Jessamine
When I heard of the Beta who broke away from the Sunfire pack, taking a good number of the council and army with him, I had imagined he would look...well, I have no idea what I expected him to look like, but it surely isn't this.
Youthful eyes peer out from an impossibly beautiful face. His brown tresses gleam like burnished copper, each strand catching the silvery moonlight and playing with hidden depths of auburn and gold. It frames a face both delicate and strong, sculpted by time yet etched with an ageless charm. High cheekbones cast sharp shadows beneath his electric blue eyes, eyes that seemed to hold the luminescence of the very moonlight itself.
His lips, seemingly tender, stretch into a smile that speaks of secrets I do not wish to know. I swallow. "You're lying."
He makes a face. "Your sister must not have spoken much of me. Disappointing. I had thought I charmed her enough to make a lasting impression."
This is he? Goddess, I no longer blame Nymeria. Even his smile seems to beckon me closer. His eyes slant with displeasure at a passing thought, but the look is soon replaced with another that slithers along my skin, tripling the goosebumps already scattered across. "I wondered how you might have killed my men and taken off all on your own. Useless, the lot of them. Then, of course, the blonde in his slur revealed you chose to leave with the Dawn emissary."
My heart is in a frenzy. Blonde? "Lloyd?"
He seems to smile at my recognition. "Ah. They did say you were fond of that one." He reaches for me, and I strike at his wrist, but not before his fingers graze my hair. "Beautiful," he murmurs, pulling back. "Not to worry. I have not harmed him. Yet. Nadine is rather fond of the fool."
I stifle a shiver. Goddess, the water is so cold, but I'd rather brave it than step out in front of this man, naked and unarmed. "I'm flattered you came all the way to find me. Though, I can't imagine why."
Atticus folds slender fingers together. "Did you get my notes?" Excitement glows in those blue eyes. "Did you look forward to them? I did. I have yet to find better entertainment than messing with the minds of my prey."
I feel cold, and it no longer has anything to do with the water. My bones are so cold, I feel numb. "All of that..." My voice breaks. My head spins. My mind is full of chaos. "All of that was a game to you?"
His eyes gleam. "Did you like it, Jessamine Hunter?"
A sharp snarl escapes my throat and my fingers are claws as they strike his face. He stumbles back onto the sand, startled, but when I move to strike again, he has my wrist in his hand and a sharp cry slips from me when he snaps it like a twig.
There is only rage, and I lunge for him, baring my teeth to rip out his throat. The back of his fist rams into my cheek and my head reels from the blow, my vision blurring immediately. I taste my own blood and I blink twice to clear my sight.
When I do, I start to scream, because he's standing so close, peering at me like he would very much like to cut me in half and inspect what he might find inside me, but he doesn't let the scream get out. His fingers bite into my lips, cutting off the sound. "Come now, we can't afford to be loud or it'll be hell slipping away from here without being noticed."
Panic sets my body on edge and I start to claw at him. His eyes widen and he starts to laugh. "No no, I won't take you. Not yet."
I manage to get my teeth past my lips and I bite down hard on his fingers. He doesn't flinch, though, irritation thins his mouth. I glance to my left. Where is everyone?
"I came to make you an offer, dove."
What the hell is a dove? If he'd just release my wrists, I'll show him how much of a dove I can be. I stay still, pushing all of my hatred and anger into my gaze. Let it burn him. Let it kill him. But it doesn't do a thing, and it seems I've only succeeded in making him delighted.
"In a fortnight, my troops will attack Nereida. I do not wish so much for bloodshed. It is rather distasteful. I want the throne. Killing the Alpha and his Luna will earn me that, but I must gain entry into the castle to do so." He assesses me with a thick bob of his lashes."You will let me in."
I am too stunned to scream when he drops his hand from my mouth and lets my broken wrist go. It hands uselessly as I support it against my other arm. "And why would I? You are the enemy. Alpha King Kier is an ally of mine. I will not betray him or my kingdom. You killed my men--"
"The deaths were necessary. Had I not struck, you never would have agreed to his petitions and meeting you like this would have been impossible." He takes one step forward. "It is not betrayal if the person in question has already stabbed you in the back."
My brows furrow and once he sees the confusion in my eyes, he laughs. "He must not have told you then."
"Told me what?" I hate the anger and desperation in my voice. Did Kier betray me again? In what way? I can't think of any other way he could possibly hurt me but my heart is racing with dread.
"Your mother was murdered, dove, and your Alpha knows precisely who has done this."
My breath falters. Images assault me. I see blood. I see violet eyes staring at nothing, the light in them forever gone. I feel her cold ankle in my fingers as I tug and tug. I see the trail of blood that stains the floor. I remember sitting by the makeshift grave I dug for a long time. It could have been a day. Or two. I didn't shed a tear. I didn't have it in me to.
I shake my head, laughing. "Mother didn't...she wasn't..." My breaths are faster now. "She killed herself," I whisper. "You're lying. It was..." Goddess, I can't breathe. "It...It..."
