Chapter5: The Emblem
791 Words
Chapter 5: The Emblem
Pain stabs through me, cold seeping into my bones.
Then… pressure. Something heavy’s clamped around my wrists.
My eyes snap open.
Stone floor, dirt walls, weak light trickling through cracks in a wooden ceiling. Where the hell…?
“Finally up,” a voice chirps, way too smug to be harmless.
Ava.
I groan, hauling myself up.
My back aches, and my arms are shackled to the wall with metal cuffs.
“You always did have a flair for dramatics,” Ava adds, arms folded as she leans against the far wall of what looks like an old barn or holding cell. “But showing up naked and unconscious on the border? Even for you, that’s a new low.”
I ignore her while the memories rush in like a tidal wave. The Clover attack, the mysterious stranger, the cabin, the stupid mistake, the chase… and Jason
My head pounds.
“Where is he?” I manage to ask, throat dry.
“Who?” she smirks. “Your mystery man? Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. There are a lot of elite Lycans out there, but none quite leave a mark the way he did.”
I tense.
“I meant Jason.”
Ava rolls her eyes. “Oh. Him. He's just outside… pacing. Growling. Acting like you're still his to command. You know, the usual.”
She pushes off the wall and crouches beside me. “If you ask me, he’s more upset about the fact that someone else got to you first than anything else.”
I glare at her, but she’s already rising again.
“You’re a scandal now, Elena. The infamous warrior, rejected in front of half the clan, and caught sneaking back across borders reeking of s*x and secrets.”
I pull at the cuffs but they hold me back.
“I swear,” I whisper, “if you don’t get out of my face—”
“Still so snappy I see” she purrs. “We can fix that. Now, the Council hasn't decided what to do with you yet. But treason? Desertion? Maybe even consorting with an enemy Alpha? Oh, they’re going to have fun picking a punishment. And I'm gonna have fun watching.”
Just then, door creaks open, and Jason enters. For a moment, the entire barn freezes.
He looks at me like stain on a prized possession.
“You’re awake.”
“...and in chains” I answer, unimpressed.
He steps forward, jaw clenched tight. His eyes move from my face down to the cuffs, then back again… right before his nostrils flare.
“You’ve been with someone.”
I don’t answer.
“Who was it?” he demands.
I meet his gaze. “Why do you care?”
His hands ball into fists. “After all you did last night, you're still hell bent on humiliating me?!”
“Humiliating you?” I scoff. “Give it a rest. Not everything revolves around your insatiable ego.”
“You belong to the White Lotus” his voice rises. “You don’t just disappear and shack up with the first wolf you meet!”
“You don’t get to decide where I belong,” I hiss.
Ava, to no one’s surprise, is eating this up like a stage play.
Jason leans in. “You’re lucky we haven’t stripped you of your title. You’re nothing but a traitor now.”
I smile, slow and sharp. “You think I'm afraid of you, Jason?”
“You should be” he answers, straight-faced…
…but before tempers can spill, the door to the cell bursts open, and a scrawny-looking guard makes his way through.
“Sir! There's someone outside that wants to see you. Someone important.”
“Tell them I'm busy” Jason answers, not even caring to glance back.
Before the guard can respond, the door creaks further open, and a cold wind rushes in… alongside an awfully familiar scent.
Ava's the first to turn, her intrigue nurtured in seconds. Her gaze catches his long dark coat, and the emblem of a White Sun across its bust.
“The royal family?” She mutters.
I knew I'd seen that image before. But…
…Wait a minute. Wouldn't that mean…
“Jason Hale…” he walks in.
Tall. Commanding. Dressed in nothing but darkness.
Eyes like molten silver.
It's him.
The man from the woods.
The man from the cabin.
“Didn't I just tell you I'm—” Jason turns back, and his voice cracks with recognition.
“That…”
Ava blinks rapidly. “Wait… no. That
can’t be…”
The guards snap to attention, and the words fall down my tongue in realisation.
“The Lycan King.”
- Writer
