Hekate’s Bride

I wake with a scream and my hand flies to my neck, touching it and feeling it for punctures.

The skin is unmarred.

I pant, gripping the sheets so hard, I hear the rip in the fabric. My breaths are hard and fast and it doesn’t matter how much air I try to breathe in, I just can’t get enough.

Hands are suddenly in my hair; on my back. My face is pressed against s broad chest but I do not recognize the scent. Not in this state at least.

It takes a while before my breathing slows and I become aware of my surroundings.

I blink, vision clearing and I look around the vast room. Not the infirmary. It is nearly as big as my room back in Wolvedom, but this has less colour and decor.

I let out a shuddering sigh and the arms around me loosen and pushes me back gently, enough for me to see that it is Darian.

I feel a pinch of disappointment there. I’d expected… Rune.

I could’ve sworn he was with me when I passed out.

Perhaps, I had been hallucinating. Why would he have come to my aid?

Darian’s warm fingers caress my cheeks and I let him do it. Partly because I’m too weary to make demands right now, and also… his touch is featherlight and it feels so nice, I’m currently leaning in.

“How do you feel?” He says and my eyes shutter when those fingers drift to my hair. A small sound escapes me as I stay perfectly still, scared that he’ll stop doing that.

Don’t get me wrong. I have about four men in my life right now. Thorne thinks I am too good for him and won’t make a move on me until he is sure we are mates, lest he ‘soils’ me. Rune is a bastard. End of story. The Hekate just loves the taste of my blood and–he is not even an option. For all the obvious reasons.

Darian’s the only male who is relatively normal and not toxic. He does seem like a more viable option, yes? And it’s getting harder and harder to ignore his wiles and pretend that I do not notice the heated glances he gives me.

Because I do.

“Sick,” I say, letting out a breath. “Where is this?” I ask, giving the room a pointed look.

“Your new room. I brought you here after Chancellor Vesper approved the change. You’ll be safer here. No one in their right frame of mind would try attack the Star Hall residents.”

My eyes widen a little. “Star Hall?”

Darian nods with a light smile. “It was hard getting the old man to agree but after seeing the state of your room, he couldn’t refuse.”

I start to push the covers back but Darian’s hand lands on my shoulder, pushing me back until I’m laying on the bed again. “Stay. You can explore later. When you feel better.”

I nod, fingers twitching by my side. “How long have I been out for?”

“Two days,” he says, and his hand rises from my shoulder to brush my hair off my cheek. “I’ll find them. Those who hurt you.”

He is looking at me closely and the intensity has warmth spreading through me. He means it, I realize as his golden eyes flick over my form, fury darkening his eyes. I should tell him not to bother, but instead, I say, “It is Ginevra.”

His lips tighten. “No. The royals have people who worship them and harken to every word they give, as well as orders. They are loved by many. Hurting Ginevra in front of the whole school must have ticked them off enough to do that.”

My throat hurts as I try to keep my anger and frustration down by swallowing and taking deep breaths. “And this is hall is somehow supposed to keep me safe?”

Darian’s expression is grave. “They won’t come here, but I can’t say for when you’re off these grounds.” He pauses and from the way his lips part, I can tell he still has something to say.

“I could protect you, if you’d let me.”

A silence passes between us, in which he stares at me and for a moment, his gaze singes me. I hadn’t expected that. At all. And I do not know what to think or make of it.

It doesn’t feel like a mere statement. Protection from a male lycan does not come for free. In Wolvendom, being under a male wolf’s protection is equivalent to becoming a part of his pack.

But lycans are solitary creatures and do not move in packs, and being under their protection, would mean joining their chosen family.

Yeah… no. Maybe I am overthinking this.

“And by protection, you mean…”

He stands, straightening to his full height and his eyes lower to my form on the bed. “They say the schools bring us closer to our destined pairs, as most matches are made within them.”

It is a known myth that has mostly proven right. I’d think it nonsensical if it didn’t happen to my parents. My father found my mother a few hours before his Graduation Ceremony at the Werewolf Academy. Impossibly late, he had said, almost giving up on finding his mate within the school walls, but there she was, a second year student, yelling at a sentinel for denying her passage into the hall, screaming fire and brimstone in all of her fiery glory.

Those are my father’s words. Not mine. Obviously.

I suppose I do take after my mother a lot. I got all of my crazy from her.

I stay quiet, waiting for Darian’s next words. “You are an amazing woman. Astounding, really, in every way imaginable. I have never met anyone like you before, and I don’t think I ever will. I believe we met for a reason and… I would be honoured to have you as my Erasthai, but I do not wish to put the burden of making that decision on you right now.

“But to protect you, I would need to claim you as mine. Temporarily, until you handle all of it alone.”

Too many words. Too many difficult words. I am stunned into silence by them and I stare at him pour out his feelings to me… and all that I feel at once is an overwhelming sense of ‘no’.

