Chapter 14
"Do not ever raise your hands on me!" He roared with his lycan aura as his grip on my hand tightened and for some moment there I thought I was going to end up with a broken wrist as he didn't release his hand from mine even though I winced loudly in pain.
"Now leave!" He coldly said as he pushed me to the floor, letting my head hit the ground really hard that I suddenly started to feel a throbbing bad ache there, my vision started to blur out and the last thing I could see were his eyes, they were no longer golden but mildly green and then I blacked out.
*****
"Nora!" A voice called my name as my eyes fluttered but I immediately shut it back due to the amount of light that was entering my eyes.
"I'm glad you're okay now" the voice said again and after my eyes had adjusted to the amount of light in the room I opened my eyes to see a smiling Ariel with concern in her face and it seemed like she hadn't had enough sleep.
"What happened?" I asked but tried to adjust my position on the bed as I looked around and took the picture of the room into my head. It wasn't my room nor was it Ariel's room but a room that belonged to a beast.
I was still in Alaric's room but what was Ariel doing in Alaric's room?
"You can't be here! He'll kill us both if he finds you here with me!" I panicked as I tried to run away from the bed when I suddenly felt a sharp sting on my arm as it was connected to a tube and I realized I was being medicated.
"He called me to be with you here" she said and I was a little bit relieved.
"What did you do to him, Lenora?!" Ariel asked while I tried to make myself comfortable on the bed.
"Nothing, I might have been a little bit foolish, he was saying some bad words about Asher and I couldn't control myself anymore, I tried to slap him but he stopped me by holding my arms really tight"
"You slapped a fucking lycan prince?!" Ariel yelled with her eyes widened in awe.
"I almost did but he held my arms" I said and turned to look at the arm to notice it wrapped in a bandage. Just great, I managed to break my arm too.
"Are you dumb Lenora!" Ariel yelled as she smacked my forehead and I winced in pain, I was still feeling some ache in my head and she made it worse.
"Why were you even in his room at first?" She asked as she folded her hands under her beasts.
"I came to apologise" I replied feeling no remorse.
"About what?" She rolled her eyes at me.
"About being rude to him earlier on" I answered and she scoffed.
"I know you better Lenora, you would never go back to him knowing he might hurt you, did someone force you to?" She asked but this time I could only see concern in her eyes.
"Asher said it was best I apologized" I replied and she suddenly laughed.
"Just great and interesting, Asher made you apologize even though he hates the prince more than anything and you had to listen to him as he slowly threw you into a lion's den"
"You should be happy that the prince cares about you else you would have been a lost cause already" she scolded and I could sense anger in her.
I didn't want to tell her the main reason Asher had told me to apologise to him because I promised I wouldn't tell anyone and Ariel would be the least person I would tell, she hates her brother and would try everything in her power to stop me.
"He doesn't care about me Ariel, if he did then I won't be under medication" I said and she scoffed.
"Be glad you're even under medication, my father didn't even get the chance to blink before dying but it was bound to happen anyway since my mother passed away first" she said and a flash of sadness filled her face for some while before she shoved them off immediately and came back to her old self.
"You know what?" She asked.
"What?" I answered, waiting for her response as she smiled at me.
"Prince Alaric was the one who immediately called for the medical department to treat you and he personally came to my room to ask for a favour, to watch over you till you become conscious." She said with a broad smile on her face.
"He was scared you were unconscious and I could immediately sense it in the way he acted" she said and I suddenly didn't know what else to say to her.
"Does Asher know?" I asked and she bit her lips before giving me a little smile.
"You should rest, you don't even need to stress yourself because I'm sure Prince Alaric would give you the whole week off school" she said before chuckling and I found myself laughing.
"What's up with you calling him a prince?" I asked as I cocked a brow at him.
"He's from a royal blood, his father is a king but a ruthless one actually and he passed the traits unto his children" she said with a sigh and I replied with a "oh"
We were both quiet for some while as I closed my eyes trying to adjust myself to the ache in my head because I knew it might be there for a longer period of time.
"Ariel?" I called her name as I was finally going to let the knot out of my chest and ask her since she happened to be more experienced in these things.
"Yeah?" She answered with a smile on her face as she dropped her phone so she could concentrate on me.
"Why does Alaric treat me differently?" I asked and the expression on her face changed but she was still trying hard to keep the smile on her face.
