Chapter 4
1502 Words
Alaric's POV
“Since your mind is already made up, I want to remind you of something else. You've been warding off her mate for some time now. You know the consequences of performing those rites, yeah?”
“I do know the consequences of all my actions. Thank you.”
“And what do you think will be her response to it? Meanwhile, the rite is to be performed once every three years, but for a decade of waiting, you only performed it twice—”
“Meaning that I haven't performed it in the last four years,” I filled in without waiting for him.
I gasped at the possibility of everything reversing just because I had failed once. How could I have? It didn't mean I was going to lose her, though. It just meant I had to punish myself for making such a mistake, right?
“Inform the council to prepare everything for the rite at the clan’s court. Everything will take place at the sanctum of the moon,” my voice resonated with urgency as I stood to get dressed. “I just hope the moon goddess hears my pleas this—”
“I'm sorry Alaric, but are you thinking straight? How do you think she'll feel when she learns that you're the reason why she hasn't found her mate yet? She has never felt her mate and you don't think it's something she'll never forgive?”
“Yes! I've lost it, Isaac. I have and none of that matters to me. Make sure she never learns about what I did, but if she does, then so be it. I'd happily die by her dagger! ” I snapped, slamming my fist to the table and towering over Isaac. “Don't you get it? I am just a cursed Alpha holding on to the last thin thread of sanity. If you care so much, you'll make sure this thread doesn't snap on me.”
“The thing is. This rite wards off her real mate just to make her yours. It's a clear violation of her right and that is exactly what would stir up war between the two packs. It is a gamble and this law has stood for centuries, why would you be the one to break it now? Think about it, Alaric. Even if you beat Theo in a battle, she would hate you for this when she finds out.”
“She won't. Theo will make sure of that,” I calculated my answer.
“This is a bad idea, Alaric,” he said calmly, with his index finger curled against his lips while his back relaxed further into his seat.
“Get everything ready. We leave in thirty minutes.”
I watched as he nodded and exited the room while I took the moment of silence to think everything through. He was right, this single decision would stir up many buried secrets and old wars, but then again, I had failed once with Aurora, and I wasn't failing again with Rune. Hopefully, she'd get to learn the entire truth someday. Whether I live to tell her or she hears it from someone else. She could hate me now, but I'd just hope she'd hate me less when everything is out in the light.
“They think you've gone mad,” I heard Isaac's voice after a while.
“Is that so?”
“They're already doing what you asked. Everything should be ready before you get there.”
“Good. Do me a favour and make sure that Clyde knows nothing about this. Also, the Sanctum of the moon is the holy of holies, make sure its status is not tampered with until the rite is over.”
“Alright. When do we leave?”
“In ten,” I kept my reply short before reaching for the wine at the center of the wooden desk.
I changed into very loose black pants and a long black robe. The occasion didn't require much since I always came back with ripped clothes and a battered body. However, seeing her name tattooed in blackletter font on my chest was already enough motivation during the last phase of the rite.
“Everything is ready, Alaric.”
I turned to catch him staring at the reflection on the mirror. He was strong, but seeing this robe always made him go numb in fear.
“You barely survived the last time, Alaric. Please, I beg you. Rethink this.”
“Breaking the bond between two mates is a pain not even the strongest of our kind can bear entirely. I have broken hers several times even before she got to meet her mate. See it as a punishment for my sins.”
I walked past him without giving him the room to argue any further. The drive to the clan’s court was tense and as silent as the night. We arrived as soon as we could only to meet a few members of the Lycan council waiting with frowns on their faces. I took a moment to take in the ancient walls, the fountain in the middle of the large room, the chains and shackles, and every other inanimate witness on this night.
“Let the process begin.”
The eldest just nodded, and took the ancient book which contained the procedure for all the rites known and unknown to my kind. Isaac led me to the wall frame and bound me to it with the metal shackles. The glittering fountain stood between me and the elder reading out the rites. The rest including my beta was behind me. Just before he read the first word, we all looked up at the opened pinnacle where the moon rays pierced through to the moonstone on the highest point of the fountain. The rays scattered across the room, but more were now focused on me.
I nodded afterwards. Everyone behind me stepped forward to form a crescent which slowly grew into a circle the moment the elder began to chant from the book.
After a few moments of speaking in an unknown tongue, everyone covered their heads with their dark cloaks, bowed and slowly began to move around me. All without breaking out from the circle
“You are to say your vows now,” he stepped aside for me to have my privacy.
“From now till my last breath, I vow to stand by my Luna and wife, Rune Thorne. Protecting her as her mate, defending and loving her with everything as a mate, a husband and the Alpha of all Alphas,” I whispered, bracing myself for the next phase of the rite. The whipping. The whip was made of silver chain as the body, and very thick leather as the handle.
“Breaking the bond between two mates is a pain not even the strongest of our kind can bear entirely. You have broken Rune's several times even before, depriving her of a chance to meet her fated mate. Therefore, see this as the price for your choice,” the eldest member of the Lycan council announced the moment I got to my feet.
“Do you accept the full responsibility of your choice?”
Silence.
“I do.”
With that, the first whip slashed my back, then second and third… on and on until I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Blood. Sweat. My blood and sweat were already staining the floor, but I was in so much pain to react. I screamed, tried to break free, tried to shift to my wolf form even though I knew it was useless. The shackles had ancient magic which made shifting impossible. Everything held me bound while their chains danced around my whole body.
In no time, everything began to blur out. I looked for the tattoo on my chest and began to say the name on it like a sacred chant.
“R-rune,” I whispered, smiling as what looked so much like her began to cloud my vision. “R-u-ne,” my lips were quivering and my whole body shaking.
Reality was slowly starting to slip away, but her name brought so much peace to me. So much that nothing could hurt me anymore. I could take more and more as long as she kept standing there while I whispered her name, except I was wrong.
My heart twisted the way it did whenever she was around. The shockwave… my wolf… my senses…
“No,” I whispered to myself. She can't be real. I tore my gaze away from my imaginary Rune expecting to find her gone as the pain started to feel real over again. She wasn't. Her eyes were staring right back into mine, and she looked—
“Stop!” My whole world froze as it hit me like a boulder. She is real. She is really standing there. She is… But how did she get here?
- Writer
