I noticed the way she turned to look at me then bowed even lower, her voice small as she whispered; "I’m sorry,"

When he turned to regard me afterwards, gone was his frown. "The Moonveil draught does not have an antidote!" He clapped back, and as soon as I heard that, my mouth snapped shut on its own accord.

"I’ve told you times without number, Leilani, that the Moonveil draught is so rare that no one was smart enough to come up with an antidote for it, so what the fuck are you on about, cupcake?"

His voice, his smile... goddess, the way he dragged out the word ’cupcake’ made me want to slam his face into the nearest brick wall.

It washed over me like a thousand bugs all at once and made my stomach crawl until I almost tasted my vomit at the back of my throat.

My knees wobbled slightly and I dropped into one of the waiting chairs as well, feeling quite unsure and stupid because for some reason, I’d been able to convince myself that Darius was my only antagonist. That he was the only one capable of trying to hurt me like that.

Well besides Chalice who currently is locked up in one of the dirtiest darkest cells at the Stormborn’s territory.

I facepalmed myself and sighed, my voice coming out only as a whisper as I asked; "So it wasn’t you?"

"I that did what?"

"It wasn’t you who sent me that package this morning? The Moonveil draught antidote..."

"Leilani..."

"If you’re about to remind me that it doesn’t have an antidote, Darius, I know. I know now and I already feel stupid enough. You don’t have to remind me of how incredibly stupid am!" I snapped, feeling my face burn with embarrassment.

"I do not think you’re stupid," he drawled calmly— too calmly— whilst coming to stroke his fingers over my chin.

His touch made my body tremble, but it wasn’t in the way you would think. It made me recoil. Made me want to shrink into myself. And goddess, I do not understand it, especially since he’s only been nice to me from the get go.

"...I think you’re smart and strong. I think you do not know how powerful you are and how much I respect you."

"Well, newsflash, that isn’t what I came here to hear. And since you insist that you didn’t send that to me, I’d love to take my leave now!"

With that, I rose to my feet, but just as I stood up, his hands clamped around my wrist, halting my movement and at the same time, sending shockwaves running up my spine.

I gulped thickly and dropped my gaze in such a way that I was looking pointedly at his hand wrapped around my wrist. I seethed; "Let go."

"Did you take it?" He asked so suddenly, that for a minute, I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I was tongue-tied.

It even took my brain a minute, or more, to understand what he was saying, and when it finally dawned on me, I immediately dropped my gaze again, feeling the early stages of shame creep up my face and neck as I nodded.

"Yes?" He sounded horrified.

"Yes." I replied calmly. "I took it and it triggered my heat instead."

Now that the wave of anger and confusion had finally passed, I couldn’t help but feel the way I still tinged uncomfortably down there. The way my body still begged to be touched... how my glands were still swollen, begging to be pleasured.

I shook my head to dispel these feelings and sighed. "It was a mistake."

"You were desperate!" He snapped, his hold tightening around my wrist. "You were looking for a way out and you would do anything besides take up the offer I presented to you."

"Darius," I hissed, not wanting to talk about this right now. But he certainly didn’t share in my sentiments as he shook his head and turned his face away, his frown deepening so much, I feared his face would crack as he continued;

"What I gave you was the easy way out. A way no one would have ever thought of. You wouldn’t have to do anything and vice versa. All you need to do is to bear my mark, and you’ll be released from this burden that’s been eating you alive..."

"And I don’t want to!" I screamed in his face and pulled my wrist so fast out of his hold that he didn’t even get the chance to react.

"I don’t want to owe you that much! I don’t want to marry you simply because of my failing health..." then with a smaller voice, I added; "...is it ’health’ in this case?"

"You won’t owe me," his voice was gruff, devoid of any emotion, "...marrying me is like you’re doing me a favor and not the other way around. Also, cupcake, I could help you with other things. I could help you hone your powers, help you train. Bloody Hell, I could help you out of this shell that the entire world has forced you into... think about it!"

Lies lies, that was all it sounded like to me;

Lies.

I shook my head. "Thank you." But that was all I had to say to him. It was all that needed to be said as I turned and walked away, my knees wobbling even more with each step that I took.

And I took quite a lot of them.

—

By the time I got home, Darius’ words had fully integrated itself into my skull. It had burrowed into the deepest corners of my mind, corrupting everything there was...

Because tell me why I was beginning to think that it wasn’t such a bad idea to get married to him?

Tell me why I could already see myself getting married to him just like the Targaryens did in ’The house of dragons’?

And just like the movie, I worried if my wolf or lycan or whatever the fuck it was that I had was acting up because it needed its bloodline purified?

—Or wait, am I simply just going crazy?

I stepped out of my car and slammed the door shut, and after managing to gather my thoughts together, I walked up my porch, only stopping when I realized something strange.

Something that made all my nerves go on alert.

My door had been fixed!

I knew that earlier it had been broken down by Gavin or one of the triplets, I cannot remember. But now, it was fully repaired and glaring right back at me like something out of one of those confusing movies without a plot.

I pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside, and while I did, I couldn’t help but notice that someone had indeed come in here earlier.

It was clean. Completely ridded of everything that could give away the turmoil I’d been through earlier.

I frowned as I continued my way through the house and when I arrived at my kitchen, I stopped and froze.

Why?

Because Darius was standing there, his face a mask of indifference, but I didn’t miss the small... a very small smile on his lips.

I stuttered; "Didn’t I walk out on you, earlier? Like a couple of minutes ago?"

"Aye, you did. But I wasn’t done with the conversation." He spat, and with that, he sat on one of the chairs and crossed his arms over his chest with a full blown smile spreading across his face.