Chapter 24 Difference between Zara and Celine
Tristan’s POV
Aiden must have been outside the door, forcing his ears to listen to our conversations, and that would have been completely normal. Even the council members must have known that but pretended that their asking him to leave the room had an effect.
“Aiden.” I called when he opened the door.
He strolled inside and took the same seat Jude had used.
“You heard them.”
He nodded. “Sure, I needed to. For your own safety.”
And I believed every word of that. He’d always been about my safety. His thoughts might not always align with mine, but the purpose always stood out.
“The packs,” I said. “They are joining forces…”
He had his eyes on me, just the same way he always did, and the same way the council members did. My thoughts had become fuzzy. I couldn't think of how I was going to avoid a war, avoid?
That couldn't work. Or maybe it would?
Then I put myself in their shoes. I imagined that a tyrant from another pack had come to wreak havoc in my pack just because he had his own goal of doing justice to the dead, and in this process, he took the lives of my loved ones. I wouldn't forgive, especially since this was against my loved ones.
Speaking of loved ones… Yes, I had loved ones. My parents, and Zara, were on this list.
And about the pack, a change of heart didn't seem possible.
“And they would get themselves here,” Aiden said, cutting my mind off the continuous line of frustration.
“They would wreak havoc.”
“Everything would be painted red.”
He left the chair and came closer to me. He took a magnifying glass, and placed it over his eyes to scan my skin. I felt the glass touch the tip of my hair. He should have had more news to tell me, but I didn't think much of it.
“You need a cure,” he said.
“I know I need a cure, but what will that be?”
He sighed. I sensed disappointment from him. When our eyes met, I got an idea of what he had in mind. It couldn't be good.
“What if we already have the cure?”
“Then tell me, where is it?” I still played in line with him, but this could be no use.
Like I said, my thoughts were fuzzy, but that didn't mean anything could go. That didn't mean I would accept anything.
“You would become feral.” He reminded me. “And at this time… You don't want that.”
He waited for his words to sink in, but my mind and most of my already made decisions were set in stone. I hardly took a change.
“How long do I have left?”
“Hmmm… Your days did increase.” He took the magnifying glass to my forehead.
He could be checking if the cursed fur were coming out in tiny strands that only the magnifying glass could easily detect. He kept nodding as he did this, but that didn't mean good news.
He kept the magnifying glass in his right pocket. “Your eyes?”
I let him use his fingers to raise my eyelids in order to get a better view of my eyes.
“I can't give an actual date. I mean, there's no actual date as everything I'll ever tell you will be based on observation and estimation.”
“So what do you observe?”
“You had about a month.” His eyes were still scanning me. “But now you have, I think… maybe an extra month.”
I didn't expect much. That wasn't much as compared to everything at stake, but at least it was something, right?
“I noticed you’ve had it with her.” He grinned. “And you must have called it consummation.”
“Of course it is, and what is that about?”
His face straightened as he stepped back from me. He wanted to express his thoughts but his consideration toward how I would react made him slow down, made him hit corners, and still not reach his main point.
“The time you have can never be enough… The best way is to go along the path of ‘Scarlet Ascension’. At least you will save yourself, and then this pack.”
I already knew this was the thought he had in mind, but hearing it said out loud came stronger to me. I didn't want to even hear that. Nothing should make me hear it.
“Don't say that.”
“But it is the best way to…”
“And I've told you that can never happen!” I hit my fists too hard on the handle of the chair, and my voice must have been too loud.
It was as though the council room was separated from the palace and was swinging, fueled by the vibrations of my voice. I almost lost control at that point. Aiden was supporting himself with the chair and tables, his gaze darting over the room out of obvious fear that the walls could fall into pieces.
Nothing happened. The walls were too strong for that.
“When I got this connection with her,” I continued from where we’d stopped. “I felt every connection with her, and doubt wasn't mixed with it… Aiden, tell me, have you ever had a mate?”
He appeared to think for a second before saying, “No.”
He was far older than me, but even those extra years couldn't give him the opportunity to find a mate?
Not all werewolves find their mates. Only the lucky ones, and I wondered what qualifies me among those. I saw nothing that made me deserving of such.
“That's why you might not understand what the bond feels like.”
He relaxed into the chair, and nodded. “Maybe.”
At this moment, I figured out why the council members never made mention of Celine. If they understood it, then they knew it wasn't something to trifle with.
“I could make use of time.”
“More sex with her,” he said. “More intimate connection with her will go a long way.”
“What?”
“I noticed you improved after that moment with her.” He started an explanation. “Penetrative sex. When you go into her, it's just like tapping into a source. You know she’s the cure, and her orgasm could be an essence to buy you more time.”
Gross.
“I should leave now.”
When he shut the door behind him, my mind started drifting off.
“She’s my mate!” I thought out loud.
But why did I feel it was wrong to make love to her?
It gave me a chilling sensation that I was taking advantage of her, which was why I'd stopped when we could have gone a second time. What if it was my guilt haunting me, making me feel I was nothing good to her except to break her down?
It wasn't so with Zara.
I explored Zara’s without the slightest thought of being careful. It came with so much pleasure. But it was just the pleasure and nothing else.
Celine's was a connection I'd never had.
Was I supposed to feel guilty about that?