Chapter 8 Chapter 8
Violet
My eyes widened realizing he had heard everything Nate said.
Elijah’s breath tickled my ear as he added in a low whisper. “Everything he told you about me is true so if you value your life, run, little girl.”
His voice was thick with promise yet I stayed rooted to my spot, trying to quiet my thundering heart.
“Nobody else will help my pack and the threat of war is looming over us. Please, everybody already thinks I was trying to lure you into some trap because of the video.”
“What video?”
“The restaurant footage where you saved me…it's too complicated to explain.”
He shrugged like it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He ignored it entirely, something I wish I had the strength to do.
His gaze hardened. “So that asshole left you?”
I looked him in the eye. “I left him. And now I need your help. I'll do anything…except sex. I mean, if we marry and then you want…”
I hated to sound so desperate, to beg a random stranger who could just snap my neck like that captive rogue if I kept bothering him. But then I could see his strength and felt my pack would benefit from a valuable ally like him.
“Stop talking!”
A muscle in his jaw worked, and he rubbed his temple, clearly agitated.
I shut my mouth abruptly but was ready to fall to my knees and plead if that meant saving my family.
“Find something that will interest me enough to provide an alliance to your pack.” He said at last.
“What do you mean, find something? Just tell me!” I shouted, but he had opened the car’s door and slipped into the driver's seat before I could blink.
“You said it's either trade or marriage for an alliance, right? Marriage is not my thing, and sex isn't yours, clearly…so find something to trade off in the next twenty four hours or the next time I see you, I will tie you to a chair and make you scream like that rogue.”
I had definitely pissed him off.
I opened my mouth to apologize but then he added the next words in a low whisper that sounded a lot like promise.
“But the only difference is that you will love every second of it.”
What?
The car roared to life, the sound of my raging heart dying down over the powerful hum of the engine and then Elijah drove off.
I stood staring like an idiot at the black beast that disappeared from my view, still trying to process what Elijah had said.
Maybe I should follow him but it was already nearing dawn and he had driven off to Goddess knew where with a thinly veiled threat aimed at me.
I was out in the open but all the air around me couldn’t fill my damn lungs.
‘Breathe, Violet. Breathe’
He is going to cut me open and torture me.” I mumbled to myself, my palm slapping my forehead.
“Not with a knife and he said you would enjoy it” Rain supplied and I mentally rolled my eyes at her.
Couldn’t she have shown up earlier when I was trying to explain my predicament to him?
My phone rang and I fished for it from the purse to see a dozen missed calls from my parents. I had put it on silent mode earlier.
Do you want to give your dad a heart attack by running off the second you came in?” Mom shouted at me without bothering to say hi or hello.
“I am fine, mom. On my way back home.”
She continued to lecture me but I disconnected the call, got in the car and returned home.
Mom was already waiting at the gate for me, temper and worry both balanced precariously in her body language and expressions.
She didn’t let me step out of the car but rather dragged me out of it and inside our home. It was a relief that not many people were around to see me getting schooled like a disobedient child.
The second she closed the door, she went full on mama bear mode and started shouting at me. I simply sat and let her finish, let the anger dissipate and her shoulders sag a little.
I deserved it. Not many people loved or cared about me. She had every right to be mad at me given the scandal I had created for no fault of mine due to the video.
Dad stood by the window, sighing dramatically every now and then as if to reassure me that everything was going to be fine.
Dad was always the one who used less words than mom. And she would use his name to make me obey. Typical mom. But I loved them both. A lot.
A smile tugged at my lips when I stole a glance at him and mom whirled at him, hands on her hips.
“Luke, are you going to just stand there?” She glared at him and dad immediately stepped forward.
“Violet, you put me and your mother in a lot of worry. With everything else happening, could you spare us poor folks from further trouble?”
The raw appeal in his voice almost hit me like a rock. Hard.
“Yes dad” I said in a low voice but mom wasn’t impressed.
“Why are you requesting her? You are the alpha of this pack, Luke. She has to do as you say.”
“She had the worst day of her life, Miranda. Cut her some slack.” Dad insisted and I jumped up from the couch to pull them both into a hug.
“I am truly sorry, I mean it. But I bring good news. I have found someone to help us.” I delivered the breaking news, hoping to see some relief blossom on their faces.
Instead, mom began firing questions at me with the precision of a sharp shooter.
“Who is he? What pack is this? Where is it located? And when did you negotiate?”
Okay, I really hadn’t thought about this all the way through. For now, I just had the answer to her first question.
Mom and dad kept looking at me expectantly, and I finally answered.
“Elijah Lockwood has agreed to help us”
For a second neither of them reacted. I was met with radio silence. And then it was total chaos.
“Are you out of your mind? You could have said Satan and I would have believed but that man…he is a selfish, evil person who does nothing for himself. We would better die than be indebted to him.”
It turned out that I was really the only one who had no idea who this man was. Lucy’s reaction back at the restaurant wasn’t far off if even my mother knew about him.
I grabbed her by the shoulders to make her sit down with me.
“Calm down, mom and listen to me, please.”
Dad too sounded hesitant.
“Violet, I have always let you make your own decisions but that man is anything but helpful. Making a deal with him is like signing over your soul to the devil.”