Chapter 78 - This is sorcery

HADRIAN

The sound of my name wakes me up, but the scent of my mate keeps me in my state of unconsciousness a little longer. I nuzzle closer to her source. Her scent is more prominent than ever. It’s even sweeter and the layers to it seem more complex. I groan when I detect hints of pecan and honey. I like those.

*I need to get a taste.* I run my nose over the fabric covering her and search for her bare skin.

“Prince Hadrian.” The weathered voice of Gaius shocks me into the land of the living.

I lift my head and blink my eyes. I’m sprawled over the unconscious body of Emma. My face was pressed in her stomach. My arms are wrapped around her waist and bending her back in an awkward position. I remove my arms so that she can lie flat again.

Emma is still in the infirmary. I must have fallen asleep here. The urge to snuggle up next to her feels almost undeniable. I need to be closer to her. Her presence is warm and soothing, even unconscious. She feels warmer than usual.

The desire to be with her is stronger than ever. There is no pull away from her anymore. The connection with Gaia is broken and only the draw to Emma is left.

I look around the room and find my uncle watching me with a bunch of flowers in his hand.

A lump lodges in my throat when the reality of the situation hits me. She has been here since yesterday and she is still unconscious. Her heart beats strong and her lungs rise and fall at a steady pace, but she hasn’t woken.

Lela tries to mind-link me. My name echoes in her voice, but I ignore the call. I block her out as I turn my attention to Emma.

“She’ll be fine, Miss Emma is strong.” Gaius brings a hand to my shoulder as if he knows that I need the support.

Her heartbeat confirms the words of my uncle. Her wounds have miraculously healed. Not every werewolf with injuries like hers would have survived.

The healers said that she would need time to wake up. Regenerating this much blood takes time. They have been eying her with curiosity. She’s human, she shouldn’t be able to heal from this at all.

My uncle places the vase with flowers on the table next to her bed. He twists several of the stems to arrange the flowers better. “How is Nero holding up?”

I clench my fists and the skin over my knuckles turns white. “I don’t know, I’ve blocked him.”

I fear facing him after rejecting Gaia. I fear his reaction to disregarding his fated mate. The only guilt I have is the one for causing pain to my wolf.

Gaius looks at me and concern pulls at the lines of his face. “Blocking out your wolf can be a dangerous thing, Prince Hadrian. Nero might take over with vengeance.”

I’ve heard stories of people blocking out their wolves. These people always end up walking a dark path and the consequences turn out grave.

I lean my elbows on my knees and take in my sleeping mate. “I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t let him mark Gaia.”

I don’t regret blocking Nero and I don’t regret rejecting Gaia. But living these few days without the presence of my wolf has made me doubtful of my choices. He is part of me. Without him, I live like I only have half my limbs.

“Ignoring your wolf won’t hold up for long, eventually Nero will take over.”

I take the hand of Emma in mine and for a moment she fills the parts of my body that are missing. The effect is immense and the draw to her only continues to get stronger.

I only feel whole when her skin touches mine. She gives me working limbs, a beating heart and a reason to fight.

The door of the infirmary opens and one of my father’s guards enters the room. He steps directly towards me and lowers in a bow. “Prince Hadrian, the Alpha King requests your presence.”

I grimace as I listen to the request. I don’t feel the urge to comply and turn back to Emma. “Tell him now is not a good time,” I say with a commanding growl.

“H-he won’t take no for an answer, sir.” The guard trembles and I can see his wavering resolve. Going against an order from my father will result in immediate death. Fear shakes his being at the opposing commands.

I watch Emma and how life slowly, but surely returns to her face. I watch the growing flush to her cheeks and the color of her slightly parted lips.

Emma wouldn’t want me to create trouble for the guard. She’s compassionate like that. I can almost hear her scolding me even in her unconscious state. And I would do anything she asked me to.

“Fine,” I grumble. I let go of Emma and I get up.

There is visible relief in the shoulders of the guard.

