Chapter 39 39
Third Person POV
One week passed and the pack was a bit peaceful with no attack from Zac’s pack. Hazel woke up feeling much better than she ever had in a very long while. She stretched her body as she woke up.
The sweet smell of bread caught her attention. She looked her side and saw breakfast served. The maids have already come, and we're busy cleaning the rest of the rooms in the house.
Hazel began thinking about how she was going to get accustomed to living like this. Everyone doing everything for her felt so unnatural, but she was the Luna, and things had to be done for her.
"Good morning, Luna." She heard the familiar voice but didn't bother turning; she was getting used to his random appearances by now.
"Good morning Noah, how are you doing?" She asked him. "Very well, Luna," he responded. She took another chunk of bread and tore it slowly; the soft, buttery texture of the bread was overpowering and delightful.
"To what do I owe the visit this morning?" She asked, and Noah walked into her room and closed the door behind him. "Two messages," he said.
"Two? From who and who?" She asked surprised with a mouth full of bread and sauce. "Master Draven says you must prepare to meet with the Priestess again," he said.
She nodded her heads; she knew that much already; after all, Draven and her had discussed it the night before. "And the second?" She asked, and Noah smiled as he brought out a glass cylinder with a green liquid inside.
It looked very familiar to her, and she immediately knew what it was; she could never forget how badly it tasted. "The priest says you must drink all of this after breakfast," he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Hazel sat on her bed, utterly filled with disgust as she looked at the bottle of clear green liquid that sat on the table right beside her. She felt an overwhelming urge to simply fling the bottle out of the window without a single care in the world.
But Noah stood there, by the door, a passive smile on his face as he slowly watched her. It felt even more unnerving that she had to be treated like a child. Noah stood there to make sure she took the potion, no matter her reasons.
"You can trust your Luna to take her medicine," she said, trying her best to sound authoritative. Noah smiled even more. "There's no doubt that I do, but the alpha's orders must be followed," he said gracefully.
She butted his lip lightly; of course Draven was on to this; she knew she couldn't keep avoiding it. Her hands grew sweaty as she held the bottle. With fierce determination, she uncorked the bottle, held her breath, and began drinking everything in.
It took everything in her to not throw up on her bed; the smell was absolutely repugnant; she forced herself to swallow it; her tongue burnt at the acidic taste.
"Everything Luna, not a drop, should remain," he said. "Orders from the Alpha," he added slyly.
Hazel glared at him but drank it all down nonetheless. After she was done, she flung the glass towards the window; it flew out and crashed on the stones that surrounded the mansion.
"Never again Noah, that thing is absolutely detestable," she complained. Immigrants, she drank some warm milk that had been kept out for her by Noah.
"I shall take my leave now, Luna," he said with a bow and slowly left the room. "Damn you, Noah," she shouted over the top of her voice.
She thought she deserved to do at least that much after being made to drink that acidic muck. She looked at the food she had been eating earlier before Noah came; she had completely lost her appetite.
It pained her to waste away all the good food in front of her, especially the meat. She tried tasting it again, just maybe it wouldn't taste as bad, maybe the medicine she drank wouldn't affect how the food tasted.
She took a bit and realized the medicine affected exactly how the food tasted. She spat the bit she ate into a piece of tissue paper.
She threw it away, wishing she had never drank that horrible medicine before she could finish her breakfast; now everything she ate tasted like the medicine, excluding the milk. While lost in her thoughts, another knock came from the door.
She was ready to drag Noah around for trying to poison her with the drugs when she turned around and saw Adrian standing at the entrance. "Hey," he waved with a smile.
She looked at him in disappointment; she had been expecting Noah or maybe Alpha Draven if she was pushing her luck, but certainly not Adrian.
"What?" She asked in a flat tone; he didn't seem perturbed by her tone. "You look beautiful this morning," he said with a smile.
Hazel looked at him, and suddenly all the good she had eaten felt like coming out of her throat. "Uurgh, don't say that," she reprimanded him.
Again, he wasn't bothered by her reaction; she remembered the encounter they had in her room before he left, and she wondered what he was still doing here.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him curiously. A random thought of Elsa being in the house crossed her mind, but she banished that thought immediately.
