Fighting For My Mate: Blood Moon

Chapter 6

Christa POV

     After finding out Eli’s father's involvement with his mother's death, Eli had sent his men to find his father and locked him in the dungeon. It's been three days since his father has been locked up. 

“You should really go confront your father. It's been three days, and he has no idea why you’ve put him down there!”

“He can stay down there without knowing why he's there for eternity for all I care!” Eli growls.

“He deserves to know at least why he's been locked away. Once he knows that he’s been caught red-handed, he’ll have nothing but his regrets and thoughts about where his choices have brought him.” I reason. 

“I don’t want to continue this conversation. I’m done!” Eli demands, trying to end the conversation by walking out of the room.

“Fine. Then I’ll go down there myself and give him a piece of my mind without you! I have some things I’d like to get off my chest with him anyway!” Eli stops at the doorway, his back rigid. That got his attention.

“No!...  I won’t have you going down there on your own.” He sighs, rubbing the tension between his temples as he turns back towards me. “Okay, I’ll go with you and talk to my father!”

     I feel so heartbroken for Eli. I wish I could make everything better for him, but the only way I know how is by making Eli face him head-on. He's been avoiding his father for too long, and his father has been causing him nothing but chaos and grief. I can't help but think about the bright side; his father won’t be able to push Eliza on him any longer and push his own agenda while we’re dealing with more significant issues. His father has no idea how real the danger we’re in because of his vendetta, and that's what made him a weak Alpha. 

     After what felt like hours, we finally headed down into the dungeons. As we walked through the secret maze that’s hidden within the walls of the house, we made it into the basement. It looks like a regular basement until Eli walked up to an empty wall and pressed in a stone. As he pressed it in, the stone sank further into the wall, making what sounded like a deep growling sound as the brick and concrete slowly scraped by each other, forcing a cold breeze shooting out towards us and opening a pathway deeper into the ground. As Eli began walking forward, taking the dark stairs further into the tunnels, I couldn't help but shiver at the chill in the air. Noticing my hesitation, Eli turns around and holds out his hand for me to take. I grab for his hand, and we begin to make our descent into the dungeons. 

     As we got to the bottom, I saw three guards stand at each tunnel entrance. I noticed how big it was and how many tunnels it was broken into. I can smell the stench of old blood, urine, feces, and death, mixing in the dirt and a musty scent. Each tunnel has dim lights going all the way down until you can only see darkness as the tunnel gets deeper. Pulling me along so that I don't get lost, Eli pulls me down one of the three tunnels that break off. As we go deeper, I can hear screaming and clanging against metal as we get closer. Eli brings me into his side, holding me right up against him. As we walk a few more steps, I see why. It seems it isn’t only his father that’s being held captive down here. I look on my side, and a man is fighting his chains and snarling as we pass by his cage. I look over to another man is sitting on the ground, covered in dirt, dressed in rags. He’s sitting in the corner quietly. I wonder why he's here until he looks at me with pure black eyes, his fangs out, and he growls as he stares at me as if he can see directly into my soul, and the glint of his eyes tells me he wants to destroy me. I realize he’s a werewolf that has gone completely insane. He is no longer in touch with his human side. 

     As we get to the end of the tunnel, Eli lets go of my hand and asks me to wait. I do as he asks so that his father can’t tell I’m here and he can have a moment with him. I do my best to listen in on the conversation.

“Eli, why have you put me down here? What is wrong with you? Release me, this instant!” He growls. 

“I want you to think long and hard about why you would end up in the dungeons, father,” Eli says calmly.

“What are you talking about? I haven't done anything to be thrown down here like a piece of garbage! I’m your father! I deserve respect!” His father yells.

“Respect? You’re the last person on earth that deserves respect!” Eli yells back at him ferociously.

“I’ve given you everything you have ever needed, and this is the thanks I get?” Eli’s father says in a calmer tone.

“Everything I’ve ever needed? Anything you ever did for me, you did because it benefited you! Including forcing Eliza on me!” Eli responds in the same tone.

Eli’s father rolls his eyes, “is that why you had me dragged down here? Because I kept pushing Eliza on you? What kind of Alpha are you if you throw your own father in the dungeons just because he wanted you with someone more suitable?” 

“No, that is not why you are down here! You’re down here because I know the truth!”

“And what truth is that, son?” 

     Eli walks over to the silver bars getting as close as he can get without touching them. He narrows his eyes at his father before his voice goes a couple of notches deeper.

“The truth about what really happened to mom.” Eli says, his voice deep and gravelly.

His father’s eyes widened with shock. He shakes his head as if he’s in disbelief and takes a few moments to respond. 

