Chapter Thirty-Two
Arabella
I am not exactly sure why I keep falling for the alpha’s tricks. The only thing that I can blame is the ritual that he tricked me into.
“Bella, I want more.” He pleads in my ear before nibbling on it.
My jaw drops at his statement. “You haven’t had enough?” I gasp out.
If I didn’t have his superior healing I am sure that my throat would be sore and my voice hoarse.
“I will never have enough of you, Bella.”
His hand glides across my lower stomach.
My entire body freezes at the gesture.
He smirks against my neck. “Is something the matter?” He taunts me.
How many times have him and I had sex?
Maybe six or seven now, I haven’t really been able to keep count.
Though from my readings one time is enough to get someone pregnant.
Fuck.
That has probably been his intentions since the very beginning.
“I want to show you something, Bella.” He interrupts my thoughts. “Close your eyes.” He instructs as he gently lays his hands over my eyes, blocking my vision. “Stay calm, you know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
I slowly close my eyes.
“Accept what I want to show you, Bella.” He whispered in my ear before giving it a small kiss.
I take a deep breath before a monarch butterfly flies across the darkness.
All different kinds of butterflies fill my vision, fluttering around.
They’re all so beautiful.
I only know the names of a few. Painted Lady, Clouded Yellows, and Red Admirals.
My grandmother used to teach me all kind of things about the island she was born on, but I don’t remember everything.
I feel my heart swell at the effort he’s shown.
My heart starts to beat faster as I realized that the butterflies have all settled and together they formed something.
‘I love you.’
And the single monarch butterfly that I first saw marking as the period at the end of the sentence.
I feel my eyes swell with tears, but I fight to hold them back.
“I really do.” He whispers in my ear before placing a chaste kiss on it.
I snatch his hand from over my eyes before opening them, breaking the vision.
I sit up before turning to look at him.
He followed my actions cautiously as he observed me.
“Bella-“
I cut off his words as I place a soft kiss on his lips.
I cup his face before pulling away slightly.
We both stare at one another before we smile at one another.
He circles his arm around my waist, pulling me into his lap before reconnecting our lips.
All it took was one proclamation of love and I’m back in his arms?
My ancestors are cursing me at this very moment.
I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer as I bite his lip.
He gets a firm hold of the hair on the nape of my neck, before tugging on it lightly causing our lips to separate. He guides my head to the side, giving him access to the mark on my neck.
I am not sure why he has such an obsession is with the mark that he left on my neck, but I’m not complaining.
Sparks of pleasure shoot down my spine as hs sucks on the area. I am sure that the hickey that faded from our few days apart has been replaced.
I let out a small moan as he teeth scraped against the mark.
My body melts into his as I get swept up in the pleasure that I know only he can give me.
I cup his face, guiding his lips back to mine before he completely freezes.
His eyes glass over for a few moments before they turn to normal.
He smirks at me before lifting me off of him and laying back down.
My chest tightens as he smiles up at me, the rejection stinging more than I care to admit.
“Archer is here with the firestone, what do you want with it anyways?” He asks as he props his head up on his hand.
“The firestone doesn’t belong with a wolf.” I spit at him. “It’s a disgrace that he has it. He should be ashamed, especially after the atrocities that he committed.”
Lucian sighs. “You are going to accept that Archer is keeping the firestone.”
“He doesn-“
“He will forever mourn the death of his mate.” He cuts me off. “Do you not think that I won’t do the same to anyone who poses you or our pups harm?” He asks.
“I’m not pregnant!” I scream before shooting out of the bed.
He slowly climbs out of bed. “Not yet you’re not.”
I roll my eyes at his threat. “The last thing that I will ever do is give birth to any child of it yours.”
He smirks at me. “C’mon, we need to take a shower before you heal Marisol.”
“I want to see the firestone first.” I stomp my foot on the ground for emphasis.
He chuckles. “King Judah already disabled the magic, now you heal Marisol and then you can have a look at the firestone. You know that I won’t lie to you.” He slowly walks to me. “If there is something that you want I will try and give it to you. I have no reasons to lie to you.” He presses a kiss to my cheek.
