277- Before Dawn, We Choose Blood
POV Elowen Grimwald:
“On the same places where you marked me...?” I could feel my cheeks heating up.
“Not on the ass, little wolf.” I parted my lips, shocked.
“Why?”
“Why not? I’ll let you take a few bites on my abdomen and legs.”
I smiled in response.
“Arms too. I want everyone to see!”
“I can agree to that.” He winked.
A guard knocked on the door, informing us that one of the sentinels had brought food.
Aldren received the silver tray, piled high with roasted meats, and the smell alone made my stomach growl audibly.
He noticed, because a fleeting smile curved his lips despite the exhaustion etched on his face. Before placing the tray on my lap, he smelled every inch of it, as if searching for any trace of poison.
“Would the elders poison me...?” I asked, uncertain. He shook his head before replying:
“Don’t be afraid of them. They are rigid only because they must be. I cannot allow them to hurt you again, and I don’t trust the sentinels.”
“Why?”
“They’re soulless betas with no love for life, they only follow orders. I don’t doubt anything anymore, Elowen. After everything that’s happened, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust anyone besides you, Edric, Orion, and Nerin.”
The mention of the alpha of Eldoria’s name terrified me. My sister was pregnant and must be extremely worried about me.
“My sister, Aldren. I need to speak to my sister.”
“She doesn’t know. I called Edric to ask for help—he even tried to intervene so the elders would release you—but he thought it was better not to tell her, because of the pregnancy.”
“Thank the gods...” Overcome with relief, I could only stare at the tray overflowing with meat and salivate.
“Eat it all. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop until you finish that entire pile. It’s a side effect of the first transformations.”
Aldren was terribly right.
A disastrous hunger gnawed at my stomach. Unable to restrain myself, I grabbed the first piece with my hands and brought it to my mouth. The slightly bloody doneness seemed to ignite a flame inside me.
Barely chewing, I reached for each steak one after another, thanking the gods they had no bones, otherwise I would have choked. When I finished, I felt deeply embarrassed for not having offered him any.
“Why are you embarrassed?”
“How do you know...?” The moment the question slipped out, my own mind answered the obvious reason—something I would need to grow used to. “The mating bond.”
“Yes. Privacy is over.” His words managed to draw a smile from me.
He set the tray on the floor and sat beside me again.
“Can we ask for more?”
“Are you still hungry?”
“No. For you.”
“Even if they brought more, I wouldn’t be able to eat. My only urgency isn’t hunger, but taking you back to Valmorin and burning every member of the pack who threw stones at you.” Fury flickered with the specks in his eyes, and a shiver ran down my spine. “Answer me honestly. Did my elders mistreat you?” he continued, consumed by anger.
“Not that I remember... I only saw them once.”
More hollow knocks echoed at the door. Who could it be this time?
“Sir, the elders request your presence in the main hall. I have clothes in my hands.” Bratvo’s voice sounded from the other side.
Aldren rose and walked to the door, the towel wrapped around his waist. They had sent him brown trousers made of thick fabric and a thin tunic, looser than what he usually wore.
For me, a white dress that reached my knees, straight and without shape, along with wide underwear and a fabric bra, both with coarse stitching, as if they had just been sewn in haste.
We dressed and intertwined our hands. I took a breath, preparing myself to face the figures of those who had imprisoned me.
“Don’t be afraid. They won’t hurt you.”
“We’re mated...” And perhaps only because of that.
“I didn’t mate with you out of fear of my elders, but to eliminate any chance of you being punished. They protect me, and if you are part of me, you will now be protected by them as well.”
May the gods hear you, my mated companion...
We left the room, and the guards followed us. It wasn’t right. I stopped walking and stood on my tiptoes to speak into Aldren’s ear.
“They were there with me the whole time, protecting me. Order them to rest...”
“It’s true,” he agreed, turning back. “Eat and rest. Before sunrise, we will return to Valmorin.”
“It isn’t necessary, sir,” Bratvo declared, in complete devotion to his alpha.
“It is necessary. We are safe now.”
The guards obeyed his command, and when he turned back to me, my alpha gently touched my face with one hand, gazing at me full of affection.
“You already act like a queen.”
I smiled, feeling my cheeks warm.
Even though my memories were vague, I would never forget all those faces around my cell, protecting me, without knowing whether they were risking their own lives.
We continued until we entered a cold room with a perfectly arranged circle of chairs. From the shadows emerged two elders. The one without eyes and the one without a mouth.
I noticed the absence of the third, and a strange sensation chilled my stomach, sending a shudder through me.
“Where is the third?” Aldren asked.
“Sit,” requested the eyeless one, the only one there who could speak, while the mouthless one gestured toward the empty chairs.
“No. Forgive me, but we will remain standing. Where is the third?” he insisted.
The mouthless one lowered his head, but before he did, I caught a flash of sadness in his cold gaze.
“He is unwell. He needed to rest.”
Aldren wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me closer in a protective gesture.
“We will be leaving before dawn. Even in the third’s absence, we need to address what happened.”
“Before anything else, why did you return alone? Where are Orion and the family?” The elder who could speak used a firm tone.
“Orion had to stay until his betrothed’s health improves. I don’t have time for further updates. Let’s get to what matters.”