Chapter 6
1024 Words
ARIANA
The compound felt different after Roman left, not louder, very quiet. There was a particular kind of silence that followed danger when everyone knew it had passed but nobody believed it was actually gone.
Wolves moved through the ground with purpose, conversation lower than unusual. Eyes tracking movement they normally wouldn't have noticed.
Ran had walked away but never walked away empty handed.
I stood there in my room staring at my window at the training yard below.
Vera paced restlessly inside me
"Something is wrong, I know," I whispered to myself. I frowned, then I felt, not through the bond, not through memories.
Because I have lived this already once.
Not exactly this version, not this life, not so. Not the mate bond pulling warm and steady in my chest.
I know Roman and I know the spaces between his actions.
He never pushed once. He pushed, stepped back and waited for people to move exactly as he wanted them.
My stomach tightens.
Theo Cross
Vera stopped pacing.
" You think I don't know?" I said quickly. "But I did know, or enough to hate the shape of it." I said again as I kept thinking.
In my first life Roman used people the same way
Other Wolves use weapons he found weakness and sharpen them
Fear, Debt, Love, Family.
He found the crack and kept pressing until the entire wall collapsed.
A knock sounded against my door, three knocks. Steady and controlled.
Seb
I knew before I even opened it.
The mate bond had already started making ridiculous things feel natural I pulled the door open.
He was leaning against the frame with his hand in his pocket, his dark eyes fixed on me.
For a second neither of us spoke.
Then he decided to break the silence.
"You are thinking" he said and I blinked
"What?" I asked
"Your face?" He said calmly
"My face?" I asked again
"Yes" he replied confidently I stared at him.
"I have a thinking face?" I asked again
"You have everything on your face" he said and I closed my eyes.
"I don't know if that was supposed to be an insult" I said
Something moved at the corner of his mouth.
Not quite a smile
Not close enough
Then it disappeared.
"The territories responded" The warmth in my chest cooled instantly.
Of course they had.
Packs politics move faster than disease.
"What happened?" he asked
"The challenging filling went through"
I still want to.
Roman had actually done it already, too fast.
So watch my face carefully.
"The council wants a representative present. He said quietly. "The formal hearing happen tomorrow" he added
"Tomorrow" I asked with concern.
Vera went absolutely still inside me.
"No, no no because that wasn't right. In my first life Roman waited three days, three whole days"
I looked up sharply
Seb's eyes narrowed immediately.
"What?" He asked and I said nothing
Because suddenly I wasn't thinking about theron anymore, I was thinking about something worse
Someone had told Roman to move faster I looked at sol for a second longer
Tomorrow, my mind was already moving, reaching for connection and possibilities and piece I couldn't fully see yet
But I force myself to stop because over thinking had already gotten me killed once already
Not everyone was a monster, not yet.
"So" I finally crossed my arms.
"Tomorrow I get to attend a hearing where your brother argues for ownership of me in front of important people" I asked
Seb's eyes move over my face.
"Ownership?" I lifted a shoulder
"What else would you call it?"
His eyes harden slightly
"I would call it that"
"No?"
I studied with him.
" I would call it a problem rather" I replied
I stared at him, "a problem?"
Something almost amused moved across his face. "Not you" he said
"Oh good" I replied
"The situation" he corrected calmly
I narrowed my eyes at him
His eyes stayed in mine, steady and unhurried
Like he was waiting for something else to follow the words
I knew that look already
Seb listens differently than most people.
Most Wolves listen to respond
But Seb listen as he was building Something what you have him and I had started realizing something uncomfortable
He noticed too much.
"Tomorrow worries you so much" Seb said
I looked away towards the training yard
"No" and there was silence.
"Then you are lying" He broke the silence again
I stared at him the second time and narrowed my eyes.
"Does saying that to annoy people just come naturally to you?" I asked
Something shifted at the corner of his mouth, not enough to become a smile Just enough to make me suspicious
"It saves time" he said and I folded my arms
Below is, wolves move across the yard, training in pairs. Metal clanged somewhere in the distance and voices cried upward through the afternoon sir.
Normal sounds, normal lives but very quiet inside me. Too quiet and I felt it too.
I turned slightly.
Theo Cross had stepped into the corridor. He stopped when he saw us.
For half a second, something crossed his face.
Surprise
Gone so quickly and I almost thought I imagined it. "Alpha" he said looking at Seb
Looking very composed, steady and very normal.
"I have been looking for you" he said again
Seb turned towards him
"And you found me now, what is it?"
Seb replied
"The council representative just sent a notice" Theo Cross's eyes flicked towards me briefly before returning to Seb.
"They are arriving earlier than expected," he added.
And I felt something cold again.
Seb looked at Theo Cross, and looked back at me calmly. No tension, no nervousness, nothing at all
And somehow that felt worse. Vera shifted uneasily.
"You kept watching him" Seb said to me
"Yeah, I know," I replied.
"You think Something is wrong?" He asked again and I looked at his face again for another second time
"No" I lied quietly inside me.
Because the truth was worse, I thought something was wrong. I just didn't know what was wrong yet.
- Writer