He grabs my hand and leads me to the bathroom. “Just a quick shower. We don’t want to keep the king waiting.”
I slowly step into the room behind Judah. My eyes immediately go to Marisol laying under the covers.
She seems to have gotten worse in my short time away.
“She’s dying.” Judah growls out as he brushes her hair out of her face.
She smiles up at him. “No, I’m not. You’re so dramatic.”
“It doesn’t matter because I know exactly how to save her.” I sit down on the edge of the bed. I wave my hand to encourage her to sit up.
Judah glares at me as Marisol slowly sits up.
“I already knew how to save you, I just had to be sure. Seeing as you are important to Alpha Lucian it would be unwise to not be one-hundred percent.” I explain.
I pull the moonstone out of my pocket and lay it flat into my palm out for her to see it. “This is the moon stone. It was a gift from your moon goddess to a coven of siphon witches.”
Her eyes immediately focus on the moon stone. “A gift.” She ponders. “Why did she give it to them as a gift? Why do you have it?” She asks.
I frown at her. I know her reaction is going to be like Valentina’s and try to make some connection with Lucian and I based off of the story.
I planned to ignore her until Judah’s growl shook the room.
I roll my eyes. “Your moon goddess saw that a siphon witch and wolf come together. She was amazed that the coven and the pack accepted one another and became allies. She offered this as a source of power for the siphon coven.”
“The wolf held a high rank in the North pack.” Lucian brags.
I feel my heart drop to my stomach at his words, but I don’t let it show that he has rattled me.
“How did you end up with it?” She asks again.
“It really doesn’t matter.” I respond waving my hand.
Marisol smiles brightly at me. When I first walked in she looked like she was on the brink of death, now she is beaming at me like the sun. “That’s fine, but isn’t this amazing! The moon goddess gave this as a gift for people in the past accepting one another and now you’re kind of giving it to me as a gift! All because you accept Lucian as your mate.”
I grit my teeth at her words, I don’t have it in me to fight her about this right now. I stiffly nod my head. I grab her hand and place it palm down on my hand that’s holding the moon stone. “You’re going to have to trust me okay?” I ask her.
Marisol nods. “I trust you.”
Judah shifts on his feet closer to us, but I pay him no mind.
“This will all be very simple. Even though you’re a wolf.”
“Arabella.” Lucian warned.
I roll my eyes, and Marisol smiles at me. “Even though you are a wolf, you have a higher presence of magic than most.” I take my other hand and grip her wrist. “All you have to do is accept the magic from the moon stone, siphoning is very simple. I will anchor you to make sure that everything goes the way it should, but you need to be the one to do it.”
“I’m not exactly sure how to do it.” Her eyes shake as tears begin to well up in them.
I smile at her, as Judah begins to softly caress her hair. “There’s no need for tears. Just close your eyes and accept the moon stone. It might take a while but you’ll know when it starts to work.”
She nods, taking a deep breath before closing her eyes. I close mine as well, and I can feel Judah and Lucian’s staring a hole through me.
We sit in silence for a while, as Marisol attempts to accept the magic from the moon stone.
I thought that this process would move a little faster, seeing as she’s performed a little bit of magic herself.
I have to remind myself that people learn at their own pace and to give it time.
I smile as I slowly start to feel a bit of magic exit the moon stone. I can tell that she is unsure, her acceptance of magic is slow, steady and deliberate.
Her hand tightens around the stone, as she begins to accept more of the magic.
Judah and Lucian continue to star at me, as I feel Marisol’s grip on the stone get weaker and weaker.
I snatch the stone away once I feel her body start to get overwhelmed by the magic.
Her body slumps onto the bed, and Judah is immediately hovering over her.
He places his hand on her forehead sliding it down to feel her cheeks.
I can’t help but roll my eyes and giggle at his behavior.
“Why isn’t she healed?” Judah asked as he ran his fingers through Marisol’s hair. “You said that all she had to do is receive some of the magic.”
