Inevitable Conclusions

Chapter-Eight

Chapter-Eight

He tracks her over to a cemented staircase by the back garden, which is just a bushel of shrubbery at the moment. He is smart enough to recall his attire before he blindly approaches the no doubt frightened girl. He was a human slave the last she saw him, while said to be a consort he presumed most slaves didn’t dress in designer cloths amounting up to half the rate of one of these mansions. He mulled over the prospect of giving up the farce that wasn’t even his own to begin with, but there was something about the unguarded nature that he had been swept by, she didn’t seem very fascinated by werewolves in general either, besides he wanted to have a little fun before his princely title was called into question.

Augustus’ contact with the human slaves were limited, so far no human other than the strange creature had ever had a long enough conversation with him and the Prince had felt no particular need to change that. He rids himself of his jacket, tears of the ends of his pants a little with a quick claw and unbuttons the top of his shirt, just enough to make himself seem ragged not enough to show the already healed scars the girl no doubt expected from him as the scent of her own injuries simply increased in the air as he walked over.

She is startled at his presence once she finally does take notice of him, and for a human without extra sensory highlighters she is quick to spot him. She is caught off guard between trying to shove something into the worn old bag in her lap and look over at him in alarm. But the moment recognition dawns, her shoulders slumps and she visibly relaxes where she sits, that’s something Augustus saves into his memory, along with dark hair and those eyes that never dims for a second whether threatened or relaxed.

“Dude!- The ‘Consort’ dude!- ” she sounds pleased despite the surprise and Augustus’ heart sings a little at the tone of her voice.

Augustus thinks before speaking, for a man who could speak his way out of any tragedy now his words were daunting him, asking himself were his words ever going to be enough in front of the strange human ahead of him, it’s an emotion that makes him feel pathetic and week, a combination he would simply not accept in another scenario but succumbs to almost willingly at the gaze of the person ahead of him.

“Hello” he utters at last, hoping to sound less like a prince and more like whatever she perceives him to be.

“Hey, What are you doing here?-Aren’t you supposed to be- I don’t know- doing your ‘consorty things’ for some lonely werewolf ladies- or men, I am not picky- whoever” she speaks all the while she takes out another long clothing, and pulls it over herself with a light wince.

The scent that envelops the air in that moment is flashing, it’s fake, all wrong and all deliberate to throw her real scent off, he wants to rip it off, and not flashing his eyes red at the moment is the greatest level of control he had ever shown in his life.

“This smells like rat s**t” she remarks sniffing the clothing herself, obviously having noted his own discomfort, “But currently rat s**t is gonna help me save my ass, so-” she leans her head onto the wall; the long breath she lets out is echoed within himself.

“Why is it that whenever we do meet you seems to be in some state of undress?” Augustus finds his words at last.

“Uh- It’s actually the opposite, I am putting cloths on not off- besides, I don’t think you, my man, are allowed judge. You take your clothes off for a living, don’t you?” Her heart is starting to slow down at last, the visible nerves lowering as she eases in to her surroundings, even seemingly biting of a yawn at the end of her words as she finally stops ruffling through her backpack, “What are you- How did you get here?”

“I have certain privileges, I am a favorite of sorts around here” he says unable to keep the disdain at the clothing out of his face.

He walks over cautiously, he has all intentions to touch and mark, he wants to so badly that he doesn’t even understand the urges in him, but yet her posture says it won’t be easily welcomed, he knows how to deal with frightened animals, and jumping at her after she has been chased for god knows how long didn’t seem like a smart choice, so he chooses to sit on the edge of the stairs that enabled him a beautiful view of her hidden in the corners.

“Uhh-uh- I wonder why? It’s not like you are the prettiest guy in the city or anything. Thank god for good looks, huh” she trails of a little, her words a little slow and this time she doesn’t fight the yawn on her lips.

“I presume that is a compliment?”

“Most definitely, super pretty – I bet those douche wolves are simply falling over themselves to sink their claws into your neck” she smiles, eyes alight again despite her obvious exhaustion.

