Chapter eight
1143 Words
Annie
“How did you sleep?” Lena asked as she got me ready, her face staring up at me from the mirror. I thought about telling her what happened. About the dream and the woman who looked like me. Or rather, who I looked like.
But there was something stopping me. I didn’t know what it was. Perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that Daemon was in my room last night, and I didn’t want her to know that.
“Fine,” I murmured, angling my head to take in the intricate pattern of my jewellery on my neck.
She arched her brows, able to read me from a mile away. “Are you sure?” she questioned, narrowing her eyes at me. “You are oddly unchatty this morning, and that is so strange. I am usually the one trying to shut you up.”
I managed a chuckle. “I’m fine, Lena. Maybe it’s one of the perks of being sixteen. Maybe you won’t have to worry about me boring you with my chatter.”
“I never said that,” she mumbled under her breath. I felt bad immediately, but when I thought about how odd last night was, I kept my mouth shut.
Lena, however, wasn’t having it.
“Did something happen last night?”
“What?” My pitch was way too loud for someone desperately trying to hide something.
“The candle stand,” she said. “I met it by the floor this morning.”
“I didn’t…” The rest of the words died in my throat when I remembered it. That metallic sound I heard in my dream, like something fell to the ground, right after the earthquake.
Could it be…
“No.”
“What?” Lena asked, her hands pausing atop my head. I didn’t realize I had said that out loud.
“I was asking what look you were going for,” I said quickly. “The hair…”
“Annie, is there something…”
I was saved by the knock on the door.
“Breakfast.”
***
“Yesterday was so splendid,” my dad, Alpha Ralph, said as he munched on a piece of toast. “It was a good day, right, Annie?”
“It was,” I agreed, my eyes darting towards the door every second. Daemon always joined us for breakfast. Why wasn’t he here yet?
“And you have to admit Balor was a nice surprise,” he pushed, looking up at me. “I remember how close you used to be when you were kids. You used to run around the pack house, playing hide and seek, and your mother….”
He stopped when he got there. He always did. I couldn’t remember her anymore. I was young when she died.
“And he grew hotter,” Aemon chipped in, perhaps the only smart thing I had witnessed him do in all sixteen years of my life – helping my father through his short grief. “I bet the ladies in Rome were lining up to kiss his ass.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not everything is about good looks, Aemon.”
My brother looked at me like I had grown horns. “Looks are everything.”
Dummy.
“It has been a while since he’d last been home,” my father continued, getting a hold of himself, as I expected. “You should show him around. A lot of things have changed.”
“I have lessons, Dad, remember? The one with…”
“You can work around your schedule,” he interrupted. My father had my total attention now as I stopped looking at the door; this seemingly more important. “He needs you to get around and…”
“Balor doesn’t need me…”
“…and I think you both should go out more.”
I angled my head, finally realizing what Lena was saying. “Dad, Balor is… I love Balor, but… I loved your surprise. It was so nice seeing him after all these years. Really. But I can’t have anything to do with Balor. I don’t even like him that way.”
“Nonsense, child.” He waved a hand dismissively in the air. “I watched you both last night. He was so nice to you. And after the fire, he walked you to your room.”
“That was you,” I cut in. “You asked him to escort me.”
“He would have done it either way.” My father didn’t even try to deny it. “Balor is a good kid.”
“Dad, you can’t make me….”
“You are yet to find your mate, Annie,” he said in a tone he used each time he was addressing the low members of his pack. One that left them no choice but to feel every inch of his dominance and authority. “And I don’t know how long you’ll be searching.”
“I clocked sixteen only hours ago!”
“Balor doesn’t seem keen on finding his mate,” my father continued. “He has eyes for you. You will make quite the match.”
“Dad!” I looked at Aemon. “Help me here, please?”
But he raised his hands in the air in mock surrender, humor stretched on his face. I hated him.
“You should be grateful, kid,” Alpha Ralph muttered. “Do you know how many ladies will give up their mates for him in a heartbeat? He is the Beta’s son for crying out loud.”
“And I am the Alpha’s daughter!”
“All the more reason you have to listen to me.”
“Even if anything is to happen between Balor and me,” I insisted. “It has to come naturally, not doctored by you or the pack.”
My dad’s lips moved to reply, but the grand doors pushed open, the groan making my head jerk in that direction. Daemon sauntered in like he just got out of bed, his hair messy, a rumpled white shirt covering his torso, and the same pants from last time.
But Daemon didn’t even pay me the slightest attention, no matter how hard I tried to catch his eyes. He plopped down opposite my brother, said hello to my father, and just dove into his meal.
It felt like last night hadn’t happened.
“Have you heard?” Aemon said, scooting to the edge of his seat. “Dad thinks Annie and Balor should hang out more often. A mating ceremony is in view, don’t you think?”
I didn’t know what I expected, but it definitely wasn’t the words that fell from Daemon’s lips.
“I think they make a fine match.”
- Writer
