06

ELARA

“Kael!” Damon hissed. Kael only grinned wider.

“Yeah. Kael,” I whispered even as Damon patted the back of my hand. My eyes never left Kael’s.

It was an untold war between us. Even as my heart thundered against my chest, I couldn’t break eye contact. He would know.

“You thought we’d believe you?” Kael said, an amused smile stretching his face in a terrifying way but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“That you could sit here and spin us a good story because we’re fishmongers from Bloodrage?!” He spat and Cassidan snarled.

Kael didn’t mind. He stood up this time, his stature menacing.

“Do you think this will end well for you? You’d tell us someone abused you and we’d gobble it up,” he moved so close to me, I unconsciously moved further into the chair.

My body betrayed me, flinching even as my eyes refused to.

Tears started to pool at the sides of my eyes.

“That’s enough!” Cassidan suddenly barked and Kael stiffened. His head turned slowly towards Cassidan.

“Riven just shared a devastating story with us. He has explained why he fights that way and that’s enough,” Cassidan said and Kael cocked his head to the side.

Suddenly, his finger pointed towards me. His head never turned back, his gaze centered on his brother.

“He is nothing but a liar. He reeks of secrets and you want to believe some tale?” He asked but I could tell that to some extent, Cassidan agreed with Kael.

I watched Cassidan’s opinion of me start to slip and panic started to rise.

What if they decide to choke me again? What if the tape that held my lies loosened?

As my mind spiraled, Damon suddenly stood, completing the trio.

“I believe him,” he said in a deathly calmness.

Kael looked shocked at his revelation and I tried not to breathe out a sigh of relief.

“You can’t possibly…”

“I believe him. Kael,” Damon stressed again and his shoulders deflated. I didn’t understand why Kael would have that sort of reaction.

“You know if I didn’t, this would all be over by now,” Damon finished and Kael finally looked at me. His eyes held a sinister glare.

“Kael…” Cassidan trailed in a warning. I was still locked in on him.

“Drop it, Kael,” Damon said and touched Kael’s shoulder.

It took a minute before Kael gave an angry grunt. Pushing Damon and Cassidan away from him as he walked past their middle towards the door.

I watched the heavy muscles on his back move as he reached for the doorknob, a sigh of relief bubbling in my throat but suddenly he stopped.

Ice ran down my spine and my guts churned. My hand touched my neck, a reminder. I could see his shoulders moving along with his heavy breathing. Anger radiated off of him.

Goosebumps enclosed my skin in a minute as I watched in slow motion, he turned a few inches. The look in his eyes the same as the one at the arena. Dead. Empty. Murderous.

“You think you’ve fooled us but there is always a day…a day that you will make a mistake and when that day comes? I’ll be the one who fishes you out for the rat that you are,” he spat and anger boiled in my veins.

What gave him the right!?

He was my enemy too but you don’t see me attacking him. Choking him! Why couldn’t he mind his business!?

“Until the day comes, stay out of my way,” I fired back and he scoffed then without a word left the room.

My heart was thundering, I didn’t even realize when my hands pressed to my chest then slid to my neck. My life had flashed before my eyes.

My heart was still racing. A subtle reminder. The world had blurred and my mind was in chaos.

Suddenly a warmth kissed my fingertips and I gasped a little, my head tilting up in surprise to find Damon standing there with a mug exuding little waves of steam.

I glanced around and noticed Cassidan had left. It was just the two of us.

Damon still stood in front of me. Waiting. His hand finally extended towards me.

“Here,” he said calmly and I gave a small nod before taking the mug of camomile tea.

“I’m sorry about Kael,” he said and sat next to me. I instinctively moved away. For all I know, this could have be a silent setup.

Suddenly, Damon gave a light chuckle drawing my full attention as he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“It’s not a silent setup,” he said, echoing the same words from my thoughts and my eyes widened instantly.

A question bubbled in my throat but I didn’t know how to voice it. I have heard that there were some wolves who could hear others, some who could feel what others could. I also heard they were extinct.

So, it wasn’t possible.

Damon’s demeanor suddenly changed, the room went cold.

“Kael wasn’t always like that, you know?” He suddenly said and I tried not to tell him not to start that bullshit with me.

Who in their right senses had the first instinct to kill? Kael was exactly what he was. An asshole psychopath.

“If you were in his shoes, you’d do the same thing,” he said and slowly lifted his eyes to me.

A certain discomfort enclosed me. What did that even mean?

“I don’t think I would,” I replied, not touching the tea in my hands. I couldn’t let down my guard, not yet anyway.

Damon’s lips lifted in a small smile.

“You would,” he said and I started to shake my head. Even during battle, I never just wanted to charge in, slaughtering people or choking them half to death as my first instinct. I only killed my father’s enemies because it was kill or be killed.

I was not a threat. At least not in that very moment.

“You would. If you found out one day that the woman you had proposed to, had been killed by a bloodrage scum and her head had been delivered to you in a gift box,”

My eyes went wide instantly. My mouth went dry.

“W–what?”