Chapter 16 - Forever prisoned

Althea Zoella Castellanos Silvermoon:

I couldn’t breathe.

The iron grip of his on my waist only tighten as the moment pass. But the reason for my breathlessness was not because of his powerful hold, it was because of the shock I felt, the currents zapping me from every corner.

My whole body was lit in this invisible flame, burning me alive, but it only left me with a sweet pleasure instead of the heat, the burn. All my senses now only filled with him, the scent of the fresh mint.

Just how did he manage to find me?

“Mine…”

His voice sends shivers down my spine while his word holds me captive.

But the whisper that rumbles from him sounds so sad, so broken. It prickles my heart a little. “Please don’t leave me again…”

But I don’t know this man in whose arm I fall. So, I force this unwilling body and thoughts, and try to be free.

“Althea.”

But just a whisper of my name makes me weak on my knees. My name coming out of him, soft but sad, gentle yet broken, pained but laced with love, it lays all these emotions which makes me want to hold-

He had called me by my name. My birth name. A name not many knew of.

Yet here he was whispering it as if imprinted on his lips, engraved in his soul. He lets out a deep growl. A warning in that growl.

But it sounds so strong, so possessive. And as something wet hits my skin, my heart stills and breaks a little more.

“Let her go.”

A team of warrior comes barging through the broken door, pointing their weapons at him but instinctively I turn around with him, attempting to shield his huge muscular body with my slender one just as another growl escapes from him, not heeding to their demand. No, he seemed far from letting me go, it only tightens around me even more.

“I’m not asking again. Pull away from her.” The guards inch closer, their gifts emitting further with their steps, their intention clear from the beginning. To get rid of the intruder. A possible threat.

But there was this, this rage building inside me. Their hostile behaviour towards this stranger in my arms made me all defensive, aggressive. A need to protect. An urge, a feeling so strong erupts from within.

“Back off.”

I hear Circe from behind me. “He’s with me.”

But none take their eyes off him, their footsteps only inching closer. “But Miss, he broke through the front gate, we cannot—”

“Leave.”

My voice booms over his, silencing him, dominating him. I turn my head slightly, the black in my eyes more prominent, forcing both their weapons and their head down in submission. Their gifts dissipating in thin air.

No more. I was not hearing anything. For their hostile behaviour threatened me more than it did the man in my arms.

“Dismissed.”

With a deep but curt bow, they immediately empty the room, their presence not needed. Secretly inhaling him, I close my eyes and surprisingly this building fire instantly extinguishes itself, as if his scent poured an ocean over the just awakened flames. Hesitantly, I let go of my arms that had somehow managed to wrap around him, tightly, protectively and almost possessively.

“Let go now.” I breath out, slowly opening my eyes and pushing him a little, but still reluctant to let go of him. And when he makes no move to do so, this feeling bubbles up in my heart. Happiness.

“I said let go.” But I remain stoic as I wheeze the words out. And again, he dismisses my words, and he just continues to hold me, nuzzling his head deeper into my hair which only makes a short giggle erupt out of me.

Immediately sealing my lips off and cursing myself for letting this strange hold me captive, I push him off yet another time, though unsuccessfully yet again.

“A little help anyone.” I look over to the trio by the stairs, staring at us with their eyes equally wide but a deep growl from him and they all shake their head, looking at one another.

“Definitely not. Who am I to take you away from your newly found mate?” Egan murmurs as he walks away, pulling Circe along with him. Stunned shocked at his words, I just still in his arms and watch them all leave, even Alex, although he seemed reluctant at first, but he still leaves.

And I was left in his tight embrace with light currents zapping my bare skin every now and then, proving how true Egan’s words were. And the more seconds I send on his arms with that realisation, I become senseless, drunk in his embrace.

“Who are you?” I manage to stutter wanting, no needing to confirm Egan’s word, but it only makes him nuzzle his face further into the crook of my neck, making a shiver run down my body and once again lighting me alive.

“Mine.”

My eyes flutter when that husky voice finally speaks again, and my heart silently thumps, but only harder, and I know he could feel mine as I did his. Both our hearts playing a tune of their own, a song of our soul.

I wish to push this stranger a little so I could look into that face, yet unknown, those eyes yet unseen, but my heart, mind and soul alike controls my body, paralysing it. My thoughts only filled with white, empty canvas, left for me to paint the picture of him.

But somehow all I can draw in them is those piercing blue.

I close my eyes and exhale softly, pushing him a little harder, in an attempt to confirm the thoughts now painting pictures in my head, those blue eyes that had made my thoughts bizarre and my countless nights, sleepless.

This time he complies.

He pulls himself up and away but no further. He brings his forehead glued to mine, and keeps it there, his face impossibly closer, the tip of his nose brushing against mine and his rapid breath electrifying me numb, charging at million voltages.

But now it was me who couldn’t open her eyes.