"I'm here to see you and apologize," he said as calmly as possible. She shook her head in disagreement.
"No, what are you still doing in this house; weren't you supposed to leave here tonight?" She asked him again.
"Oohh," he said in realisation. She saw the excitement fall from his face, and I thought something else had happened that she wasn't aware of.
"Well?" She asked.
"I'll be around for a few days; I just need some time to clear my head and stuff," he said. He fidgeted a little bit, but seeing him uncomfortable made Hazel smile even more.
"Don't tell me you left Thalia and decided to stay here; that's so unlike you, Adrian," Hazel said with a bite of sarcasm.
He brushed the comment made at him and smiled once again, as if pushing the pain behind him. "Hazel, listen, don't get sidetracked now," he said calmly to her.
She knew where this was going, but she wasn't going to break his flow; after all, this was what she had wanted from the very beginning. "I'm listening," she said, trying to stop her lips from curving into a grin.
She sat up properly on her bed, and somehow she knew that Alpha Draven would know about this and would still let it happen. She wondered the kind of man she had picked as her chosen mate.
"I now understand your feelings; I know you hate me and how I've treated you over these past few years, my lack of care and support, how I abandoned you when you needed me at your lowest.”
“I'm not worthy of someone like you, and believe me, I know it," he started. "But I also know that the decision you made wasn't out of love but hate; you're not here because you love my uncle and wish to be with him for the rest of your life.”
“Not even the fact that you harbor feelings towards him because I know you don't," he said confidently. "Oohh, do you now?" She asked slyly; she was enjoying every single moment.
"Yes, I do; after all, I was once the man you loved so dearly, but my uncle? We both know he's just a means to an end; the only reason you need him was for support and your revenge, isn't that right?" He asked, searching for some form of assurance.
Hazel could see the panic in his eyes, her excitement growing with every passing moment. "You're not wrong," she responded; she didn't feel the need to use him or try to manipulate him; he would do that by himself.
She knew Adrian was also a lover boy, maybe a bit too much, which was caused by his need to earn external validation from those around him and not himself.
"So I know you don't love him, Hazel, and I know my uncle also doesn't love you; believe me, not in the slightest; once he's done, he'll leave you exactly the same way he left me years ago," he said.
She felt slightly bothered by that statement. Because she couldn't tell Adrian what had actually happened to his uncle and why his uncle had to leave him, she pitied him actually.
Watching Adrian live in his false delusion that his uncle created for him to fester his heart for him. "And you think I could love you?" She asked him, trying to distract herself with the conversation and block her thoughts out, before she said something completely unnecessary.
"You did it before; why not again?" He said boldly. "Let me get this straight Adrian," Hazel said with a giggle.
"You want me to leave your uncle that protected and took care of me when I was at my lowest, made me his bride, and made me his Luna, for you whom I was engaged to, who had abandoned me and chose a business partner over me?" She asked with a chuckle.
Adrian stood straight, sweat beads covered his forehead, his fists were folded and sweaty, and his blood rushed from his heart throughout his body at an alarming rate.
"I know he gave you a good life, but he doesn't love you, Hazel. Be with me; I'll give you every damn thing you could ever ask for," he said.
"Would you give me my revenge?" She asked him calmly; she had been building the moment all into this. She rested her back on the head of the bed and watched him think, lost in thought.
He faced her with an unbending will; he had thought and thought and hadn't come to a solution; he knew he wanted her, just as badly as he did before. No, he needed her now more than he ever had in his life.
"Yes"
"Really?" She asked surprised. "Yes, I would carry out revenge for you; I will give you everything you could wish for in this life, anything, Hazel," he said.
"In return, I ask that you don't abandon me and that you give me another chance."
"Ooh my, this isn't going to work out the way I thought it would," Hazel said absentmindedly. She meant another thing she had noticed but couldn't say.
She sat down with Adrian as he continued on with her words. "You're here for revenge; if I promise to help you, promise me that you'll leave my uncle and come to me," he said.
Hazel sat still unmoving; she didn't know what to do in such a situation. She thought Adrian would be a little more observant.
"A bold claim, son, cold indeed," Alpha Draven spoke from the door.