Chapter 2 Scarlet Ascension
Tristan's POV
She looked like someone I’d seen, but how was that?
I could point out faint imprints in my mind about someone or something that was a resemblance to her, but even that was too vague for me to conclude.
Her hazel eyes, and olive skin had my gaze walking on her like fingertips. Her scent of fresh grapes was the first thing that pulled me closer to her.
“Celine,” I called .
I found her shifting further to the end of the wall that connected the bed.
Then my hands left my side to touch her necklace.
“Don't.” She shuddered.
Her voice…
One of my darkest memories came flooding on me—that girl’s voice, the blood staining the floor and the heavy weight that fell on me soon after. No! I shouldn't let my mind drift to that.
I sucked in breaths.
The tip of my fingers barely touched her neck. I withdrew myself as though another werewolf fangs gripped my fingers. The waves shut up through my veins.
And then… the unusual furs… they started growing out of my skin along with the painful sensation that came along. My fingers were shaking as though life was slipping out of me. Damned! Not again!
“No…” I rushed to the door, kicking it open.
“Alpha.” I heard Lila's voice behind me.
I stood outside the door.
But soon, I felt the effects from the curse go down to a point I could bear. I should have left. I should have gone to meet Aiden, the pack healer, so he helped me suppress this feeling. Even if the pain wouldn't go down any further, I found my hands touching the door.
What was it about her?
It wasn't my first time meeting a human. I’d met a few of them years ago when I had the chance, and the effect of meeting them was never like this. Maybe because this had become different.
I pulled the door open.
Her eyes were watching me as though she'd been waiting for me to come in again.
“Alpha?” Lila was about to go down on her knees.
“Don't.” I stopped her.
I got closer to the bed, but I thought to be careful so as not to touch it.
“Celine…” I called her name as though stepping my feet on a wet surface, careful not to fall. “How do you feel?”
She didn't answer.
I wasn't supposed to ask that.
I took the seat beside the bed, and swallowed the lump down my throat. “I’m Tristan.”
Of course she already knew that. But I had to say something.
“Have I met you?” I asked.
She shook her head.
Her eyes became wet. “My lover… Colt sold me out to you, is… is that so?”
“I could afford the cure to his mother's ill health.”
“And you’re against humans, aren't you?”
“I’m not.” I rushed to say.
But considering what I was going to do in a few hours, I didn't know if I'd lied.
“You aren't against humans… but I was dragged in here by your men!” Her voice was louder.
I rubbed my palms, suppressing the warmth building up in my chest. Her presence… it was all about her presence. The curse in my veins needed me to leave, but my eyes wanted to spend time looking at her.
That didn't make sense.
“What will be my fate?” She asked, the little tears at the sides of her eyes turning into a sob.
“Your fate…”
“Tell me what happens…”
I got off the chair. I couldn't afford to utter another lie. But I couldn't say the truth, tell her that her fate was already fixed because of me?
That was hard to say. I didn't want to break her much more than this.
But why did I even care?
I shouldn't care, right?
I turned the doorknob to leave, but her scent and her voice calling out to me asked me to spend more time with her. Just a little time.
“What becomes of me!” I heard her shout the last instance before I shut the door behind me.
I laid on the bed as I watched Aiden lit the other candles. He’d poured the usual oil on my body, and the smell of herbs in the room wafted through my nostrils. I could only put up with it because of the relief it offered me.
But everything had become different, and I couldn't get a hold of it.
“Time,” Aiden said, sitting on the chair beside the bed. “It's ticking, and each second that passes brings you closer to ending this curse.”
I nodded.
He sighed. “Tristan, you'd be fine.”
I stayed mute on the bed, facing the roof like I was reading an important fact that only concerned the human.
“Tristan?” Aiden nudged me, a slight frown on his face. “You've any thoughts?”
“Is there a different way around this?”
“What… what way?”
“If there's a way to avoid going through the process with this human.”
He left his seat, and stood beside the bed, looking at me, his arms clasped at his sides.
A minute passed before he said, “how come this thought?”
“It might cost her life.”
His frown deepened. “And does that matter?”
“It should matter.”
