Fated | The Heir of the She-Wolf

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

|ELEANOR|

“Your stay here will be long”

Valerio’s words rang in my head while I was going a floor down with Pebble. The guards were again by my side, escorting me to what I was expecting would be a jail cell. Instead, I was left alone in a small one-bedroom apartment.

Amazing! Not only was I stuck here (okay, it was better than a jail cell, and Pebble liked it) but the whole truth about my own existence was shattered to pieces. I could not believe my parents lied to me about my clan. I spent most of my life hating Triads and their f*****g King as much as I could possibly hate with my whole heart, to find out I was one.

Disgusted by the thought I had drank Valerio’s blood, I lied on the bed and stared in the ceiling. What were they going to do with me? Were they going to put me to s*****y to pay for my crime of trying to murder almighty King Valerio?

I scoffed and turned on my side with Pebble hopping on the bed next to me.

“We got ourselves in one hell of a trouble, Pebble.”, I murmured and the exhaustion hit me, causing me to fall asleep.

A knock on the door woke up good six hours later. I still didn’t have my phone back since that bastard took it, but there was an analogue clock on the wall telling it was almost seven in the evening.

“Coming!”, I shouted, still drowsy and sleepy.

“Mister Valerio is expecting you on the twentieth floor in an hour.”, the Triad guard said when I opened the door.

“What for? He has prepared the guillotine and is ready to slice my head off?”, I asked hoping this was not the answer. The guard did not respond to my question. Instead, he told me there are clothes in the wardrobe and I should not be late.

Slamming the door in his face, I turned around and went back to bed. I would be damned if I wore anything that belonged to Valerio!  And I better be damned if I follow his orders like a f*****g puppy!

Covering myself with the soft blanket, I closed my eyes but this time a tear escaped the corners and fell into my cheek. Pebble meowed at my face, asking me if I was okay. God, what I would do to get out of here and be done with everything.

The hour passed but I was still lying in bed although my stomach was hurting badly and I needed food. Thirty more minutes passed and I was just hoping that Valerio had forgotten that he requested my presence, when the door opened and he walked in my room.

“I expect that when I give you an order, you obey. Get up.”

His voice was filling the room. I opened my eyes which were still red from crying and looked at him.

“I am not going anywhere.”, I said. I still had strength to be stubborn and witty.

“Get up, Eleanor.”, he demanded again before coming up to me and removing the blanket from my body.

“Jesus, don’t you have more important things to do than be here and play with me?!”, I asked, straightening up. “I would expect the almighty king would have places to be, not meddle with the prisoners.”, I continued, looking straight into his eyes. He was standing tall in front of me with his hair all messy and his eyes so blue I was feeling dizzy looking at him. No, Eleanor, you are just starving, I corrected myself and got up.

“I have cleared my evening. And since you bluntly interrupted the Lunar celebration yesterday, I am feeling obliged to treat myself a fun evening tonight. Get up.”

“If you tell me one more time to get up, I will punch you in the face.”, I snapped back. Releasing a breath, Valerio grabbed me for the arm and pulled me up.

“You might hate me for whatever f****d up reasons are boiling in your head, but I am still the King so show some f*****g respect.”

“Fine.”, I gritted through my teeth.

“Take a shower and come upstairs.”, he commanded before leaving my room.

 |VALERIO|

The door behind me opened and she came in. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was her. Her scent was delicate but I could sense it from a mile away.

“Do not make me wait anymore.”, I hissed.

I turned and saw her standing by the door. She was not wearing the dress I had ordered to be brought to her room. Instead, she was standing in tight jeans that were hugging her legs and a baggy dark red pullover.

“Come in and sit down.”

I moved from the window and circled around my desk, crossing the room and opening the hidden door on the left leading to my penthouse.

She didn’t move at first but followed me with slow, proud steps. I could feel she didn’t like to ordered what to do and I was enjoying the moment as it had been a long time since I had met someone so disobedient and stubborn.

We entered the large living room and I sat on the dinner table by the French glass door leading to the balcony. I noticed a hint of panic in her eyes as she took in the view of the whole city and the ocean spreading behind it but I was surprised the panic was not directed to me.

“Have a seat. The meal should be out shortly and in the meantime, you and I will have a little chat.”

