Chapter 66: Fire and Ice.

Bella’s pov.

Today's the day. He’ll be back home.

I haven't talked to him at all since that one call.

We’ve both been too busy. With my planning and his training, we just haven’t found the time…

“Are you getting lost in your thoughts again, Bella?” Elder Elian asked with a chuckle, grinning up at me as my eyes drifted towards his.

“Maybe,” I mumbled, feeling the tips of my ears heat up.

“Is it John again?” He asked softly, a knowing smile on his face, “if it is, try not to worry about him too much. He’ll be here soon, I talked to him before I came to you. They were about to leave the kingdom when we talked.”

“They?” I asked with an eyebrow raised, wondering who’d be coming with him.

“Yes. The king decided to come back with John and stay until your ceremony since the elders territory is closer to our pack. I also heard… he’s planning on rejecting his mate and denouncing her as the queen. He had to kick her out of the kingdom because she raged out. Luckily she didn’t shift into her wolf, that could’ve ended badly. Don’t worry about the king staying though, he’s not as bad as he seems,” he said with a chuckle, grinning at me before looking back down at the papers on his lap, “these files, they are quite organized. It makes it so much easier to read them. I remember how disorganized Garrett was and how messed up everything used to be.

He rolled his eyes, my mind drifting to the memories of cleaning up after Garrett every single day, reorganizing his files, his desk, our room.

His clothes, his face products.

Everything.

“Anyways…” he said while clearing his throat, looking away from me as I looked at him with anger, “let’s not get into that right now. These files are all signed and ready to be sent over to the higher elders. They’ll look over everything and decide if they'll deem Garrett a wild rogue. If they want to, they can do anything. He cheated on you. Betrayed the mate bond. They don’t take that stuff lightly.”

My eyes widened slightly as I thought about it.

Garret as a wild rogue? He’d get teared to pieces out there as a rogue.

“Wow, I almost feel sorry for him,” I mumbled, but remembered why he was going to be in that situation and laughed instead.

Because he doesn’t deserve my pity. He deserves my anger, my rage. My resentment. I hate him. I hate him so badly it hurts.

“You… you are making the room hot, Bella!” Elder Elian shouted anxiously, a terrified look on his face for I think the first time since I’ve known him.

I looked down at my hands, gasping as I saw small flames engulfed around my hands.

I waved them around, trying desperately to put out the flames but it did nothing.

“Just calm down! Your emotions are controlling you!” He said more calmly this time, but I could see the fear behind his mask of calmness.

“I-I can’t! I’m not even doing anything!” I stuttered, staring with wide eyes at my hands, which were covered in flames…

‘Just breath, Bella. Breath. You need to calm down… our magic is spiraling with your emotions. If you do not calm down we could hurt people,’ Tundra was quick to say, making me stop and think at the thought of us possibly hurting someone we cared about.

I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath.

It seemed to work for a minute, but the flames were back just as quickly as they were gone.

Just when I was about to panic John’s scent made its way into my nose, making me think of nothing but him.

Tundra also perked up at the smell…

I looked towards the door quickly as John bursted through.

His eyes found mine instantly.

He looked from my face to my hands, his eyes widening slightly before he rushed towards me.

He went to take my hands but I pulled them away quickly, scared I might hurt him. Not wanting my flames to touch him.

He smiled slightly before taking my hands anyways, not even wincing as my flames touched his skin.

I gasped in shock as they went out, my hands turning ice cold from John's touch.

I looked up at him in shock, wondering how he did that…

“It’s… my gift. Like yours. Except I’ve known about mine my whole life… I kept it a secret because I was scared of what others would think, or say. I'm sorry you had to find out about yours this way. I wish I would’ve gotten here sooner. It’s scary, trust me, I know. When it first happened to me I was terrified, unsure of what to do next. But I’m here now, and I’ll help you. My ice can cook you down when needed until you learn how to control yourself and your emotions. Your emotions will play a huge part in your fire, if you lose control over your emotions, you’ll lose control over your magic, okay?” His soft and soothing voice said. Making me sigh, knowing I’ll be okay as long as he’s here.

I leaned into him, not saying a word. Not knowing what I would say anyways.

His presence, his scent. It was enough for me.

It could calm me down without him even speaking.

“Im going to give you two some time alone,” elder Elian said while clearing his voice, smiling a little at me as my eyes drifted towards his, “I’ll be back later, Bella. So we can finish what we started, and to finish speaking about the rejection ceremony. There might be a possibility of moving it up, as long as the king could make it and whoever else you may want there that is.”

I nodded my head once, smiling back at him. Feeling terrible for losing control over myself in front of him. Wishing I could take it all back.

“I’m sorry for today, Elian. I’ll get better at controlling it. Please keep this to yourself…” I mumbled while avoiding eye contact, knowing I shouldn’t have ever lost control in his presence.

“Alpha Bella. It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me, I won’t let anyone know what happened today, fire and ice,” he said with a wink at both of us, chuckling as he walked towards the door, closing it shut behind him.