Talic’s POV
I quickly stood up when she rose from her seat with a very angry expression on her face.
“Get out,” she whispered.
“What? Why?” I asked in disbelief.
Why was she suddenly saying that after hearing the story?
“You, your leader, and those other warriors are scum of the earth. I’m so happy that your Alpha will lose his mind. If it were up to me, I would want him dead because you are all so disgusting!” She spat.
I found myself moving in a split second and grabbing her by the neck in anger.
I understood how messed up my human and the others were. But no one had the right to say such harsh words about my Alpha, mate or not.
I frowned in shock when a force pulled my hands from her neck. I was about to push them forward when I felt weak, and my knees gave out. I fell to the ground, only to experience a sharp stabbing pain in my head that made me scream out.
“Stop,” I pleaded while I moved my hands to my forehead.
“You are quite the stupid type, aren’t you?” She asked when she knelt down in front of me and grabbed me by the chin, forcing me to look at her as I struggled to endure the pain and let the tingles I felt calm me down.
“I have lived here for thousands of years, and in all those years, no one, be it living or dead, was stupid enough to make an open attack on me as you did. I don’t know if I should applaud you for your courage or curse you for your stupidity,” she whispered and then dropped her hand and stood up.
I sighed in relief when the pain slowly subsided.
“Me letting you off the hook easily shouldn’t give you the wrong ideas, Mr. Beta, but I need you alive for you to understand something,” she said as I sat on the ground looking at her powerlessly.
“Your Alpha is a bad person, and his underlings are just like him. What he is going through is the moon goddess’s payback, and you being mated to me is also your payback because she knows how I will never accept you. Karma is a bitch, isn’t it? She knew where to hit you and how to hit you hard,” she said as I shook my head in fear, my breath becoming rapid and my throat getting dry.
“Are you going to reject me?” I asked in a cracked voice.
I was scared, very scared by her words.
“You, what is your name?” She asked softly.
“No, I refuse to tell you,” I answered strongly.
There was no way I was going to give her my name to have her reject me. Not only would it shatter me, I would end up losing my sanity or dying too. No matter what, I wanted her, no, we needed her.
“Hmmm, it won’t be hard to figure out,” she said as she took a step closer and leaned in, gazing into my eyes.
“Mmm, Harvey,” she called as I held my breath and quickly lowered my gaze to the ground.
Was she reading my mind through gazing into my eyes or what? If that was the case, then I wasn’t going to look at her.
“No, that’s the name of your human self. Your name is Talic,” she said as I quickly got to my feet.
“Why!” I growled out furiously.
“Why what?” She asked calmly.
“Why do you want to reject me before knowing me fully or giving me a chance!” I exclaimed.
“Talic,” she called as I flinched.
“What’s there to know or learn about? When your story shows how horrible you are. You may not have directly caused that poor girl’s death, but that doesn’t mean you are innocent either because you sat still and let Harvey do as he wanted,” she said as I moved and grabbed both of her hands in mine, knowing fully well she may get even more angry.
“I accept your words and I do acknowledge how wrong I was. That’s why I am here to make it right. I am willing to do anything you ask of me. So please help me out, I’m begging you,” I pleaded as she dropped her hands.
“Fine, I will help you. But the price for my help is you accepting my rejection. That way, I won’t be bonded or linked to you in any way,” she said as I furiously folded my hands into fists.
Was she fucking insane! How could she think I would ever accept her rejection? I wanted her badly, and so far, it was taking every cell in me to not touch her.
“You must be fucking insane if you think I’ll accept such a thing,” I said seriously as her expression turned cold.
“I am messed up, and yes, I made a mistake by letting my human self have everything he wanted. There was never once in all my entire life that I wanted anything, so I let him be. I chose not to interfere, and that’s my regret as of now. But for the first time in my whole existence, I want you, my mate, so badly that it doesn’t matter if you accept to help me or not,” I said as I braced myself for her to yell.
I was surprised when her cheeks turned a slight shade of red, and she lowered her gaze to the ground.
“Edith, I am not going anywhere without you,” I said as she looked up with a stunned expression on her face.
“Please understand that I want you so badly. I’m even stopping myself with everything I’ve got in me not to embrace you or cling to you like a desperate man would. No matter what, I can’t imagine ever leaving you,” I said honestly.
“With your Alpha unwell, you have a big pack to govern,” she pointed out the obvious.
“I know, and it’s in good hands as we speak,” I answered.
“So you’re telling me that you are willing to throw away your rank, responsibility, and home for me?” She asked as I kept quiet for a few minutes, going through her words carefully.
My loyalty was towards my pack and my Alpha, that’s why I acted up when she said such horrible words towards him. But the thought of losing her was eating me up badly. A part of me knew I would end up insane if not dead without her by my side.
“For now, but believe this or not, with time I would gladly convince you to go back with me. That’s the confidence I have in our bonding,” I answered as she smiled and then moved to her seat and sat down.
“Sit down, Beta, I have a story to tell you,” she said, and I found myself sitting down.