CHAPTER 5

Ellia POV

“Mate!”

The word echoed in my head like a curse as the God like figure stepped into the room.

He felt it too…I saw it. The tension coursing through him—

But what the hell was it?

“Ellia..” the voice of Selene seemed to drag me right out of the haze I was in…

I snapped my head to her at once and he continued. 

“Please, meet Acting Alpha Cassien Kristof..”

Acting Alpha?

So he was the one at the head in this kingdom?

My eyes slowly turned to him again..this time, that coldness in his gaze had returned again.

Then he stepped foward..his aura radiating off him. 

Then his eyes locked directly on me again. “You’ve been summoned!”

The words hit me like a tidal wave.

Summoned?

I didn’t agree to this..but it sounded like I didn’t have a choice so here I was..outside the room, just a few feet’s behind Alpha Cassien.

That feeling I had when we first locked eyes..what was it? We both felt it so…why didn’t he say anything?

“Erm..” I cleared my throat. “Alpha Cassien, can I ask a question?”

“No.”  His tone was cold.

“But it’s important. I just—“

“I said no!” He cut me off again, this time his voice sharper. 

We continued like that in silence again..till we stepped out into a vast courtyard.

“Woah..” the words left my lips. 

People..no, werewolves..hundreds of them, outside, living…

As myself and Alpha Cassien stepped through rhe yard, one by one thier eyes began to turn to me.

Some were curious..others judging. Most of them were hating already.

“She has a human scent..”

“She’s not one of us..”

“I smell both werewolf and human…what an abomination.”

I heard each and every one of thier words..but I didn’t react. 

“May I ask we’re we going?”

I asked Cassien the moment we stepped into a more secluded area.

He didn’t respond..but I didn’t relent. “Why I’m I here?”

“What was that we felt earlier…like a voice calling you my mate—“

The words barely left my lips when I felt a hand around my throat and my back pressed against a wall.

Cassien’s cold eyes were set directly on me again. Those red and bloodthirsty eyes…my pulse began racing.

“ It meant nothing! Absolutely nothing!” The words tore right out of him…

“I can never be mate with a human! Like you..” 

He leaned in closer now..his scent pressing hard on me. Enough to suffocate.

“You will not ask questions or say anything…” he started again, his tone venomous.

“Once this council session is over you can disappear into thin air for all I care. Is that clear?”

His voice thundered through the area.

I swallowed a hard lump down my throat. “Y-yes. Crystal.”

Then slowly…his arms around my neck, loosened and he let me fall to the ground.

Without another word, he turned and walked..

I let out a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding in—

What was that? That look in his eyes…he hated me. Or hated what I was…

I considered turning the other way and running out of here— but to where? I didn’t know a single place here or how to get back.

So I just followed him.

We walked a few more steps before we arrived in front of a lar structure.

It was so high that I couldn’t even see the top of it from where I stood.

“After you..” Cassien offered.

“Oh..now you’re a gentleman, huh?”

Cassien didjt find the humor, or didn’t want to. He just stepped past me and pushed the door open.

He stepped in first, then I did—

When I entered…the sight nearly left me perplexed.

A crowd of number lined up the walls of the room…all of thier eyes turned to me and stayed right there—

Then a woman stepped beside me. “All welcome!” Her voice tore through the room.

“Ellia Estrada! Daughter of Logan Estrada!”

A massive wave of noise hit me the moment she said it!

Voices tore out…arguing, protesting…some were almost at the point of punches and blows. 

It was all madness!!

“Human whore!”

“Get her away from here!”

“Daughter of a traitor!”

“Silence!”

One voice alone stopped the entire noise. 

At the head of the table…Alpha Cassien sat there gracefully.

“Let this session begin!”

I was shown to a seat by a corner of the room.

Even with all the madness that just happened—I still didn’t know why I was here.

“Good day! Elders..guards..priests..all present.” A figure stepped to the center of the room.

He had fluffy thick brown hair…and hazel eyes.

“I, Beta Marsh, will ensure todays activities go well as planned.”

Beta Marsh? So he was like a second in the chain to Cassien?

 “Without further a do!” his eyes locked right on me.

 His sudden gaze was almost enough to send my heart flying right from my chest.

“Ellia Estrada..will undergo the three stages of blood trail to ensure whether she is indeed of royal blood!”

“W-what..?”

B-blood trail?!

Two guards stepped up to me before I could even argue, heck even understand what the hell was happening…, each of them grabbed me on either side.

“Wait—I didn’t sign up for this..! What’s happening ?!” “Stop!” I tried to protest to deaf ears now.

They walked me outside the room and to a wide ground.

At the center of it was a…red river?!

“Is thah blood?” I asked anyone really.

“Yes…the most lethal in the land.” Marsh fell into step beside me. “They have acidic qualities that made a normal person roast in a minute.”

“Then why is it here?”

He paused first, then slowly, turned to me. “The first stage of your trial is this Ellia Estrada!

You will be drowned into the river and will stay there for a minute. Once you have been pulled out still as fresh as when we threw you in…the first test will be complete—

A blood baptism!”

What?

My breath stilled instantly…