My mind had developed conflicting feelings, and it was strange that I couldn't identify the meaning of these ideas in my mind. I shouldn't have thought of trying another way, and all I'd cared about was getting a cure for this curse.
But there was a sudden shift in my thoughts.
What if we didn't go in with it?
This conflict in me… it started the moment I stepped inside that room, set my eyes on her, heard her voice, and perceived her scent.
What was so special about her to give me a second thought?
“She's human,” he said, “and her essence is needed for your cure. Whether she survives or not shouldn't be a problem.”
I shut my eyes, the burnt in my chest gradually going faint. “Her scent… her voice speaks volumes.”
“Things like that can happen, but it's nothing.”
I shot my eyes, the burnt in my chest already going completely faint. “Do you know her?”
“No? Or do you?” His eyes scrutinized me for almost a minute.
“Her scent… her eyes, even her voice seemed to speak words I can't interpret.”
“What about all that? How’s all that important to you?”
“She triggers memories of the past… you remember that girl I told you about? Who stood above her parents’ corpse?”
“And?”
“Her skin tone and voice are similar, but of course they aren't the same person.”
“There's nothing important about that.” He stressed. “What if there is?”
“Then setting you free from this curse would be more important.” He got to the door. “She’s messing with your head, and this isn't like you “
“Aiden…” My right arm stretched towards him. “If there's a different way.”
“Tristan.” He shook his head. “There isn't.”
The bang of the door followed after.
Alone in the room with the clock’s relentless ticking, each second pulsing like my heartbeat, intensified the silence even more. Even the candlelight focused all attention on it, blurring every other thing around me… just a bit of time, and I would have to go on with the process.
“Celine.” I whispered through the fog.
Again, fur tempted to grow out of my skin, but the oil on my skin suppressed it. My teeth almost turned into fangs.
The curse… even at just a call of her name?
I kicked against the candles, and got a bit of relief in the darkness that followed, but my eyes seemed to form her picture like a piece of art. Again, the pain seemed to have gone low. The room was covered in silence except the ticking of the clock that still continued.
I didn't know if the state of my heart was guilt of some kind or just the familiar feeling I got from her. Or what if it was both?
But I hardly felt guilty for anything.
And that was strange.
There was a knock on the door.
“Tristan.” Aiden pushed the door open. “It's time.”
I nodded. No questions asked. I stepped outside with just a trousers, exposing my bare chest.
The moon was in full shape, and the other pack elders had gathered around her. Her hands were chained, but her feet were loose. That same look I saw in her face…
“Please… don't…”
“Celine,” I whispered a few steps from the spot she stood.
This time, I felt a different reaction on my skin that wasn't the same as that of the curse, instead a scene I hated to reflect on—my late parents' bodies laid on the floor with blood seeping out of their noses and ears.
I stopped, rubbing my palms like I could peel my skin off.
“Tristan?” Aiden came closer. “Is it being triggered?”
I shook my head. I smelled blood, but from my mind.
“You need a taste of her blood. Now is the perfect moment.”
I nodded, but didn't move an extra step.
She had stopped pleading, just gazing at me like all she needed to do was ask questions before whatever I needed to do.
Her eyes had stopped letting out tears. Her look… was it fear, the outcome of betrayal by her lover, or curiosity?
Nothing came to mind.
“Tristan.” Aiden's voice sliced through my hesitation like a blade. “You have to.”
I forced myself forward, but the glint of her necklace snagged my focus. I stared too long at it. Why did I feel like I'd seen it?
“The moon won't wait.” Aiden was almost shouting.
With a lungful of breath, I touched her arms. She stayed quiet, no pleading even though she must have known that this process might cost her life, except that look of curiosity.
My breath hitched.
Her sweet smell of fresh grapes was thick between us, flooding my nostrils like the air I should breathe.
My fingers touched her jaws, and I felt the same sensation that happened in the room she was kept except this came with greater connection. The strange fur did not pup out of my skin, just the vibration of my fingers and slight warmth.
“This…”
Her face twitched at this same moment, her fingers scratching against her arms.
I held her upper arms, but turned to face the pack elders. “This has to stop.”
Aiden rushed to meet me with furrowed eyebrows. “What happened?”
My eyes locked with hers. “She's my mate.”