SWNOVELS Chapter Twenty-Two
Vali
Antanasia followed me up the stairs and out of the wine cellar. I’m sure that granting her freedom wouldn’t make me popular with anyone here, but they would just had to suffer through it. She would be a powerful ally, we just needed to give her some trust.
“What is going on?” Marek asked as we walked into the manor, where a group of wolves stood with bared fangs and claws.
“Antanasia is going to help us. She’s part of a rebellion vampire group, it’s why she got captured and brought here.” I explained, not feeling even the slightest bit threatened by the slowly growing group of growling wolves.
“And did it occur to you that she might be a good liar?” He asked, I tilted my head to the side.
“I know that you didn’t just ask your White Wolf, your Chosen, that question.” I said, prowling forwards to stand in front of him.
“What a pitiful Chosen you are, to fall for a vampire’s tricks-”
“Hold your tongue.” I cut him off, not using my telepathy yet but getting close to the brink. It was always the outlying packs like this one that questioned my worth as Selene’s Chosen. That questioned my authority. I knew he would from the moment he first spoke, had it confirmed when I found out he was going to hide Antanasia from me.
“Or what?”
“I’ll teach you a lesson in respect.” I answered, eyes wandering to his pack that were all standing behind him. “And I’ll make sure I teach it to everyone here if need be.”
“Is that a threat?” I smirked, looking up at him through my eyelashes. He only had an inch or two on me, which wasn’t enough to intimidate me. Not even close.
“It’s a promise, Marek. While I can appreciate the fact that you and your pack have been left out here by yourselves, I can assure you that I never abandoned you. Unfortunately I have to keep myself safe, and being this close to Romania posed too much of a risk for me to visit. That does not mean you get to ignore me, because I don’t care if you won’t follow me out of love. Do you think I got our kind into line through love?” I asked him.
“You cannot threaten-”
“I made the werewolves into a civilised people in only six years. While most do love me, are happy with me being in charge… the rest, the ones like you, still fell in line. I don’t care if you adore me, because if you don’t, I will make you fear me.” I said, feeling my blood heat in my ears and the thundering of my heart start to block out the rest of the noise in the room.
“Fear you?” He started laughing at me. Laughing. “You are just a child, with no clue what truly-”
He was cut off by the ground shaking beneath us, a single outburst of power so strong that the manors bones began to creak around us, the paintings on the walls swinging in the tremors wake. The wolves behind him began to take steps backwards, and the ones that didn’t dropped to a knee with their heads hanging towards the ground. Marek did the same. In my confusion I looked to my left, seeing Marcy standing with Lulia in the the entryway to the room.
“Why the fuck are your eyes red?” Marcy asked as she crossed the room to stand in front of me.
“What are you on about?” I asked, so she pointed to the mirror on the wall to my right. My eyes were indeed glowing red. “Was that…” I trailed off, turning around to look at Antanasia and Jackson. The vampire smirked as she looked at me.
“Mircea’s power is telekinesis, although it’s not a strong enough word for what he’s capable of.” She said as she walked over to me.
“How is it not strong enough? What the fuck does this all mean?” I asked as she took a hold of my hands. Her skin was icy cold, likely a side affect of her power, but it cooled my skin and helped calm my anger.
“What question would you like answered first?” She replied.
“What is happening?” That felt more important to start with, the expanse of it could come after that.
“Wolves don’t have to deal with this, as only the White Wolf has power which shifts between the Chosen at any given moment. But mates…” Antanasia trailed off. Mates? What does that have to do with anything? “When it comes to other species such as vampires, mates are chosen to compliment each other, because your powers blend and grow in strength together. Mircea has telekinesis, has red eyes when he uses that power or goes into bloodlust. You are borrowing his power.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I said I trusted you because of your scent, it is very similar to the Prince.” She added.
“Are you saying…” I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the sentence.
“You and the Prince are mates. This is proof of that. Mircea is the only vampire alive with telekinesis, and you just used it. I have no doubt he’s experiencing your telepathy right now too.” She said. Mircea and I were mates? I looked to the ground, taking my hands from her and running them through my knotted hair. “Now, as for telekinesis not being a strong enough word…”
I looked up from the floor, meeting her eyes. This was too much. This was all too fucking much. I knew that Mircea and I were meant to work together, to usher our world into peace, but mates?
“Mircea is capable of manipulating atoms themselves, can break anything down or build anything up based on the atoms available to him. You will need to learn to hone his power with the same restraint he has or you will be a danger to us all. You shook the earth and didn’t even know it was you.”
I shook my head, still trying to slow my breathing. If Mircea was my mate, surely I would have noticed something. There would have been something to tip me off… but his scent was something I hadn’t paid attention to. We had felt comfortable around each other quickly, even Jackson pointed out how odd it was. Maybe it was because we had similar scents, and that familiarity allowed us to be trusting of each other.
Okay, this didn’t change anything. The plan was still the same and I couldn’t let this affect me in front of this entire pack. At that thought I turned around to look at them, specifically at Marek.
“Marek, as the White Wolf I am stripping you of your title as Alpha here, due to your blatant disrespect. You were going to hide Antanasia from me, and questioned my authority as your Chosen. You’re lucky I don’t take away your wolf.” I told him, he looked like he wanted to argue but thought the better of it as the paintings shook on the walls once more. My eyes then turned to Lulia.
“Are you ready to step up for your pack, Lulia?” I asked her. Even though her eyes flicked to Marek, they were filled with disdain as she looked at him. I wondered how long he had been treating her with the same disrespect he had shown me, but I guess it didn’t matter anymore.
She walked over to me and stood face to face with me before she got down onto one knee. Her brown eyes locked on mine as she looked up at me, a hand on her heart.
“I will make you proud, Chosen.” She addressed me, I nodded my approval and so she stood up.
“First, we need to get a room sorted for Antanasia. Then we can go over plans, I’m sure she’ll have information that’ll be of great use to us.” I told Lulia, she nodded. My eyes flicked away from her to see Marek still kneeling on the ground, anger clear in his eyes. Sadly, I didn’t care. My eyes landed back on Lulia’s, a sparkle clear in her irises.
“Of course, Chosen.”