Chapter 40 To Be or Not To Be Mates
3401 Words
[..]
As Baal wandered through the house, he saw Nathan waiting at the end of the hall.
“I thought one of you probably would show up eventually.” Nathan stated, as Baal pulled out his gun.
“Where is she, Nathan?” He sneered at him, as Nathan just pointed at the door with a movement with his head.
“She’s currently sleeping, but besides that, she is perfectly fine.” Nathan replied calmly. Baal observed him, unsure why he acted like he was ready to surrender.
“Are you planning on standing in my way?” Baal asked, as he took a step forward, but Nathan shook his head.
“No, I never intended to hurt Stella, I just wanted Armaros to suffer, and I got that,” Nathan stated as he sat down on the floor. He had an expression telling that he was neither angry nor happy about the outcome, but either way, he had accepted it.
“I hope it was worth it.” Baal spoke coldly.
“It was, ‘cause I got to have her back, even if it was just for a couple of days.” He answered, as Shax showed up as well.
He proceeded to push Nathan down to the ground on his stomach, before he cuffed him.
“I got him, you just go get her out of here.” Shax answered, while Baal nodded and opened the door to the room.
Just as Nathan had told him, Stella was indeed sleeping inside the room. He quickly put his gun away, before walking up to the bed. He sat down on the bedside, while carefully shaking her shoulder.
“Hey, Stella, wake up, are you okay?” Baal asked, and soon enough she began opening her eyes. But as she was able to focus, her face almost turned white, as her eyes were filled with terror.
“No, get away from me!” She yelled, as he frowned.
“Hey, relax, it’s just me.” Baal tried to comfort her, but as he reached out for her, she immediately dodged him and tried to run away from him, but he ran after her, as he quickly slammed the door.
“Please, calm down, Stella, what’s gone into you?” He asked as he took hold of her arms, but instead of calming down, she started to scream and fight.
“I’m so sorry about this, Stella, I really am.” Baal apologized, as he felt like he had no other choice than to give her some sedative.
She then turned completely numb, before he carried her out of there. When he reached the outside area, Armaros’ men had already managed to restrain a lot of the people whi was staying there, but some had also escaped.
He didn’t get far before Armaros came running over to him, as he was observing every part of Stella to make sure she was okay, as he clearly looked worried.
“What happened to her? Why is she unconscious?” Armaros asked, as Baal handed her to him.
“Yeah, about that, I had to sedate her, ‘cause she was freaking out.” Baal explained.
“Freaking out, how?” He asked, as Baal sighed.
“Like she was scared of me or something, I don’t know,” he replied, which made Armaros remember what Nathan had said that day.
“If I can’t have her, then I just have to make sure you can’t either!”
“What did they do to you, babygirl?” Armaros mumbled to himself as he carried Stella back to his car. He just hoped they would be able to reverse whatever they had done to her.
[..]
“So you disappear again, and decide to ignore every damn call I make, and then you expect me to come here after one text!” Chase growled when he showed up where Armaros had asked him to meet him at 4 AM, and he clearly had enough of him.
“I had it with you and your constant; I don’t follow rules – philosophy, that is what got us into this mess to begin with!” Chase yelled, as he grabbed hold of Armaros' shirt and pushed him against the car.
Baal was about to step in, but Armaros gave him a look that told him he shouldn’t.
Armaros just decided to let him yell, but when Chase finally was done, Armaros spoke up.
“We got her back.” He replied, as Chase became quiet for a moment, as he stared at him stunned, before he looked through the car window and saw Stella sleeping inside the car.
“How in the Moon Goddess name did you manage to pull that off?” He blurred out, as he let go of Armaros' shirt.
“Let’s just say, that sometimes it pays out not to obey the rules.” He spoke, as he shrugged slightly.
“But we can’t let anyone know. We need to hide the fact that we have gotten her back for now.
We have the traitors with us too. I figured you might want them alive,” he added, as Corson looked out the window of the van.
“Or at least we got most of them, some got away.” He added, as Chase just listened. For a moment, he looked like he was thinking.
“You’re right. We can’t bring her back to the tribe, at least not yet. But people will also become suspicious if anyone starts to disappear, so you’ll have to lie low with her, until we figure something out.
I have this close friend a couple of hours from here. If you go to his pack, I’ll make sure you can hide there for now, just until we figure this out.” Chase stated, as Armaros nodded.
“Okay, I guess we can do that.” He responded, as Chase wrote down the address on his phone and sent it to Armaros, before they drove away again. For a moment, he thought about how Dagon would react to it, though he knew it probably wouldn’t be happy about it.
[..]
“So you’re telling me they aren’t coming back, and you aren’t going to tell me where they went, is that it?!” Dagon hissed in disbelief, as Vlad just shrugged.