“What are you trying to insinuate?” He asks.

“I know you set up those rogues to kill her! Why did you do it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about? I never did such a thing?” 

“STOP LYING!” Eli roars, making the dungeon go quiet. There are a few moments of silence before his father speaks up.

“How do you know you're not being lied to?” 

“We gave Eliza a potion that forced her to tell the truth.”

“We?” As soon as he asked, I stepped forward.

“Yes, we,” I tell him. 

“Y-you’re supposed to be dead!” He shouts, and his face contorts into something between anger and confusion. 

“Yes, well… it seems I was needed here more!” His eyes flick between Eli and me before settling in on Eli. 

“She will make you weak!”

“Is that why you had mom murdered? Because you thought she made you weak?” 

“No, because she was making you weak. I wanted a strong Alpha to take over. One who didn't fall easily for any skank. ” He says as he looks at me before looking at Eli once more, ”and grow this pack bigger and stronger than any other pack with me by your side. And it worked too until you met her. She will be the cause of your downfall, son.” 

“You’re wrong. We’re stronger together.” 

     The words I had just said didn't even sound true even to my own ears. But I continued to look him dead in the eyes because I didn't want to show him weakness. In the back of my mind, his words kept ringing, ‘she will be your downfall.’ It was true once upon a time; couldn’t it be true again? I was so stuck in my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed that Eli had taken my hand in his. We had begun leaving the tunnels, and I realized I never got the chance to say what I needed to tell him. 

**Lex**

     The old witch walked into the room smiling, seemingly satisfied with herself. She walks into the room with a wobble putting part of her weight on her cane. As she gets closer to me, she stops and bows her head. 

“My King, I have some good news.”

“Quickly, tell me!” 

“After seeing that girl for the first time, I knew she was special; I just didn't know how until now! The girl you are drawn to is not a human.”

“What? What are you talking about, not human? I could smell her scent, and she smelled human. Are you saying that I'm wrong?”

“No, my King. But she has never been a human, she had a very, very powerful spell attached to her to keep her identity hidden. Whoever placed the spell had to be extremely powerful. I can see why they are keeping her out of sight. But until we see her, we can’t know exactly what she is. But I do know she holds great power. If you were to claim her as your mate. There is nothing you couldn't do!”

     After the witch says this, a fit of rage flowed through me, and all of a sudden, those two kills weren't enough. I had her in my grasp. I should have marked her when I had the chance! I think as I pick up the nearest chair and smash it against the wall. I stand there panting, trying to control myself from shifting and killing the old hag.

“Do I still have a chance to take her as my mate?” 

“Yes, but if she has already been marked, then it will be more challenging to remove the mate bond and trade it with yours.”

“But it is possible?”

“Yes, my King.”

“Good,” I say after I sit down on my throne. 

“Once I find her, I want you ready to do what you have to. I will have her one way or another.”

**Jacob**

     After almost getting caught last night, I’ve been trying to lay down low to keep attention off of myself. Ethan has been watching me like a hawk ever since, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to sneak out tonight. If Lex hasn’t already flipped out, he definitely will tonight if I’m a no-show once again. After settling in, I hear a commotion outside near the territory. I go out to see what's happening and see wolves flying to where it seems a fight is happening. I notice that some rogues are trying to get in, but this is my chance to show them that they can trust me. I race out there, shifting into my wolf and join in the fight. I take out one rogue, then two until they begin to retreat. Finally, after they are gone, we shift back and search for sweatpants that are left behind the trees. Ethan and Chase turn to me; Chase is the first to speak.

“Hey man, thanks for the help. That was some pretty good work out there.” I nod. 

“It’s no problem. I’ve gotta earn my keep around here, and I’m fully capable of fighting.” I say while Ethan just stares me down, still unsure of whether or not to trust me. Chase nudges Ethan to say something, as he does Ethan shoots him a glare.

“Yeah, thanks for the hand, but we didn't need it,” Ethan says as he gets up and storms off.

“Don’t worry about him. He’ll grow on ya… eventually.” He chuckles as he walks off. At least I’ve earned Chase’s trust. One down more to go. 

Author's Note:

Hello my lovlies, I'm sorry to have to post my note along with my story but for some reason my note from my last post isn't showing up. I just wanted to let you all know that this month and next month are going to be super busy and I may slow down a little bit on how often I post. We're getting ready to go on a 2 week road trip next month to visit family so it's going to be hard to write and post during that time but I'm going to try my best when the opportunites arise. But don't be surprised if I go a bit with out posting. I promise after the trip I will be back on schedule. Thank you so very much for your patience. I truly appreciate you all. xoxo