Lela tries to mind-link me again. *“Hadrian.”* Her voice booms through my mind.

*“Not now,”* I growl as I walk out of the infirmary.

———————

My father is alone in the throne room and again cast in darkness. He leans to one side of his throne as he watches me walk in. He has a deep scowl lining his face.

The room is cold and it gives me a chill. “Father.”

The Alpha King waits and I match his stare. He looks down on me from the high position of his throne. A reality that has been true all my life.

“Have you lost all respect for your King?” My father drawls.

I have no intention to kneel, but this is about who holds the longest breath. My father has oceans of time, while I choke when I’m away from Emma.

I sink down to the floor and the ground is hard as it digs in my knee. The position feels more degrading than ever and unnatural. Every fiber in my body is itching to fight and claim my rightful place on the throne.

I need to stay calm, I need to be calculated about this. Fighting my father’s command will only keep me longer away from Emma.

“Your human mate...” My father drawls. He taps his fingers on the wooden armrest of his throne. The dull sound is rhythmic with anticipation. “She has been severely wounded.”

The news reached my father as fast as I thought it would.

“Her wounds were not that severe.” The lie is sour on my tongue and it withdraws all the moisture in my mouth. Swallowing is like rubbing sandpaper down my esophagus.

“Don’t. Lie.” The dark royal aura of my father rolls off him in overpowering waves.

I grimace at the daunting rush that tries to overpower me. It fails to bring me to the floor and my father growls.

“How does a human survive an attack by a werewolf?” My father rises from his throne and steps down from the dais. “She is hiding something, this is sorcery.”

He knows everything and I wonder if maybe Gaia himself told him or maybe her father.

I rise from my position on the floor. I tower over my father and stare him down. “She isn’t a threat.” There is a commanding edge to my voice.

There is a slight tremble that I don’t miss. He clenches his hand and bares his teeth. “No, you are right.”

His sinister eyes turn a dark shade of amber. “She’ll be executed tomorrow at sundown.”

*Red.*

Hot fury casts a haze over my vision. I growl at my father and grip him at the throat. I pull him closer so that he can see the darkness in my own eyes. I’ll make him really tremble in fear. He’ll die before he lays a hand on Emma.

“How dare you…” My father croaks through the grip of my hand.

*“Hadrian!”* Lela shouts through the fury in my mind as she forces me to answer. *“It’s Emma—”*

I don’t wait for her to finish her message, because I’m already half out the door. My father falls to the floor and I hope he realizes that the only reason that he’s still alive is because of Emma.

When I get out of the throne room, Lela is there. She has wide fearful eyes, even showing through the dark obsidian. I can see the panic.

“What are you doing here?” I growl and I take large passes to the infirmary.

Lela has to run to keep up with me. “Something changed.”

She tries to grab my arm to get my attention, but I pull it away when my skin crawls under her touch.

I turn to her before the doorway of the infirmary. “What are you talking about?”

She swallows and examines the halls. “Your fate, it has changed.”

Gaius appears at the doorway. “Prince Hadrian, you’re back. Good news, the healer just confirmed that Emma will be waking up soon.”

*“Can we discuss this later?”* I ask Lela in my mind. I walk into the infirmary and Emma stirs in the small bed.

“I don’t think we can,” Lela calls behind me. Her voice is laced with alarm. I turn to look at her because I’ve never seen this much emotion in her. Her eyes are filled with sorrow and fear.

“Hadrian,” Emma calls in a weak voice.

I turn my focus back to Emma. The cells in my body freeze over when I look into her eyes. I back away from her when she looks at me with dark, stormy, ocean-blue eyes.

They lock me in her waking gaze. They are almost electric blue in the center and navy in the outer ring. Like ocean waves changing color at the shore. The pattern of her irises draw in lines to the middle. I even detect hints of silver shining through them as they hook me in my chest and draw me in.

I’m trapped in her gaze. My soul is forever captured by hers.

*“Mate!”* Nero howls as he bursts through the mental blockade.