Chapter 9
1107 Words
Chapter 9: Taking A Stand
SERAPHINA
The silence that followed Kieran's declaration felt like a rubber band that has been pulled to the limits and was ready to snap. I could feel Marcus and Elena staring at me, their minds probably racing, trying to process what they'd just heard.
The Lycan King—the most powerful werewolf in North America—had called me by name, spoken to me like I was someone precious to him, someone he'd been waiting for, all his life. And that was something that clearly unsettled them more than they let on.
I ended the call with trembling fingers, a bit scared that I had indeed talked to Keiran and tried to remain cool in front of him like I was not scared that he might have denied me in front of everyone. I have after all left him and took in another mate. Him rejecting me would be the right thing to do.
I was still trying to maintain the calm facade that had served me so well this morning. But inside, my wolf was howling with a mixture of joy and terror. Kieran was coming. After five years of silence, of pretending not to miss my chosen mate, while trying to make things work between my husband and I, he was coming to find me.
"How?" Marcus's voice was barely audible from where he was standing, shaking in rage, his face pale as death.
"How do you know the Lycan King?"
I straightened my shoulders, meeting his eyes with steady eyes as I scoffed. The new found confidence in me needed to be studied because I felt like I was on top of the world like this.
"That's not your concern anymore, is it? You made your choice when you brought her into our home." I said rudely rolling my eyes as I gestured to the trash bin beside him.
Elena had gone completely silent, her earlier smugness had been replaced by something that looked like panic. She understood the implications of what just happened better than Marcus did.
If I had connections to the Lycan King, of all people, if I was someone important enough for him to drop everything and come for me, then everything she'd assumed about me was wrong.
"You need to explain this right now," Marcus demanded, his Alpha voice trying to compel me, like he did when I was pretending to be weak and pathetic , hiding my secret of being a true blood Luna, trying to convince myself and the world that true love exists.
But the command rolled off me like water off stone. Whatever power he thought he held over me had been shattered the moment Kieran's voice filled this kitchen and I realized that I had been playing the part of a doormat for far too long.
I smiled, the expression feeling foreign after so many years of careful acting towards Marcus..this was the first time that I was defying him or going against his wishes and it felt good.
Too good to be true.
"I don't need to explain anything to you, Marcus. In fact, I think I'm done with explanations altogether."
I turned toward the doorway, intending to go upstairs and pack a bag quickly. If Kieran was coming, I wanted to be ready. I wanted to finally stop running from destiny and the life that I'd been so afraid of. I had wasted five years trying to fight it, not strong enough to bring myself to reject him completely, keeping this wound open and allowing it to fester while I pretended that I could be happy here.
I had already convinced myself that having a child with my husband would make us fall in love even more and was going to bring it up to him last night only to hear that he wanted Elena to bear his heirs.
"You're not going anywhere," Marcus snarled behind me, but I kept walking.
"Have a wonderful day at work," I called over my shoulder, my voice light and unconcerned about them.
"Both of you. I'm sure the Morrison family will be so understanding when their surgery gets delayed because their so-called mistress -me decided to rest and let the Luna take control of the works that the mistress was doing all this while."
I made it three steps into the hallway before something hard crashed into the back of my skull.
The world exploded into stars and darkness. I felt myself falling, my knees hitting the hardwood floor with a sickening c***k, as it started throbbing me. I felt the sharp intake of breath as pain tore through my body from my knees alerting me to my injuries.
Through the ringing in my ears, I could hear Elena's voice, high-pitched and frantic.
"She knows too much! Marcus, she knows too much! If the Lycan King comes here, if he finds out what we've been doing—"
"Shut up," Marcus snapped. "Let me think."
I tried to lift my head, tried to speak, but my vision was swimming as I could barely focus on what was happening. Everything was turning dizzy and hazy in a way that made my eyes hurt when I tried to focus. Blood trickled down the back of my neck, warm and sticky. I could taste copper in my mouth.
"We need to restrain her," Elena was saying, her voice coming from very far away like she was talking from one end of a tunnel and I was on the other end.
"Before she can call him back, before she can tell him where we are."
I felt hands grabbing my arms, dragging me back toward the kitchen. My legs wouldn't work properly, wouldn't support my weight at all.
Everything felt distant and strange, like I was watching this happen to someone else.
"Wait," Elena said suddenly, and I heard her rummaging through something. "I brought this, just in case. I had a feeling she might be more than she seemed."
"What is that?" Marcus asked, his voice filled with suspicion.
"Liquid silver," Elena replied, and my blood turned to ice hearing this from her. "If she's human like she claims, it'll make her sick but won't do permanent damage. But if she's been hiding what she really is..."
No. No, no, no.
I tried to struggle, tried to fight against the hands holding me down, but my body wouldn't obey. The blow to my head had left me weak and disoriented, barely conscious.
I felt the sharp prick of a needle sliding into my arm, and then liquid fire began racing through my veins.
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