Chapter 77
:
69 your hers
The drive back is a little weird. As soon as Ragnar heard, I jumped after her. He was livid, deeply upset with Seraph for leaving me in the care of someone so reckless. I, on the other hand, haven’t felt this good in a very long time. I can’t help the smile on my face.
When I close my eyes, I can see the endless darkness of the water around me. I’ve always loved swimming, but I hadn’t tried it after shifting, and the strength I’ve found in myself made it effortless and thrilling.
“What you
did was reckless,” Ragnar growls. “You could have gotten hurt. You could have-”
“It caught me,” I interrupt him.
“What?”
“The water. It rushed up to catch me. It was insane. I’ve never felt so-” what is the word I’m looking for here? “Wanted, maybe? Like I was being embraced by complete adoration. It was magical. I could see everything down there. You shouldn’t be mad at Raena. She was just teaching me.”
“Sophie, you jumped from a cliff as high as the castle I live in,” he growls. “You didn’t know what was down there. You just jumped after that crazy bi-”
“Hey,” I cut him off by placing my hand over his. “I thought you took me to the Temple for this. I put my faith in her, and she didn’t disappoint. I understand why you’re upset.”
“You just don’t care,” he sneers.
“Of course, I care. You’re just making a huge deal out of it. As you can see, nothing happened. Well, something happened, but I feel like you’d be more angry with me if I talked about it. So, let’s just drop it.” I turn away, not wanting to let this ruin the high of what just happened back there.
“Hey,” he reaches out to make me look at him, but I pull away.
“I’m not going to apologize if that’s what you want. You won’t understand,” I shrug.
“Then help me understand. Why did you jump? Because she told you to?”
“Because I needed to. My entire life, I’ve felt like I don’t belong. I’ve had to dumb myself down and pretend that I’m something I’m not to fit the idea of what people should look like in other people’s eyes.
“Ever since I got here, all of that has gone away. And long before I even knew I was one of you. Raena is an elder of our people, and she taught me a very important lesson today. Something that has spoken to me on a deep level, and you’re acting like this is about you. It had nothing to do with you. If she had wanted to hurt me, she could have at any given moment. She didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did I.”
I don’t know what part of that he’s accepting because his entire demeanor changes. He’s very upset with me one second, and the next, his expression softens, and he even smiles. I stare at him, confused and trying to recover from the whiplash of his moodswing.
“I’m sorry,” he glances at me with a smirk.
18:39 Fri, Jan 30
Chapter 77
“Why are you smiling like that? Are you making fun of me?”
55 vouchers
“I would never do that,” he grins. A low growl rumbles in my chest. Something I didn’t know I could do, but I’m not taking it back.
“You’re still laughing.”
“I’m not laughing,” he laughs. “I just-” he clears his throat. “I’ve never heard you call them our people before. It’s always your people and Lycans. Fine. I’ll let this go this once, but doing something as reckless as what you did is not something I will ever get behind. I can’t lose you. I wouldn’t survive it a second time, Sophia.”
“You accepted my petition to be your beta,” I remind him.
“Yes, I did. So that you are always by my side, where I can watch you. Where you can have your way, and I can also have mine. All I want is for you to be safe and happy again. You’re my mate, but if it were up to me, I’d lock you away somewhere no one could ever find or hurt you ever again,” he huffs. “And you make it so fucking difficult. You always have.”
“Do you really think Raena would make me do something that would hurt me?” I ask.
“Of course, not. But the scribes are fucking crazy. All of them. Seraph, Raena, Genevieve, and Sahara. They aren’t in the position they are because they were nice, respectable girls like you. Raena became an elder by parting the sea in the war between Lycans and Mortals over seven hundred years ago. She froze them at the bottom of the ocean. Not to mention the whole ordeal with her mate’s pack.
“Then there’s Seraph. She’s a wind elemental that can level an entire city overnight. No survivors. They were former Major Generals like your grandmother. They served their King until his last breath. That is who these women are, and why they hold their positions of power. It’s not that I don’t trust them, Soph. I just know they’re not all there. Like your grandmother.”
“My grandmother?” I laugh. “The woman who hosts tea parties and maintains one of the coolest greenhouses I’ve ever seen in my life?”
“Yes,” he grins. “Your grandmother isn’t Major General Helvig because she’s friends with my father. She’s the King’s guard for a reason. Have you never asked her what her affinity is?”
“No, I didn’t know she had one,” I admit.
“There’s a reason why she’s so into plants. Her roses bloom year–round. She grows the best grapes for wine. She has the most beautiful greenhouse anyone has ever seen.”
“Wait,” I laugh. “She has the green thumb affinity?”
“Yeah, and it’s insanely deadly,” he smirks. “She’s really good at using her affinity. Didn’t you ever wonder what it was?”
“No, this affinity stuff is new to me. She’s never told me about it,” and I feel a little left out that she hasn’t told
- me.
“Affinities are sacred to us. In the same way we can use them, they can be used against us. It’s why I don’t want you telling anyone what yours is. And this isn’t just from wolves, vampires, and hunters. Our kind can be very envious of the abilities of others. It’s a need to prove who is the best. A competition of power.”
18:39 Fri, Jan 30
Chapter 77
“Are you talking about the colosseum wars?”
:
:D
11.55 vouchers
“Of course, you know about that. And yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Anyone can challenge, and anyone can be challenged. It’s a fight to submission, but there’s one problem with that when it comes to Lycans, he sighs.
“And what’s that?”
“We don’t know how to fucking submit,” he smirks. “Just like you. We’re all hardheaded, and the only way to go is forward. If death is what awaits us on the other side, then that’s what we run to. I was hoping you’d be a normal omega. Dr. Axel Queen of the Lycans, but you just have to go and make shit complicated.”
“Dr Axel?” I laugh. “You mean Dr Helvig. You’re going to make me take your name?”
“Yes, I would like you to take my name,” he laughs.
“How about we meet in the middle and do Axel–Helvig?”
“How about Helvig–Axel?”
“That sounds like a treatment for achey joints,” I laugh.
“It is traditional for the Queen to take the King’s name,” he counters.
“Yeah, but I am a hybrid and the last of my name. Unless my grandma pops out another kid, which is highly unlikely, the Helvig line continues with me.”
“If and when we have children, they will take my last name,” he huffs.
“Axel–Helvig,”
“Helvig–Axel,” he shakes his head.
“I guess it’s going to depend on what we name them and what sounds best,” I tease him, because it sounds like he’s taking this very personally. His grip on the steering wheel tightens as he takes a deep breath.
“We’ll cross the bridge when we get there,” he growls lowly. “For now, I’m going to pretend none of this happened. For the sake of my sanity. Please, sit there quietly and allow me to calm down.”
“The glass is fogging up,” I point out.
“Sophia,” he growls threateningly. I press my lips together, trying my best not to laugh when he lowers his window. “Please.”
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
