[Stella’s POV]
When the portal closed, everyone still stared at me, some were shocked and others clearly had contempt in their eyes.
I didn’t judge them, ‘cause I did just help Dilan and the rest flee. But I couldn’t possibly explain to them why I did what I did, so instead I acted like a coward and stormed out of there.
I needed to get to my room immediately, to make sure everyone would be safe.
But I didn’t get very far before someone yelled out to me, or it wasn’t just anyone, but Conner, he was James' nephew.
It was him who was responsible for the safety around the pack. He walked towards me, as I turned around.
“What the hell was that about, Stella! Why did you help them?” He yelled as he walked even closer, and it was clear he was angry with me. I tried to prepare for what was coming, but then Armaros showed up as well and stepped in front of me.
“Don’t you dare yell at her, she doesn’t have to defend her actions to you or anyone else!” Armaros growled.
“Back off, demon, this has nothing to do with you!” He growled, but Armaros didn’t seem the least scared of him.
“It has everything to do with me, when you threaten my mate, so get the fück away from her!” Armaros snapped, and pushed him back. He gave a small sneer, but then chose to retreat.
“We are not done here! This will have consequences.” He hissed, as he pointed a finger at both of us, before he walked away. When he finally was gone, Armaros turned to look at me, as I was quite surprised by his actions.
“Why did you defend me? Aren’t you mad?” I asked him, as he turned to me.
“I’m not mad at you babygirl, I’ll always be on your side, ‘cause I believe you had a good reason to do what you did. I just wish you would share it with me, instead of keeping it to yourself,” he spoke as he took a step closer to me.
“Well, I guess we both should do a better job, don’t you think?” I replied, as he stared at me perplexed.
“What?” He asked, as he paused in his steps.
“I know my father contacted you about what happened at the tribe. Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, as I took a step back.
“It wasn’t like that, I just didn’t know what to say, I.. You only just agreed to speak to me, and I was afraid it would push you further away if I did,” he tried to defend, and some part of me understood where he was coming from.
“So, you rather cover up that one of your men kidnapped and r***d my cousin?!” I asked. I tried to stay calm, but at the same time, I was worried about Bella.
Not knowing what Dagon would do to her, was haunting me.
“No, wait a minute, it’s not.. It turned out to be a misunderstanding, Stella.” He blurred out, as he placed his hands on my shoulders.
“If that’s true, then where are they?” I continued to ask.
“I.. Don’t know,” he replied with a sigh.
“Then I guess you have no way to prove it. I need some time to think this through, so please just leave me alone.” I stated, though the pain of rejecting him could be felt inside my heart, I didn’t want to push him away, but I knew I had no other choice, ‘cause I couldn’t bare anything happening to him. Though I knew that I was hurting him.
“You are making a mistake, Stella, just tell him!” My wolf pleaded.
“I can’t! Isn’t this better than for him to possibly end up dead?” I defended, making my wolf growl in disapproval, but she didn’t argue with me.
“Why do you keep pushing me away?” He asked, as he didn’t let go.
“Please, Armaros, I can’t do this right now,” I begged, but he clearly didn’t wanna give up.
“Then when? I miss you so fücking much, and I don’t wanna be away from you babygirl, I..” he began, while placing his hands on my cheeks, but then he stopped and pulled me in for a kiss.
Though I wanted so badly to give in to it, and just let him do what he wanted, I knew I couldn’t. So, instead, I pushed him away.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this, not yet,” I stated as I looked at the ground, before I turned around and walked in to the house and shot the door right in his face.
[Stella’s POV]
I felt like I was about to cry, but then I was startled by my wolf’s voice.
“Did you just smack the door in our mate’s face?” She asked, as I turned around.
“Can’t you leave me alone for just a second, you know exactly why I did it!” I hissed, as I dried my eyes and with heavy steps walked I towards my room.
“Your peace is not of any importance right now. Tell me, what were you even doing down there in the first place? And second, why are you not trusting our mate instead of treating him like that? He can protect us, you know.” She shot.
“I needed to speak to Nathan, okay, I needed to know why he would do that to me..to us. I couldn’t possibly have known Belmir would be there, could I?” I defended, as I thought about how to make her get off my case.
“But, why are you refusing to trust Armaros now? Don’t you think he has the right to know what’s going on, like you wanted him to tell you?”
“I can’t okay! At least not before I know what this guy wants, I.. I just can’t risk it..” I stated as I reached the door.
“There is no going back if we enter that room, you know that, right?” She spoke, as I nodded.
“I know, but did we even have a choice to begin with?” I gulped down, and let out the heavy breath I had been keeping on hold, and pushed the door open.
I was met by the eyes of the one, that made me betray and lie to everyone who was there to keep me safe.