His eyes search mine in earnest, awaiting an answer from me and there is a sudden sinking feeling inside.

My lips part to decline his offer but those eyes… damn. “I’ll… ah… think about it.”

He smiles brightly and damn if it isn’t a beautiful sight. I clench my fists hard and my nails jut into my palm as I chide myself mentally. I can scream down a castle, rip out skin from a lycan, handle Rune’s attitude, but I cannot say no to pleading eyes?

I rub my forehead and shut my eyes. “By claiming, you mean…”

“It is temporary. I do not need to mark you. Just… place my scent all over you and maybe touch you when necessary. To convince the general public that you are mine and not to be touched. If, of course, it is fine with you.”

I sigh. “I’ll think about it.”

My eyes shoot open when his fingers graze mine and I watch him raise my hand and press a kiss to my knuckles. He turns my hand and presses another to my pulse point.

Burning hell, he’s trying to seduce me already.

The door swings open when his lips are on my skin and Maya’s chirpy voice chips in. “Sorry I’m late! The sentinels wouldn’t let me through and–”

She stops talking when she sees us and a dark expression flits across her face for a moment. It is so fast, I think I imagined it. Nonetheless, feeling weird, I take my hand from Darian’s and tuck it under the sheets, like it can hide the evidence of something. Anything.

She smiles then, eyes meeting mine. “You’re awake,” she giggles, holding up flowers. “I’d love to stay but… I have to run to class.”

I frown, making a point of looking out the window to the night beyond. “Now? Tonight?”

Her smile falters slightly, and spreads as she starts laughing. “It’s something private. With Ann. You don’t know her. She’s putting me through… ah… history and calculations. I have to be there now.”

I smile, thinking, we’ve been hanging together for a while now. I should know if she’s been taking extra lessons. Maybe I’m not observant enough.

“I’ll see you later, Astrid!” She waves and runs out the door.

“Weird,” I mutter.

Darian laughs, walking to the door. “Isn’t she always?”

*Yeah, but that was different,”* I don’t say.

************

*Rune*

I push back from the wall, refusing to hate myself for what I have done; refusing to feel bad for myself and my horrible fate.

She’ll hate me if she finds out… but then she already does.

*Two Days Earlier*

I move, unable to keep myself away. I feel pain and rage and I snarl at the crowd, causing them to pull back from her writhing form.

I have never seen her like this… and I have seen every shade of Astrid.

I lift her off the ground and my foot kicks down the infirmary door. I turn around to the teeming crowd that are watching me with surprise and a low vicious growl leaves me throat, sending all but two scampering away from us. Her.

Protect.

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Protect.

She is sobbing in my hands and I have no fucking idea what to do.

“Place her here,” I faintly hear Darian say and though, I growl at him, I listen. I place her on the bed, but… I can’t seem to leave her side.

It doesn’t help that the beast in me regards everything and everyone else as a threat and I keep snarling and growling in warning.

“Prince Rune,” the nurse starts, and my eyes droop to the needle in her grasp. “I need to–”

I bare my teeth in her direction and she shuffles back swiftly. The scent of fear fills the air and it fuels my need to rage.

Darian grabs my arm and forces my gaze to shift from her. “You’re scaring the nurse away. Do you not want her to get treated? Look at her!”

I do, and her face is crumpled with pain. She is drenched in sweat and tears and her hands keep clawing at her chest. I blink, seeing clearly for the first time since I got in here.

The nurse is pressed up against the wall and her eyes dart between me and Astrid like she is trying to decide if it’ll be safe to touch her.

A movement by the corner catches my eyes and I see Ginevra. Her blue eyes are filled with brimming hate and anger as she regards me and I know better than to try explain my reaction to Astrid’s condition.

I turn instead and walk out the door without looking back.

*********

Footsteps approach me, but I do not need to turn to know who it is.

My gaze if fixed several floors down, trained on my peers brawling in the yard.

“I have only ever seen a man behave that way with a woman who is his Erasthai. She is yours, isn’t she?” Darian asks, leaning against the railing beside me.

“I fail to see how that concerns you,” I say, resting my head on my fist, keeping a bored expression on.

“It does. She is my friend and I need to be sure that you understand what you’re doing to her.”

I say nothing. It is not to him that I owe an explanation or an apology. Only her, and I cannot give her that.

But he presses on still, eager to rip from me answers I do not wish to give. “You ordered the Chancellor into giving her a place in our hall.” He pauses. “Thank you.”

I shrug. “It is nothing to thank me for. It was only logical,” I say dryly and straighten. Turning away from him, I add, “She doesn’t know it yet, so it isn’t sealed. Make her yours, Darian. She deserves better than me.”

I expect a few words of protest and refusal, but he only asks me, “Why?”

I shove my hand in my pocket and walk away, giving him no answer. Hopefully, he’ll adhere to it and make her his Erasthai.

That way, I know she’s safe from me. From him.