I sigh.
Impatient savage.
“It will take some time for the magic to settle. It’s magic, not a miracle.” I cut my eyes at the wolves king. “I promise that she will be fine.” I am unsure about Judah, but I know that Lucian can sense the lie that just exits my mouth. I can only thank my ancestors that he decided to not call me out on it.
I closer the moon stone in her hand. “She should keep it.” I smile at her.
I stand from the bed. “Alright, take me to the firestone.” I say to Lucian.
“Not exactly.” Judah cuts in. “I don’t need you to get what you want, and make any attempts to flee until I know that Marisol is safe.”
“Do you really think I’m lying?” I ask.
Lucian, sensing me about to lash out wraps his arms around me.
“Come now Bella, you will get your way in the end.” Lucian said.
“It will take time for the magic to settle in her body!” I shriek. I plant my feet into the ground, attempting to stop Lucian from forcefully moving me.
“I believe you, my little spitfire. That doesn’t change the fact that our king wants to wait until it’s shown that Marisol is healed.” Lucian stated before scooping me into his arms. “Please keep fighting me, you know I love your ferocious attitude.” He chuckles as he carries me out of their room.
I don’t stop flailing and yelling even as we pass others in the hallway. They still act as if I am
not there at all, instead of staring at all of the commotion that we causing.
I give up fighting once I see the door to our room. “This is ridiculous!” I huff out as he steps into the room.
He places me onto the bed. “Enough.” He states.
I bite my lip as I cross my arms across my chest.
He smirks at me. “See, you could have used your magic to get your way. You didn’t. That just lets me know that you don’t want to hurt me.”
I roll my eyes before looking away. “The least you could do is be a man of your word.”
He chuckles. “I promise that I will be. First our king needs to be sure that his queen will be fine. He wants to be one-hundred percent positive that she is healed before you attempt another one of your escape attempts.”
I turn back to him. “Attempts?” I scoff at him. “If I wanted to leave right now I would. There would be no attempt.”
He smirks slowly before bending lower to brush his cheek with mine. “And why are you not leaving right now.” He whispers.
I roll my eyes at his advances, before pushing his chest and standing up from the bed.
“I want to see the fire stone.”
Lucian grabs my arm before I can walk away. “I know you missed me. You told me.” He turns me to face him. “You don’t have to be ashamed of your feelings for me.”
All of Valentina’s words fill my mind.
That maybe he truly cares for me, and that there’s a reasonable explanation as to why she is here.
“I never said that I have feelings for you.” I say stubbornly.
“I wish you would.” He intertwines both of his fingers into mine. “You already know that I love you, Bella.”
I feel my cheeks flush under his gaze.
He squeezes my hands, encouraging me to speak.
“I already told you that I missed you today. Isn’t that enough!” I yank my hands away from him.
He circles his arm around my waist. “It is more than enough.” He said before burying his face into my neck.
I roll my eyes as I feel his smile on my neck.
He takes a deep breath of my scent before pulling away. “I need to ask you something.”
I already know what it is. I wasn’t sure if he was able to tell if I was lying or not, but now I know for sure.
He guides me back to the bed and we both sit on the edge of it.
“There is a small chance that Marisol’s body rejects the magic. It’s highly unlikely because of the high presence of light magic in her body, but there is still a chance.” I explain.
“I know you have a plan if Marisol’s body rejects the magic.”
“You mean the plan where I escape your kings wrath?” I giggle. “Because that’s the only plan that I have.”
“Arabella.” Lucian warns.
I roll my eyes. “There is something else, but you won’t like it. I can force the magic into her body. It’ll be painful for both of us, but I know I can do it if it needs to be done.”
Lucian leans down before placing a peck on my lips. “Thank you, Bella. You may not fully accept us wolves yet, but you have saved us.” He pulls me closer to him. “I am more grateful than you will ever know.”
Note: check out my wall to see a preview of the third book in the Bound Series! I am so excited for you all to read it!