Chapter 34: 34

Colsin was still so stunned by Neliyah Larken’s actions, he couldn’t hide the pain of the betrayal that she was about to commit against him. He watched Neliyah Larken. As she laid there in his bed underneath him, her wild curls surrounding her like a shrine of blood red roses. He even noted that her skin as he held her arm in his grasp that she was as soft as he thought she was. She was in the perfect position for him. Too bad, she was there to kill him.

Colsin continued eyeing her in silence for several moments before quickly grabbing her by the neck.

“You. Tried. To. Kill. Me!” he growled. He didn’t want to, but he knew that this was deserving of the ultimate punishment. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t return the favor.”

“I…I don’t have a reason,” Neliyah said in return. Instead of making a solid case for herself, trying to fight for her life, she laid there in silence. “Do what you have to do.” Her words were short and without hesitation. It was clear that she had resigned herself to the situation.

If this was the only way to get out of this hell, she wouldn’t fight against it. “I’m sorry, Onyx,” she communicated to her counterpart.

“If death is our only freedom, then who am I to argue against it?”

“Do what I have to d-” Colsin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What is the matter with you?!”

Her remark only proved to further frustrate him. Until he saw that look in her eyes. There was a hint of desperation there that she seemed to have given up hiding a long time ago.

It was only in that moment that Colsin’s grip on her loosened significantly. He pulled away from her.

“You tried to kill me,” he said under his breath again. “I cannot believe that you tried to kill me.” He looked at Nel incredulously and noticed her glance over at the knife. “Seriously?! You’re still trying?!” He snapped and then got up and grabbed the knife from the floor. It was only as he picked up the blade that he realized that his arm hadn’t healed from when she nicked him.

“I soaked it in my blood,” she murmured. “It’s going to take more time for you to heal this time around.”

“You thought of it all, haven’t you?” Colsin snapped angrily. He just could not wrap his head around what just happened. Moreover, the young alpha could not believe how hurt he was by it. He shoved the blade at Nel and then stood on his feet. “Well take your shot. You want to kill me so, take your shot.”

This seemed to catch Nel off guard. “What?”

“Do it!” he snapped. “Take another shot!”

“No!” Nel screamed. “I ca-” Nel no longer had the fight in her to go through with it. “I can’t. I-” she collapsed onto his bed and began to cry. “I…I am sorry! I’m so sorry, I just-”

The wind began to pick up outside, Colsin’s gaze veered over to the window and then returned his concern over to Nel again. She was sitting there, crumbling before his eyes.

Reluctantly, he sat next to her. “Calm down, Red,” coaxed Colsin, laying his large hand onto her thigh. “It’s…” he sighed. “Everything will be fine.”

“No…no it won’t!” she whispered. “My life will always be hell as long as I’m here.”

“I didn’t think living here was that bad,”

“It is!” Nel shot up impatiently.

“Enough to kill me?” Colsin, too, stood to his feet and towered over her.

“No! I-” Nel’s head began to ache as she sat back down on the bed. “It’s…complicated,” she muttered as she thought about telling Colsin the truth. The truth about everything.

“Then how about you uncomplicate it for me?” Colsin countered. “I’d think you can at least do that considering the fact that you just tried to end my life.” After saying this, Colsin couldn’t help reverting back to the fact that he had just nearly lost his life. “I mean what were you thinking!”

“I don’t!” Nel hopped to her feet again and walked away. “It’s not just this place! It’s…it’s…”

Colsin watched as she paced back and forth, her hands to her temples as the wind outside began to force the branches of the Elm tree hitting aggressively against his bedroom window. He knew soon that it would eventually turn more turbulent.

He walked over to her and grabbed Nel’s shoulders and turned her around to face him. “Red, you’ve got to calm down. Breathe!”

She looked up at him and frantically shook her head, “I can’t! I just-”

Nel was in a full-on panic. Colsin lifted her chin and pulled it close to him and forced her to look into his eyes. She tried to avoid his eyes but Colsin wouldn’t have it.

“Look at me, Neliyah.”

When he said her name, there was something about the way that he said her name. Neliyah looked up into his eyes and suddenly saw concern in them. Did she see concern? Whatever Neliyah saw in his gaze, calmed her down considerably.

“Breathe,” he said again but this time calmly and with a serenity that he’d never used before. Nel took a deep breath. “In….and out.” Nel followed instructions and immediately exhaled. “Again,” he said gingerly and so she did until she felt her racing heart steady itself.

The wind began to die down, but a light rain and thunderstorm began to pick up. Her anxiety had already begun to change the weather but it could have been worse.

“Thank you,” she whispered breathlessly.

Colsin looked outside for a moment, still amazed by how powerful she was. He didn’t realize that his hands had cupped her cheek until his thumb started to move gently across her cheek until he looked at her again. Her eyes were shifting, and a tremble had settled.

“Tell me,” Colsin demanded again, this time more gently than before. “What’s so bad about staying at the packhouse? I haven’t touched Sara since the last time and I-”

“It’s not just this place!” she pulled away from Colsin. “It’s…it’s MystHaven as a whole!”

“Wanna keep your voice down?” Colsin hissed. Nel had gotten louder than she did since getting into the room. “What is so wrong with Mystic Cove?” Colsin asked. “Listen, I know that life can be a little rough at times but that’s it for everyone. You can’t-”

Nel’s sudden harsh chuckle cut Colsin off. He watched her confusedly. Did he say something funny?

“You don’t understand.” She laughed as she wiped her tears away. “It is not that simple,” she stressed. “It will never be that simple for me!”

“And why?”

“Why does it matter why?” Neliyah quipped. “You can’t help me! No one can and I-”

“How would you know whether I can help me if you don’t tell me?”

“You’d kill me first,” countered Neliyah with sarcasm and bitter amusement.

“What?!”

“You don’t even know me well enough to care about what happens to me? How could I ever trust you to-”

“You. Are my mate, Red!”

“I’m your mate,” she said under her breath, and scoffed. “I’m your mate…so…so what does that mean? That you will look out for me?!”

“Yes-”

“No matter what?-”

“Yes!”

“Then look at me!” She growled as she released Onyx and the whole of her eye changed into bleak darkness while her iris glowed a golden yellow, her pupils dilated.

Colsin backed away from her, recognizing all too well the color of those eyes. They weren’t wolf eyes, but something larger and arguably more dangerous than a wolf.

Never had he seen one in real life. He was too young when the war between the two species went to war. In fact, Colsin wasn’t even sure that he was born yet. But the stories…the history of the beasts and how callous, angry, and devious they were. How staring into their eyes was like staring into the eyes was like staring into a never-ending abyss of darkness.

“Would you protect me now, Colsin Stone?” she sauntered over to the young alpha who steadily backed away from her. She knew by the way that he was suddenly acting that things were different now.

Colsin’s shock almost paralyzed him. Too stunned to even answer Neliyah. Her eyes were like deep pools of onyx stone that surrounded the angry and frightened gold irises staring back at him.

Nel laughed, her expression turning up into a frown as she struggled not to cry. She no longer had any confidence anymore that Colsin would do anything to protect her. Nel made a big mistake in sharing her secret with him.

“Those eyes…. you…you can’t be.”

“Can’t be what, Colsin?” she asked. “Can’t be a Lycan?” When Colsin didn’t answer, Nel shook her head, disappointment clear in her face. “Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, alpha, but it’s true…I’m a Lycan.”