Chapter 36: The Claiming!

“Can I come in?” Stephanno asks deadpan, then without even waiting for my reply moves past me and seats himself comfortably in the plush bed. I frowned at his audacity, then banged the door shut with my heels, pissed.

I put my hands on my hips and stared him down, waiting exasperatedly for what he was about to say.
He sighed when he saw the expression on my face, then tentatively said while raising his arms as if to calm down a rabid dog, “Jess….”

“Jess? I don’t think you have the right to call me that anymore.” I snapped, cutting him off mid way.
He raised his left arm and ran it through his hair, messing up his stupid pony tail while he continued to look at me nervously.

“Jess, I had my reasons for what I did. Will you please hear me out? Don’t you at least owe that to your mate?” he asked with a pinch of desperateness and vulnerability in his tone.
I snorted at him and replied,
“Your mate? You still believe I have to give a chance to my ‘mate’ who made an oath to destroy me?”

“None of it was real, was it? It was all well planned by you to break through my barriers. And the irony was I was the one desperate to let you in when all you wanted was to ghost me” I snarled at him, loosing my cool.

I felt my legs give out and I dropped to the floor and started wailing like a banshee. And this time, I din’t stop or try to control my tears. He has got to see what he made me into……Me, who always snorted at girls desperately clinging on to their men......…me ……the sarcastic bitch, he had turned me into a pathetic, crying mess.

“Jess, do you have any idea how hard it was for me? I ran out from Dominic’s mansion the moment I first met you and realized you were my mate because I had already taken the oath two days back. I had no idea that you would be my mate ,after all you were married to Dominic. Though it is usual for the Head of the sect to have concubines, they only marry their true mates….I was so torn at that time…..I had never broken an oath to my master and you………….you were everything I hoped and much more..” He said, his eyes never leaving mine for even a second.

I sniffed and he immediately got up from the bed and kneeled down beside me and took my shaking hands into his. He raised my right hand and kissed it, a subtle brushing of his lips. Then he took my other hand and repeated the procedure. Despite how mad I was at him my heart still ached for him and I felt butterflies in my stomach when his lips brushed my hands. No….he betrayed me……Snap out f it, Jessica....You are not going to be one of those desperate women who always forgive their man, no matter whatever shit they pull.

I snatched my hands back from him, blinking my eyes rapidly to clear my head. I couldn’t think properly when he was in such close proximity.
He sighed as he got up and took a step back reluctantly.

“How did you know about the prophecy?” I asked him , in between sobs.
“The werewolf” He replied and I nodded.
I had figured that was the most likely explanation. Aside from Daniel, only the werewolf knew about the prophecy, but that doesn’t explain why the werewolf first went to Stephanno.
Werewolves don’t report to Sect Heads.
“Why did he come to you first and only went for his Alpha second?”

Stephanno grimaced at my question, then took a deep breath and replied calmly, “That is a story for another day”
I rolled my eyes at him. He hides so many stuff from me and he expects me to trust him?
“Jess, I never imagined that Amos would go for you right there and then. Whatever you heard in the study room, it was just be trying to convince Amos that I was on his side so as not to arouse any suspicions. I am not that cold to hurt my own mate. Whatever happens to your mate scars you too.”

I got up and looked at him uncertainly. Stephanno certainly didn’t seem to be the kind of man who would betray his mate and it is possible that he could have been saying those malicious words to put Amos out of any suspicion. And I remember Amos freezing him cause he was afraid he would intervene and I knew it in my gut that if he hadn’t been frozen Stephanno definitely would have jumped in between Amos and me.

“What was your plan? To destroy me or to break your oath to your master?” I asked, locking my eyes into his.
“Neither. My plan was to get him to release me from the oath himself. But that obviously isn’t going to work anymore.”
“I want to believe you….I really do, but I just don’t have the guts to do it and be hurt again” I murmured softly.

Both of us held eye contact for a solid minute before I coughed and broke it , embarrassed.
“I have a solution for that” He announced confidently, pumping out his shoulders.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
“ I can prove that every word I have said is true.” He declared.
I titled my head, confused and asked, “How?”

