Chapter Fourteen
1128 Words
Calix's POV
The Alpha of Crescent Fang Pack had the kind of attending room that was designed to make people feel small.
I had noticed it the moment I was escorted in, the ceiling higher than necessary and the desk positioned so that whoever sat behind it was going to be three inches higher than the one sitting on the other side.
I could feel the energy of the room and it felt more disturbing than powerful as an Alpha should be.
I had sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and looked around the room with the open curiosity of someone on a pleasant visit.
I tried not to think of the hybrid lady, in as much as she was beautiful in an ethereal way, gorgeous in features that stunned me, what she was.
A hybrid.
A creature that had never been seen in all my years of authority, in all the years of the warlock before me and the one before him.
I hoped to discuss how to trace back her bloodline but having Alpha Elias smile too widely at me the minute he stepped in, I didn't think it was possible.
I muttered something in which he stroked his chin.
“And you are certain?" He asked.
"I would not have crossed two territories to tell you something I was uncertain about," I said pleasantly as his jaw tightened.
"And her true bloodline?" He asked.
"Hybrid," I said. "Wolf and witch, the specific combination that has not existed in any documented form for three hundred years, if I’m remembering history correctly"
I scanned his chambers before my eyes returned back to him. “The wolf side is strong but mildly dormant for now, while the witch side is older, rarer, and considerably more consequential." I paused. "As I believe your garden furniture could confirm."
His expression shifted and i could tell how irritated my sense of humor got him.
"She belongs with the witches," I said. "With people who can train her properly, contain the awakening and give her the language for what she is. What happened in that garden was the third significant discharge in as many days and they are getting stronger, not weaker. Without structured intervention….."
"No." He cut me off like he was tired of hearing my chitter.
My brow arched as I looked at him, slightly surprised at his boldness.
"What was that?" I asked calmly.
"No," he said again, as though the repetition added weight. "She stays here." He paused, “and I want to care about what else you have to say…. but one of your species said about a prophecy tied to her…"
“And you would trust this witch who has clearly betrayed its own coven?" I shook my head.
Uncrossed my leg and leaned forward slightly. Resting my forearms on my knees and looking at him with the patience I reserved for calmer conversations.
"Alpha…..Elias. Is it?" I started “I wanted to make sure you have fully considered what you are saying no go." Keeping my voice even. "You have a hybrid wolf-witch on the edge of awakening living inside your pack walls. She has already strangled a woman from across your table without touching her and you would like to keep her here.”
" With all due respect, it seemed like you forgot to point out the fact that she is my mate,” he said.
" She ‘was’ your mate,” I replied "when that was convenient.”
Elias looked at me with his amber eyes, they flickered to a darker shade but I still held his gaze without any particular concern.
" You should be careful,” he said quietly, "about what you say next"
I leaned closer by an inch.
"And you should be careful,” I replied also "about what you do next.” I say back “I did not come here because you invited me, Alpha. I came because of Aria. I want to be clear about that so nothing else I say is interpreted as diplomacy or an alliance or the beginning of any arrangement between our kinds" I let that settle.
I had expected what he did next, scoffing like whatever I said was a joke to him.
“I see, so this all comes down to a feud that happened when?…. Centuries ago? By ancestors we didn't even meet?"
I understood deeply now the kind of person Elias was now, the people pleasing Alpha.
One who would do anything possible if he'd thought it made him a hero in front of his subjects.
I narrowed my gaze, tapping my finger on the arm of the chair. “Witches and werewolves have not been on agreeable terms for a long time. One ball with decorative candles and good wine does not change the architecture of that history. You know it and I know it and every feeble elder in your council knows it.”
Elias stood up.
He did it slowly, with the controlled deliberateness of a man managing his own anger.
He moved around the desk to stand at the window with his back to me, looking out over the pack grounds with his hands closed behind him.
“This is sad, to hear how bias a leader sounds" he paused. “I want to keep the peace Mr Beckwoods but you are circling back to this ... .this request of yours that can't be granted." He turned away from the window. “regardless of whatever she is now, she is my mate and she is going to get the support home can give her”
I rose along with him, readjusting my coat.
“And by support you mean selling her to a slave pack and almost getting her killed by the infamous savage rogue clan?” I made sure my words cut deep though my tone remained steady. “I'm struggling to locate the part where your intentions towards her have changed"
The horror in his eyes was only there for a second before he blinked it away.
“Let's not forget courtesy Mr Beckwoods, " he moved towards me, past me till he got to the door and held it wide open. “And I believe we are very much done here"
I couldn't help but smile at his hypocrisy, "of course” I started towards him. “Thank you for your hospitality" then stopped when I got to the foot of the door. "But remember, she might bring down the walls of the palace next before you realize how self centered not listening to me is”
He gave me a curt nod before watching me cross the threshold of the room and closing the door immediately.
- Writer
