Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 165: Time has come

Arabella sat with no way of knowing whether the sun had sunken or otherwise, with no way of predicting when it was to come whatever the Alpha had in the works for her.

Thus, it was up to the cavern walls to kindly keep her company. Vibrations rumbled through those aged rocks as many other souls roamed and lurked in that den, the echoes of their words barely reaching the deepest pockets but made the stone around them tingle.

Her peace ended when footsteps’ sound traveled to her ears. Cynric didn’t stop and closed in until he towered over her seated figure.

Instinctively, Arabella leaned away to the best of her ability which wasn’t much since the wall behind her limited her range of motion.

"My son has been asking his caregiver for more cooked meat," he stated dryly at first, "Are you proud of yourself?"

"No," she muttered.

"First, no thank you and now no apology?" at those words, his demeanor shifted entirely, "You are not who you seem to be,"

Unlike anything he’d uttered before, that made her eyes dart up his way, but no retort came along with the stare.

"Are you not scared anymore?" he finally crouched down to her level.

Once again so near his breath brushed her entire face, but that wasn’t the only thing to catch her attention.

Indeed, the action proved that he donned more than his fur around the crotch. It was a stretch of fur, yes, but not of his own.

"Like what you see?"

She immediately averted her gaze, hoping her burning cheeks wouldn’t completely betray her, "I am scared," in her chest, the drumming of her heart was almost louder than those spoken words.

"Then tired of crying, perhaps?"

Instead of answering his question, Arabella asked one of her own, "Do you often take unwilling souls as mates?"

"They become very willing after the mark," his eyes traveled all over her face, inspecting every inch, every trait before connecting with her gemstones again.

"Was that how Rem’s mother became your mate?"

"No!" his grin grew wider, "Dear Goddess Ayyura knows that one was a wild card," he stopped before quickly adding upon noting the perplexion on the young woman, "Even wilder than myself," Cynric sighed, "She stood out among the rest and it seems I can’t help but find women that stand out irresistibly fascinating,"

Her eyebrows furrowed shortly as she looked down at herself. Although in the end, all Arabella could say in reply was, "I am sorry for your loss,"

"Yeah, I know a lot about loss," the Alpha pushed a longer exhale as he rose back to his feet.

The next thing that appeared to capture his attention were none other than the walls surrounding them.

"Was any of what you told Rem about the cavern walls true?" he asked without turning her way.

"Of course!"

The way her face, sort of, lit up took the wolf man by surprise.

"Tell me more," he demanded.

"As I said before, all of the great caves that were once inhabited by older generations of wolf folk had markings carved all over the inner walls, especially in the deeper pockets," the young woman remained in her place, gazing at the walls from there.

"And where does one find that kind of knowledge?"

"It was in a diary that sat gathering dust back in my father’s library, dating back to over 800 years ago from our very day," she paused momentarily before continuing, "It did not detail every aspect of this tradition, but yes, older wolf folk generations used to brand their walls using moonstone. It was a common practice across various packs and thus all caverns that were once inhabited by wolf folk should have those markings. At the very least the ones that date back over eight centuries. The book merely speculated that it was a way to keep their heritage alive and to pass their knowledge down to their descendants or communicate with whomever lived in those caves after them,"

Arabella’s voice had stabilized, and tone softened. There was that distant, fair smile and nebulous gaze into a faraway land across her eyes as she told the story.

"And what of these markings? What did they say?" his fingers grazed the damp stone.

"If they were words, then I am afraid they were far beyond my wisdom. Although, I do remember that every line involved an excessive number of squares. Albert Eanocs transcribed some of them into his journal, but even he couldn’t figure out what they said," the young woman shook her head slowly.

"This... Albert Eanocs," Cynric started, "He wasn’t a wolf man, was he?"

"I seriously doubt that as the writings he observed were freshly done in his time and according to his own words, he was no child when it happened either,"

Cynric took the deepest breath he’d inhaled since the beginning of their conversation before muttering, "I see...,"

Another set of steps approached the pocket, growing louder until Cherreka’s figure came into view. The old woman carried a cup in her hand.

"Here you go," she handed it to Arabella who did not accept it quickly enough for Cynric’s taste.

"Take it and drink all of it," he ordered.

"I am not feeling thir-"

"If I have to make you drink it, I will,"

He left her no other choice but to do as told, preferring not to have his hands on her.

The first sip of the liquid revealed nothing special about it. It tasted very much like... Water.

The instant Arabella finished drinking, Cynric walked past the two of them, but stopped before disappearing behind the wall, "Stand up. Time has come,"

"Time for what?" the young woman stuttered throughout the entire question.

Her eyes went over to Cherreka. However, all hopes of getting any answer out of her withered when the old woman stood silent to the side, allowing Arabella passage in order to follow the Alpha.

"You’ll see," he turned away, "Now come before I drag you,"

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