Chapter 60 Back To Square One

Chapter 60 Back To Square One
Zhayad

Every single time I looked at Aurelia, something inside me unraveled. The first time I laid eyes on her during the Maiden Selection, I thought she would be a handful.

I was wrong. I totally miscalculated. She was a bucketful. 

A storm wrapped in curves and defiance, and I had walked straight into the eye of it without a single shield.

The moment we crossed the threshold of the packhouse, she picked up her pace, her shoulders tight, chin lifted like she was trying to outrun me in her own home.

I let her. Sometimes it was better to let her think she was winning, at least for a few steps.

A shifter-maid descending the stairs stumbled to a halt when she saw Aurelia.

Her eyes widened, mouth opening in surprise, but Aurelia didn’t spare her even a glance.

She kept walking, straight, proud, radiating that quiet fury I both loved and feared.

I tugged gently on the mate bond, a soft brush meant to draw her attention.

She ignored it. Damn it.

I tugged again, firmer this time, and felt her slam a wall up between us. It was frigid and icy, so strong that it didn't even let me smell her.

This wasn't good. She was pissed at me, valid. She had every right to feel so. But putting a wall between our mate bond that blocked every sense of her was like trying to quench the mate bond.

It would fight back, and it would fight dirty. She learned it from me, but she didn't understand how I often did it.

“Alpha.”

Lance’s voice behind me stopped me short.

I turned slowly, letting the full weight of my frustration settle on him.

After what happened the very day my mate fled from the Packhouse, he wasn't even supposed to be standing in my presence.

“I should demote you right here and now.”

Lance swallowed but held my gaze.

“I thought I was acting in your best interests, Alpha.”

I stared at him for a long moment and tried to find it in my heart to forgive him. He was the one who had helped drag my mate into this mess because of a clone.

I decided to let the topic slide. For now.

“Where is everyone?” I asked instead.

“They all panicked and went into hiding the moment the Basilisk Shifters arrived,” Lance replied. “The compound’s been on edge since word spread.”

I exhaled sharply.

“I need the council room set up for an emergency meeting. Send the word out, I want every able-bodied male shifter present. No exceptions.”

Lance nodded and turned to leave.

“Lance?” I called out, stopping him mid-step.

He looked back, tension clear in his shoulders.

“The Luna will decide your punishment,” I said quietly, “for encouraging violence against her the day the clone deceived us.”

Lance’s face tightened, but he didn’t argue.

He simply dipped his head in acknowledgment and disappeared down the corridor.

I stood there for a moment longer, listening to the distant sounds of the pack stirring, doors opening and closing.

Then I turned and followed the path Aurelia had taken.

When I reached our shared bedroom, my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets at the sight that greeted me.

Aurelia was destroying everything in sight. Vases shattered against the walls.

The mirror above the dresser cracked with a sharp, jagged sound as a heavy candlestick slammed into it.

“Aurelia, stop!” I shouted, lunging forward. “You’ll hurt yourself!”

I grabbed her arms and spun her around, pressing her front against the wall to stop the rampage.

Her body was trembling with rage, breathing hard and fast.

“What has come over you?” I growled against her ear, trying to hold her still without hurting her.

She twisted violently in my grip, her eyes burning with fury and pain as she snarled over her shoulder.

“You told them about my newly manifested power, didn’t you?”

Her voice broke like brittle wood. “Your plan was always to turn me into a weapon of war. From the very start, I was nothing but bait to you. Now you’re turning me into a weapon. I should have known this was why you dragged me back here!”

She didn't need to throw her hands, her words did the damage. They carved a hole deep into my chest, twisting, pulling.

I loosened my grip just enough so she could turn fully to face me, but I didn’t let go.

My chest tightened painfully as I stared down at her, at the tears of rage glistening in her eyes, at the raw betrayal written all over her face.

“Aurelia…” I couldn't get her name out without wincing. “That’s not true.”

She snorted, wrinkling her nose like she perceived something foul in the air.

“Isn’t it? I can remind you of a few things. You chose the clone over me. You shut me out of the bond. You let them drag me away like I was disposable. And now you bring me back here, to parade my newly manifested power in front of basilisks and warlocks, and expect me to believe I’m anything more than a tool to you?”

Someone must have said something on her way up, she didn't feel like this minutes before now.

“Where did you hear it from?” I asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Aurelia looked away for a brief second, then dragged her gaze back to mine.

“Does it matter who? They spoke the truth.”

I stepped closer, crowding her until her back met the wall.

My body pressed against hers, pinning her in place with my chest and hips.

The tattoos on my skin chose that exact moment to ignite. Tendrils of silver-black light crawled outward, reaching for her like living things.

Across from them, the mark on her chest answered, glowing brighter, the vines pulsing in perfect sync with mine, as if the Goddess herself was watching this moment.

I bet she was.

“Tell me right now, Aurelia,” I growled impatiently. “Who. Spoke. To. You?”

My wolf howled inside me, clawing for release, demanding I fix whatever had broken her.

But it was me who broke her, so that meant I needed to fix myself.

I never understood why he became this unrestrained whenever she was close. Once he scented her, he'd turn wild, possessive, almost feral.

I wasn’t sure if Aurelia realized what she was doing, but she slowly lowered the wall she had thrown up between us.

All her emotions slammed into me at once, hurt, betrayal, exhaustion, a deep, aching sadness that nearly brought me to my knees.

“It was Ravina,” she whispered softly. “She says the Governing Shifter Council knows. I know now why you brought me back. The rumours about the war are true… and they’re asking you to force me to save OnyxFang and the packs allied with you.”

She no longer sounded furious. Just defeated and broken.

A heavy silence stretched between us as I thought of the right words to say.

“She lied,” I said finally.

Aurelia blinked, confusion flickering across her face.

“What?”

“She twisted the truth, thinking you’d never find out,” I explained, my hands sliding down to her waist, my fingers spreading possessively over her curves. “You’re not here to be forced into anything. You’re to be my right-hand commander in the war, if it comes to that. That’s why I brought you back. So I could make the announcement and we could begin strategizing together. Your newly manifested power has nothing to do with it.”

Aurelia’s anger slowly drained away, replaced by pure bewilderment.

“That’s… absurd. Only a wolf shifter gets to fill that role. I’ve never even fought in a real battle before. Plus, I’m a woman.”

“No,” I said firmly, pulling her even closer until there was no space left between us. “You’re wrong. You are my mate. And my mate can be anything she wants to be. Do anything she wants to do.”

I leaned down and captured her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss, pouring every ounce of regret, possession, and fierce love I felt into it.

She stiffened for half a second… then melted against me, her hands fisting in my shirt as if she was afraid I’d disappear.

When I finally pulled back, giving her a minute to catch her breath, I gave her the truth she'd been wanting and waiting so long to hear. 

“You are not a weapon, Aurelia. You are not bait. You are my equal. My partner. My queen.”

I expected her to smile up at me, but her face went stony.

“You always say things like this, then go ahead to do the opposite after. I'm not falling for this trick again.”

She squeezed herself out of my grip and left me standing there like an idiot, crowding an empty space.

I was back to square one, but that was my fault. I needed to find a way to win her back, or else, the bond would rip us apart in protest.