"I'm sure he'll let you know when it's the right time" she said but I was seriously curious and tired of the reply she kept on giving me whenever I asked directly or indirectly.
"I'm so sick of you treating me this way Ariel, if you're truly my friend then you won't keep things away from me."
"It won't matter if you know now or not, you won't want to accept the fact and besides it'll be better if you heard it from him but I think he's trying to keep things in a slow pace because he cares about you" she said and diverted her attention back to her phone as I was suddenly filled with anger.
"I'm leaving!" I said and tried to stand up from the bed but she gave me a warning glare that I happily ignored.
"Lay back there!" She threatened but I wasn't going to listen to her if she won't listen to me either so I continued to unwrap myself from the bed as I removed the tube connecting the needle to the drip from my hand.
"You're not the boss of me" I replied back at her and she scoffed.
"Actually I am" she replied as she climbed on the bed and with just an arm she was able to pin me back on the bed. I growled and wanted to remove myself from her grip but she was just really strong that I couldn't do anything else but to give up.
"That won't be necessary" I could hear Alaric's cold voice as it rang across the room and Ariel immediately stood up from the bed and bowed her head to him.
He noticed her bowing and nodded his head at her in response before his face fell on mine.
"You're awake now..." I didn't let him finish his words before walking out of the room without glancing at him and I could hear Ariel gasping in awe but I didn't care.
"Forgive her prince Alaric, I'll talk to her '' Ariel immediately fell on her knees to apologise to Alaric while I didn't care.
I could hear Ariel's footsteps behind me and they didn't seem to be any gentle. I tried to outrun her before she would catch up to me and probably give me another knock on my head.
My head still badly hurt and I wasn't sure I was ready to take another harsh knock on it so I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and entered my room, I locked the door behind me as I started to gasp for air to breathe.
"I promise I'll slit that little throat of yours with my claws if you don't fucking open this door!" She yelled but I knew even if I opened the door, my throat wouldn't be saved either.
"No thank you!" I replied to her as I chuckled and after some time I couldn't hear her knocking on the door or her heavy breath and I assumed she must have left.
I wasn't feeling completely fine as I laid flat on my bed in an attempt to reduce the pain, the throbbing pain in my head was slowly dying down and I was glad not until I heard a loud bang on my door and groaned.
"Just go already!" I yelled.
"It's Asher!" He said and my eyes widened as I immediately stood up from the bed and checked myself in the mirror whether or not I was looking good enough but I wasn't.
"Open the door Lenora!" He sighed, I felt something off in the tone of his voice and I would hate to keep him waiting outside.
I opened the door and let him in, his eyes were cold like the energy in him had been drained and I could smell Tala all over him again but this smell was stronger than the others that I didn't want to inhale a breath because I didn't want it to hurt me but it was already hurting me badly.
"Were you with Ta..."
"Did you apologize?" He asked, cutting me short and I nodded my head at him. He didn't even care to ask about my health even though I was quite sure he knew and the bandage on my arm was clearly obvious with the little stitch on my forehead but none of those mattered to him.
"I apologized" I answered as he walked past me and sat on my bed looking drained of energy.
"Good, now for the next thing you need to do" he said as he groaned loudly before laying flat on my bed.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I stared at him in awe. Firstly I could smell Tala badly all over him and he wasn't even paying attention to my question neither was he interested in my question.
"Good?" I cocked a brow at him as I scoffed.
"Good girl?" He asked as he lifted his body off my bed and stared straight at me.
I was trying to convince myself that he hadn't noticed the injuries in my body and definitely didn't know when the whole school knew I was unconscious.
"Asher!" I called out his name in disbelief as he stared at me without any emotions on his face and at this point I didn't know whether or not to believe what Alaric had told me about him, perhaps he was actually just using me and doesn't have any good intentions for me.
"What?" He asked back with a harsh tone but one could easily sense he was super tired through the sound of his voice, but tired from what?
I hated where my mind was leading me to but the fact that he came in here tired and the smell of Tala on him was really strong gave me enough reasons to think that way.
"You know what? nevermind, why do I keep smelling Tala all over you?" I asked but he groaned immediately like I was bothering him.
"Can you just fucking mind your business and stop asking me about Tala anymore because that wouldn't get us to our goal, it would only be a distraction"