Chapter 6

~ELENA~

After tucking the boots away, he turned.

"I don’t need anything," he answered finally almost sounding... nervous? He was heading back towards me. "You can leave if you want."

"I... don’t want to," I heard myself mumble before I could stop it.

The moment I said that, he paused in his track, glancing back at me. He turned around slowly, and started towards me again.

My lower lip flew under my teeth nervously, my eyes flickering as he reached me. Hie eyes caught mine and I hung my head.

He stretched his hand and hand reached up, brushing my braided hair with careful fingers, guiding them away from my collarbone, allowing it settle down over my shoulder.

He cupped my chin softly, raising my gaze to his. All I did was blink -slow and uncertain, the moment our eyes locked. His gaze held mine, and the longer I stared, the harder it became to look away. The enchantment in his eyes was immense and I could see in them something unfamiliar. Something I hadn’t dared to seek in a long time.

From my chin, his fingers spread across my jawline pulling me into himself. He did it softly till I felt myself shrouded in the warmth of his chest, his lips slowly brushing mine.

I breathed the scent of his heated body and my lips parted with wanting, my breath shuddering till his lips fully take mine.

For months now, even as we lived under the same roof, slept in the same bed, and wore the title of a couple, he’d made no secret of what he truly saw me as -a slave to be broken, a servant bound to his will, and a body to claim whenever the need struck him.

And when it was over -when he had taken what he wanted, he would cast me aside. Order me out like I was filth. Like he'd just realized he hadn’t been with his mate, but a wretched, unwanted thing.

But tonight… tonight felt different.

His touch was soft, reverent, and for the first time in our shared bed, he wasn’t rough or dismissive. He kissed me like I mattered. He touched, caressed every part of me like I was his.

I felt a newfound strength rise within me, a quiet, trembling pride. It felt sacred. I had never felt that with him before. Not once. It felt like learning what it really was to make love.

He didn’t send me away afterward.

Him being asleep beside me was the strangest thing; foreign, almost dreamlike. But there was a calm in it too, something that settled over my chest like warmth I hadn’t known I missed.

I found myself smiling as I pulled the blanket over my body, eyes fluttering closed to the sound of his steady breath.

Maybe our nights would stay like this -A beginning of something new. Comforting.

I was wrong....

* * *

The sound of the door crashing got me jolting out of sleep. A tall silhouette stood in the doorway, haloed in light from the corridor.

Instantly, I looked to the bed beside me. Empty.

Emmet?

I was alone. I quickly turned back to the man at the door. He stepped in, his shoulders stretching, his chest heaved and his fists clenched so tight I could hear the crack of his knuckles even from across the room. I could feel the atmosphere change around me.

"Em.... Sire?" I called, voice trembling.

He stormed towards me, face twisted in rage.

"How dare you?" Emmet growled, his voice gripping me to the bones.

"What... what’s the matter?"

"Did you think we wouldn’t find out?" His voice came like thunder.

I flinched. "I don’t und..."

"Shut up!" he roared, grabbing my wrist and yanking me off the bed. I cried out as I brushed the floor, clutching the blanket around me.

As he dragged me through the halls. I shielded my stomach with a protective hand and held the blanket around me with the other. My wailing down the grand staircase didn't even make him stop once.

When we reached the grand hall, he flung me forward. I landed hard, the blanket slipping almost completely off and exposing skin thsts I had no more strength to cover. I knelt in the fabric, protecting my belly as I looked up into the judgmental stares of the court members.

Faces from the feast night before, now watched me with suspicion and disgust. They formed a rough crescent, their eyes grave, scary and dangerous, all turned on me. Whispers swelled amongst them.

Only one person was absent from this court and that was the alpha himself.

Emmet paced behind me, eyes burning, jaw clenched when my eyes fell on him.

"What’s going on?" I was brave enough to whisper, my brows knitted in puzzlement.

He stepped forward and asked. "Why did you do it?"

"I... I don’t understand..."

"Why did you poison my father?"

The floor dropped from under me. I swayed.

“Poison?” The word barely left my lips. Was this a nightmare? A setup? My mind scrambled for an explanation, but all I found was darkness and silence and judging gazes.

"What? I... I..."

"My father is dead," he said, voice raw with fury, cracking under the weight of grief. "You... poisoned his drink."

"No..." I shook my head as I watched his eyes but in my head, I was trying to recall. Was it the time, I poured him a drink last night? "I don’t know what you're talking about..." My head shakes with terror. "I didn't do it."

"You thought we wouldn't find out?!" Elder Marcus spat and I crawled near Emmet, looking up to a mixture of rage and pain.

"You have to believe me..." My voice broke between the words. My fingers trembled, cold and useless against the panic rising high inside me.

"I didn’t do it..." The heat in my throat burned like lava melting back each word I wanted to speak.

"Please..." I gasped, tears clouding my vision.

"Believe you?" Emmet barked, his voice gaining a renewed strength. "Maybe... after you explain why the same poison which was discovered to have killed the alpha was found in your possession."

My mouth fell open and I returned to Emmet's gaze for more explanation. But he didn't need to say anything further. I turned in time to see Stephanie stepping forward, with a small vial between her thumb and index fingers.

"We found this under your bed," she said smoothly, handing it to Emmet.

I stared at her in horror, speechless, my heart sinking. I looked at the bottle, then at Stephanie’s calm, triumphant face -My chest hammered with words that I wanted to say, the truth I wanted to proof but didn't know how to -and something in me shattered.

The way Stephanie held it, the calm satisfaction on her face it was all too clear;

Another set up!!