An Unwavering Promise--Completed

Chapter Five

Alexander’s POV

I blinked in confusion, totally stunned. What Eleanor had just said made no sense. How could a dark entity be living in her? We had gotten tattoos months ago to protect us from demon possession, since it was a very real possibility to be a vessel for demons. Shay’s situation had been exactly that. But what could she possibly mean by her statement?

Feelings of worry and hurt radiated through our bond. Eleanor was nervous about telling me, and now my silence wasn’t reassuring her.

“I know you can feel my uneasiness through the bond,” I started. “But I want you to know that I believe your feelings and fears are real and true. I’m only concerned about what this could mean for you, and what you think this dark entity thing is. It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just don’t understand what you mean by it.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand, while conveying as many warm emotions as possible through our bond. Though I was having a difficult time understanding what she was saying, I wanted her to know that I would never react as I had that day. Too much had happened for me to ever doubt her words. Eleanor only ever had the best intentions, and everything she did was for others. For her to be worried about herself spoke volumes.

“You don’t have a darkness in you?”

“I don’t get what that means, my love,” I half chuckled in our mindlink conversation.

She frowned at me and then went into deep thought. “I think, well, I’m sorry. I don’t quite know how else to describe it. But it almost feels like I have something else besides just me and Rae in this body. But it’s darker and sinister. Like, um, for example, sometimes when I see Hailey, uhh,” she paused, clearly distressed.

I squeezed her hand again.

“Sometimes I picture,” she paused again and closed her eyes shut tightly. “ Uh, ripping her pup out of her with my bear claws and feasting on her body while she dies. Obviously, I would never, and I really, really don’t want to. However, I can’t stop seeing it, and part of me craves it.”

She cracked an eye open and looked at me, terrified and trying to gauge my reaction.

“I know you would never do something like that,” I immediately said.

Eleanor looked visibly relieved.

“But no, I can’t say I feel anything like that. The closest I can think of is how I felt when Nicholas had control over me, but that left once you killed him. I had strange inclinations to hurt others, but it wasn’t a strong feeling. And the only time I ever truly felt its pull was when he turned us into monsters to fight our friends. However, when you killed him, we returned to normal, and I’ve felt free ever since.”

“I can’t say that feeling ever went away for me. I still feel trapped by its pull. And Nathan…” she trailed off.

“He what?” I gently prodded.

Just then, the overhead system announced the boarding of our plane. Eleanor jumped in her seat, causing a few heads to turn our way. I gave her a small smile and put my book away.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said through our link. “I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you. Nathan won’t be able to hurt you, and just like you told Hunter, there’s a lot of people willing to take the shots for you before someone even gets close enough to you.”

“It’s not Nathan I’m worried about. It’s me,” she whispered in my head.

Her voice was so faint that I thought I had imagined it. I searched her face and noticed how her demeanor had changed. She was not the confident and strong alpha I knew right now. She was fearful and scared. I hated seeing my mate like this, so I pulled her into a hug and held her tightly. I wasn’t going to let anyone mess with her if I could help it. She was my girl, my mate, and if anyone dared to hurt her in any way, they would have me to contend with.

“It’s going to be alright. I promise you,” I verbally mumbled into her ear. “I won’t let you do anything you regret, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. The Moon Goddess gave me a very special mission by making you my mate, and I plan on fulfilling everything required in order to be by your side.”

She relaxed in my arms, and I pulled away only so that we could board the plane. I couldn’t figure out why she was in such a fragile place. Hopefully, she would enlighten me on the plane. It wasn’t a long flight, but I definitely wanted to know what she was going through before we dove into this next mission with the female orc. Who knew where it would lead us?

As we sat in our seats, I glanced over at her. Eleanor had already turned to look out the window, tuning out the rest of the world. I sighed, but tried to make myself as comfortable in the middle seat as was humanly possible. After several sighs, groans, and readjustments, I finally gave up and accepted that I’d be cramped and grumpy. Eleanor only laughed at me and rested her head on my shoulder, which instantly made me feel better.

I then heard her softly say in my head, “Nathan said to give into the darkness, and let it use me. He said I could learn to wield it and use it right back. He said that I couldn’t trust anyone, and that I was made into a hero only to be fooled. Nathan said a lot of things that frightened me because either I wanted it or knew it could be true. I understand that I can’t trust him, but if even a tiny part of what he said was right, then… I don’t know. Then I don’t know what to do.”

I nodded slowly. This helped me understand where she was at mentally. I didn’t like what she said at all, but it shed a lot of insight into how I should approach this conversation.

“My love,” I replied through the mindlink. “First, let me ask you a question. Was there anything Nicholas said or did that actually helped you become the amazing, strong woman you are today?”

She paused and considered her response. “If it wasn’t for his meddling, I wouldn’t be who I am today. He orchestrated everything painful in my life: my parents’ death, my weird abilities, even being taken advantage of by Robert was his fault.”

“Okay… but did any of that make you who you are?”

“I’m strong because those things happened,” she retorted.

I shook my head. “No, I believe you are strong because you learned how to overcome things. Because you were already born strong. You were an alpha before any of that happened to you. You learned how to adapt and show Nicholas that he didn’t and couldn’t control you. You may have darkness in you, but I already know you won’t let it win.”

“But what if I do?” she whispered. “What if it does win?”

“I won’t let that happen. Besides, you are too good and wonderful to give in.”

Eleanor rested her chin on one of the palms of her hands. “I don’t understand how you can be so sure about this. Nicholas turned me into a monster! I did terrible things for him and because of him. But I also did horrible things because I wanted to too. I’m not the same Eleanor you met at the Alpha’s Summit last year. I can’t always tell what is right or wrong anymore. Everything looks grey in my world now.”

“You’re right. You have changed. Things are grey. That’s how the world works, though. It’s okay to have changing and differing opinions and thoughts. It’s what makes you alive and relatively human. If no one ever changed, this world would not be able to progress. Look at the dragons, for instance. They’ve been stagnant for hundreds of years because they’re trapped. They haven’t been allowed to change or move on. But you can, and you will continue to do so. Nicholas may have influenced your life, and Nathan may too, now that we’re all wrapped up in this, but you shouldn’t let that bog you down.”

“You believe in me more than I do,” she laughed.

“I’m your mate. I’ll never stop believing in you or loving you,” I instantly replied.

She gave me a warm smile. “I seriously lucked out with the best partner, didn’t I? Thank you, Alex. I doubt I could have made it through without you.”

“Always. Don’t ever feel like you can’t talk to me or confide in me. There’s nothing you ever need to hide from me.”

Eleanor leaned in and kissed me briefly. “And the same goes for you. You’d never keep anything from me, right?”

“Of course,” I lied with a smile. I felt Hunter twitch in annoyance.