THE BLOOD OATH

THE PEARL - Part Two

ASTERA

- "Take care, and try to link me when you arrive home! Maybe it will work!" I said to Dina. I heard a faint heart beat nearby. Who could have possibly lived in all the blood bath we engaged earlier? I looked around and I followed the sound. NO! It can't be! I could not believe my eyes! 

- „The f... how are you still alive? I heard when Dina cracked your neck. I saw your limp body drop dead on the floor. I heard your heart stopping. HOW can you be alive?” I asked very surprise as i stood above David’s still body. His eyes were close, his breath was shallow and his heart beat was faint. But there he was! The bastard! I placed his neck properly, rearranging his bones, and I waited for him to open up his dark, dark eyes. After a few minutes, he opened up his eyes, shocked that he is still alive. I was in my human form, but Saradi was there, I could sense her active presence.

- „ I... I... I LIVE!” he said happily.

- „Yeah... I noticed. How so?”

- „I don’t know, but I’m thinking it must be from the protection symbol that your father branded on me.”

- „ That animal is not my father. Refer to him as Ivan. What symbol? What are you talking about?”

- „When he brought me here, he did some kind of spell and then he branded this symbol on my back.” David said to me as he showed me the symbol on his muscular back. „He said to me that this will protect me forever here in the Underworld from any attempt on ending my life. Even my own attempt at ending my life.”

- „Why would you try to take your own life?” I asked unimpressed

-„ When your... Ivan found me, I was only 13, my pack was teared apart by some rogues who attacked us while our warriors were out carrying another battle, I was born from Beta parents and I was training to become a Beta for my best friend, but in that night, in that attack, i almost died. The rogue wounded me almost deadly and threw me out into the woods... Ivan found me and took me in, protected me and continued my training, and so when I was of age, I became his Beta. There were times when I wished he just left me to die in peace in those woods. The things I had to bare, the things I had to do. You see, when he branded me, without my will I might add, he took control over my life and my mind. Sometimes, when I wouldn’t play along as he sang, he would just use the magic seal he branded on me and with that I would come to do every atrocity he made me to, including attacking and wounding my own mate. No surprise that she ‚killed’ me. I would’ve done the same if I were in her place.

- „Yeah, I’m not impressed with your story. If you want a contest between us to see who had the most f*cked up life, I place my bet on myself. So you had it rough! Boo hoo! If you think for a second that I will trust you, you are crazier than Ivan. You can be of use, of course. How long did you said you’ve been down here?”

-„ 3 years. And for your information, I’m not trying to impress you. I couldn’t care less about what you think of me. Of course, I appreciate that you fixed my neck and of course I want to be in good terms with you, you are Dina’s Alpha and if she was willing to kill her mate for you to get out of here, then I stand no chance of winning her back without your help. So with that in mind, I could be of use to you and you could be of use to me. Do we have a deal?”

- „It must be from the contusion or the neck braking, because you seem to forget that she rejected you before she ‚killed’ you.”

- „I did not accept her rejection and since I’m still alive, she is, technically, still my mate. And I want her to remain my mate.”

- „You must be a loony if you think she will have you back after the stunt you pulled with Ivan. Did you really thought you stood a chance between the Supreme Alpha, the next best Alpha, the best Betas and one Gamma? Beside loony, you must also be a liiiiitlle bit slow.”

- „I had no choice. My free will was in the hands of Ivan. As I told you already, he was / maybe he still is controlling me through the damn magic seal. If we manage to get together, I could brake the seal that he put on me, and you could brake the blood oath that prevents you from being with your fated mate and also may be dooming the world. But, hey, if you are a picky bi*ch, I guess my help can be no good for you.”

- „OK. But you must know, at the first sign that Ivan is controlling you, I am braking your neck. Again. And this time I will make sure is for good!”

- „Deal!”

- „Deal!” And with that in mind, we started the quest of finding the crystal.

A few hours later, we were wandering around the Underworld when I got the idea to summon Ginger.

-          „ I will summon Ginger.” I said to David.

-          „ You will not!” David responded

-          „ Last time i checked, I was the Alpha around here. Don’t make me use my authority. I am not in the mood.”

-          „ She is Ivan’s minion. She will report to him every move you make. Don’t be stupid, Astera. Think!”

-          „ I should rip your head off right now, right here for your insolence. And trust me, that will kill you for good!”

-          „ I saw your killing spree. It’s not cool to constantly threaten my life.”

-          „ Do you think I’m a fool? I thought of a plan. When I said „I” will summon Ginger, I actually meant YOU. You will call her. You will pretend to have found me near the Death River, unconscious, wet, almost lifeless, and you tied me and drugged me with something sophisticated and you drag me along as you search for the crystal. As I play my part as a comatose Astera, you will extract some information from her. In this way, Ivan will think you are still on his team, and maybe he will trust you and tell you his plan. 2 bunnies, one shot.”

-          „ Brilliant! Except for the part where I already know Ivan’s plan. He plans to take his pack back. YOUR pack.”

-          „ I knew it from the moment I mentioned the pack. I saw a strange shift in his eyes, and that was where I figure it out. How does he plan to do it? Keeping me down here? Killing me? Marrying me to the hideous Edric?”

-          „ Yeah actually.”

-          „ Which one is it?”

-          „ All of them. First, you are stuck here, with no way to find the crystal which he believes to be bullshit, but Sierra believes... aaa... believed to be true, but also believed to be back in our world, somewhere in California, to be more precise. Then, if you make it out of here, you are forced to married Edric because of the blood oath and then, right in your wedding night, before Edric becoming the most powerful being in the world and mate and mark you, he would’ve been killing you. With you dead right after your wedding, he does not brake his oath, the Luna Queen lives, he seems like a savior and everything would work out perfectly.” As David finished his story, I started to laugh my butt out. Tears were falling on my cheeks, I could barely breathe, and I might have peed a little while laughing.

-          „ THE. MOST. DUMB ASS PLAN. EVER. GODDESS! You are killing me!”

-          „ Well, you must admit that until now, he is on his way to accomplish it.”

-          „ And how’s that? He’s probably in my dungeon, guarded by my top warriors, I am here, not being able to marry Edric and my pack is in the best hands possible, Dina and Maximus. So how’s he gonna do that?”

-          „ He has an inside man. I don’t know who he is, but he has someone in your pack reporting to him weekly.”