Atticus grips my shoulders, his blue eyes bearing into mine. "He covers for them. He lies to you. They laugh at you. They call you a fool."
"You're lying!" I cry, trembling and gasping.
"I understand. You must be in shock," he says, his voice a deep rumble like distant thunder. "Should doubt linger, you may very well seek the truth from your king. When you have your answer, consider my proposal. I will avenge your mother's death, and those who betrayed your trust will face my wrath. In three weeks, when the battle horn blows across the lands, you will open the castle gates to me. I promise no unnecessary bloodshed, and once all of this is done and I have claimed the throne, I offer you a place at my side, not as a captive, but as an equal. My queen. We will unite the kingdoms and everything will be as it once was."
I start to tell him that I refuse his offer but he's already slipping into the shadows. Boots pounding against the ground resound behind me and I reach for my clothes without turning, saying loud enough for whoever it is to hear, "Stay back."
My limbs tremble as I force on my clothes and my teeth clatter, both from the bitter cold and the angst building inside me. Gritting my teeth, I shut my eyes and pop my wrist back in place, groaning in pain as I do.
Hands are suddenly on me. Kier's. "I thought I felt you down the bond. What happened..." His nostrils flare and his head whips back towards the forest. "Someone was here. Who was it?" His eyes drop to my mouth. I have a split lip from where Atticus backhanded me. Kier's fingers trace the outline of my mouth. "Give me a minute."
He's turning for the direction from to which Atticus left, but I grab his shirt, stopping him. "Don't bother. He's gone."
Carved brows furrow. "Who--"
"Atticus," I laugh, because if I don't, I'll cry. I stare into those eyes and I don't believe it for a second that he would keep something so critical from me. I don't believe Atticus. There is no way he is right. But his confidence scares me. His confidence that I will find the truth with Kier. "Did..." I pause, unsure what to say exactly, to lessen the impact of it all for myself. "How long have you known that my mother was...murdered?" I whisper the last word, scared that declaring it would make it all real.
Kier stiffens, his complexion paling.
Oh Goddess. "No. No. No!" I yell, dragging my fingers through my hair. I growl and roar, disbelief and rage clawing and ripping at my insides. I start walking back to the camp. I'm going home. I'm fucking going home! I should never have signed the stupid petition.
"Jessamine, wait!" Kier yells after me, his steps sounding as angry as mine. "You don't understand! Let me explain!"
"Go to hell and I hope you perish in it and die as well!" My words don't make sense to me. I don't know if I mean them. All I feel is anger.
Mikkel and the rest look my way when I stomp across. They're suddenly alert, scanning around us for threats. I could tell them the threat existed and left. He could have taken me if he wanted to. I could also tell them that I am the threat. The rage I feel is enough to obliterate any and everything.
I whirl at the last second, and he is so close, we may walked right into me if he didn't stop. "Who was it?" I hiss.
His jaw clenches. "I can't say."
The air crackles with rage as my hand meets his cheek, a sound like splitting ice in the frozen night. "Worst! You are the absolute worst!" My voice, a rasping sob, each word thrown at him like shards of broken glass, much like my trust.
He stands there, silent and unyielding, eyes like pools of storm-churned seas. I cry, slapping at his chest. Punching at it. Each blow lands, my desperation for answers driving each, and they feel like hits to my own shattered heart. "TELL ME! You owe me that at least!" I scream, the words tearing through me like a riptide.
He says nothing, taking my hits silently.
I hit him again, then again, tears blurring my vision, each strike fuelled by a grief and rage so vast it threatens to consume me. "Tell me, damn you!"
My voice breaks, the scream dissolving into a whimper and an endless loop of "Tell me... tell me... tell me..." echoing in the night.
And then, from the depth of that unyielding silence comes a strangled whisper, barely a breath in the cold air, "My mother."
The words hit me like a physical blow, knocking the breath out of my lungs. The world stops, my sobs choke off, replaced by a chilling emptiness. "What?"
He doesn't meet my gaze. Nothing makes sense. Reality tilts on its own axis. I want to ask why, but I'm consumed by everything at once. He kept it from me to protect his mother from me. Again, he made a choice. I don't understand anything else, but this I understand. He's done it again. I wonder if they truly laughed at me. I wonder what the hell I'm doing heading to a battle for this man. I wonder what the hell I'm doing condoning any of this.
I stumble back. He steps closer. "I found out before I left. I couldn't...I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I couldn't--"
"You couldn't betray your mother," I spit, my words laced with so much hate. Tears wet my cheeks, but I raise my chin. "I never did consider that I could rid myself of this bond. Of you. I must have been holding out for some foolish reason, but no longer."
He pauses, seeming to think for a second, and then he pieces it together, his eyes flaring with panic.
"Let the moon bear witness to this oath. I, Jessamine Everhart Hunter, daughter and heir to the Dawn Throne and Pack reject you, Alpha Kiernan Tanner of the Sunfire pack."