He shrugged then untied his ponytail then started to roll his gorgeous hair higher up and tied it into a man bun. He looked expectantly at me while I continued staring blankly at him. He sighed, then took a step forward, then bent his neck offering his neck. I gasped out loud when I realized what was going on. No way, he wanted to be claimed?

“ When you claim me, you can see all of my memories and thoughts then you can be assured that I wasn’t lying to you about my feelings for you”
I blinked rapidly, shaking my head like a buffoon,taken aback.

“ Stephanno, this will forever tie you to me. And you can’t claim me right now because of Dominic’s claim. I would first have to break the bond with Dominic. That means this will be a one sided thing. Are you sure you want this?” I asked him, my eyes widened with anticipation.

“You are my mate. We should have done it way back. It would have saved us all this misunderstandings……” He replied softly as he pulled me to him, his right hand circling my waist as he once again bent his head, offering his neck.

I placed a trembling hand to his chest and found out that I wasn’t the only one who was nervous. For all his bravado, his heart beat was thundering rapidly against my hand. I breathed in his spicy, intoxicating smell and a purr escaped me. I looked at his neck and gulped. He was carefully watching my face, scrutinizing my expressions.

I took a deep breath, braced myself then went right for it. My lips first sucked in his skin and he moaned in response. I etched my teeth closer and bit him sharply, piercing through his skin until I felt his blood on my lips. I stopped and took a step back, examining my handiwork. Stephanno looked like he was in complete bliss and there was a beautiful smile etched on his face.

I braced myself for the memories coming…..I saw him making the oath to Amos….then in another second, I was pulled out of that memory….In this one Stephanno’s hands were hitting the punching bags with rage as he replayed meeting me at Dominic’s mansion, finding out I was his mate…then almost flipping out when Dominic laid his claim on me……..His dreams of mine, they were exactly the same as mine......I had been having drams of him even before I met him.........How can both of us have the same exact dreams? I let go of that line of thought as another memory came before me.........................Him being nervous and fluttery when i dressed up and wore makeup on the day he came to take me to the water sect......Then it was in the shower when I was naked and both of us were tangled and saw Peter walking in and how possessive Stephanno got of me……The first kiss…..him feeling proud as hell when I stood up on my wobbly knees again after getting rammed on by Ronald at the initiation.........Him respecting and adoring me when he overheard my conversation with Dominic in the infirmary.....................Him being impressed and blown out of his mind when I bested him at the knife throwing challenge...........Him always watching over me without being obvious when I was given my cleaning tasks.................He always looked at me from afar even when he was pushing me away...........................My hair.........my green eyes, Stephanno seems to love my eyes cause many of his memories seems to be fixated on it.............................the kiss at the lake……..Him not eating anything and not getting enough sleep, walking around looking like a zombie for the past two weeks after I vanished….Him desperately sending his scouts after me……he , himself traveling trying to locate me………..

I gasped as I felt his raw anguish and heart wrenching pain when I disappeared. I blinked and looked at Stephanno who was watching me nervously…..
“You were right…..I am so sorry for making you go through all that shit” I exclaimed, clutching my chest as I felt pain soaring through my chest.

“What memories of mine did you see?” I asked , suddenly feeling self conscious.
“I couldn’t see anything” he replied.
I frowned at him as I recalled the time Dominic claimed me. At the brief moment of claiming I could see his thoughts even though I didn’t claim him though after that moment was passed I couldn’t.

He must have read my confused expression cause he explained, “ Dominic’s claim lies on you. No other man can see your thoughts and experience that level of intimacy until you remove it.”
Oh ! That makes sense. I felt a little relieved that he couldn't see my memories....otherwise he would have seen me kiss Dominic back at the waterfalls as desperately as he was to kiss me.....

“ Let down your hair for a few days….Don’t let him see this. It should be me who tells him. I owe him at least that much” I said, feeling guilty as Dominic’s face flooded my thoughts.

Stephanno was irked out by the thought but hid it well and nodded. This must have been how Dominic felt all the time. I could read every single thought of Stephanno’s, however slight it may be…..It mustn’t have exactly been a cakewalk for him when I was obsessing over Stephanno and I am astonished that he kept is cool for so long.