Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 289: Define ‘Stubborn’.

Leilani.

I once heard Agnes describe life as nothing but a pot of beans. And according to her, she made this statement to imply that you never know how long you’ll take to cook beans— in the sense that, you never know the roads that life may force you to embark on.

...if that makes any sense.

And now that I think about it, I know that that makes absolutely no sense but I understood her, not like I’ll blame you if you do not understand me either.

Buttttttt, let’s forget about Agnes and her weird analogies and focus on me. Me, who right now, looks like my life is its own pot of beans.

And I mean that in the sense that the men I absolutely fucking abhorred the most in the entire world were the ones holding my hands, steering me towards sanity even though it was clear as day that I was on the verge of death... or maybe ferality.

I balled my hands into fists, digging at the soft material of my duvet as pain tore through my entire body which also spasmed with each wave of pain that struck me.

My eyes rolled to the back of my head and just when I was beginning to welcome the darkness that called out to me, I felt something tap on my cheeks, smacking me awake.

"Oww!" I cried, blinking my eyes open, "that hurt!"

"As it should!" A voice snapped back, and from the sound and the sass I could hear dripping off each word like vermin, I instantly knew that it had to be Caelum.

Of course, it was him. The bloody psychopath!

Warm breath fanned my face, tickling at the spot between my nose and mouth, and maybe it was the rage I felt from being in so much pain while someone else breathed down on me... or the fact that I was naked and laying in front of these men who should’ve never gotten the ooo to see me like this. But I found myself seeing red, so much so that I didn’t think about what I wanted to do next until I did it.

"Ouch!" Suddenly someone screamed.

And I was glad.

Glad because now, they were no longer breathing down my face. Glad because for some reason, I could no longer feel that irritating tickle under my nose.

I heard inaudible sounds before a crash and as I could hear someone curse under their breath, I smiled.

"What are you smiling for?" One of the brothers snapped, "you’re happy you hurt me?"

That was Caelum. Douchebag!

I was weak, very weak but despite this and the pain searing through my body, I still managed another smile; And then I moaned; "I... I am h-happy. I should have struck your e-eye."

"Well, my bad! Because you missed it!" He snapped back at me, and with that I fell silent, vibrating quietly as the pain slowly intensified.

While I cried out, the brothers grew frantic. They rushed around the house, looking for everything and anything they could lay their hands upon that could be of help to me.

They tried cold compresses, they also tried massaging my body with ice cubes. But instead of feeling better, my fever only melted the ice faster, and my bed was drenched in both my sweat and water.

Time was running out and I was crying louder... harder. My vision wanning, my blood was boiling, my body was shaking violently... and my eyes... they felt like they were about to burst.

That was until—

"Let’s mark her!" The voice came sharp and steady. It made goosebumps spread across my skin and made whatever it was at the base of my stomach flutter in... was it anticipation or disgust? I do not know .

Zevran.

My eyes flew open. "NO!"

"We have no choice, Lani—"

"Don’t you dare call me Lani! Don’t you dare talk to me like we’re friends!"

"I know we aren’t friends..." he drawled, coming to sit beside me on the bed. He clasped my hands in his and leaned so close, I could almost feel just how soft the hairs on his skin were. "...but we need to help you."

Oh, not this nonsense again.

"The past day, you three have been coming up with the craziest bull craps all in the name of helping me!" I yelled back, straining wildly when another wave of pain shot through me. "Arrggghhh! But I won’t allow it!"

"This isn’t bull crap!" He hissed back, sounding as though he doesn’t know whether to be mad at me or tolerate me. "We heard from Gavin. We know you can be saved by mating. We’re mates. We don’t have to have sexual relations with you... you just need to bear our mark!"

Our mark.

Their mark.

Those words echoed in my head endlessly as if on loop. It reminded me of the times I was stupidly in love enough to make that one of my wildest fantasies— having them sink their fangs into my neck all at once.

My eyes fluttered open and shut on their own accord and I threw my head back, hissing out the word; "No."

"Lani—"

"ENOUGH!" I growled so loud, the hairs at the back of my neck stood on end. "Enough of you males telling what and what not to do about my body. Enough of everyone pretending to worry about me when in truth, you know exactly what you want. So please... I don’t need this unwarranted help. You can shove it up your tight asses!"

"Stop being so stubborn!" I do not know who yelled that out but as soon as I heard it, a sudden calm overcame me. My body went rigid and I froze, biting at my bottom lip to stop the first thought that came to my mind from jumping out.

I forced myself to sit despite how painful it was to do so and hissed;

"You think I am stubborn?"

And goddess, my voice was so cold— too cold, it chilled me. It was small too, which was a contrast to how I genuinely wanted to sound.

Zevran’s gaze softened. He leaned even closer, his warm seeping into my skin as he drawled; "Don’t say that, Lani."

And at that moment, I couldn’t help but lean closer to him. It felt like a magnetic pull, whatever it was that was between us; And it pushed me to him until I was gravitating towards him like a goddamn wanton, wanting more... needing more.

Common, get your senses back, you whore!

I shook my head. "Stop calling me Lani."

"But—"

"I don’t care what you have to say. I am just concerned with the fact that you just called me stubborn."

When I said that, he cocked his eyebrows at me, his voice quiet as he asked; "Huh?"

"Do you even know what stubborn is?" I continued, ignoring him and welcoming that strange surge of evil making its way up my spine.

"Stop."

"I’ll show you what stubborn is..." I snarled and with what, waved my hands, my eyes widening slightly when their knees hit the floor whilst clutching their heads in obvious agony.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed Kael standing by the door, also writhing and groaning, but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

"I’ll show you how I can be when I am like you said— stubborn." I spat, slowly rising to my feet as they rose too as if compelled.

As I made my way out of the room and towards my front door, they followed, hovering a few inches in the air as they drifted behind me. And when I arrived at the front door, I thrust my arm forward... and again was surprised when they fell out in a heap, bleeding in their noses and ears.

"That is stubborn!" I hissed. And with that, I slammed the door shut and fell to the floor, fainting even before I got the chance to understand what I’d just done.