Forbidden Bond

Aidora

My body trembled as I looked at that scroll. One thousand lives.

I couldn't help the tears that escaped as the numbers displayed before my eyes. One thousand. 

“We didn't do it.” I froze. It sounded so close to my ear, as though the words were being said to me now, but it's been fourteen years.

When the chaos was bubbling outside, my parents had run to my room. “We didn't do it, do not let anyone convince you otherwise.” My mother said as she shook me awake. “We tried to save them, we tried to save this, we are going to die trying so please, even if the world doesn't see the truth, promise me, promise me that you always will. It is important that you do.”

Everything else that happened was a blur,  but that memory, I couldn't erase it.

“I am going to ask you again,” Hadrian’s voice sliced through my thoughts, and I looked at him through my teary vision.  He dropped the end of the scroll and closed the gap between us.

“Do you, Aidora Sinclair, agree that you and your parents are guilty of murder and treason?”

My gaze flickered back and forth between him and the scroll. He looked like he was daring me to refuse. To deny it all over again.

 At the sight of a thousand lost lives, what weight does my mother's words hold? What weight does my life hold?

“I don't.” 

As soon as the words left my lips, he drew a sword I hadn't noticed earlier,  and his hands immediately enclosed around my throat, cutting off my air supply. His eyes glowed with fury and he looked like he was doing his very best to not cut off my head.

“Are their lives so insignificant that you do not even feel an atom of guilt!?”

I tapped his hand frantically, I was going in and out of consciousness and in that state I was suddenly more aware of my wolf.

 As he opened his mouth to speak again, time seemed to come to a stop for a few moments, then I felt it.

A primal need seemed to awaken inside of me and it snapped open with so much force I jerked forward.

Heat flooded my veins and I felt a pull so strong it hurts, towards him. My wolf snarled and howled, tugging on the golden thread that was now slowly growing visible between us, stretching and expanding before my eyes.

My wolf paced. The heat grew uncontrollable as she growled out “mate!”

Hadrian staggered backwards, eyes wide. 

He stared at his hand like it was alien, then his gaze snapped towards me. Sharp and accusing.

“It can't be!” He growled.

In a flash, his hand was on my neck again. “What did you do?! What ploy is this?”

 The elders all shot to their feet as they watched the scene unfold before them.

“Answer me!” His voice seemed to rattle the very foundations of the hall.

I shook my head desperately. “I didn't do anything.”

My response seemed to infuriate him even more and he pressed harder, I could feel myself running out of air, then I saw his eyes widen and he immediately let go of me. He inhaled shakily as he did.

The bond shared my suffocation with him.

I laid there, coughing, trying to catch my breath as I tried to process what was happening 

“Alpha!” One of the elders called out in panic

“You cannot be my mate. I will not stand for it.”

A collective gasp filled the hall, followed by murmurs and while all that happened, Hadrian stood frozen staring at his hands like it was filth.

I already knew what was coming. I had prayed for redemption and justice but it seems the moon goddess had decided I would be plagued with nothing but misfortunes.

Finally, he raised his eyes to meet mine. He slowly balled his hands to fists, trembling with rage.

“Aidora Sinclair,” my eyes fluttered shut and I held my breath, “I, Hadrian Lucullus, reject you as a mate.”

I braced myself for his rejection, but nothing prepared me for the pain. I felt the thread go around my heart, then it tightened.

Beads of sweat formed on my face as a horrifying scream ripped out of my throat.

A heavy thud accompanied my scream, and when I pried my eyes open. Alpha Hadrian was on one knee, eyes blood shot and sweating profusely.

My heart drummed loudly inside of me, and with each passing second, I grew more aware of everything. So aware I could feel the blood rushing through my veins and it felt like a thousand needles piercing my skin.

Hadrian was no different, I could hear him panting, struggling to draw a breath in.

I don't know how long passed where pain marred my skin and vein, but it slowly came to a dull ache, but the bond between us roared to life, seeming more alive than before and I clutched my heart.

Agony and grief were pouring in from the other end of it.

Hadrian.

When I looked at him again, he had managed to stand on his feet. His brows were creased for a brief moment in confusion, then slowly they shot up.

“Akatalytos” He whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

That can't be. My heart dropped and I reached for the bond, and it was still there. 

An Akatalytos can only be resolved with death. Bonds like that do not happen to people destined to hate each other.

I raised my head, searching for Hadrian's eyes, but he refused to meet my eyes.

He clenched his jaw so tight it ticked. “Guards!”

 For a moment my vision blurred as I imagined the worst with the summoning of the guards.

“Take her to the recovery room. She is to remain there until I state otherwise.”

Recovery room?

He wasn't sending me to prison, and he wasn't killing me, yet.

I'd live to see another day.  I reached the bond that I was now overly aware of and I immediately tried to shut it off. This shouldn't be happening.