Chapter 004

/Fine/

I stared at Kael's response which had come in barely ten seconds later, for the millionth time in the past one hour.

'fine.’

Just one word. No long stories, no questions.

Just a quick response of one word.

Somehow I felt a little disappointed at how fast he had agreed - and I hated myself for that. Hated myself for daring to care.

This is good, this is what's right. I should not be sad that Kael is agreeing to it.

Because there's no way I'm gonna allow myself to be entangled with him ever again - not even with the mother goddess' obvious intentions to play games with my life.

I exhaled loudly and was about to send another text when a knock came at my door.

I rushed to open the door, and nothing prepared me for the warmth and relief that slammed so hard into me at the sight of Kael standing at the door with a lazy smile, looking so hot. So deliciously hot.

I shivered.

Fucking mate bond!

Sure, let's go ahead and blame everything on the innocent mate bond, why don't we?

“Hi,”

He acknowledged with a note and brushed past me into the room - it was a real struggle, to not close my eyes and deeply inhale his musky scent.

I followed him as he walked over to the round purple table by the window and dropped a bag there before turning to me with arms spread wide.

“So! Here I am. Shall we get started?”

“Let's get the rejection done first.”

He raised his brow, “Ouuu. Is that how much you hate me? See how you are in a hurry to get rid of me.”

“I have no time for jokes, Kael” I snapped squaring my shoulders m, “this bond, wherever it's from is a huge inconvenience for me and I will not have that. So -”

“Fine. That isn't important now anyways. The most important thing is this - finding out what the truth behind Thalia's murder is.”

And my real parents.

But I didn't say that out loud, not for secret sakes but because I already figured that there was no need for Kael to know.

“Thanks for understanding.”

“So do we draw a magical circle?” Kael looked around as if searching for something, “sprinkle some holy water and light some candles for the ritual?”

“Didn't take you five seconds to reject me when you chose me over my sister so how about we skip the silky attempts to be funny, and get this over and done with?”

Kael's smile faltered and he quickly averted his gaze but not before I caught the flash of pain on his face.

Good.

Let him be pained, though he has no right to be considering that I was the victim in this situation.

Yes he might have his ego wounded but he had no idea what it is like - being tossed aside, for your sister who had always been everyone's favourite since you were kids, losing that sister only to be approached again like you were nothing but a second option.

“Kael,” I called impatiently, “let's get this done and proceed to the main matter at hand please.”

He shrugged but turned to me and locked his intense gaze onto mine, “Seraphina - I, Kael Storm Hearts, rejects you as my fated mate.”

I gasped as the last word left his mouth, staggering back for a moment as a fresh wave of pain rocked my whole body from head to toe.

This was something I never thought that I'd feel again - and somehow it seems this time, the pain is worse.

The pain kept building up, wrecking me, stabbing me over and over again and I bit my lip hard, welcoming it, taking a moment to let it sink in - to remind myself why I was doing this, to remind myself of the pain I felt the first time because of betrayal.

Then I opened my eyes and looked at Kael who was staring at me with a sad expression.

“You have to -”

“I know what I have to do!” I snapped through gritted teeth before taking in a deep breath that was just like breathing in fire to burn my already burning insides.

“I accept your Rejection.” I whispered and almost collapsed in relief when the pain immediately vanished, leaving me breathless.

Just like the first time, in its wake it left a maddening empty void in me.

Kael kept staring at me with a strange expression, and he looked torn - like he was contemplating wrapping me up in a hug.

He took a step forward and I held out a hand to stop him, “Now that's over, let's go ahead. So - what have you got?”

“Nothing.” He answered after a moment's hesitation and I frowned.

“What do you mean nothing?”

“I've got nothing aside from the thesis, theories,” he paused and shrugged, “assumptions.”

My eyes widened as I stared at him.

Goddess help me.

“Thesis? Theories!!” I yelled, “Assumptions? That's all you have? Nothing else? That's it? You've got to be kidding me.”

“Hear me out tiger,” he chuckled, “yes that's basically it. But trust me, my assumptions are not baseless. I already showed you something yesterday and here -” he turned and dug out a book from his pocket handing it to me, “I got this book from the library and it's some sort of ancient werewolf history.”

I eyed the old dusty book in his outstretched arm warily before taking it from him and opening to the first page.

I gasped.

It was the mark - the same mark in my dream. The one left in my sister's death scene.

“What's this?”

“I've not had a chance to read it fully yet because I just grabbed it today. But perhaps you can go through it and let Me know what you think. I know we should get some answers here, or at least clues.”

I nodded and bit my lips totally speechless.

Ancient werewolf history. What does that have to do with my parents death and my sister's?

Ancient werewolf history -

“If we can find what the mark is, what it means, then we can find out what it represents or WHO.” Kael pressed on, “that would lead us a step closer to uncovering the mystery.”

I didn't dare to speak. Not for lack of what to say but because my insides were shaking too badly for me to be able to form something coherent.

'm mystery.’

Dread filled me and I swallowed hard still staring at the mark on the book.

I have no idea what I'm about to get myself into but one thing is for sure - it isn't good.