Waking Up

Chapter Three

King Elijah watched me as my father spoke to him. His gaze made my heart beat frantically, but it also raised panic inside me. I wanted to leave, to be anywhere other than the room I was in, to be anywhere that his eyes were not. But, there was still that part of me that wanted to touch hi, to feel if his skin was a smooth as it appeared.

"King Elijah." My father said, knowing that he did not have the King's attention. King Elijah tore his eyes from me and looked at my father and I knew that was my chance. I chose then to slid out of the room, because I knew I could not take being with that man anymore. I could not have a vampire as a mate! I was already so different from the wolves, and if they found this out, they would shun me completely. Especially since it was the man that prevented the werewolves from raising any further into power. I made my way down a hall, which had portraits of vampires hanging on the walls. The floor was made out of a white material, maybe marble and everything else has red. It just felt so cliched, but then again, so was me being mated to a vampire.

"...heard she was going to come back soon." A female voice came from the end of the hall. I froze, what if I wasn't supposed to be here? But it was already too late, they had seen me. It was a male and a female, the male was clearly a vampire, and an old one at that, but I wasn't sure what the female was. The male was tall, with teal colored eyes and he had dark hair that was a mess, in an attractive way. The female was beautiful, with brown hair, brown eyes and perfect cheekbones.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The male smirked. "A runaway wolf?"

"Oh, Cain, leave her alone." The female smiled and then looked at me. She gasped,her eyes becoming wide, which only heightened her beauty.

"What?" Cain asked.

"Her eyes...I've seen them before, a long, long time ago." She said, stepping closer and I stepped back. "Oh, dear I mean you no harm." She smiled.

"What are you?" I blurted, not being able to take the curiosity any longer. She rolled her eyes.

"That is everyone's question. Isn't it?" She sighed.

Cain, the man, was staring intently at me. He was looking for something in my face, I could tell.

"Who is your father?" He asked me.

"Alpha Simon." I said, looking at the portrait we were standing in next to. It was of a beautiful girl, who looked a lot like the girl in front of me, yet she had piercing blue eyes, eyes that matched my family's.

"That is why." Cain said. "Elysia, she is one of Lana's." The girl looked at me.

"Oh! Those eyes are Grayson's!" She laughed.

"Um..."I said, looking for an escape. This couple was very strange, and I wanted to get as far away from them as possible.

"Oh, she has no idea what we are talking about! I'm sorry, I am Elysia, and I am a friend of Lana's." She stuck her hand out. I reached out and shook it, feeling as if I had no other choice. "And this is Cain, Lana's master when she was human and he is a close friend of her's."

"Oh...how old are you?" I asked, shocked.If he had been her master, than he was older than her, and he came before Lupus Sanguine.

"Old." Cain laughed.

"Cain." An icy voice said behind me. I just knew it was him; I didn't even have to turn around to know it was him. "I was not expecting a visit from you."

"King Elijah, how are you?" Cain asked, his cheerfulness never leaving his voice.

"Wonderful." I could feel him so close behind me that my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I knew Cain and Elijah could hear it pounding because the sound thundered through my ears. "How have you been, Cain, Elysia?"

"Perfect, Elijah." Elysia smiled, her eyes sliding over to Cain.

"I couldn't have said it any better." Cain smiled, looking at Elysia. They weren't blood mates, I knew that, but they seemed so in love.

"Do you mind giving me time alone with this wolf? There are a few things I need to discuss with her." Elijah made it sound as if he were asking, but we all knew that it was an order.

"Of course, King." Elysia bowed slightly and then turned to walk away. "Oh, Elijah, there is something odd with this one." Elysia said, looking at me. "I think Lana would like to meet her."

"Charles and her planned to stay out of the country for a while, they are in Russia with her mother. I doubt they will return any time soon."Elijah said. Charles, that was the old King, before Elijah.

"She called me the other day, said she was preparing to come back to make sure that the new wolf was fit to take over the Head Alpha position, she will be here in a few days."

"I shall give her a call then, Elysia. Now, if you do not mind I need to talk to this wolf." Elijah was growing impatient.

She nodded her head and then she and Cain walked down the hall. I turned and looked at him for the second time today, and I drank him in. He was the perfect representation of the villain, someone who was devilishly attractive yet distant and icy. I hadn't noticed how he towered over me and his sheer power made me feel smaller than I really was. He was tall, very tall.

"I did not dismiss you, why did you leave the room?" He asked, and he sounded...annoyed.

