Chapter 19
1118 Words
"You gotta be f*****g kidding me" Penelope exclaimed in shock. She found it difficult to believe what the druid had just said. What did he mean Bale was her mate? Just when she was beginning to think that being a werewolf was fun, then this bomb.
"Hendell, how's this possible?" Bale who looked more disturbed than Penny, folded his arms across his chest.
"You should know we don't make these decisions. Selene does. And no one knows why she does the things she does." the druid replied calmly. He could sense the tension between the two of them.
"I know, but how can she be the one?"
"Look, I don't have the answers you seek. The best I can do for you guys is just let you figure this out by yourselves." Hendell rose from his seat when he couldn't take the disturbance anyone. Grabbing a cigar from its case, he left his office, abandoning Bale and Penny inside.
Left alone with his adversary, Bale paced about the room with his hands clasped behind his back. He had a lot of things on his mind, but they all centered on one person. How was Christopher going to take this news, he wondered. "No this isn't right".
"Excuse me, pretty boy, you're not the only one who's not happy with this arrangement" Penelope cut in rudely. She didn't like him one bit.
Infuriated by her ill-mannered behavior, Bale glared at her with vicious and intimidating blue eyes that soon turned red. "Don't even try and be saucy with me!" he growled, causing Penny to gulp in fear.
"No, there's no way I'm doing this. We need to find a way to cut this off."
"No, we'll do no such thing."
"Why?" Penny protested.
"Because" he began after a brief moment of silence. "The mate bond is a very sacred thing to me" he paused, slightly overwhelmed by the path he was about to take.
"What do you mean?"
"As a boy, I've always fantasized about having my own mate." Bale continued. "The reason's that I like what my parents shared. They had a very special bond, stronger than love itself that intertwined their souls. But like Antony and Cleopatra, it was what took them to their grave sadly." his face became grim after his confession.
"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take this information, but I don't wanna die because you're gonna die" Penny's voice became low as she tried to sympathize with him, but Bale's face became serious again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped. "You don't even know what really happened"
"What I'm saying is that one of them was supposed to stay for you. I know how the mate bond works. I've read about it on Wikipedia" Penny stood her ground.
"Don't you dare speak of my parents that way!" Bale dashed towards Penny at a frightening speed and lifted her by her neck in anger. "You don't even know them, so don't try that ever again." He warned her.
"L-let me go! You're hurting me!" Penny writhed under his hold as she tried to free herself, but Bale still held her.
"What are you doing Bale? Let her go!" The druid whom they did not notice when he entered came to Penny's rescue. Out of his great respect for the druid, Bale dropped his mate and stormed out of the room. "Are you okay?" the druid turned to Penny and she nodded amid coughs. He sighed as he stared at her pensively for a while, then he spoke. "I heard what transpired between you two, and you're wrong." he turned and took his place on his seat. "You shouldn't have said those things even if you wanted to spite him. You went too far."
"What do you mean?"
"Bale has a very tragic past, that's why he's too sensitive about his parent's death. And it was wrong for you to talk about them like that." Hendell chided Penny softly
"What happened to them"
"A family feud that wasn't handled properly." he shook his head over the bitter memory. "The feud began after his grandfather died. By right, as the eldest son, Bale's uncle was supposed to succeed his grandfather as alpha, but because his dad was born with the gift instead, the position was given to him. His uncle who refused to sit and watch his younger brother steal his birthright, began to war with his father, hence the feud."
"So how did they die exactly."
"Well what used to be an altercation developed into something more sinister and his uncle decided to kill his father. He had succeeded and was going to kill Bale too before his mom interfered. Her husband had told her to run but she knew that it was only a matter of time before her brother-in-law would begin to see her son as a threat too, so she stayed back and fought. Had it not been for their sacrifice, Bale wouldn't be where he is today. So you're wrong if you think it was the mate bond that killed them."
EXOTIC BIRDS flew in harmony across the sparsely clouded sky, tinted a 'blue-to-orange gradient' by the soft glow of the midmorning sun. This scene together with the flamboyant colors of the flowers in the Druid's garden formed a beautiful kaleidoscopic setting that could've been the start of a perfect morning for Bale, had Penny not ruined it for him. There in the Druid's garden, he sat on a bench admiring the scenery as he tried to clear his mind from the rage that clouded it. This trick was working tremendously for him until he spotted Penny approaching him and his face contorted into a frown again.
"What do you want?" he questioned her in a hostile manner.
"I came to apologize for what I said earlier" she ignored his rude behavior and sat on the same bench with him.
"Why"
"Hendell told me everything, so now even if I still don't like you, I feel ashamed that I said those things just to spite you" she took Bale by surprise with the way she presented her apology.
"I don't like you too. And what sort of apology is this? Are you trying to get on my nerves again or what?"
"Woah! That's a relief. And I thought you liked me. Now we have something in common" Penny mocked him.
"What was that? Why on earth would I fancy you when you're so rude?"
"I don't know. After all, nobody knows why proud people do the things they do" she shrugged. "Anyways, Hendell sent me to call you. That's actually why I'm here." she delivered her message then left.
- Writer