I was the King of Clans but nothing about how I lived showed it except for the fact I occupied the very last floor of the Tower and could not make an omelet for the sakes of it. This is why I had my food prepared and brought up to my penthouse.

Eleanor had still not said a word to me. Are we going to play the silent treatment now, lady?

“I don’t really feel like having a little chat with you.”, she gritted through her teeth while taking the seat which was far away from the window. I ignored her and poured two glasses of wine. The excitement was building up to get to know her. But until I knew why she wanted to kill me in the first place, I could not afford to let my guard down.

I gave her the glass of wine and she took it but left it straight on the table.

“This is not the proper way to treat your host.”, I said calmly and pointed to the glass. “Cheers. To not being successful in your little mission to take me down, thus giving us the chance to have a lovely dinner.”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes at me and refused to take a sip. Still being quiet, she was set on torturing me and testing my limits.

“Give me your glass.”, I said and exchanged glasses with her. “You happy now? You think you can stop acting like a little brat at last?”, I asked while staring into her green eyes. She looked down and took a sip of the wine.

“Seeing how this has been mostly a monologue so far, how about you tell me about Pebble?”, I asked still researching her face.

She was leaning on the chair back with grace and posture. She might have felt panic a minute ago but she was damn good at hiding it now. Her long dark hair was falling on her arms in messy curls, still moistured from the shower she had just taken.

“What about Pebble?”, she asked shortly. I stood up and went to the other side of the living room where I had a large wooden chest. I opened it and took out a large package. Going back to her and already knowing she wouldn’t open it, I unpacked it.

“I had some cat food and other accessories ordered for her.”

“Him.”

“What?”, I was confused for a second.

“Pebble is a boy.”, she explained and her eyes were fixated on the package which was wrapped in a light pink paper. “Thank you. He is starving already.”

She stretched her arms and took the package and continued to explore the contents. I knew nothing about cats except that they hated Triads. This was one of the reasons I found it hard to believe she was caring for the animal and it seemed attached to her. Something was different about her and I had no idea what it was.

“Now that this is settled, Eleanor, how about you tell me how you performed such a strong glamour spell?”, I changed the topic hoping she would be more willing to talk now that she had a piece of mind about Pebble.

What a ridiculous cat name. Even more ridiculous was the fact I had remembered it.

She moved her eyes to me and I felt a knot in my stomach forming when her gaze met mine. “I just linked it to the location of the Tower. The more specific you are with a spell, the stronger it is.”

“And that is why it stopped working when you fled through the back door?”

“Yep. You are smarter than you look.”, she commented and I chuckled.

“Interesting…”, I trailed off in my thoughts for a second.

“What is? That you are not a complete dumbfuck?”, she hissed at me redirecting my attention back to her. I laughed at her comment, it was honestly amusing me.

“A Triad, and a funny one. What is interesting, Eleanor, is that when Triads unlock their wolf spirit it usually suppresses their magus. That is why we can only do basic or average spells. But you prove to be a strong sorcerer, which is unusual in our world.”

She stayed silent and her eyes lingered on the floor. Confusion crept up her face as the realization of what I said settled in her mind.

We were interrupted as the service door opened and Matilda walked in, carrying a tray with food.

“Thank you, Matilda.”, I said as she placed the plates in front of us.

“Of course, sir. Bon appetite.”, she said while taking a long look at Eleanor. Then she looked at me with a nod of silent approval and a smirk playing in the corner of her lips.

Left alone again, I took a bite of my food while Eleanor stared silently in the ground. I was sure she was hungry but she was too proud to eat in front of me, especially food that was prepared under my orders.

“If you are not hungry, that’s fine. There is an equipped kitchen three hallways down from your room. Which brings me to another subject.”

“Yeah, what is it? You have another f****d up way to destroy my reality?”

“What do you mean? You are the one who sneaked in with the help of a glamour spell, carrying a bottle of poison you believed would kill me. If anyone is set on destroying the other for petty small reasons, that is you, not me.”

“My reason was neither small nor petty, you son of a b***h!”, Eleanor shouted in my face and got up on her feet.

She was crossing a line and even the insatiable smell of her blood would not save her if she kept going on with the insults.

“You f*****g made my parents disappear!”