“It is what it is, I know it’s frustrating, but it has to be like that right now..” Vlad explained, but Dagon let out a gruff, while he glared at him.
“Fück you!” He sneered before he went out of there in anger, as it didn’t go unnoticed by others.
“So, where’s your friends? Someone asked him, making him frown.
“Mind your own damn business, doggy!” He snarled, making the smug smile disappear from his face immediately.
“You have a big mouth, hell's pawn, maybe you need someone to help adjust it for you..” the guy spoke as he walked closer to Dagon.
“You can try and then let’s see who looks worse!” Dagon challenged. But as he was about to punch him, Bella stepped in.
“There you are! I have been looking all over for you. Sorry, guys, you have to settle this later!” Bella stated with an innocent smile, as she pulled Dagon out of there and towards her house, as she closed the door behind them.
“What are you doing?!” She scolded him, making him knit his eyebrows.
“Me? You were the one pulling me along!” Dagon defended, as she looked outside the house.
“That’s not what.. Come on!” She exclaimed, as she continued to pull him to her room, and close the door.
“You can’t go around doing what you just did. I’ll tell you what I know, but you cannot react like that in public. Don’t you get anything?” she snapped.
“I don’t give a shít, everyone here is just a bunch of fücking sheep!” He growled, as she glared at him.
“Shut up, like you’re so great yourself!” She hissed, angrily, as he observed her expression.
“I knew you were angry with me,” he stated, as she looked at him with a frown.
“You are unbelievable! Of course, I’m angry with you. If anyone finds out that Armaros have found Stella, don’t you think those who are working with them will react to it and try to figure out where they are? All because you have to act like a spoiled brat!” She shot, as she pushed him, but when she did, he grabbed her wrists and pushed her against the wall.
“Don’t!” He growled, but she just glared at him, and pushed him back again.
“Don’t you try to dominate me, I’m not scared of you, not anymore!” She snapped, as her eyes shortly shifted to a golden-brown color, which stood out from her natural green color, and he couldn’t help but be captured by it.
Had she always been so damn hot?
A sudden feeling of arousal started in him and, without thinking, he kissed her, but as he realized what he was doing, he quickly stepped away from her.
“Sorry I.. I don’t know why I did that.” He mumbled as he tried to gather his thoughts, but at the same moment, Bella grabbed hold of him and kissed him back.
She pulled his shirt off, before he moved his hands to her hips and lifted her up against the wall, as he proceeded to deepen the kiss.
It was like an untameable fire started in both of them, which resulted in deep passion.
Soft moans started to leave her lips, as Dagon was leaving a trail of kisses down her neck, and before she could register it, he threw her on the bed.
[..]
As they had been driving for an hour or so, Stella began to wake up again.
Baal was driving the car while Armaros had her resting her head on his lap. He was deep in thoughts, but as she started to move, he was immediately pulled out of it, as he turned his attention to her.
But she pulled away from him, the moment she made eye contact with him and realized who she was lying on.
“Take it easy, okay, no one is going to hurt you,” Armaros tried calming her down, but she clearly didn’t trust a word he said, so when she grabbed the door-handle and opened the door while they were still moving, he quickly pulled her back on to her seat.
“Are you crazy?!” He blurred out, but she didn’t even try to calm down, so he could talk to her.
“Let me out of here!” She started to yell, as she continued to fight to get free from his hold on her, but no matter how much he tried talking her down it only seemed to get worse.
It even became so bad that Baal almost lost control over the car, so he had to pull in to the side of the road.
“Damn it, Stella, will you stop fighting me, or you’ll end up getting us all killed!” Armaros growled in frustration, making her freeze for a moment. As he saw how scared she was, he realized something had to be wrong.
“I hope you can forgive me for this, Baal, give it to her now.” Armaros spoke, as he used all his force to hold her down, as Baal sedated her once again.
It was for the best, or they would probably end up crashing somewhere if they had continued like that.
“I told you, she is completely out of her mind.” Baal sighed, as Armaros leaned back in his seat.
“Yeah, I figured that much,” he replied, as he pulled his fingers through his hair as he observed her. He had no idea what to do about it. All he knew was that he needed help to figure it out.
[..]
“This was a bad idea. Why did you have to kiss me?” Bella sighed.
“You kissed me back, you know, so you can’t blame me entirely,” Dagon defended, as he finished his cigarette and threw the rest out of the open window.
“Don’t you think I know that? But you’re not my mate, I shouldn’t have let this happen.” She hissed, as she buried her face in her hands.
“Well, thanks for clearing that up,” he replied as he got up from the bed.
“Dagon, I.. It wasn’t meant like that..”
“Forget it! You don’t have to explain anything.. You said he found her, right?” He dismissed, as he tried changing the subject, while he took his shirt back on.
She observed him for a moment, before she nodded her head.