I looked away, not wanting to answer. I had never felt so much like a coward as I had in that moment.

"Answer me." He demanded

I felt that I couldn't resist his demands, at least not without consequences. "I felt...strange." I admitted. "I couldn't take...I couldn't take your stares." He stepped closer to me and when I tried to step back, he gripped my arm and spun us so that I was pinned against the wall and he was standing over me.

"My stares frightened you?" I nodded. He smirked. "You are very different for a werewolf, much smaller than most of them." I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to that, it wasn't as if it was something new to me. "I assume you know what we are." I nodded. "I hope you also already know that I would never stoop so low as to take a werewolf as my blood mate." That was right; vampire's called them blood mates. "You do understand what I am saying, correct?" I nodded. "Say it."

"I understand, King Elijah. You do not want me." It hurt to say it, but I knew that it must be said. It would never work, not between us. He reached his hand up and I flinched back.

"You are like a frightened rabbit." He smirked again .It was as if he found my fear humorous.

"Well, I do not necessarily trust your kind." I said, thinking back to last night.

"And why is it that? What is it that my kind has done to you? Other than the oppression nonsense that I hear day in and day out."

"The last experience I had with your kind not pleasant. If they hadn't stopped..." I faded off, seeing that dangerous look in his eyes.

"Did they hurt you?" He asked with a tone so icy I shivered. Should I tell him the truth? Would he honestly care?

"Yes." I said, seeing no reason to actually lie to him.

"Who were they?" He questioned.

"I don't know...they just attacked me, and then my brother stopped them." I lied, not wanting to tell him about my powers.

"You could not stop them yourself?" He asked, looking me over. "No, you could not." He stepped back. For some reason his comment hurt me more than my family's did. "Your family has already left, I dismissed them."

"Then—"

"You will leave soon. First I must call Lana, and then I will arrange a ride home for you." He turned and began walking away. I realized that I did not want to be left alone in the hallway, so I hurried after him. I followed him through the large castle, through hall after hall until he stopped in front of a random, or seemingly random, door. He stepped inside and I waited outside, unsure. "Are you coming in?" He asked impatient, and I followed him. He shut the door behind us and then motioned to the seat in front of his desk. I sat down and looked around his office. The thing that hit me was the fact that there were books everywhere and they were all different kinds. There were more books in this room than there were in Miss Diehl's entire bookstore.

He picked up his phone, about to call Lana.

"Do...do you mind if I read while I wait?" I asked and he glared at me for a moment.

"You may." He said before dialing the number. I stood up and began walking over to the bookshelf closest to me. As I breathed in the scent of old books, I realized that I did not have my glasses, so I would not be able to read. I ran my fingers longing against the spines of the books, before I sat down in defeat.

"Charles, is Lana there?" King Elijah asked and he waited for a reply. I heard a male voice talking on the other side, but I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. "Lana, how have you been?" Again, I could hear a woman talking, but she was speaking low and fast. "That is great news, I heard from Elysia that you are planning to make your trip back early, is that true?" "Is that the only reason?" "No, nothing out of the ordinary." He clenched his jaw. "I do not need to tell you my private life, Lana. I respect you, respect me and stay out of my mind." They shared a few more words and then he hung up. He looked frustrated about something.

"Are...are you okay?" I asked, unsure of what I was supposed to do. This wasn't a typical mate meeting, there was no love or touches being shared. It was all so strange.

"That...woman can be so nosy sometimes." He shook his head. "I understand that it must come with the ability to read anyone's mind. Are you ready to go?" He asked, apparently tired of sharing. I nodded. "You did not read a book, why not?"

"My glasses are...broken." I admitted.

"A werewolf that needs glasses?" He seemed both humored and disgusted by this fact.

"Only to read. My dad says I ruined my eyes by reading so much..." I said, standing up and suddenly feeling very self-conscious. I thought that I had looked decent in the dress, but under King Elijah's scrutiny, I felt like a little girl trying on her mother's dresses.

"Let's go." He said, leading me out of the room. "I don't want to see you back at this castle, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know why? I want you to say it." Why? Did he enjoy torturing me?

"Because you do not want me, you do not want a werewolf as your blood mate." I said, my throat tightening. I wanted to hide in my room and never come out. Rejected from my family, my pack, and now my mate.

"Good, I am glad that you understand. There is a car waiting for you outside, take it." He said, stopping at the front door. We stood for a moment, silence hanging between us. There was a part of me that hoped he would at least embrace me, just once.

Then he turned and walked away, leaving me alone at the door.