Because I didn’t have the guts to let anyone get hurt on my behalf.
“Wow, you almost made me believe it too,” he spoke, as he leaned back in his seat, while I looked at the window and sighed before I turned back to him.
Of course, he had heard everything.
“I helped them leave, and I didn’t tell anyone anything, so please be done already,” I stated, because I already felt shítty about what I did.
“Be done? You sound like I’m here to take something from you,” he chuckled.
“Aren’t you? ‘Cause to me, it feels like that,” I responded, I couldn’t help but step back, as he raised from the bed and walked a little closer.
“No, I’m here to give you something, it probably won’t change much about how you view me, but I promise, I’m not here to hurt you, Stella.” he stated.
“It surely didn’t feel like that earlier.” I hissed, as my thoughts took me back just 30 minutes ago.
[Flashback]
“There you are, we have been waiting for you.” A familiar face stated. Everyone stared a little surprised before Dilan spoke.
“Ezra? Why are you here?” He asked, as he was clearly on his guard.
“I have my orders, and I see you brought just the person I was hoping to see,” he added, looking directly at Stella, and sent her a smile.
“Right, if you get us out of here you can have her, or do whatever you want with her, I don’t care anymore,” Dilan stated, making Stella look at him stunned.
What a scumbag!
“Well, my friend Lumos will get you out of here, but I’ll be there later. We’ll make sure things work out as they should, won’t we, Stella?” He spoke with another smile, as she knitted her eyebrows.
“Why would I ever help you?” She sneered.
“I’m sure you will. At least if you wanna make sure everyone stays alive, you’ll help. Do we have a deal?” He spoke, as she proceeded to glare at him.
“You’re bluffing,” Stella spoke, but then with a small movement he took a knife from his pocket and had it floating in the air, before he suddenly fired it towards one of the others.
But as it came close enough, he made it only stray his cheek, drawing just enough blood for it to run down his face, before it returned to him, which made her eyes widen.
“Hey! You could have..” he started, but Ezra interrupted.
“You are a werewolf, you will heal. If I wanted, you would have already been dead, but I was just showing my point to her.” He explained calmly, as the other one closed his mouth, not saying anything, and he turned back to her.
“You see, I’ve had a long time to manifest my powers, unlike you. I might not be able to use my powers on you.
My orders are not to do anything that will physically harm you, but I can hurt everyone around you, without lifting a finger.” He stated. I felt my hands start to shake a little.
“It sounds like they are already on their way,” he replied, as my breath hitched. “Please don’t hurt them!” I blurred out.
“That solely depends on you. Get them out of here, and meet me in your room when you’re done,” he stated, as disappeared.
“Just remember you might not be able to see him, but he’s watching your every move, so don’t do anything stupid,” Dilan spoke in a low voice, just as I saw Armaros, Baal, James and numerous others come in.
[End of flashback]
“I’m sorry about that, my acting might have been a little over the top, but I had to make it believable. Though, I assure you, I’m only here because I wanna help,” Ezra explained.
“But I can only help you, if you’ll let me,” he added, as he took his hand forward to hers, while she observed it for a moment.
“Help me with what exactly?” She asked suspiciously.
“You want your memories back, right?” Ezra asked, as she nodded.
“I can give you that, but I need your consent to do so,” he added.
“Okay, I’ll let you help me,” she replied, before placing her hand in his.
“Great, sit here,” he spoke, as he pulled her to the bed and made her sit down.
“This might hurt a bit, but the less you fight it, the less it will hurt, okay?” He reassured her, making her take a deep breath before she nodded. Then he placed one hand on the top of her head.
“I need you to hold this, or it won’t work,” he stated as she saw this small stone that somehow seemed familiar.
“What is it?” She asked.
“It’s called a divine stone, you probably don’t recognize it, but you have seen this a couple of times before, and this is the part that surely hurts a bit,” he replied.
She hesitantly took her hand forward and just as he had said the moment he placed the stone in her hand, she felt it slowly start to drain her energy.
A warm feeling from his hand spread onto her head and then the pain started to spread to her head, as it felt like her mind was being ripped apart.
“Please, stop, it hurts too much,” Stella cried, but Ezra didn’t let go.
“You just have to stop fighting it, the memories might be painful to regain, but it will help you,” he spoke in a gentle voice.
“I don’t know how,” she sobbed as he looked into her eyes.
“Close your eyes, and focus on my voice, you can do this, I promise,” he stated, as he looked seriously at her, she took a deep breath, and tried to do what he asked.
“Okay, listen carefully, find the first memory you have of Armaros from the beginning, and tell me, when did you first meet him?” he spoke.
[Memory - ten years ago]
“Hey! Who are you?” Stella asked as she walked closer, while she observed the boy in front of her. He quickly raised from the ground, as his face went from surprised to blank in seconds.