“Are you flirting now, my love?” He is thoroughly amused.

“Maybe- I am kinda tired, I think the drink I stole might have been a little roofied, like werewolfy roofied so that’s definitely not good- but mostly tired, and you were totally creepy the first time what with the claws marks and the blood and the vomit- So Yeah, I am allowed to flirt okay, let me flirt before I have to flee” she makes some kind of motion with her hand, it doesn’t seem to mean anything but the unruliness of her fingers enchant Augustus nevertheless.

“I was hardly objecting; believe it or not I do love being the center of attention” he says as he looks over the slumped figure for any visible signs of distress. He didn’t like the idea of someone drugging her, the idea of her being defenseless, which is kind of a terrible situation to be in considering a human is just a fleshy defenseless pawn that could just get killed off in so many ways, and this one seemed to have a penchant for wanting to get hurt after all.

“You are a walking disaster” Augustus realizes, almost unconsciously saying it allowed.

“That’s not a compliment” she claims with narrowed eyes, “I basically stated that you could beat all the excessive princes in this fuckshit capitol, now you are meant to say something nice about me. Or were you too busy with all the s*x training to bother with basic human courtesy?” she jokes easily that he finds himself leaning even closer from the stairs until he could simply extend his arms and touch her to his pleasing, but for the moment he doesn’t, choosing to entrain himself with the her interesting choice of words.

“You are obsessed with what I do” he chooses to say at last, noting all the subtle comments aimed at his presumed ‘consort’ status.

“I just haven’t met anyone who does what you do and actually don’t want to kill themselves instantly, or worry about the possibility of getting killed- which is very-very high by the way, those assholes are way too f*****g unfairly powerful. You are a happy human, dude- you are basically a human unicorn and I am just fascinated” she shrugs.

He supposes ‘Human Consorts’ must be an unhappy bunch, there was a whole lot of lack of consent and torment involved the last he knew of it. It was the kind of thing that someone like Eddrian would probably be into, and that’s enough of a statement to summarize how sick it could be. Then the thought of someone looking at her as a human consort dawns on him, and he almost growls at the very idea before he is able to catch himself.

“Are you not happy?” he demands instantly, startling her with the sudden change in the tone of his voice that she flinches a little.

“Uh- You don’t really get out of your gilded cage much do you?” she stares intently at him for a few seconds, curling her legs closer seemingly out of the cold, “Are you happy? - Really happy in here where you’ll get whipped if you breathe the wrong way?” she returns the same question.

It’s not an answer, but her words answer him nevertheless, making him think about things he had never been concerned with before.

“Exactly” she says after a few seconds of his silence, “Now let’s stop with this ‘happy’ bullshit and get back to talking about how pretty you are, you look like you are about to burst a nerve” she smiles at him. It helps and he finds himself stepping closer to her until he sits on the same dusty gravel opposite to her, his shoes touching with her ragged ones, thankfully she doesn’t notice in her tired haze.

“I believe you were in the middle of comparing me to the charms of the Prince, which does remind me- Have you see the princes before, at all?” he can’t help but wonder, enjoying himself once again at the irony of the moment.

“When I was a kid- maybe on posters or something- I know there is like more than one, Oh- I have seen the scary looking one with the eternal b***h face on the TV a few years back, looked like he was seconds away from burning the whole place down, real charming” she rants on and Augustus finds himself laughing at her description.

“Yeah, that one’s a little messed up, but the younger one- He is quite a charmer” he adds.

“Hmm- Have you- you know ‘serviced’ him before?” And now she was implying that he somehow had s*x with himself, Augustus can’t help the grin that spills over him.

This time when he reaches out, it is instinctive, unconscious, out of fondness rather than the previous desperation to mark and mount. She is freezing regardless of the layers of clothing, so she simply leans into the touch even more that Augustus finds himself moving closer until he is seated right beside her with their sides touching and his wolf finally seems to simmer down.

