Mate
1041 Words
Chapter 4:
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LILA’s POV
I turn to face her. “Take me to him.”
She hesitated as if she wasn’t expecting me to say that.
“Right this way then.” She says turning around and I follow behind.
If the commander rejects me then what next for me?
Do I go back to my father’s house shamefully?
Or do I run away and hide?
“Alaric. The king sent a new package.” She called out loudly.
I looked up from my feet to see we were at an open space.
There was only one man there and I knew he wasn’t the commander.
He was brandishing a sword that he kept back into its cover as he approached me.
Fluffy brown hair and a heart smile.
He looked too peaceful to be in the army.
“Beta Nathan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He says giving me a little bow.
And respectful.
I muster up a gracious smile, murmuring my own scant greetings with a barely-managed proper bow. “Lila Shepherd.”
“Alaric!!.” The female alpha yelled again interrupting our introduction.
“You better have a good reason for shouting that loud.”
Hearing a deep voice made me look away from Nathan.
“And may I present to you, Alpha Alaric.”
My blood turns to ice in my veins and there’s a tug in my heart.
Whose presence is making my omega .. ?
I look up.
Alpha Alaric stands like a towering, dark fortress, dressed entirely in black garbs and his presence looming.
My eyes land first on his shoes, the shiny black leather polished to a menacing edge; his trousers, the solemn straight edge of his cape, the ebony feathers capping his broad shoulders like the tips of a fearsome gargoyle’s wings.
And then, at long, dreaded last, I see the face of my intended for the first time--
--and I gasp.
It’s involuntary, and subtle enough to be taken as a sharp intake of breath than the stupefied gasp that it is.
But I could not help it.
With all the rumors that my step mother gossiped to Nadia about him being the most feared and reviled man in all the land.
That he must be as terrible as such things, for how else could he sleep at night knowing that he causes the death of people?
And so, I had expected a monster.
I had expected a face as gruesome as the terrors he controls; something to signify the darkness which lurks within, something to indicate the black soul that it belongs to.
Instead, I find a face that is striking in an entirely different way.
I wasn’t sure step mother and Nadia had seen him in person because if they had. They would forget about his doings in an instant.
Sharp cheekbones, strong jaw, tousled black locks that conceal one eye.
But the part in his hair reveals his right eye, and it is this sight - the eye that they said would be like looking into death itself - that had elicited my gasp most of all.
His eyes are unfathomably dark, indeed - like an endless, black pit, glittering not with mirth or joy but power.
They are in contrast to his skin, which is pale like the moon goddess forgot to dab him with color.
His features, hewn into marble, devoid entirely of any imperfections or even creases - as if he has lived his entire life, without once expressing a single expression on that impassive face.
As if he has lived his entire life, without having once experienced a human emotion.
And yet, somehow, I cannot find it in myself to call this man a monster.
A monstrous man, perhaps (to be seen yet), but a man nonetheless.
And far from horrifying in appearance, as I had expected.
He is, dare I say it - hauntingly handsome.
He is not what I had expected at all.
He is the most handsome creature I had ever seen in my twenty three years of living.
Was this man to be my future husband?
His eyes ran over me, as if judging me.
I immediately bow my head down so our eyes wouldn’t meet.
“Lila Shepherd from the Shepherd family.” I say introducing myself.
“She’s a new girl brought by the king. Just reject her so she wouldn’t have hope.” The female alpha butted in.
“Hey that’s wasn’t nice, Ivory.”
I could hear Beta Nathan defend me.
But I was focused on the sound of moving feet.
Alpha Alaric was walking towards me.
My head remained bowed down as i couldn’t dare to rise and look at him straight in the eyes just so he can reject me.
Finally he stopped in front of me and I could see his feet.
I closed my eyes muttering a little chant.
‘Please don’t reject me’
‘Please don’t reject me’
I felt a movement and peeked one eye open to see he was also bowing before me.
“Arden Alaric. Commander of the King’s Army.” He said introducing himself.
I jerk at the sound - a deep, baritone voice, lower than most voices, enough to mark it as distinct as the face of its speaker. I realize, a belated moment later, that it had come from my fiancé.
Stunned, I quickly raise my head and I discovered I wasn’t the only one surprised. The female alpha was too and so was beta Nathan.
Alpha Alaric raises his head up and spins on his heel not giving me any chance to make eye contact.
I stumble back a few steps, alarmed by the sudden movement.
He’s walking away.
Wait, where he going?
What does this mean?
“Do you accept me then?.” I call out to him.
He stops at the sound of my voice then turns back as he moved his hair backward.
I decided to face my fear by not stopping myself from looking into both eyes.
This is the time I get entranced in his eyes and for the first time, without me summoning her, in that instant, my wolf growls fiercely.
MATE!
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TBC
- Writer
