Warmth in the cold

Warmth in the cold
The fear of meeting Celyn’s gaze disappeared. Dali glared at Celyn.
“Now why would you ask that?”
Celyn smirked slightly. “Then why aren’t you jumping on Marcus? He looks like he really cares for you.”
Dali parted her lips but shut her mouth instead. Her eyes darted from Celyn and went straight for the man with brown hair, a bright smile, and a happy countenance making his way over to them.
Marcus stopped right in front of them. “I spoke to the healers. They will lead the wolves to the rooms,” he said happily.
Dali nodded. “You’ve done well, Marcus. Thank you very much.”
“So when this is over, we can spend time together?” he asked.
Dali nodded her head. “Sure, let’s do that.”
Marcus walked away from her and went straight to Damon.
She watched as he talked to Damon, probably explained things to him, and then the two of them started leading the wolves away.
“Do you know, Marcus is actually a really gifted healer?” Celyn suddenly said, disrupting the peace of the night. “He’s really good with his fingers.”
Fingers?
Dali turned to her, her eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know what that means.”
It was Celyn’s turn to frown. “What do you mean by that?”
She walked behind Dali, who was trying to escape from the conversation. “Do you mean that he never used his fingers on you? Chase never used his fingers on you?”
Dali shook her head. “I don’t want to have this conversation with you.” She tried to walk faster, but the fingers wrapped around her arm pulled her back.
Dali stood in place, trying to fight back the smile on her face. She had no idea what this meant. She could not understand why her best friend who had ignored her for two years was suddenly standing with her under the moonlight, asking about her sex life.
Did this mean they were back to being friends?
Wait.
No need to push it.
Celyn was clueless about the dilemma Dali was going through. “Wait, all the times you guys had sex, he never used his fingers or his tongue on you?”
“Fingers and tongue?” Dali frowned. “What does that mean?”
Celyn watched her intently before she burst into laughter. She laughed so hard, a sound Dali hadn’t heard for years. It was almost like a spell she could never perfect.
Celyn laughed like the break of dawn. She laughed like spring. Suddenly, the night was warm. Suddenly, Dali wanted this night to remain endless.
Celyn held her hand, holding herself up. “Fuck! Did you suck his cock?”
Shamefully, Dali nodded her head.
Celyn almost fell over from laughing hard.
She laughed so hard tears welled up in her eyes.
“I don’t see what’s so funny.”
Still using Dali to hold herself up, Celyn said through her laughter, “He treated you so badly, didn’t even care about your pleasure, and you still stayed?”
She continued laughing.
Did they suddenly arrive at the time where they laugh about the past?
Celyn stood upright. She eventually stopped laughing. “The first thing Kiara did when she woke up was eat me out. I really don’t know how you stayed with a man who couldn’t even go down on you.”
Dali nodded her head. “Thank you for pointing out my stupidity. Thankfully, I’m grown.”
“Are you?” Celyn chuckled. “Let’s see if you would be fine with Marcus not eating you out.”
Dali rolled her eyes.
Although these were experiences she had never had in reality, she had lived vicariously through some of the books they managed to save. Yes. There were books filled with pornographic materials.
And she read through all of them.
She knew what it meant for a man to go down on a woman.
And yes, when she read it, her heart ached because Chase never thought to do that. Those were vivid signs that he did not care about her at all, but she was too stupid to realize this. She thought she could love him enough to change, but he never did.
He was cruel.
“I’m not gonna have sex with Marcus,” she said firmly.
“Oh please, why?”
“Did you have sex with someone else?” she shot back at Celyn.
“Kiara and I never broke up. She fell into a coma. It’s different.”
Dali was frozen. She had blurted out that question without realizing it. However, Celyn didn’t seem to be bothered about it.
Still.
She wanted to ask what this meant. If they were suddenly okay. If Celyn had forgiven her, if they were back to what they used to be. She wanted to ask what it meant for Celyn to be with her, laughing so carefreely.
She had so many questions.
However, at the same time, she didn’t want to ruin this moment. She wanted nothing that would cause Celyn’s smile to fall.
She had to maintain this.
“I’m not having sex with Marcus because I don’t feel anything for him.”
Celyn finally shrugged, deciding to let things go. “I actually thought he would be able to treat you well. But if you ever change your mind, I’m sure he will be there waiting.”
Dali scoffed. “I’m sure his mate will soon waltz into his life. It’s just a matter of time.”
Celyn agreed with a nod. “True.”
Marcus and many of the healers were yet to find their mate, and getting into a relationship with someone like that was stupid. That was the reason Celyn never made the first move on Kiara.
She thought it would be stupid. Well, luckily, they became mates.
“Should we return to the room or wait around?”
Dali looked around, and the wolves were already gone. She reckoned that Marcus would return in no time, wanting to have a talk with her. And that was something she could not afford to do at the moment.
“Let’s just go to bed. It’s already late,” she suggested.
Celyn chuckled. “In other words, you don’t want Marcus to come find you.”
Dali smiled. “You guessed right.”
Celyn smiled warmly, and suddenly tension stayed in the air.
“Kiara was right,” she suddenly said. “I missed you.”
Dali stood frozen.
Unable to breathe, unable to move.
Celyn took the initiative and wrapped her arms around Dali in a hug.
“I am still hurt, but I love you too much to stay focused on the past.” She pulled away from the hug.
“Let’s brace the future together,” Celyn said, and then walked away.
Dali stood there, her heart beating like battle drums.
The morning sun came too quickly. Dali was summoned to the council along with Celyn.
They met the three leaders and Kiara in the meeting room, where Chase stood in the middle of the room, clothed.
The room was silent, heavy with tension. The faces of everyone present were still and expressionless.
Alexa rose to her feet and walked to stand next to Chase.
The test had gone smoothly, and it was the moment of truth — what would become of Chase? What would happen to him and his wolves?
“Thank you all for coming,” Alexa started.
“The test was carried out smoothly last night. Marisol and Kiara looked into it themselves.”
Her eyes found Dali.
“And yes, traces of magic were found in him.”
Dali’s heart dropped.
“He was being controlled. It is possible that nothing he did was of his own accord — possibly even the way he treated you,” she explained.
All eyes fell on Dali. Their thoughts varying.
“From their deductions, the spell was cast on him before he launched an attack on Scarlet Village,” she explained.
Dali leaned back into her seat. She scoffed.
So he was under a spell. What did that mean? He never wanted to treat her the way he did? So she should forgive him?
So she was supposed to forget because he never meant to do that?
So she should let it go?
She should forgive him?
“No.”