Olpheus

Ian looked as if he was ready to kill, eyes shining with pure rage as his voice boomed . “What the hell is this man doing in your room?”

I opened my mouth, closed it and opened it again, the words for some reason dying on my tongue

‘What was I supposed to say? … would he even believe me if I told him the truth?’

I was at a loss because this didn’t happen in my past life. I looked at both men, wondering how to get out of this.

Unfortunately, the strange man spoke.

“I am Olpheus, the last pure blood of the Elves.” he announced, stepping closer to me and my heart raced. “I have come to take my beloved home.” He smirked at Ian

It was the wrong thing to say. 

Ian’s eyes twitched, and he snarled at me, “You whore, so this is what you have been doing? Sleeping around … sleeping around with monsters behind my back?”

whore?

My mouth parted in disbelief and my brain lagged.

‘was he serious right now? … did he just call me a whore knowing he has been sleeping with my sister?’ I bit my bottom lips to prevent me from saying anything. 

“Do not speak to her like that.” Olpheus warned him, tone hard as steel.

“Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?” Ian grew more red with rage, and my wolf whimpered in me, coiling and hiding. 

One thing was certain. ‘he was going to hurt us, maybe even mark me now and forever bind me to him.’ the thought made my chest ache and i was instantly claustrophobic. I didn’t want to be in that situation again. I couldn’t waste this second chance. My palms grew cold and my lungs tightened painfully as I remembered each and every time he raised his hands to hit me in my past life

“I just told you who I am. Are you hard of hearing?” Olpheus frowned at him, then took my hand, sending familiar shivers down my spine. 

“MOVE AWAY FROM HER!” Ian practically combusted and I felt the ground shake from his fury.

‘this won’t end well.’ my wolf cowered in fear, and pressed herself flat as if she was trying to disappear. I didn’t have the heart to tell her to be strong, not when my legs were about to give out… literally

I tried to pull away from Olpheus because he could leave while I would remain stuck here, forced to bear the brunt of Ian’s maddening rage, but his arm tightened around me. 

My entire body thrummed and i wasn’t sure which was which, his warm strong hands, or my fear for Ian.

‘this isn’t the time for these thoughts, Eloise.’ i chided myself.

“Do you know who I am? You dare enter my pack, and try to take my mate? How dare you? Step away from her now, and I will grant you a quick death.” Ian took a menacing step forward.

My pulse thundered loudly in my ear.

Olpheus shook his head lazily.

‘how was he still so calm? … how was he not cowering with fear right now?’

“I don’t want to move away from her.” he told him simply.

Ian stared at the man as if he was seeing him clearly for the first time. He was stunned. I had seen him angry. I had seen him throw furniture. I had even seen him put his fist throw a wall. Of course, I had also seen him try to kill me, hands wrapped around my throat, but … this was different. He was staring at Olpheus with something that looked like confusion.

‘of course he is confused, he has never been told no in his entire life.’

“I will give you one more chance …” he said again.

Olpheus cut him off with a bland tone. “We are going to go now.”

He stepped away from me only for a moment, and linked our hands. 

‘am i really going somewhere with a man i do not know? … the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t, right?’

I hesitated, and Ian took advantage of it.

It happened so fast, too fast for me to process … he jumped at me, ripped me away from Olpheus and grabbed me by my throat.

Full blown panic slammed hard against my body, his arm was tight around me, his hand around my throat cut off my lungs, and I tried to get away from him, but couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe either. The room shrank around me, and all i could feel was his presence. My eyes watered as i fought him, as i fought against history repeating itself, he was going to hurt me. 

He held me against him, his claws already digging into my throat. 

‘this never happened in my first life’ i thought, trying to get away.

“Ian …” I trembled, doing everything I could to push away from him, but he was too strong.

“Shut up.” he growled against my ear, hand tightening around my throat.

“Let go of her right now.” Olpheus barked, eyes thinning with rage. It was the only emotion I had seen him show.

“you want her so bad?” Ian laughed, pulling me closer. “Then you get her when i am done with her, not before.”

“I will not repeat myself.” Olpheus seethed.

Ian did not listen. He did not respond, then i felt it, the sharp pressure at the side of my neck … i felt his sharp teeth sink into my neck, and i felt the burning the followed. Tears burned my eyes as the burn spreaded through my entire body. 

‘Oh, no, no, no.’ 

He sank his teeth further and ripped it out painfully.

Only then did he let me go, tossing me to the ground as if i was worthless.

I hit the floor on my hands and knee loudly. The sound ricocheted through the silent room. No one spoke for a second, not even my wolf. I coughed painfully as the fire from his mouth still burned through my entire body. Blood trickled down my neck, and it dripped to the ground. It was hard to see clearly with the tears burning my vision, but the worst part was my wolf. She was too quiet. I had failed to protect us again. I had wasted the chance we had been given.

‘He marked me … he made sure no one would ever touch me … he made sure i belonged to him’

Ian had marked me.