Chapter 316
“Don’t even think about locking me in here, Axel,” I tell him, my voice low and threatening.
Axel crosses his arms and looks on dispassionately, not intimidated by me in the least.
Why would he be?
He’s an impossibly powerful slayer who is reportedly hundreds of years old.
I’m probably nothing more than a gnat to him, small, annoying and inconvenient.
“You’re meeting up with strange men in the woods,” Axel replies, eyes narrowing. “You repeatedly run off no matter how many times we tell you not to, and you attacked your own Luna. You’ve brought this on yourself, Emily. Don’t act like it’s a surprise.”
“I didn’t meet up with anyone!” I shout in frustration. “I told you; it was just some random stranger. And I explained about Leah! I thought you understood.”
“Just because I understand, doesn’t mean I condone your behavior,” Axel replies in a harsh voice. “Aaron left me in charge, and I don’t plan to let him down. Your selfish actions. affect the pack whether you know and care or not. I’ll do
whatever it takes to keep you in line, Emily.”
With that, Axel turns on his heel and strides out of the room.
I rush after him, but he slams the door closed between us before I can get there.
A second later, that’s when I hear the lock clicking into place from the outside.
“No!” I yell furiously. “You can’t do this!”
After that, everything becomes a blur of yelling and crying, but Axel doesn’t come back, and doesn’t open the door.
I even rush to the window, thinking I can go through the French doors and climb down from the balcony, but those doors have also been locked.
I think about simply breaking the glass and leaving anyway, but I’m not that far gone that I can’t see how that would only make things worse.
I’d have to come back eventually since I have nowhere else to go, and Axel would probably just lock me in the cellar or some kind of windowless room, making it even harder for me to escape.
The thought of being trapped like that makes me shudder, and the fight goes out of me, leaving me calmer, but no less upset.
I drag myself to bed and cry into my pillow for a while, before falling into a restless sleep.
That’s when the dream starts.
I’m walking aimlessly through the halls of the house, but everything is dusty and feels abandoned, like I’ve been left here alone and forgotten for decades.
But then I walk into the library and the room is warm and inviting, candles glowing softly and a cheery fire in the hearth.
Axel is there, and my heart leaps at seeing him, at realizing I’m not alone after all.
“There you are,” Axel says. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
This Axel isn’t cold and aloof. He’s smiling, warm and welcoming.
Part of me thinks I should be wary, but I can’t remember why.
So I rush forward, and Axel catches me up against him, holding me close and safe in his arms.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted.
All I’ve ever needed.
And now I finally have it.
have a mate who loves me and will protect me and never let anything bad happen to me again.
I lean back to look up at him, but before I can say anything, he swoops in and kisses me.
Oh, how he kisses me–devours me, really, like a drowning man gasping for air.
It’s deep and consuming and everything a kiss should be.
Pleasure storms my body, and for a heady moment I think that if he claims me right now, I wouldn’t deny him.
Just as I’m losing myself to the kiss, Axel suddenly pulls back to look down at me in confusion.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, suddenly feeling scared and worried.
There’s something about him I’m meant to remember.
Something bad.
Some reason why I shouldn’t want this with him, but the answer eludes me.
Axel frowns, looking suspicious and intimidating.
I try to pull back, to escape his hold, but he locks his arms around me, stopping me from going anywhere.
“What are you doing?” I demand, becoming more frightened by
the moment.
Axel lifts a hand and presses a thumb to my upper lip, before exposing my teeth.
“You’re one of them.”
I wake up with a start, gasping, clutching at my chest, my heart pounding like I’m having a heart attack.
The dream felt so real, for a second, I don’t know if it actually happened or not.
But then my brain manages to separate out reality, and I remember Axel locking me into my room.
I grab one of the blankets I’d tossed aside and wrap it tightly around myself, shivering.
But I’m not shaking because I’m cold.
It’s because Aaron left my welfare to the single most dangerous person I’ve ever encountered.
One way or another, I know Axel is going to be the death of me.
