Marisol meets his gaze defiantly, her wolf soaring at the proximity, even though the confrontation is the direct opposite of what it would rather have, "Your threats don't scare me." She bites back, and Cedric laughs gratingly, the sound bordering on mocking.
"You are actually delusional enough to believe that you can resist the primal pull? Try me then. Run. I dare you."
"I don't plan on running, Cedric." She breathes out, voice airer than she would've liked.
Cedric picks that exact moment to lean impossibly closer, his breath brushing against her skin. "You underestimate the power of our second nature. It craves what it wants, and right now, it wants you."
Marisol's heart jumped, the air crackling with an unspoken challenge, each word exchanged carrying a weight that hinted at the underlying power dynamics between them.
Marisol should have been terrified, but her wolf seemed to revel in the closeness, resonating with his scent in a way that defied logic.
She tilts her head, hellbent on seeing this till the end, "Like I said, I don't plan on running," she replies with unwavering determination, her voice surprisingly steady despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins.
There's a beat of silence where Cedric looks caught between a plethora of emotions he should be feeling at her answer until she adds, "But I won't be staying here either."
Cedric chuckles, a low, menacing sound that bounces around in the expansive dining hall. "You're brave, I'll give you that," he notes, his feet kick back into action, and now he's circling her as if assessing the resolve in her stance. "But bravery won't save you when my wolf decides it's time to hunt."
Marisol's fists ball tighter, refusing to let his words unnerve her. "Like I said, your threats don't scare me," she declares, eyes narrowing. "I've faced worse."
He pulls to an abrupt halt, his eyes locked into hers as he muses, "Worse, you say?" The chuckle that follows is devoid of any amusement, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "It just looks to me like you're terribly unaware of just what I am capable of."
As he speaks, Marisol does not miss the raw intensity in his voice. There was a struggle within him, a battle between the human and the beast that resided within. It intrigues her despite the danger it poses.
She takes a bold step closer, the distance between them completely disappearing, "I'm not here to challenge you," she says, her tone softer now, almost imploring. "I just want answers."
Cedric looks to study her for a moment, his gaze flickering with a mixture of emotions that defied the aggressive facade he projected. "Answers?" he echoes, as if the concept was foreign to him. "And what makes you think I owe you any explanations?"
Marisol holds his gaze, her own eyes unwavering. "We're both stuck. Maybe we can help each other out." She suggests, and a flicker of something that almost looks like vulnerability crosses Cedric's eyes before his Stoic expression is back on again.
"Help each other out," he repeats, almost mocking. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
With that, Cedric turned away, walking back to his seat at the head of the table. The atmosphere shifts again, the charged energy dissipating, leaving Marisol grappling with a strange mixture of apprehension and fascination.
"Eat," he commanded, settling in his seat. "I had them set the other side of the table for you. You're almost completely drained."
Marisol's feet move, surprising herself as she takes the seat next to him instead. She could still feel the tips of her fingers quivering with aftershocks from the encounter.
"You are right about me not knowing what I got myself into. But maybe I was never given a choice in the first place."
She ignores his eyes that immediately snap toward her and focuses on the food instead, digging in mostly to avoid his heavy gaze and, almost immediately, a satisfied hum is punched out of her guts as the taste hits her taste buds.
She could still feel Cedric's eyes boring into her skin, but she was now suddenly too hungry to be self-conscious. Another groan escapes her lips, and he shifts in his seat.
She finally looked over at him, and he was holding his utensils in a vice-like grip. They looked to be serving more as a grounding device than anything.
"Never allow yourself to be this hungry again." He commands, dominance wafting off him in waves.
Marisol ignores his words, tearing her eyes away. To be fair, she had no idea that she'd been this hungry in the first place.
The next few days breezed past like the wind and Marisol would like to describe them as uneventful, but she knew it was far from that. As much as she hated to admit it, Marisol and Cedric had developed some sort of arrangement. They would spend their nights together in the throne room, with Marisol convincing herself that it was just so she could keep an eye on Cedric's wolf, but it slowly became more than that.
One day, instead of waking up in the throne room with Cedric's wolf curled around her as usual, she finds herself in what she guessed was his room.
She wasn't able to detangle herself and slip away from his massive weight like she normally would, because it had curled around her so meticulously this time, that there was no way she would move without stirring the large creature.