Elise's Wolf has been agitated all morning ever since she had that conversation with Rygan, and then she found out about the death of her abductor and the nightmare that she could barely remember, but all she knew was that he woke up sweaty and in a panic. And her wolf is on edge.
She ended up puking her guts down the porcelain toilet bowl, her body clammy and wet from the cold sweat from her nightmare.
It all went back to what Rygan said about her being her father's child, and now she dreamt of her father's chief, Dexton, choking her neck, and she couldn’t call out for anyone while her abductors watched in amusement.
Even in a dream, she was trapped with a monster, and she felt like she was stuck. Only the sound of Rygan’s voice had calmed her enough to wake her from sleep paralysis.
After that, she couldn’t sleep anymore; her night was spent tossing and turning till dawn; she couldn’t meet him after her nightmares; she stopped her heart from depending on him as she woke up; and then she took a long-needed bath.
She had dipped her whole body into the water, making sure she was plunged wholly into the tub. She had a moment of quiet for a few seconds before her lungs burned for air, and she proceeded to come back up.
She spends so much time in the tub until her skin begins pruning and the water turns cold. She makes her way to the closet, taking out simple clothes to wear since she and Vienna made plans to meet.
Vienna called it the solstice occurrence, where the stars collide and fall like rain down the stars. They are going to have a picnic under the stars, along with the pack members that would be there on the mountain moon hills.
It was a perfect escape from the reality she so desperately tried to escape. Even though Rygan had assured her no harm would come to her, she was still skeptical that someone in this pack had it out to harm her.
She wears a sweater paired with leggings and knee-high boots, with her hair tied into a messy bun. Seeing that was the best effort she could make for now.
Since last night's conversation she had with Rygan, she felt like she was going insane. Her reflection in the mirror didn’t help much since she had dark circles from lack of sleep.
She walked into the busy hallways, and the servants greeted her quietly and politely as they were trained to, but she knew most of them didn’t like her; they were terrified after that incident with Alvira.
She felt like screaming at the top of her lungs for some time and telling them, ‘It wasn’t me!’ But no one would believe her that easily. Ugh.
She takes one detour to the kitchen, where she sees Hana talking to one of the older cooks. Her eyes light up in surprise when she sees Elise, confused about what she was doing in the kitchen and this early.
“I have to meet up with Vienna," she explains in a whisper. The kitchen maids all pass a quiet look between themselves before they nod.
“Then we’ll set your breakfast since you’re up early, lady Elise,” one of the maidens said. She couldn’t oppose it, not wanting to get more on their bad side.
Everyone seemed so happy and bright; no one had known what bloody horror she’d seen in that dungeon. The delta was killed with blood dripping out of his eyes, nostrils, and lips.
She goes to the dining room, enjoying the morning spread of warm bread, bacon, cheese, and eggs. She couldn’t help wondering why there was so much food when it was only her eating, and just looking at the table made her feel full.
But she knew she was hungry; she had barely nibbled enough from last night because of how nervous she was in Kaide's presence. And she threw up what she ate from her nightmares this morning.
So she starts with the warm bread that pairs nicely with the jam. She was scarfing it down swellingly with a cup of juice when she heard someone come in.
She turns to see Rygan leaning by the doorway of the dining room. In shock, she coughs up the orange juice barely down her throat. “Fuck!” she grunts as she cleans her mouth.
Now she felt full; his steps were steady and clean, but it still made Elise shiver with each stride he took closer to her.
“Rygan.”
“Elise.” He muttered before sitting down. The awkwardness wasn’t something she was fairly used to, but it was a tension that felt like she could hardly breathe. Now she knew why there was so much food.
She watched from under her lashes as he settled down on the chair, leaning back, his gaze still on her. His hand thrummed on the dining table, the only sound that echoed through the room.
Elise cleared her throat, cleaning the juice that'd stained her lips, but Rygan’s gaze was on her wet lips. She was ready to leave when she heard *sit* by Rygan.
She couldn’t disobey; she asked for a different treatment, and he was the alpha of this pack who was giving her a direct order, so she sat back.
“About last night, what I said about Dexton, I didn’t mean it.”
“We both said things last night, and all the more I don’t want to remember it, but what didn’t you tell me about the delta in your custody?” Elise says it quietly.
“I didn’t want the real culprit to slip away, and because I wanted to protect you, I didn’t want you to relive that experience," he says carefully. There was a tense silence as their gazes locked for a few seconds, just watching each other. Before she stands up,
Before she could get any farther, his hands reached for her wrist, drawing her back as their lips meshed, kissing her porcelain skin. As his hands embraced her in a warm back hug, Elise could barely breathe from the shocking intrusion of his heated lips on her skin as he held on tighter.
“Rygan..”
“I just wanted to feel you and know that you’re safe. This monster will not come for you; I will make sure of it,” he breathed. Elise pushed his hands away and moved out of his space.
"I'm not a frail, weak child anymore." and "I'm not yours... I’ve moved on with Kaide, and you with Alvira; it’s perfect. Let’s not ruin this,'' she adds. She leaves the room immediately, heading for the familiar cottage that belonged to Vienna.
She knocks on the door. And immediately comes face-to-face with Vienna, who looks well wrecked, her lips swollen pink, and live bites on her neck. And Elise could immediately smell a foreign yet familiar scent on her.
She jumped into her friend's arms, even though Vienna was surprised by the sudden hug, but she needed it. She couldn’t tell Vienna because no one knew about the delta's death yet. “You ok?” She called, patting Elise back before they separated.
“I will be... Well, you look like a mess,” Elise says to the healer, who rolls her eyes.
“So do you,” she retorts, opening the door wider for Elise to come in. Vienna immediately heads straight to start brewing tea as Elise comes to sit on the kitchen stool and watch her. “I guess last night with Tazmin went well?” She asks.
Vienna's hand holding the small kettle freezes as her cheeks flush in embarrassment. “I, um, slept with him...Taz, I mean,” she mutters to Elise, who isn’t surprised and has no sense how she’s been enamored by him since forever.
Elise couldn’t help but watch how her friend's gaze lit up as she uttered Taz's name: “El, I have never felt this way before; after you left, we had our date night here, and it just felt right in that moment, and then we kissed, one thing led to another and.. I slept with him.” She confessed.
“You deserve happiness, Vienna,” she assures her as Vienna walks from the kitchen counter with two steaming mugs of tea, placing them on the table before she sits down on the sofa with her hand arched against the chairs seat and her head leaned against it as she faces Elise.
“But I’m sure your night went well, right?” She asks Elise, who stiffened when she recalled everything that happened last night.
“These dark circles aren't Kaide keeping me up all night, more like Rygan did,” she says.
“What?…you had sex with alpha Rygan?!” She whispered, her eyes widening in shock, and Elise shook her head and her arms flayed.
“No, no! I don’t mean I slept with him!” She clarifies, “Something just happened yesterday; it was weird. We argued, I said things, and”
She was cut off by Vienna's doorbell ringing. They both looked at each other, and Vienna wasn’t expecting anything. She headed to the door, coming back with an envelope.
It was already open, and Vienna read the content. Her face dropped as she stared nervously at Elise.
“What is it? Vienna, read it,” she says to Vienna, whose eyes have turned cold. There was a bit of hesitation as she handed the card to Elise.
“It's an invitation..,” Vienna explains as Elsie opens the card. Viennas crossed her arms on her chest, her face void of emotion, as she watched Elise carefully as she spoke out.
“An invitation to Alpha Rygan’s engagement ceremony to Alvira.”