Only my lungs function, taking long deep inhales and a short release, filling herself whole with that scent of life it was now so addicted to. That minty scent was all it could trace in the air that was between us and it was all that it needed.

Time passes by yet I remain frozen still. My only motive was to just breath, breathe him in, all of him. Everything else now forgotten. Returning home. My memories of the night. Even the darkness found a shade of light and for the first time in my life, I truly felt lighter, freer.

A slight tingle on my face brings me to the now. His hard knuckles softly trace the lines of my face, and his nose ever so slightly brushes against mine, asking me, or was it begging me, to open my eyes, to spare him a glance. Thirsty for my attention, hungry for my warmth, he waits but impatiently, though he never says a word or forces me to comply to his needs.

He just waits.

As if he had been. For a long, long time.

And still he waits, and it looks like he will continue to do so.

Still heavily intoxicated in his scent, I finally flutter my eyes open and conform to him. And I see it.

The most piercing blue eyes.

The same eyes that forever floated through my conscious, that blue that lights up the darkness in my heart, that blue that gives me peace while at the same time drives me to the brink of insanity, the other times.

Contradictory to his silence, there, I see the fire of impatience burning brightly, a thirst never quenched, and a hunger never sated. He pulls me into that world of his with just those deep blue. That flaming, piercing blue fire. Brimmed glossy, the white in them, a fading red. I saw tiredness in them. And pain. But also, a relief.

It held a promise, his unspoken gaze spoke louder than his silence.

My own hands involuntarily come to trace those light stubbles on his cheeks, and his blue eyes flutter close upon my touch. He once again inhales deeply, his heart thumping outside his chest, loud and hard as I gently trace those long lashes, that tall nose, drunk in his striking features that God himself took time to crave to perfection.

My fingertips glides down the tip of his nose to his lips, soft like rose petals and feel him shudder underneath my touch.

I blink a few times, those heavy dose of him slowly wearing off, I pull out of my thoughts which was crossing over insanity. I bring my head further back, severing our connection and causing a deep rumble to erupt from within him. His face scrunches in pain as if our parting initiated an immense suffering.

But I was no different. The second our connection severed, I felt a longing.

Something I always felt but not to this extent. My hands hovers in the space, missing those subtle tingles, those sparks, him.

Even though he stood a few inches away, it felt like we were world apart, separated by the crashing of earth, pulling further apart as the seconds pass by. Then he opens those blue oceans, hurt clear in them, but also full of yearning, and something else.

Something that I did not understand. Or something that I was ignorant to.

And the longer I look into them, the deeper I fell. My lips dry and my voice mute, I just stand there, unable to carry myself out of his hypnotism.

My eyes follow the movement of his hands as it comes forth, reaching towards me but this time I avoid his touch, taking a step back, away from his reach, my eyes never leaving his hand that now remains frozen in the distance between us, the rift that I had created. When he does not make a further move, I look back up to him.

“How did you find me?”

But my heart only squeezes painfully tight as I look into his eyes so full of hurt upon my rejection of his outstretched hand, my refusal to his touch. I tilt my head a little, trying to understand this- this strange creature. This man that I now know as my mate.

But I could not get past his eyes.

“What are you?”

I hear no words, but those eyes begged me to know him as he did me. Remember him somehow. Recollect a past that I just didn’t share with him. And I was as clueless as I was the night before.

I had no memories, no recollection of him. I did not remember ever seeing him.

“Who are you?”

My voice goes louder with each question that goes unanswered and so does my annoyance to his ignorance. But he remains mute, his lips slightly parted as he now watches me in awe as if he had seen me for the first time or one of many, as if he could hear me crystal clear but still could not hear a word I uttered.

“Look. You better answer me or I’m going to call the guards right back and kick you out of here—”

“I’m not leaving you, Althea.” And my threat only fails.

“Oh my, you speak. Finally. And don’t call me—” I raise my arms up and scoff, shaking my head but stop and glare at him again when I realise what he had called me again. “Hold on. What did you just call me?”

“Althea.” He shrugs his shoulders as if he didn’t just say my name and proceeds to take a step forward.

“How do you know my name?” I stretch my arm forward, palm facing him, stopping him from coming any further but he pays no heeds to my sign of refusal and keeps coming forward until his chest comes in contact with my palm. I try to remove my hand, but he holds my wrist and keeps it there where I could feel the beating of his soul, hear it drumming the silence, fast and hard.

“I know your soul, Althea.” He simply says but it does nothing to answer my question, only adding further questions to my already full pile. “You—”

“Our souls have already met Althea, time and again, heaven and earth, that is why I know you. My soul knows yours. You are mine and I, yours.”

His eyes whisper those words along with his lips and I somehow get wrapped in them once again, completely losing myself in those blue oceans that he forever holds in those eyes of his.

In that moment I knew that he would not let me go, even if that meant he would forever hold me captive.

No, he would let me fly free and himself, be forever prisoned to my side.