And then she leans her head onto his shoulder, exposing her neck and he almost purrs right then and there. Because her head is cushioned onto the side of his neck she doesn’t see the way his eyes go red out of the pure moment of power and joy the simple act brings to him, regardless of the fact she is showing her neck unaware of just what that means to an Alpha like him.

It’s almost unnatural the way he reacts, he pulls her closer and more or less covers her in his arms, but beyond that he scents the girl for himself, calling her his, calling her mate, a word that would later leave him shocked and gasping at the implication but for the moment he is finally sated beyond his wildest dreams to care.

“You are very warm” she remarks, “Like seriously, No wonder people want to sleep with you, in this cold I bet people would give money to have you in their beds for pure cuddling reasons” she goes on speaking, despite her voicing coming out muffled. All he can do at the moment is nod along as he tries to mark every inch of her he can touch without her taking notice or moving away.

“How’s your shoulder?” he recalls the wound as he can feel the pain vibrate off from her arm when his hands pass over, he doesn’t remember much but there was blood, and blood wasn’t always good when it came to tiny breakable humans who never actually seemed to heal.

“Better” and that is a lie, and he presumes the wound must be hurting too.

“How did you get that?”

The scent of blood and pain is even more concentrated when he is close to her, intermixed with over used soap and something else he couldn’t recognize. He finds himself growing more and more irked despite the calm as more scents are found and none of it has anything to do with him.

“The same way you got yours, Claws- Very angry claws” she murmurs. So he simply puts more of his strength to pulling her closer, cautious of the wounded arm.

“Any idea who exactly, a name perhaps?” it’s hard to control his anger, but her presence helps him word the question as calmly as possible.

“No one told me, it was just some teenager- You know hormonal werewolves in a d**k measuring contest and all that”

He tries to sniff over the wound to see if he can catch any traces and pick out each of the said claws out of the culprit, but the wound is too old, too washed and now there is just a medicinal scent left to his utmost frustration. Nevertheless Augustus already sets his mind to find the owner of that mark regardless of the means, it isn’t just determination and a spoiled need anymore, it’s a necessity he feels deep in his bones.

“And how is the claw painting on you- Woah-” she reaches out with a hand towards his chest, but then seemingly trails off once contact is finally made, Augustus is quick to envelop that freezing hand with his own before she can feel the unblemished skin, all the while that rumbling sensation with him finally calms, “You are really f*****g warm, nobody is supposed to have this kind of body heat in this weather- I am freezing here, it’s unfair” she seems genuinely surprised.

“I don’t make a point of hiding out in unconcealed and open areas for the first part” he finally speaks again, his voice much softer than he is used to when directed towards her.

She simply stares at him, pointing out the fact he was sitting there with her by simply a gaze at their closeness. He laughs, “I am simply keeping you warm” he says and she must really be tired because she doesn’t question him further, just leans closer until her head is pillowed into his chest and stretches a hand over to hold his, their hands simply tightening with the moment.

“but I am always cold” it’s not rejection, not when she is obviously making use of his higher temperature and curling herself closer and closer, it’s an observation and not a good one. Augustus proceeds to stretch his unoccupied hand over her hair, breathing in her scent and categorizing everything he can feel.

“And I am always warm- Seems fitting” he remarks a second later.

She tenses a little then, but doesn’t make a motion of getting off.

“How do you expect to do that? - If you haven’t noticed yet I am not supposed to be here, like at all, not in my lifetime kind of thing. I am gonna bolt as soon as I catch my breath- because I am pretty sure I have a couple of guards on my tail- It’s not a gonna be a pretty picture if they find us like this”

“-or you could stay” he is not even sure of what he is speaking by this point, or how to say what he wants to say, this was something unusual, un-ventured territories for someone who had thought he had experienced all there was to life, “-As I mentioned I have certain privileges, privileges that could potentially help you transfer packs-“

“Whoa- Whoa- I am gonna have to stop you right there buddy!” she raises her head instantly to look at him, seemingly holding back a laugh despite the startled moment “I know where all this touchy feely things are coming from but we have met literally twice, I don’t even know your name, you don’t even know my name- so don’t go planning the wedding alright? And I regret to inform you that-regardless of the obvious gorgeousness- it’s sadly never going to work out, I assure you it’s not the ‘s*x slave’ thing but rather for the sake of your sanity”

“If you haven’t noticed yet my sanity tends to vary past the lines of normal” he challenged back, inclining his face closer to her to get her to lean back.

