Chapter 11 It comes with a price
Chapter 11 It comes with a price
CHAPTER 11
RONAN
She raised her gaze to me, and then a small scoff followed. Yeah, just like I thought,she was going to shy away from it as usual.
Clenching my jaw, I ran my hand through my hair before letting out a dry laugh. “Right, same old Blair,” I muttered, shaking my head and walking away from her. “Always going to keep me on read and never answer my most important questions. You'll always have some good excuse, huh?”
She flinched, and I could see the way her fingers gripped the hem of her jacket as she scoffed. “I do not shy away, Ronan. You just won't understand. It's not as easy as you think it is.”
“Yes, it is,” I barked, turning to her. “It was the easiest thing to do that night, and it’s still the easiest thing to do now, but you just don't want to do it. Say yes right now, and I'll book the next flight out of here. Straight to Night Vale, and we’ll change names and everything, then start a new life together. Blair Knowles, it’s that fucking simple!”
She stood there, her brows furrowed as if she were confused, but I knew Blair too well.
She was far from confused. Every word of hers was well calculated and rehearsed before it left her mouth.
With that, I ignored her, taking a few steps away again. I kicked a small rock near my boot and watched it skid across the sand.
It's even funny if I think of what I went through that night. I rode through the goddamn storm. Thunder crackled, and rain pelted down so hard, but I still waited.
“Ronan…” she started softly, walking to my front—the exact place I hated her standing.
She didn't know how much hold she had over my body.
“Don’t,” I snapped, cutting her off. “Don’t ‘Ronan’ me, sweetheart. You had my back once, remember? We used to swear we’d never bail on each other. Then one night, you just ghosted—like I was some fool.”
Her lips trembled, but I couldn’t stop now. The frustration that had been buried for six damn years was bubbling to the surface.
“That's six years ago, Ronan. We were young and—”
“Naive, right?” I cut her off again, and she scoffed.
“Let it go,it was six years ago,” she said, and I willed myself forward. “So what of now?”
She looked away, the usual Blair Knowles behavior.
Then she folded her arms and unfolded them the next second. “You think this is about you and me?”
“If I walk away with you tonight, if I…if we run—do you know what that means? It means the treaty collapses. It means the Sinclairs and the Nightshades will smell blood.It means the South will arm, and the East will retaliate. Do you have any idea how stupid that would be?” Her chest heaved, her eyes flashing hot. “if we walk out—we trigger a war. I’m not talking headlines, Ronan. I’m talking about people dying in the streets. Friends, Families and Children. Your people. My people. Don't you get it?”
“Fuck everybody, Blair.”
She gasped, her eyes wide as she stared at me in disbelief.
“Fuck their treaties, fuck whatever it is, Blair. Are you not tired of being a pawn?”
“You can't fucking fix a whole kingdom!”
“And you think running away is the best?” She stepped closer, her face inches from mine, and my breath hitched. “I run, and my friends and family all die in this place. I have a family, Ronan. I have friends who count on me.”
“And what makes you think it's them who are going to die?” I looked her in the eyes as I asked, but she only scoffed and walked away.
She turned back less than five steps away. “The Nightbane can’t stand the Nightshade pack. We are no match for Dominus’ pack. We cross the line, and we all die!”
“And who told you that?” I asked, but she didn't reply.
Our pack has grown over the years.
We are no longer the weak-ass pack of six years ago. Since my father stepped down five years ago and Darius took over, we have made significant business deals across the globe, and we have gotten much stronger.
More schools, more training fields, and more amenities than we ever dreamed of having.
Nightshade might have been the most feared pack, but we are more confident now that it won't be as easy as everyone thinks.
“I am Blair. I know everything, and I know we won't survive a war with them.”
“We will. We have grown stronger, Blair,” I argued. “Dominus has lost a lot of business ventures over the years; he is only trying to recuperate. We could withstand a war.”
“No!” She snapped at me, and I was startled. “We won't, Ronan. We won't. Listen to me when I speak to you. Nightshade's lowest state is our highest. The only way we can be stronger is if Darius becomes the president of the whole werewolf kingdom!”
I rolled my eyes at the idea. Here she goes again, helping him.
I hate politics, and I have nothing to do with it. I make sure to keep myself far away from it, which is why my brother leaves me with just the business ventures and doesn’t try to offer me any title. I hate politics with every vein in me.
I would never participate or get intertwined in it for any reason.
“So you think Darius winning gives us leverage?” I looked at Blair, and she nodded.
“He becomes president, and we can run anywhere we want to, knowing a war can't break out,” she said.
With that, I turned away, narrowing my gaze at the garden nearby. Blair Knowles, no… I do n—
“What?” she shouted from where she was. “You're shying away like a coward like Blair huh?”
I turned instantly. “I’m not a coward, Blair,” I corrected her coldly. “I do not get involved in politics!”
I watched her lips curve into a smirk. “Well, that’s the only way I’d leave with you… Darius becomes president, and we run away.”