#5 Ethan
1640 Words
Darling?
Ivy gasped. Her fiery cheeks looked like someone had slapped her across the face. Hurt flashed across her eyes before they turned chilly.
Her frigid demeanour didn’t distract from her beauty, it only enhanced her image as the ice queen.
Nobody could deny she looked magnificent.
The temperature in the room dropped as Ivy kept staring daggers at Merek. Who had the decency to look shame faced.
I didn’t pity him, he bought this upon himself, but it did make me wonder if they were more than just friends.
I frowned as my eyes bored into the back of Ivy's head. How could she fall for Merek’s charms? Did she not know it was wasted on him? That he would never love her? She must have known she was only a challenge for him.
Turning my attention back to the culprit, who stood gazing anywhere but Ivy, had still not said anything. An odd thing for Merek. He could weasel out of any predicament he found himself in, I had even witnessed him do it. Yet here he was, tongue tied. Something was not right, and I was going to get to the bottom of it.
The she-wolf draped at his side, a beauty in her own right, tightened her hold on his arm, as if he would fly away if she didn’t.
I wanted him to squirm a little longer, but like Ivy I was curious about the deadly swan who clung to him possessively. I decided to help him out this once before Ivy blew a blood vessel. “Are you going to introduce your…. Friend to us, Merek?”
He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, gazing at me for a few seconds with a look of defiance. An expression I had never seen him show. He kept his gaze fixed on me, as he put his arm around the young woman and pulled her closer, until she was sandwiched to his side. She put her hands on his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. If anybody had any doubt about their relationship, what he just did put it to rest.
I internally cringed at the display of emotion. We as a family never showed any affection to each other or anybody else for that matter. Not that we didn’t love each other, we just didn’t demonstrate it. Well, except for Lily, who hugged anybody that would let her.
Merek might be a charmer but he never spoke about anybody for a lengthy period or showed any affection in public or private. So, for him to be possessive over a woman that I had never heard him mention before, was weird.
“This is Crystal…” He finally said. His green eyes softened as he turned them to the female who looked adoringly at him. “My fiancée.”
I blinked a couple of times, thinking I must have heard wrong. If he had a fiancée his family, I being one of them, would have known about it. She would have been introduced and the family would have gotten to know her. And he would have told me he would propose to the lady that snared his heart.
The sound of shattering glass snapped me out of the numbness that took hold of my mind.
“Fiancée,” Ivy said in disbelief. It seemed I was not the only one who was dumbfounded by the second bombshell of the day.
Then it hit me, if I didn’t know, mum, dad and Lily wouldn’t either. What is he playing at?
“E-E-Ethan.” Kara squirmed in my arms. “You a-a-a-are hurting m-m-me.”
I had forgotten my arm still hung around her shoulder. “Sorry,” I whispered, turning my attention to her for a few seconds, while trying to think of a way to fix the problem Merek has landed us in, as I dropped my arm to my side.
Another crash, louder this time, reverted around the room, capturing everyone’s attention.
The floor was littered with shards of glass, glittering like diamonds as the light reflected of them.
More shattered while they were still being carried, on a tray, by a waiter.
Gasps and murmurs resonated around the room as the air turned frigid, and the curtains swayed by a breeze that was not from outside. All the windows were closed because of the storm.
An elemental in here? That’s all I needed.
“Fiancée,” Ivy repeated frostily, bringing my attention back to the situation at hand.
I had to nip it in the bud before it got out of hand. Father would have a fit if he found out a family drama unfolded in front of hundreds of people. Maybe it was a good thing that the other guests were distracted, they would pay less attention to the emotionally charged conversation we were having.
The deadly swan extracted herself from Merek’s hold and stood in front of him, her violet eyes blazed as she stared Ivy down.
Great, a fight. Nobody would forget a tussle at a charity event, it would make headline news.
I moved nearer to Ivy, her back was a few inches away from mine, ready to grab her, should she think about launching herself at Crystal. Not that I minded her scratching the cat’s eyes out.
Unfortunately, Crystal stepped closer to Ivy, until their faces where inches apart.
God, why does this have to happen to me? I let out an exasperated sigh before I planted myself in front of Ivy, making Crystal step back unless she wanted to be glued to my body. Hoping this would dispel the tension.
Merek was no help, he Just stood their blinking at his wife to be. I opened my mouth to hiss at him to keep his she-wolf in check when a bitter smell assaulted my nose. It was such a strong smell that I lost my train of thought. I tried to figure out where it came from when a more seductive smell replaced it.
I frowned when I noticed Crystal smirking at me as she leaned back into Merek. Narrowing my eyes at her, I tilted my head slightly and sniffed the air. She was up to something and I was going to find out what.
The bitter smell, which was less overpowering, mingled with the more alluring smell and it came from the woman Merek couldn’t keep his eyes off.
My frown turned to shock as it hit me why Merek was acting strange. I snapped my eyes to Crystal, whose smile was replaced by fear, once she realised, I knew what she had done.
The poisonous flower turned to Merek, whispered in his ear, making him smile and nod in reply to whatever she said.
I had excellent hearing but what with the cacophony in the background, I couldn’t make out what was said.
Merek ran his index finger along her jaw before she walked off. If there were no witnesses around, I would have grabbed her and made her talk, instead I clenched my fist and ground my teeth.
Did she not know who I am? Or didn’t she care?
A hand on my arm brought me back to my surrounding. I quickly scrutinised the people around our little group and sighed in relief, when I noticed they were still occupied with the shattered glass and drop in temperature. The room was a lot colder and a couple of the females turned a shade of blue as their partners tried to warm them up.
Glancing down, I expected to see Ivy but found Kara instead. I stepped back and looked behind me, but the Ivy had disappeared.
“S-she left,” Kara said, reading my mind. “Straight after C-C-Crystal.” Pointing to the main hall.
I nodded my head in thanks, then hardening my eyes, I turned them to Merek. “Do not move from this spot,” I commanded. Not waiting for a reply, I rushed to the lobby, praying I caught her before she left.
Once I got to the main entrance area, I saw her facing the window. As I neared her, I heard glass cracking, which was loud in the quite hall. I frowned as I realised everyone stood quietly gazing at the window.
I followed their line of sight and saw what had them transfixed. Huge cracks formed in the windows, resembling a spider’s web.
Some started to move backwards out of fear, but not Ivy. She stood there enthralled by the sight occurring before her.
I darted to where she stood and faced her, obscuring her view of the window.
She turned her beautiful blue eyes, that were filled with unshed tears, to mine. The urge to press her to me was overpowering, yet I wanted to hurt her for wanting my brother. Did she care for him that much? Merek would never get her if he had anything to do with it.
She was his.
I breathed heavily as a battle raged inside me.
Shattering glass jerked me to step closer, pressing her to me as I wrapped my arms around her, protecting her from the flying glass.
The screams of those around us penetrated my stormy mind. But I couldn’t let her go, instead I crushed her further to me.
“Ethan! You’re hurting me.” She cried.
I clenched my jaw and tightened my hands on her shoulder and waist as I tried to control my turbulent emotions.
“Mr Westfield!”
Her calling me by my surname felt like a slap to the face and it brought me out of the spell I was under. It had to be a spell, for what other reason could there have been for the way I acted.
I took a step back, reluctantly moving my arms from around her.
She gazed at me with confusion, blinked then walked around me and out the hall as glass crunched under her shoes.
I didn’t watch her leave; I couldn’t. I had this fear that I would follow her.
I rubbed my aching temple and glanced up. Kara stood at the entrance of the ball room, looking at me with pain in her eyes.
- Writer