She smiles again, and looks a little surprised and he senses something that he is sure is some kind of joy and happiness that has his wolf preening. The feeling passes as suddenly as it came. She pulls her hand away from his hold, his now free palm raises to her clothed legs almost instinctively as she pulls up the sleeve of her shirt.

“Are you just really unobservant? Or do you honestly not know what this is?” she asks after revealing the binds on her hand. He is aware that it isn’t a good thing, but beyond that he just doesn’t like her having marks and binds that were kept on by others.

“I don’t care. I can get rid of it” he assures and retakes the hand in his own, but this time she isn’t as quick to hold on.

“I am starting to think that you are not even real, just some kind of imaginary pretty dude my brain makes up when I am exhausted and hopeless” she laughs a second later, the tone in his voice suggests that she is actually a little serious. It’s not funny; it’s nullifying his hold over her.

This time he doesn’t think twice before he leans closer to her, his hand cupping her cheeks to guide her closer to him before their lips meet. She doesn’t reciprocate at first and he is so on edge that he has to close his eyes and calm his heart in order not to shift and simply hold her down and take what his wolf is determined is his, but when she kisses back its sweeter, the coldness of her hands on him guiding as their lips meet and mix all the while he tries to mark her as much as he can.

She pulls back way too soon that he almost growls out loud.

“I am real” he answers, his eyes thankfully its normal hue. He notes that her heart is thudding, and it’s not really in adrenaline either, she seems shocked, maybe a little alarmed.

“I-Not- You are-” she chokes for words a little, seemingly trying to get her balance as she closes her eyes and opens again, just as he does when he tries to get rid of the red of his eyes, when he tries to find control. But when she opens her eyes she doesn’t say anything, but rather pulls away from him and takes hold of her backpack before getting to her feet.

It takes all that he has in him not growl at her and pull her back, to make her stay by his side, but he manages , maybe out of shock, maybe out of the daze in his own head.

“Yeah-That was- I should go. It’s not very safe” she starts just as she pulls away, “This was good- I enjoyed it very much, the kiss and the warmth and the fact that you are very f*****g handsome. It was good; it was great- entirely impossible and useless in the larger concept of things. So let’s just call it a day okay?” she seems to switch back, vibrating where she stands, Augustus is not sure whether it’s out of her nerves or the cold.

“You run too much” he notes with a resigned sigh. He doesn’t want her to leave, that’s one thing he is sure of, but she seems to get more spooked off, asking to be chased back, asking to be courted and Augustus can do that, it’s a matter of his pride. So he will give her that.

“I do” she admits, “And I am not going to stop, no matter how pretty you are and what you think you can do for me” there is challenge there, hiding something else she is thinking but nevertheless it’s something Augustus is all too willing to accept, so for now he lets her go.

“At least tell me your name” he leans back to the same wall she had been sitting against.

“There is something off about you that I am not entirely sure you aren’t a secret spy sent down by the wolves to trick susceptible young walking disasters like me into a lifetime of imprisonment and torture, besides, I don’t know yours either, seems fair” she jumps up the stairs, but doesn’t quite leave either, choosing to stare down at him the same way he stared down at her from the spot on the stairs.

“We just kissed, I think I am owed at least that” he remarks with a smile on his face to egg her on, “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours”

She seems to be confused, and then seemingly changes her mind.

“I don’t have any friends to call me things , so I am called nothing, which is what you are getting today. Goodbye, Happy Consort Dude”

“I have a feeling we will see each other again, My Walking Disaster” he smirks, accepting the unaware human’s words.

“Let’s hope not” she says, she turns back to take another glance at him, her eyes so inquisitive that for a second he thinks she is already starting to catch on to something, but in the end she turns back and just as she said, she runs…