Sia woke up a moment after Thane exited the cellar. He sat up groggily, stretching out his limbs. Suddenly everything came back to him. The dress. The gun. The ink and Crinka. Most importantly Crinka. He shot up to his feet, ignoring the weird look Izal was giving him. What was he doing here anyway?
“Where’s she?”, he asked in a raspy voice.
“You should take care of yourself first. Here, have some water. It will help with the sore throat.”
“How did you…? You know what? Never mind. Where’s she?”
“Behind you.”
Sia quickly turned and was livid to find Crinka locked in a cage with silver bars. She was awake, her eyes filled with sadness. Sia felt his chest tighten. He averted his gaze, turning to Izal.
“Who the fuck put her in there?”
“It was only necessary. She’s a wild brat.”
“Let her out.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to fuck you up Izal, let her out.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t. She’s unstable at the moment and a threat.”
Sia suppressed the urge to laugh. His little spitfire, a threat?”
“Whose idea was this huh?”
“Mine.”
Sia turned to glare at Thane in the doorway. “Of course, it’s you. Only you would have the mind to do something like this. What happened to meet me in the cellar brother?”
Thane looked at his feet. “I admit that I was wrong to set you up but I only did it so that you two could work out your issues.”
“And where did that get us huh?”, Sia yelled as he stalked towards Thane. “Where did that fucking get us? I told you that she didn’t want to be claimed. That you should drop it but nothing I say matters does it!”, Sia yelled in his face. He was clouded with rage, and Thane cursed as he saw that familiar purple dot in his eye. Fuck, Sia was mad.
“Let her out Izal,” he rushed. “Let her the fuck out.”
Izal refused. Thane only got madder. “Let her the fuck out man! He’s going to kill me.”
“No, I’m not going to kill you”, Sia said with a wicked laugh. “Where’s the fun in that? I’ll rip you apart limb by limb and feed your remains to the hound if you don’t let her the fuck out!”
Thane was shaking. This was a side of Sia that only a few people got to see, and he wasn’t happy to be among them.
“You wouldn’t want to make Waxlyn an orphan,” he breathed.
Sia smirked. “Such terminologies don’t matter to Sycamore and you know it. So be a good younger brother, and let my woman out!”
“Enough you two! Sia get a hold of yourself! We’ll let the wolf out, we just want to know what triggered her…”
Sia cut in rudely. “Fear. It was fear.”
Izal frowned. “Fear? I thought she did it for survival?”
Sia shook his head. “She was afraid, Izal. I saw it in her eyes. When I brought the gun nearer, she just snapped. It had to be the fastest shift I have ever seen in my life. I just didn’t expect her to bite me.”
“She left a mark,” Thane murmured.
Sia gingerly touched the marked area. He wasn’t expecting it. He dropped his hand.
“Do you now see why she has to be locked up?”, Izal asked. Sia turned to him.
“I don’t see anything wrong with what she has done. Marking me, she did it out of fear. And it’s my fault. I should have just listened to her when she said she didn’t want to be claimed.”
“The ceremony would have been incomplete without the Claiming Sia. It had to be done,” Thane defended.
“And now the she-wolf marked me. Let her out Thane, and don’t waste another second.”
Thane huffed, moving to where the cage dangled from the ceiling. It had been difficult putting it to the ceiling, but their efforts had been worth it. At least he got to rest. Sia stood before the cage as Thane rifled through the keys.
“Um… Nas, don’t you think you should move back a bit? She might attack again.”
“Open the goddamned cage, Thane.”
Thane rolled his eyes and unlocked it, opening the cage door. Immediately he did this, the wolf leaped from the cage but Sia was faster. He wound his hand around her neck and threw her on the ground. Izal winced as she made an impact with the iced floors.
“At least you could be gentle!”, Izal yelled.
“Stay out of it. Let Sia do his thing,” Thane muttered.
Sia walked to the wolf. She staggered to her feet with the intent to run, but he was ready. He grabbed her forelegs and forced her back on the ground, making sure the little wolf was stretched out underneath him.
After locking her gaze with his, he swiftly commanded, “Shift!”
She refused, shaking her furry head at him.
