**CHAPTER EIGHT.**
I was about to go call for help when Draken's hand held me back. There was a look on his face as he stared at me, one I couldn't decipher. I looked down at the hand holding me back and I couldn't hold back the gasp that left my lips once I saw his set of claws. They resembled a cat's, yet they appeared sturdier, longer, and more resilient. It dawned on me why Draken's scent had always struck me as distinctive.
"What are you, Draken?" I stuttered, still reeling from the revelation. "Are you a…werecat?"
His grip tightened around my hand, pulling me closer, inundating me with his overpowering scent, which now felt intoxicatingly potent. I found myself ensnared, unable to muster any resistance as he sniffed my neck. "And what are you, Eline?" he countered. "Why do you stir my emotions within me? Why do you make me feel rogue?"
As Draken continued to inhale my scent, his skin reddened, radiating heat. He was getting hotter by the minute. When I say hotter, I mean it literally. It was as though he was transforming, akin to that of a werecat, yet distinctively different.
Panic seized me.
Never had I witnessed someone in the throes of such a metamorphosis. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I ventured.
Draken laughed. "Don't stare at me like I'm going to die. This is normal."
"Not for me. Tell me, what can I do to help?"
"My injection," he muttered, his voice strained.
"Which injection?"
"Mine…"
Collapsed on the floor, Draken writhed in agony, emitting guttural growls that echoed through the room. I retreated, inching towards the door, overwhelmed by the sight unfolding before me. With one last glance, I fled the room, desperate to find assistance.
"Help!" I cried out, my voice reverberating down the hallway.
Descending a nearby staircase, I emerged into a bustling dining area, where I presumed Draken's family gathered.
"Who are you?" an older woman demanded, fixing her gaze on me as I entered. She was standing next to the dining table, a plate in her hand as she scrutinized me.
Everyone around the dining room had their eyes on me.
I knew most of the faces staring back at me. After all, they were the royal family of Edinburgh, and their faces were mostly plastered across news channels. I felt starstruck. I couldn't even think at the moment.
Seated at the end of the dining was Draken's mother, the Duchess of Edinburgh. There was a look of apprehension on her face as she stared right at me. She had the same dirty blonde hair as Draken, but while Draken's eyes were forest green, hers were onyx black — like two black orbs staring into one soul. Draken's father, the Duke of Edinburgh, was also present. He was seated next to his wife, and his facial structure was the same as Draken's. They also had the same forest-green eyes that seemed to tell a tale. Their disparity lay in their hair color; the older man had black jet hair.
"Draken needs—" I was about to say before I was rudely cut off by a voice from behind.
"Let me guess, another one of Draken's one-night stands?" The voice interrupted.
I turned my gaze around and was met with another intense set of green eyes. It was Aurora Gallagher, Draken's elder sister. She looked even more stunning and intimidating than she did on TV. She had black jet hair that had been straightened to reach her waist.
"Do you also plan on blackmailing him?" She pressed further, closing the distance between us.
*Blackmail?* It made me wonder if someone had done that to Draken before.
"I need you to understand that Draken—" I attempted to speak again, but I was rudely cut off. Again.
"I demand an answer," She said with a tone of finality. She was so close to me. "Do you plan on blackmailing my younger brother?"
The proximity between us made me realize how tall she was. She was tall…really tall. She could easily pass as a member of the NBA female team, and she had an aura that screamed royalty. Unlike Draken, whose eyes were coherent, Aurora's were different. Her eyes felt like two sets of lasers shooting at me.
"Maybe you shouldn't be in her face, Aurora," A male voice said from the dining room. "You're intimidating her."
I traced the voice to its owner, who resembled Draken closely. They had the same features. I would have mistaken him for Draken if I hadn't just left Draken behind in his room. Also, he was in a wheelchair.
It made me wonder if Draken had a twin that wasn't revealed to the public.
"I can't help it," Aurora replied as she moved away from me and went towards the dining table. She placed her weight on the table, picked up granola, and shoved it into her mouth. "Isn't Draken meant to be downstairs by now?"
