~Brielle
This should be easy. Should be.
If I weren’t suspicious of him, or knew nothing about Chase, then I would have no trouble going into my mates room. But still, I’m hesitant, unsure of what will go down if I take a step inside that room, with Ren, and no Chase there to protect me in case something happens. In case something is brought too far…
Lying in my bed, staring at the roof, I contemplate my next move. Maybe I’m being over dramatic. Ren had interest in taking me to bed at some point, but that was a few days ago. Now, it seems like the idea of me turns him off completely.
If I get this key, none of that will matter anymore. All I need to do is find it, and it has to be in that room. And if it’s not…
Well I guess I’m out of options.
Should I do it now? Somehow I doubt that Ren will be all that accommodating if I do show up at his door, wondering if I can come in. But it is something a mate would do, and I am trying to be his mate. I’m just as curious as to why he has suddenly been uninterested in me, when earlier he acted like I was his whole life. I’ll have to figure that one out too.
Hopping out of bed, I run a brush through my hair, spray on some perfume, and pad out into the hallway. This might be me setting myself up for rejection, but I’m willing to take that chance. It’s not going to be easy. To seduce him, but also not to seduce him.
I would never do anything to hurt Chase like that.
Wrapping my gown around myself, I fight off the nightly cold that drifts into these halls once the sun falls. It’s an ominous feeling which I try my best to brush off.
When I reach Ren’s door, I don’t bother knocking.
The curtains in the room are open, when I wander through his quarters to his bedroom. The moonlight shines in onto the bed, lighting him up. He sits, awake, despite the hour, shirtless, staring out the window. In his hands, is a key, flashing against the reflection of the light, just the sight of it makes my heart completely stop.
He doesn’t even look at me, as he begins to speak. “I was waiting for you to figure it out. For him to tell you about it. Now you’re finally here.”
This was all for nothing. This entire time, he has been aware of what has been going on between Chase and I. He knows my true motives all along, and now I’m standing, vulnerable in a room with him, all my lies spread out across a table.
“How do you-”
“I could hear everything you know. The whole time. I could see everything, through his eyes, which clearly you two never realised,” he comments, a smile stretching across his face visible from here, despite the darkness. Hearing those words out of his mouth make me recoil. I need to get out of here, off this island.
The word everythingplays in my mind over again and I stare at him. All the conversations we had about him, all the plots, he knew. He was playing me as much as I thought I was playing him. All our plans have fallen apart.
“And I didn’t even need to get you in bed myself. It was like I was enjoying your body through him. And hell, I enjoyed it, alright,” he murmurs.
Nausea swirls in my stomach. He witnessed me and Chase having sex...Suddenly I want to vomit, or maybe scream and pull my hair out.
“You’re disgusting,” I growl.
“And you want this key. And guess what, you can have it. If you come and get it,” he says, laying the key down on his stomach. The surface of the key almost seems to wink at me, daring me to take a step toward the bed and grab it off that toned abdomen I enjoyed the night me and Chase got together.
I don’t give myself time to think about it. Lurching forward, I swipe for the key, but before my fingers can even grasp it, Ren grabs my wrist, yanking me onto the bed. I barely have time to react, before I’m underneath him, looking up into that emerald green eye.
“It’s not fair that Chase got a taste. What about poor old me?” he murmurs, his breath against my mouth making me shiver, and not in a good way. With the hand that is free, he runs it down my face, like a caress.
“Get off me,” I growl through gritted teeth.
He grins, using his body weight to keep me pinned against the bed. Chase must be able to sense this, Ren’s anger. Or maybe he isn’t angry enough to get his attention. There doesn’t seem to be a way to get him angry, considering how much he is enjoying having me here, underneath him. Even as much as I struggle.
“Don’t act like you didn’t want me. I wanted you, from the moment I laid eyes on you. When you tried to undress for me, I should have let you. I should have fucked you right there and there would be no Chase,” he breathes, that sick smile never fading.
“What do you really want from me, Ren?” I question, fighting against his hold, but it is pointless. He’s waiting until I give up. I just want to hear his true motive.
And I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with sex.
“I want you as my Luna. I want you to put on a smile and make this Pack trust me again. You can have the key all you want, because none of it matters anymore,” he says. Finally, he lets me go, and I scramble up and out of the bed, rubbing the wrists he had taken such a hold of. Thank God for that, at least.
“I’m not going to do that, Ren. You need to stop this. You and Chase need to separate minds, free yourselves from each other. Keep your wealth, keep your secrets, I don’t care. Just let me and Chase go,” I beg.
Ren sits up, raising his eyebrow, pretending to think about it. “I want you as my Luna. So come over here and get your mark.”
I flinch, until he laughs, make me relax.
“I’m only messing with you. I know you don’t want my mark, which means I’m going to have to give it to you whether you like it or not,” he says. He’s up in less than a second, pushing me against the wall, a jarring sensation of pain bursting through my body. He pins me against the wall, once again trapping me.
This time, there are no words to defend myself. Ren tilts my head violently to the side, before his lips touch my neck for only a single moment, before his teeth sink into my neck, the pain so intense, my vision is blurry, bright colours sparking up everywhere.
This isn’t the mark of a mate. This is forced, it hurts. It’s unbearable. I fight to push him away, but he only moans into my neck, before finally pulling away.
What has he done?
Putting my hand up to my neck, I feel the warmth of blood. Sure enough, when I look at it, it’s completely covered. What he did to me is brutal, a taken, rather than a mutual agreement in love. I hate him for it. Even more than before.
“Finally, you’re mine,” he growls, wiping his mouth as he turns his back to me. I stay leant against the wall, gaping at him, my mind trying to process what has happened, what this mean. Can this be reversed? Will I forever be bonded toward him? Will I start to feel something to him, over Chase? All these thoughts are terrifying.
Instead of yelling at him, like all my instincts are suggesting I do, I just slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the ground.
It feels like my entire soul has been ripped out of me.
“Stay here all you like, but I have things to do, to get ready. And if Chase appears, tell him I said hi,” Ren says walking toward the door before pausing looking down at me. “That is if he wants you after that mark. Because you truly are pathetic.”
And with that, he turns, and he walks out the door, leaving me sitting in my own blood, as it runs down my neck and down my back. That animalistic. He manipulated me this entire time, knowing how I felt about Chase, but pretended. I feel used, and worthless, with this hideous mark on my neck.
Stumbling to my feet, I make my way into the bathroom.
Flickering the light on, I look at myself. The ends of my hair are no longer blonde, but a thick, almost black coloured red. When I pull the strands away, I quickly wash off the wound with a washcloth.
I only get the smallest window to look at the bite before it is shrouded in blood again. It’s just broken skin and torn tissue. How could that make a mark?
Suddenly, Ren appears behind me again, except it’s not him, but Chase. That icy blue eye proves it. I whirl around, to look at him and his concerned expression.
And then I collapse into his arms.