Chapter 25 Chapter 25
Eirian
“You’ve been with her.”
Ty stopped in the doorway. His shoulders squared and then he sighed, turning towards me. “Yes.”
“You’re not even pretending anymore hey?” My voice shook with anger. Lifting the glass fo my lips I took a sip of the amber liquid inside, and studied my brother.
He was so much better now that Sloane was here. The crazed rampages seemed like a distant memory. Goddess. He had even brushed his hair.
It should have made me feel better but I felt nothing but bitter rage caused by the jealous twisting through my gut.
“I can smell her on you.” My voice was beyond bitter. Honestly I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I should be happy that she was here and she wasn’t scared of Ty. But I had seen the way she had looked at me earlier. The fear in her eyes.
Our mate was frightened of me now. And not the bat shit crazy brother. Ty was the one who should have terrified her. He was the unpredictable one.
I watched my brother's shoulders rise and fall as he sucked in a breath and then he walked towards me.
“You can smell her on me?” He queried coming to a stop right in front of me.
“Yes.” I mumbled.
“And what exactly can you smell brother?” He asked in a soft, dangerous voice that should have worried me. Except I was too far gone for that.
“Can you smell her skin on my fingertips?” Ty thrust his hand out, barely missing slapping me in the face and thrust them under my nose.
I couldn’t help but breath deep. “Yes.” My eyes closed as the scent of her washed over me.
Goddess she smelt amazing. Like freedom, like heaven itself had come down to earth. If the moon goddess we worshiped came down to walk amongst us then I was sure she would smell like Sloane.
“That’s because I just had my hands on her body not five minutes ago.” My brother continued.
My eyes snapped up. Anger tightened my chest. “You did what?” I couldn’t help the way my voice shook. “You know we can’t take her. Not separately. She has to be ours.” I ended with a shout, slapping his hand away from my face angrily. “Not yours Ty. She isn’t just yours. She’s ours.” Squaring my shoulders I drew myself up to my full height. A low menacing growl tumbling from my lips.
He met me with a snarl of his own.
“She isn’t.” He said in a clipped voice. “Either of ours. Brother. She hates us.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What?”
Again he thrust his hands towards me. “She hates us both. Or at least she wants to. In Sloanes head we are the monsters that took her away from her home and locked her. Smell her on my fingers brother. Tell me what else you can smell?”
I sniffed, my nostrils flared slightly. “I smell her skin, her desire. That doesn’t seem to gel with what you are smelling.”
Tys shoulders moved up and down in a shrug. “I didn’t say she didn’t want me. I am the better looking brother.”
I growled at him. “I-“
“What else can you smell?”
“I smell,” trailing off, I closed my eyes. There was something under her sweet scent. A kind of bitterness that I couldn’t place at first. My eyes snapped up to meet his. “Is that fear? Fear and-“
Ty nodded once, sharply. “Her tears. What you can smell is her unhappiness. Our mate doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t understand why any of this is happening to her.”
Taking a step back I closed my eyes and Tys hand dropped to his side with a sigh.
“We need to tell her the truth, Eirian.” He said quietly.
I shook my head. “We can’t. You know we can’t. The prophecy states-“
“Screw the prophecy. We are losing her before we’ve even got her. We have ripped her away from her family. Her village and she doesn’t know why. She wants to go home.”
“She has a much better life here. She’s fed and dressed and has everything she could ever want.” I mumbled.
“What she wants is her life. Her freedom. If we don’t start being honest with her then she will fade away. She won’t be the girl we need her to be. She won’t be the girl I-“
He trailed off and my eyes widened in shock. “You have real feelings for her?”
Tys shoulders moved up and down in a shrug. “She is my mate. Our mate.” He amended quickly before I could say anything. “I am meant to love her.”
That was true. Everything he was saying was true. I just didn’t want to admit it.
“Fine.” My shoulders slumped. “We will talk to her. In the morning but we can’t tell her everything. She needs to love us-“ I didn’t get to finish the sentence. A guard appeared, red faced and puffing. Just like the one from earlier had, he had a startled almost panicked look on his face.
“What is it?” Ty turned angrily but the guard didn’t need to say anything. I could hear it now. The rumble like thunder was rolling in. I glanced towards the window, to the clear star speckled sky.
Not thunder, there wasn’t a storm coming which meant. Every muscle I had stiffened.
“The Lycan king is here?” Ty growled.
Mutely the guard nodded. “Less than five miles away. With an army of-“
He couldn’t be here already. He was meant to be miles away. We weren’t ready. Sloane didn’t love us yet. Spinning on my heel I took off at a run , Ty got to the door first. His feet thumping on the flagstones as he barrelled towards the wing where Sloane slept. I followed hot on his heels.
“Assemble the council in the hall. Prepare-“ I didn’t bother to finish. He knew what I needed to do. “Yes alpha.” He scurried off in the opposite direction.
“She is fine.” I heard Ty growl in front of me. “I locked her in her room. We just need to check she is ,” he came to a stop at her door and reached for the heavy metal key in the lock.
Twisting it, he threw the door open. “Sloane you need to,” his voice trailed off.
It took me a second to realise why he had stopped. Looking around the room I sucked in a breath. It was empty. Her beautiful dress was in a pile on the floor. Like she had stepped out of it and just left it there.
I glanced towards the bed. The sheets were nowhere to be seen. She had stripped the bed and-
“Eirian?”
I swung my eyes towards my brother, and following his hand I took in the sight in front of me. The window was wide open, and a knotted up sheet disappeared over the sill.
Sloane had knotted her bed sheets together and used them to climb out the window. Rushing toward I peered out into the darkness.
“Sloane?”
Nothing but a rumble answered me.
She had been so desperate to get away from us that she had risked almost certain death trying to climb out a sixth story window.
Were we really that bad? Was living with us really that awful?
“She’s alive.” Ty whispered. “I’d feel it if she wasn’t.”
I wanted to believe him. I did believe him.
A boom shattered the sudden silence. And on the edge of our city an orange red light lit up the night sky. The floor under our feet trembled.
“That’s the least of our worries.” I watched as more fire bombs lit up the night sky. “We are under siege.” I sucked in a breath.
The Lycan king was attacking and our mate? She had disappeared into a city where all the inhabitants wanted her dead.