Chapter 171
AMELIA
I stared in shock at the documents of my old birth certificate, the new one with unknown parents, and my marriage certificate under my old name spread across his desk in his home office.
Lucius was telling the truth all this time. My blood turned ice in my veins. What I didn’t see was my death certificate.
I glanced over at Ryden and examined his expression for a moment. His eyes shadowed with despair and uncertainty, and then I dropped my gaze back to the documents, losing words to say to make him feel better. I shouldn’t have dug these up because I knew what would this mean for us.
“Why do you need these?”
“I wanted to know if he was telling the truth, and part of me wanted to know who I was in my past life.” I reached out for his hand. “These documents won’t mean anything between us. I died. Period. What we have now is what matters.”
When he shook his head and looked deep into my eyes, I knew my decision was a slippery slope, and I started to regret digging up the past I didn’t even remember.
I should have informed my dad to give it to me personally, instead, he asked Zeph, and my brother gave it to Ryden when I missed answering his call.
“For people like us, documents like these don’t matter because we live longer than humans, and our destiny and fate were already set in stone, Amelia. I hate that he was telling the truth, but he was your husband.”
“That’s it. He was my husband that I don’t remember, while you are my husband and my mate, and I want to be with you. I love you, and I will always choose you no matter what.”
“Then why have you been avoiding him?”
I huffed out an irritated breath. “Ryden, stop it.”
“I want to know because I may have said something that hurt you and forced you to do what you’re doing right now. Yes, I’m a possessive son of a bitch, and I don’t want to share you with that dickbag, but if you will meet him behind my back, it’s better that I know you’re seeing him.”
“Why is it so hard for you to understand? I said I don’t want him in my life! I want you. You’re everything to me.”
It seemed that my words weren’t convincing enough. “Do you have feelings for him?”
When he asked me the question, I felt like I didn’t hide my feelings very well.
“All I feel is confusion. I’m torn between believing and denying the fact that’s why I had to know the truth. I’m sorry if I did it behind your back, but I don’t remember everything he said, something like he killed me because I asked him, too.”
“What?” He stared at me in utter shock. “And do you believe it?”
“It doesn’t matter. He said I was bitten by an alpha, but I was too weak to transform. It was either my blood or because I was dying, but for three days, I was terminal, but I wouldn’t die, so I told him to kill me, and the sword somehow was there.” I drew a deep breath. “I wish I could remember it once and for all so I could close that part of my life.”
“Now that you know, what do you wanna do with these?” He picked up the marriage certificate and read my name out loud.
“Burn it. I’m a Hayes now.”
“No, you’re not.” His voice came out very low.
I glared at him. My gaze was unflinching. “It is.”
He exhaled. “I thought you wanted to take my family name.”
I had to press my lips together to keep myself from breaking out a smile or laugh. Instead, I grabbed all the papers and shoved them back into the manila envelope. I wasn’t aware he was watching my reaction until I lifted my gaze.
We stared at each other. I could see he was happy with my reaction. His eyes were dancing with humor.
“Spoiler alert, I already took your family name, Braxton.” I hooked my hands behind his neck and closed our gap. We were about nose to nose, and I could see the flecks in his eyes and the heat searing in excitement. He was breathing deeply through his nose to calm himself down, but failing.
As I pressed my hips against him, I felt his bulge growing in his jeans, making my blood rush through my veins like wildfire. I licked my dry lips in an attempt to calm myself down, but I was failing as well. “Fuck these documents.” I cupped his head and crashed my lips against his in a hungry and savage kiss. In just a few seconds we were both naked, and he was swiping everything on top of his desk, lifting me up by my ass, spreading my legs on his desk, and shoving his rigid cock deep inside me into the hilt.
I groaned in irritation as Ryden informed me I had a visitor even if I wasn’t expecting one. “As you can see, I’m busy.” I wasn’t done with the files he brought from his office. Some were from two years ago and no one cared to arrange it according to the date, and it hurt my eyes that they were just stuck in there in the boxes that was why I volunteered to help.
“Babe.”
“You don’t call me babe.” I sighed when I felt his irritation. “Is it Dane?”
He shook his head. “Lucius called me this morning if he could see you.”
I raised one eyebrow. “And you missed to tell me this morning?”
“I don’t want to piss you off in the morning. Come on. He’s waiting outside.”
“What does he want?” I dropped the box with a little exaggeration on his desk.
“You blocked him, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I stood before him and cupped his head. “It will be quick. I promise.” Then I kissed him loudly, making him smile.
“It’s fine, Amelia.”
I headed towards the door. “Every time you said it, it hurt you even more, Alpha. Don’t lie to me.”
“Sorry.”
“I’ll knee you in the balls later.” I smiled before I walked out the door.
I found Lucius a few yards away from the football field.
He didn’t look like the Lucius I met last week. He cut his hair short to a buzz cut, and he got a tattoo on his neck, almost similar to a dragon with many heads, but I knew it was a sigil. And it looked like I’d seen it before.
“Why did you block my number and there was no way to reach you?” Those piercing blue eyes sharpened as he looked down at me, making me small and fragile. Damn, this man could intimidate, could make a person shake to pee with only a single look. But not me.
“Good. You received my message. It means I didn’t want to see you.”
“This is not the right time to be rebellious, Amelia.” the way he gritted his teeth, he knew something I didn’t.
“Just say what you want to say. What do you want?” I asked with disinterest, making him more furious.
He groaned long and loud before he spoke. “The director is getting stronger and when we manifest the last two signs, there’s no stopping him, and our lives will depend on your hands, Amelia.”
“What the fuck do you mean? Why is it everything has to depend on me? Stop talking in cryptic.”
“I’ve been trying to reach out to you since last night. I’m both amazed and pissed off at how you could block me even in dreams.”
“I didn’t. I just slept during the day. Now, what the fuck are those last two signs, Lucius, and what are those do have to do with me?”
“The last two signs are—” Lucius was cut off when I heard rolling, and I guess he heard it too.
We stared at each other as the ground began to shake.