Chapter 41: Chapter 41
Elara POV
I wake up feeling dreadful and moan softly. I feel dazed, and a splitting headache is tearing through my skull. The taste in my mouth reminds me of death.
With my eyes still closed, I concentrate on my breathing and wonder if I dreamed everything. Did I really have sex with Kane and Axel and then run straight into the arms of a vampire, only to be caught by a fucking Elder of all people?
I hope it was a dream, but I can sense this place is unfamiliar. It smells and feels damp and small, nothing like the cosiness of home or the luxury of the mansion.
When I finally open my eyes, the sad reality sets in. I have no idea where I am.
The room is narrow and dark, with only a couple of windows, but they are boarded up so that only the tiniest slivers of daylight break through.
I guess that means I slept through the night here.
There is nothing in the room except the rickety old metal-framed twin bed I am lying on and an old bucket in the corner. How fucking humiliating. But then, humiliation is something I should be familiar with by now because it has practically been my theme since I was matched with the twins.
I glance down at myself and realise I am still wearing the oversized flannel from Braden.
I must get out of here. Now. No way am I staying here, locked up like some wild animal.
I push myself up from the bed and walk toward the heavy metal door across the room, but as soon as my feet touch the floor, I hear the clink of a chain and feel the cold, heavy cuff around my right ankle.
What the ... I am chained to the fucking bed. The only thing I could reach was the metal bucket. Perfect! Just perfect.
“Anton!” I scream at the top of my lungs, banging the bucket against the grimy tile floor. “You can’t do this! This is torture!”
Thick silence hangs in the air after my echoing voice dies down, and panic settles in my gut.
Did he really leave me here all alone? What did he do to Braden? Would Kane and Axel be able to find me here? Oh, goddess, what would happen to my sister Selena? Would they punish her, too?
My throat tightened as tears threatened to spill from my eyes. If Anton is here, he will not fucking ignore me. I will not allow it.
Something halfway between a scream and a snarl ripped from my chest, and I bang the bucket on the ground over and over, the clangs so loud I feel them in my teeth.
Finally, I hear footsteps approaching, and I scramble back onto the bed, wrapping the flannel around as much of my body as I can.
The metal door creaks open, and Anton steps inside, his back against the door, far away from where I could reach.
“Are you quite done?” he asks, his face flushed with annoyance.
“No!” My voice is shaky. “You kidnapped and locked me up, asshole.”
“Tsk, tsk, such manners.” Anton shakes his head. “I knew you were dangerous. When Kane and Axel used that loophole, those dumbasses had no idea that it was created just for people like you.”
My heart stops.“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask. I already feel enough of a freak having been rejected by my mates multiple times. I do not need an Elder confirming my worst fears - that what happened with Kane and Axel is all my fault.
“You’re a wolf shifter, Elara,” Anton says, his lips lifting in a sneering smile. “But that’s not all you are. That’s just your dominant species.”
“Are you sniffing glue?” I hiss, narrowing my eyes. “Or sniffing that powdery shit you blew at us? Because I’m a wolf. Always ways and always will be.”
“You’re also part vampire,” Anton smirks vindictively.
“I don’t believe you,” I snap as a wave of nausea sweeps over me.
This is bullshit, he is lying, this cannot be possible. I would have known, I would have felt it, I ... wait, until I met Braden, I did not even know vampires existed.
“It’s the truth,” Anton grimaces. “And denying it won’t change the fact. Your maternal grandfather was a vampire. He’s also the vampire who created Braden.”
“You’re lying,” I yell, glaring at him. There is no way I am a part vampire and do not know it. “I eat garlic, I don’t drink blood, I can walk into sunlight, and ...”
“So can Braden,” Anton rolls his eyes. “I mean, aside from drinking blood. The whole vampire and sunlight thing is a myth. You met him in broad daylight, remember?”
Shit, he has a point. Did Braden lie to me about being a vampire?
“I still don’t believe you,” I argue. “You blew shit at me and locked me up. I can’t trust anything you say.”
“This is for your own safety!” He yells, pointing a bony finger at me. “You and your venomous scent made ...”
“Venomous scent?” I snap. “You’re the fucking snake in this fairy tale, not ....”
“Oh, Elara, enough,” Anton cuts me off. “When you sensed Braden the first time you met, what did you feel?”
The first thing that comes to mind is his scent. Even before I saw him, I smelled him. His scent had lured me in and wrapped itself around me. It was intoxicating and inescapable. Not that I wanted to escape. Quite the opposite, actually.
Not that I will ever admit that to Anton, but the look on his face tells me I do not have to. I am flushed and biting my lip to keep my thoughts from drifting further. Dead fucking giveaway.
“You wanted him, didn’t you?” Anton says his eyes are glittering. The skeevy bastard. “Or at the very least, you trusted him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have caught you in the predicament you were in earlier.”
“What’s your point?” I ask, wrapping my arms tighter around myself.
“Most shifters detest the smell of vampires,” Anton explains. “Vampires’ scent rings alarm bells in their brains and creates an immediate sense of distrust.”
That could not have been further from my experience with Braden. I trusted him immediately, but I had no idea why.
“And why do you think he just showed up out of thin air when vampires and wolf shifters’ paths haven’t crossed for years?” Anton asks.
I suddenly felt very stupid for not asking any of these questions myself.
“He told me he smelled my distress,” I reply, but I know from Anton’s wicked smile that there is more to the story.
“No,” his voice drips with contempt. “He was looking for you, stupid girl.”
“Why would he be looking for me?” I ask, suddenly wishing Kane and Axel were here to shrink him back down to size.
“Because you came of age,” Anton snorts out a sarcastic laugh.
My heart stops, then bangs against my chest. Of course, he was just another man trying to fuck me as soon as I turned eighteen. I should not be surprised, but a cold knot forms in my chest.
“When you turned eighteen, Elara,” Anton continues, slowly moving toward me. “Your vampire abilities surfaced. I could smell it all over you at the mating ceremony.”
“That’s why you treated me like shit the day of the ceremony?” I ask, flabbergasted, remembering the way he grabbed me, squeezing my arm so hard he almost drew blood and the way he spoke to me like I was nothing.
“I couldn’t say anything,” he nods. “No one else knows vampires exist. And until I knew more about you and your family, I couldn’t say for sure how or if this would affect your mating.”
“So, you stayed quiet at the ceremony?” I frown. He could have easily outed me right there, but he did not say a word. Why? Why protect me? Why go digging for more information when he could just sell me out to the Council? “Are you going to share what you learned with the class?”
He steps closer to me, but I am not scared anymore. If he brought me here to hurt me, he would have already.
“Your mother made a deal with a witch at the end of the Great Wars,” Anton explains. “The witch agreed to put a spell on her to cloak her vampire side, so it didn’t emerge in her offspring.”
“Then why am I like this?” I ask, confused.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Anton sighs. “Something went wrong with the spell, and it didn’t get passed down to you.”