I was about to speak again, but I was beaten to it.
"Probably still asleep," came the male voice again. "You know he's a deep sleeper, Aurora."
"Tell me what I don't know, Drake," Aurora replied sarcastically, referring to the male — whose name I'd learnt was Drake.
"You have a grain of granola on your shirt," he said.
Aurora glanced down at her shirt, confirming that there was indeed a grain of granola there. She grinned, picking the grain up and throwing it into her mouth. "You took that literally, didn't you?"
"I mean, you told me to tell you what you didn't know."
"Fuck-"
"Language, Aurora," their mother chided, turning her attention to me. "Are you Draken's friend?"
Aurora chuckled as she took her seat at the dining table. "Like I said, she's probably just another one-night stand of his, about to leave—"
"Um, no. About Draken..." I began before a loud noise interrupted.
It wasn't just a noise; it was a deafening growl that shook the house. It felt like the roof might be torn off, like a mini earthquake. I knew it was Draken.
"That sounds like Draken," Aurora voiced my thoughts, darting away from the dining area with surprising speed.
Within moments, she, along with their parents, had disappeared upstairs, leaving me with Drake and others whom I presumed were workers.
I attempted to return to Draken's room when Drake's voice stopped me.
"You don't want to be there right now," he said, using his wheelchair to move closer to where I stood. "Just stay here. Everything would be alright with Draken."
It wasn't like I was worried about Draken, however, seeing him in the state stirred some concerns in me too. Also, it had me questioning what his true identity was.
The growling didn't seem to end as Drake and I waited downstairs. If anything, it only got louder and louder, making me scared. I wondered about the condition Draken was currently in. I also wondered if Draken was the only abnormality in the family, and perhaps the rest of the royal family were the same.
After a while, the growling eventually stopped and I felt a bit of relief. I fell to the floor, bringing my legs close to my chest.
Drake's eyes remained on me. "Are you Eline?" he asked.
I looked at him, surprised he knew my name. "Yes, I am," I replied politely.
"Ah," he exclaimed, a smile spreading across his lips as he attempted to stand up from his wheelchair. He eventually stood up from the wheelchair with the help of a maid. While shocked, I was also left with tons of questions. With his own will, he strode over to where I sat on the floor and when he eventually got to my front, he sat before me. "So, it's you. Draken has said a lot about you. He even told me he learnt your name this midnight."
"Oh, I hope he said good things about me," I laughed nervously, massaging my scalp as I wondered why Draken Gallagher was having a conversation about me with his lookalike.
"He says you smell, and I think I can perceive it also," Drake said, eyeing me down.
His words made me feel self-conscious.
"Not in a bad way, Eline," he added as if sensing my worries. "I mean you smell seraphic."
Seraphic — those were the same words Draken had used to describe my scent earlier. "Thank you," I said, unsure what else to say.
"So, what kind of lycanthrope are you, Eline?" Drake's question caught me off guard.
I took my gaze up at him, lips thinned as I ruminated upon his question. Had he just sniffed the fact that I was a werecat out? "I don't understand what you mean by that question," I tried playing dumb, but he didn't seem to be believing my answer.
"I'm sure you saw Draken about to transform before you left the room," he said.
I nodded affirmatively. "Yes, I did."
He took out his hands to me and raised his sleeve before biting into his wrist. I gasped at the sight of the blood coming out from his arm.
"Why did you do that?" I asked, staring at the bleeding arm.
"Shhh. Just watch," he told me.
I watched.
I raised my brows.
With my mouth agape, I watched as the injury on Drake's arm clotted itself immediately, and it was as if there wasn't even an injury there before aside from the dried off blood.
"See that?" He asked.
It was my turn to be surprised. I looked away from his arm to his face, noticing the look of amusement on it as he stared back at me. "What are you? What are you and Draken?" I asked.
"Just like you, my family are lycanthropes. But we're werewolves," he revealed.