Chapter 90 OLD GHOSTS FROM THE PAST
RAGNAR’S POV
“Oh there it is!” His laugh is hollow. “That same word again.”
“It is my responsibility–”
“Well it's my body!” he shouts back.
The force of it echoes through the clearing.
“My life! My bond. And you both decided I wasn’t ready to know what I’m sharing my soul with?”
Yurik shifts uncomfortably beneath my skin as even he agrees with Sebastian and knows we've fucked up.
“I did not lie to you,” I say finally.
“You omitted and withheld information, crucial information from me,” he shoots back. “That’s just as bad.”
My temper flares right back.
“You think I enjoyed carrying that uncertainty?” I demand. “You think I wasn’t trying to understand what he is before throwing that weight onto you?”
“It wasn’t your weight to carry!”
His words strike harder than intended. I'm his mate and he doesn't think I have the right
“Sebastian,” I say more quietly, “you are my mate. If something inside you could destabilize the entire pack, then I need to assess the threat before alarming you or anyone.”
“There it is again,” he says bitterly. “A threat.”
I step closer instinctively and I'm happy for small mercies that he doesn’t back away.
“Do you think I see you as a threat?”
“I don’t know what you see anymore!”
His voice cracks as he fights back a sob.
“And that’s the problem.”
“I chose you,” I say firmly.
He shakes his head.
“Did you? Or do you prefer Alisander and you're just shutting me up?”
Rage flashes hot and sudden in me. Why would he think that of me?
“Watch your words Sebastian.”
“No!” he shouts back. “You watch yours! Because I am not some kind of vessel your wolf happened to find useful!”
His finger jabs at my chest again and this time it's a bit painful.
“You and Alisander get along just fine don’t you? Whispering secrets and deciding what I can handle.”
“That is not what this is entirely but it is.”
“Then what is it?” he demands. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like I’m the only one who didn’t get the full story!”
I grab his wrist to stop him from jabbing at me.
“Enough.”
He yanks free immediately.
“No,” he says. “It’s not enough.”
His breathing is ragged now with his eyes blazing.
Is this a side effect from the Acmonite he consumed previously?
“You forbade me from entering the challenge match,” he continues as his voice shakes with anger. “You said I wasn’t ready and that it was punishment.”
“It was protection for you.” I corrected him .
“It was control for you.”
The accusation hangs heavy at me.
“Yes,” I say bluntly. “Because you are in danger.”
“I already am!” he shouts.
Silence crashes down between us.
His chest rises and falls rapidly.
“And since I apparently house inside of me some ancient, pack-destroying monster,” he continues with his voice dangerously steady now, “maybe it’s time I stop pretending I’m fragile.”
A cold sense of foreboding creeps up my spine.
“Sebastian don't,” I warn.
He steps closer in defiance as his finger presses into my chest again and harder this time.
“I’m entering the challenge match.”
The words land like a physical blow to me.
“No.”
“You don’t get to forbid me.”
“I absolutely do,” I snap. “As Alpha–”
“As my mate?” he interrupts sharply. “Or as my Alpha, because you won't even acknowledge the mate bond.”
My jaw tightens.
“You will not compete Sebastian.”
“Well watch me.”
The defiance in his eyes is not reckless but his actions are.
“You are not ready,” I say, my voice low with authority.
“Well you don’t get to decide that anymore, my after today.”
The echo of his earlier words reverberates between us.
“You cannot stop me,” he says quietly now. “Not without proving everything I just accused you of as true.”
“You would dare to challenge my authority publicly?” I ask.
“Well, haven't you heard? I'm a pack destroying monster.” He replies.
“I’m entering the match,” he says. “And there's nothing you can do about it.”
The clearing empties long after Sebastian leaves it.
But his scent lingers around even after he's gone.
It clings to the air like a challenge to me.
Yurik is still restless beneath my skin, pacing in tight circles.
He does not like the fact that Sebastian walked away from us.
He does not like the straining bond and relationship between I and Sebastian.
Neither do I.
But I let him go.
That may have been my first mistake, not immediately hashing out whatever is happening right now.
But I don't know or have anything to say to him right now.
The wind shifts in from a different direction and with it,
Is a scent I have not smelled in years.
Wormwood.
Dax.
I turn around slowly.
He steps out from between the birch trees like he was carved from the shadows themselves.
He's taller than I remember and much more broader with his hair pulled back and streaked faintly with silver at the temples.
Time has clearly hardened him from the book shy wolf of years ago.
“You always did have a flair for dramatic exits and drama,” he says mildly.
My jaw tightens.
“You’ve been following him.”
It is not a question, it's a fact.
Dax shrugs one shoulder. “I’ve simply been observing.”
Yurik bristles from the inside
“Careful,” I warned quietly.
His golden eyes flick to mine looking amused.
“Oh there he is,” he murmurs. “The Alpha I remember.”
Once, we ran through these woods together, running away from all the problems and responsibilities.
We were not rivals or enemies.
We were something dangerously close to even being brothers once.
Until we weren’t.
“You should not have approached him,” I say finally.
“And yet I did.”
“What did you tell him?”
Dax studies my face carefully before answering.
“Just enough.”
That fucking word again.
“You do not get to insert yourself into my pack matters Dax,” I say.
His brow lifts slightly in amusement. “Your pack matters?”
“You heard me the first time.”