CHAPTER 8: FATHER KNOWS
1560 Words
LUCIUS' POV:
I had been standing over some laterns, quietly sipping my drink and listening to one of my father's men brag about a war long forgotten and won when I could hear the audible shouts from down the hall, in a nearly forgotten corner of the hall.
The voice sounded extremely familiar, almost like this drink, but it sounded even more angry than I could ever imagine her to be.
I excused myself from the men who had been going on and on about different kinds of war.
It was an important and rather interesting history lesson, but I didn't want to stand there anymore because something kept dragging my wolf, Damon, toward the sound as it was getting more and more angry.
As I approached the source of the noise, I started to see that alot of people, especially the ones who were not seated, were gathering round the source of commotion.
As I neared the source, I started to see an outline of red hair. I knew that hair even if I was deeply asleep, or in coma.
It was Ariadne.
On getting closer, my steps started to quicken and something started to happen to me.
It was like Damon took over, and my speed increased. I could suddenly smell the scent of chocolates and vanila like never before.
There was only one person who possessed such an outrageously sweet aroma.
I didn't even know her name, but her face and everything about her was planted in my brain.
All I knew was that my mate was in danger, and I needed to protect her at all cost.
I saw Ariadne stretch her hands to full length, willing her wrist to release her claws and got ready for a strike.
I couldn't let that happen, even if I genuinely hated this girl.
I placed myself infront of her, and the impact and the force from it pushed Ariadne so much, she crashed into a nearby table.
It was at this precise moment that Damon fled.
I felt like the world had just taken a big dump, and I took it.
Everyone had gasped in that moment, leaving me breathless at the performance I had just done.
"What the actual f**k, Lucius?" Ariadne screamed as another waitress tried to help her stand up from where she crashed into the table.
She slapped the waitress so hard, she drew blood. Her eyes turned a tinge of yellow with the anger.
"What the hell, Lucius!"
I shared a confused look with the girl in question, and we seemed to ask the same question with our eyes.
"What the hell just happened?"
The shock got everybody whispering and taking a look at us.
I was still infront of the girl in a defensive manner when my father walked into the crowd, brows white and knitted in annoyance.
"What's going on!" He boomed and looked at all three of us, expecting an answer.
"He pushed me, sire!" Ariadne was the first person to break the silence, visibly dusting a few shards of broken bits of the table she had actively crashed into.
My father took one look at her, and with a finger pointed to a maid, she was taken away to the bathroom at least.
"Come here, boy." My father's voice echoed at me.
I held the girl's hand for some reason and walked towards my father, still in a defensive position.
Immediately, we both came in better viewing distance of my father, he gasped.
"Walk into the light. Both of you!" He said.
The light referred to the ray of moonlight that came from an opening in the center of the ceiling.
I didn't understand why he asked for us to step into the moonlight but when we did, everybody, including him, gasped.
***
CASSIA'S POV:
All I wanted to do was go home.
I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to be serving, or waiting drinks and attending to stupid rich people.
I didn't want anything of that sort but here I was, involved in tongue lash with the queen bee of the same school I went to.
As though that wasn't enough, I had made her feel stupid and had Lucius defend me infront of everyone.
Why had he done that though?
And not to mention, the fact that he was still holding on to me — almost protectively.
Something within me fluttered, and I hated it.
Disgusting.
Myla was extremely happy to be, not just close to him, but to be touched by him. She was howling straight up to the sky in my mind.
With lucius' loss for words and my loss for excuses, I was immediately sure that we were going to be placed in the gallows and still, deep fried.
Well, me. Not him.
He was basically a prince, so he got to live.
My face scrunched up when the Alpha walked into the now forming circle and demanded what was going on.
That was also my question for Lucius.
"Step into the light," he said.
I panicked.
I had heard things like this before, where alot of things could be revealed just by having the moonlight touch our bodies, or our fur.
But before I could say a thing more, Lucius was stepping into the moonlight, taking me with him.
Everyone gasped like they were seeing something that we were not seeing.
Everything was beyond baffling and annoying as I realized that I was still holding tight onto Lucius' hand.
I snatched it back away with force, letting myself stay in the moonlight, since everybody knew something that we didn't know.
And that was exactly when my world came crashing down.
"You have a mate! My son has found a mate!"
My heart skipped ten beats at once because, how the f**k did he know about that?
My eyes had widened to a greater extension, giving me a creeped out look.
The Alpha embraced Lucius and raised his arm to signify strength and victory.
Everyone started to clap so hard, it became deafening. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ariadne look stupefied beyond comprehension.
She threw her handkerchief on the ground before bolting out of the door.
I was sure Lucius had seen her leave in that manner because he took my hand again and squeezed it in a deathly way for three seconds, causing immense pain.
I winced silently.
Eventually, he let go as his father embraced him for the second time, and the older man laughed to the jolly of everyone else.
Everyone else, except me.
"My son has found a mate! He is a man now," he said into the crowd, raising his glass and cheering.
Fuck my life.
****
The party was getting to a close, and Lucius and I were brought to an inner chamber where some elders and the Alpha were seated.
What the hell were we doing here again?
"You have to tell me how you found her." All this while, the Alpha hadn't even looked at me and noticed who I was.
I wasn't about to start blabbing, but I was fuming at the audacity. Last time I checked, this was the same man who'd killed my father!
The Amias Alpha lineage had my father's blood on their filthy hands.
"We met at school. She had crossed the threshold there. That's how we bumped into each other," Lucius lied easily.
I nearly choked with laughter in my mind. It was really bumped.
If anything, we didn't 'bump.' He choked me, almost to death, and instead of protecting me, he threw me out to the authorities and got me community service.
The Alpha looked extremely pleased, and for the first time, he cast his gaze on me. His eyes seemed to drop, and his expression changed.
My heart was giving erratic beats.
"Don't I know you?"
Everyone, including Lucius, had their eyes looking at me. I swallowed a lump of saliva even though my throat was extremely dry.
I wanted to scream just how much he knew me. Just how much he hurt me and my mother, but his eyes and his conscience did the job as he moved closer to me.
His eyes widened in shock, and his hand fell to my shoulders.
"What is your name, child?" He asked gently.
"Cassia. Cassia Oscar, Your highness." I gritted.
Every bit of my tongue became heavy
"Oscar?" His eyes twinkled im realization.
He had finally confirmed that which he suspected.
That much was obvious with the way he stepped back from me, and took his eyes down to avoid my contact for a few minutes.
He knew immediately who I was, and what he had done.
Lucius looked extremely confused. He kept on looking from his father to me.
He looked at me expectantly, like he was demanding an answer but I wasn't the one to give it.
"What is happening here?" Lucius broke the silence.
The elders and everybody else kept on avoiding gazes, and while I didn't care about their pity, I avoided gazing too.
"Everyone. Leave." His voice boomed and as I turned to leave, being the first to want to escape
"Not you, Cassia Oscar. You, stay." He said again.
I watched as everyone left, and I remained.
'What could possibly go wrong now?' I mentally asked myself.
- Writer