“Who wants to know?” He asked as he crossed his arms.
“Me, of course! I’m Stella, by the way, what’s your name?” She spoke as she pulled her hand out for him and smiled. He stared at it for a moment with skepticism.
“You are one of those freaks who live in those tribes, aren’t you?” He asked, as he raised one eyebrow.
“That’s rude! — And we are not freaks.” Stella huffed, but then she remembered what her mother had taught her: To meet rudeness with kindness.
“Maybe if you saw it, you wouldn’t be judging it so much?” She suggested politely. He knitted his eyebrows at her.
“Why would I ever wanna go there?” He shot.
“To learn about it, my mother always says; that people have a tendency to judge what they don’t know.” She added with a smile.
“What a stupid saying – I already know more than enough!” He snarled, as Stella sighed.
“You are a really angry person, do you know that?” Stella replied.
“I am not! I just don’t like freaks.” He stated, as Stella giggled. “What’s so funny? Little miss perfect!” He snapped at her as it only made her laugh even harder, which annoyed him so much, that he stomped over and pushed her, but his behavior surprised her, so she grasped on to him, and he ended falling on top of her.
“Ouch, what did you do that for?” Stella asked as their eyes met. It was first at this point, she clearly saw the boy’s eyes were this gloomy red color, while he stared at her in shock.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Stella suddenly asked, as he was like frozen for a minute before he quickly raised from the ground.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, I was not looking at you in any way!” He blurred out.
“Yes, you were!” She argued.
“No, I wasn’t!” He continued. But then Stella started laughing again and this time the boy was smitten by her laugh as he started to laugh too.
“Come on! Let me help you up.” The boy spoke, as he gave her his hand.
“Thanks.. Uhm, I still don’t know your name.” Stella replied.
“I’m Armaros.” He revealed.
“Nice to meet you, Armaros.” She spoke, as he gave her a cautious smile.
“Why are your eyes red? I have never seen anyone with that color before.” Stella asked curiously. “That’s because I’m a demon.” Armaros replied.
“Cool! I’ve never met one before, but I’ve heard stories..” she started to explain, but then her eyes suddenly lighted up.
“Wow! What’s that?” She blurred out as she almost jumped in to Armaros, who stared at Stella stunned by her curiosity.
“Oh, this! It’s just a necklace.. You can have it if you like?” He stated as Stella stared at him shocked.
“Really?” She asked, as he nodded his head.
“Turn around, I’ll help you.” He spoke, as he put it on her.
“Perfect! It suits you.” He replied with a smile, as she smiled back at him, but then they suddenly heard a voice.
“Armaros!” An angry voice called out, as the boy looked at her scared.
“Quickly, hide! You don’t wanna be seen!” He blurred out as he pushed her in to a bush. It hurt a bit, as she fell and hit her arm, but she stayed quiet, as a group of three men came in to view.
“What the hell are you doing, Armaros!” One of them scolded, as the boy shook his head.
“Nothing, I was just looking around.. and stuff.” He replied as the man proceeded to slap him across the face, so he fell to the ground.
“Don’t lie to me.. how do you expect to learn how to fight if you are hiding, huh?” The man growled at him.
“I’m sorry.” He mumbled, as his eyes strayed to Stella’s for just a second, before he looked to the ground again.
“You’re such a fücking pathetic excuse of a demon, no wonder your father sent you away, ‘cause he is so embarrassed of you!” He yelled, before he harshly pulled him up from the ground. Stella most of all just wanted to jump in and help him, but she knew she couldn’t do anything to help, even if she wanted to.
[End of memory]
After the first memory, the rest of my memories came rushing back, also the memory of the day I lost it. Everything Nathan had done, made me so angry.
“How are you feeling?” Ezra asked me, as I clearly remembered our first encounter. “You’re the one who works for Damon, and.. You were there,” I blurred out, as he nodded.
“I know, but I was also the one who gave Armaros the tip to find you,” he revealed, making me frown at him.
“But.. Why? You must hate Armaros after everything he has done. He told me about it, so why would you?” I asked him, as he looked out of the window.
“You remind me of my sister, and I felt terrible for what I did to you back then. You didn’t do anything to me, so I can’t really blame you, can I?” He spoke as a sad smile came across his face.
“Thank you for your help, I appreciate it,” I then replied.
“Don’t mention it.. Really! I can’t let anyone know, so please don’t tell anyone, okay?” He answered as I nodded my head.
“I understand, I’ll keep your secret,” I spoke, as he smiled.
“Good, now I’ll take my leave, take care!” He greeted before he disappeared into thin air.
I didn’t wait long before I ran out of the house, ‘cause I needed to find Armaros.