“Shift!”, he bellowed. She shook her head again, but he could see that her paws had changed to palms. He also noticed the large cut on her right hand. They didn’t even have the decency to heal her wounds, he thought, gritting his teeth. He would deal with that later. Now he just needed his little wolf to shift.
“Shift!”, he shouted. She shook her head again. Sia nearly lost it, if not for Izal.
“You’re scaring her Nasia. Say it again, but calmer this time. She won’t listen to you if she is afraid of you.”
Sia exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and reopened them.
“Shift”, he whispered. “You can do it baby. C’mon shift.”
Bones cracked, skin ripped, and Sia was delighted to see Crinka underneath him. He took note of all her cuts, but what he hated was the way she pushed him away. Crinka scrambled to her feet, glaring at Sia.
“You should have listened to me! I told…”, she hiccupped, letting the tears she had been holding back fall. “I told you that I didn’t want it yet you didn’t listen! Now see what you’ve done! My wolf, she isn’t always like that, but all thanks to you, she ran wild! She refused to listen to me when I begged her not to attack! Look at my body, Sia! All these cuts won’t be healing any time soon and it’s all your fault!”
Izal butt in. “How is any of this his fault? Thane was the one who used a knife on you.”
Crinka sniffed, wiping away a tear. “I know, but Thane couldn’t have done that if Sia had simply listened. As a lesser wolf, I need my wolf to heal. She’s a part of me, and thanks to her, I am stronger in a way, and my wounds heal faster when she’s around, but she has left me! And it’s all his fucking fault she won’t be coming back! I was better off as an omega! At least I had my wolf. But now, she’s gone and I am a fucking latent.”
“I’m latent too,” Sia whispered.
“Your case is different! Sia, you’re an Icelander! You’re royalty. You might not be able to shift, but you’ve got power. You’re stronger than wolves given your lycan abilities and all that crap. It’s not the same with me. My super hearing thingy is gone, and so are the reflexes, and all the things that made me inhumane! I’ve lost my fangs, and there’s no difference between me and a human! And you know the laws, Sia. Humans can’t be with supernaturals. They shouldn’t even know that beings like that exist. It’s why Ruarc killed Anita!”
The realization bore down on Sia, but he refused to believe it. “No. There’s still hope. Something can be done.”
“There’s nothing to be done! And even if we were to pretend that she’s still a werewolf, she won’t be able to bear you children,” Thane said quietly.
Sia shook his head. He refused to believe it. The council had tolerated her as a wolf, but would they do so now that she’s latent?
“What about the bond between you and Ruarc?”, he asks.
Crinka glowered. “A silly bond isn’t going to change the fact that I’m latent. I guess I should have just listened to Ruarc when he warned against my coming to the palace.”
Sia felt his chest tighten. Why did this feel like goodbye? They needed each other. The blood bond between them called for that. She dies, and he dies. He couldn’t let her leave.
“So, you’re going to leave because you’re now latent? What happens to your mark on my shoulder?”
“It would eventually fade, just as my feelings for you.”
Izal’s jaw dropped, and so did Thane’s. Sia’s eyes widened as the weight of her words sunk in.
“You have feelings for me?”
She bit her lip, looking away. Damn! She should have just kept her mouth shut.
“They won’t matter once I leave. It’s not like you are ever going to return those feelings so don’t think about it too much. It pains me that I wasted my time vying for your love and affection when you don’t have any to give.”
She turned to Thane. “I’m also sorry that you wasted your time planning for a ceremony that won’t take place. I doubt that I would be allowed to stay till the 25th, so I might just leave now.”
“At least take my coat,” he said, taking it off. Crinka stared at it for a while before taking it. Their fingers brushed in the process, and Crinka tried to forget the shivers as she put on his coat.
She headed for the door.
“Can I at least get a kiss?”
Crinka stopped in her tracks, then faced him.
“I want to forget the taste of your lips, and kissing you is not the way to do it.”
“Please,” he begged. He just needed to hold her one more time.
And as their lips touched, Crinka wondered if leaving him was the right thing, because all she wanted to do was drown in his kisses, and die in the pleasure of his touch.