“He did, and they have currently gone into hiding, but that’s all I know.” She replied as he gave a quick nod.
“Fine, and don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I don’t wanna stain your perfect image.” He stated coldly, before he walked out of her room.
He just needed to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. He didn’t realize a rejection could hurt that badly.
But he already knew it was unavoidable. Werewolves and demons didn’t go together, and not with the werewolves' mate system.
He wouldn’t have cared, but he knew she did, so why was he so mad about it?
As he opened the front door of her house, he was met by Kyan and Jaze, as both of them looked at him shocked.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Kyan shot, as Dagon just gave him an unbothered look.
“Getting outta here.” He stated, as he walked past them without ever turning around.
[..]
They soon pulled up through a wooded area near the pack, where they were met by numerous wolves, as one was stepping closer to their cars than the rest, before shifting to human form. He figured he probably was the Alpha of the pack.
“Are you sure about this?” Baal asked, as they were still sitting in the car.
“Chase said they were friends, so we just have to assume they won’t rip us to threads.” Armaros stated. As he was the first one to step out of the car.
They all stared at him silently as he walked forward. Baal and the rest stayed next to the cars, while waiting for any instructions.
“You must be Armaros.” The Alpha spoke, as Armaros nodded.
“I am, and you must be the friend Chase was talking about?” Armaros replied, as he nodded too.
“My name is James, and this is my mate and Luna, Diana.” James added, as age pointed at the woman next to him.
“It’s nice to meet the both of you.” Armaros spoke politely, as he reached his hand out and James took it, before giving it a firm shake.
“I don’t know how much Chase has told you, but we have a van of people who need to be locked up. A few might need some medical attention for gün wounds, but nothing life-threatening, and then I hoped we could discuss the rest privately?” Armaros asked, as he looked around.
“Sure, I was informed that someone else was here with you as well?” James replied, as Armaros nodded.
“Diana can take her to a safe place in the pack house. She knows her,” James verified as Armaros looked at her.
“Okay, but I’ll have one of my men there too. I trust him, and he is also her friend, Shax!” he called, before he stepped over to them.
James observed him for a moment before he agreed.
“Shax, I need you to make sure of her safety along with Diana. Can you do that?” Armaros spoke as he nodded his head.
“Of course.”
Then Armaros walked with James, as they were met by another man and a young boy, around 15 or 16 years old.
James placed his hand on his shoulder, as he looked at Armaros.
“This is my beta, Xander, and this is my son, Liam,” James explained. As Xander took a step toward Armaros,
“I know who you are, you are Damon’s offspring, right? I know Chase can’t possibly have been thrilled about that.” Xander spoke, as Armaros looked at him with a straight face.
You’re right, and no, we didn’t come off on the best foot.”
“You don’t say. Didn’t you keep Stella hostage, or something like that?” Liam shot sarcastically.
“Liam, really? You wanna start off like that?” James hissed.
“What? I’m just asking, that’s all.” Liam replied, as James shook his head.
“You’re right, but things changed. Stella is the most important person in my life, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. You’re not the first person to comment on that.” He replied.
“Go find something better to do, Liam! Xander and I will need to talk to Armaros alone.” James ordered in a firm tone.
“Why can’t I come too? I’m the future Alpha anyway, shouldn’t I get to be part of this?” Liam exclaimed, as Xander slapped him on the back of his head.
“Listen to your dad and get lost, you have to wait ‘til you turn 18!” Xander scolded. Liam sulked for a moment, before he walked away, while he mumbled about how unfair it was.
“Sorry about that, he’s normally a little more hospitable to our guests,” James replied.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m not really the ideal guest anyway,” Armaros dismissed, as he sat down.
“Maybe not, but you are still our guest, and if Chase is giving you a green light, then I’m not gonna be the one to second-guess it.” James added.
“Well, I appreciate the gesture, but anyway, I didn’t get to explain things to Chase. Something happened to Stella, I’m not sure what, but we had to sedate her twice because she was completely out of her mind and I have no idea why.” He sighed.
“Maybe she has lost her memories. That wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened.” Xander suggested.
“That wouldn’t sound so far-fetched,” James added, as he placed his hand on his chin and turned to Armaros.
“Well, then I just have to explain everything to her when she wakes up.” Armaros replied as James suddenly looked distant, as his face turned serious.
“What’s going on?” Armaros asked, as James finally seemed like himself again, and his face had this unreadable look when he looked at him.
“Diana just mind-linked me to say Stella is awake, but.. Armaros! Wait!” James tried to call out to him.
When he heard she was awake, he immediately left them to head over to her, but just as he arrived, he was met by Diana, who was standing in front of the door.
“How is she?” He asked, as he stepped up on the porch.
“She seems to be fine. She clearly knows who we all are, but there is just one problem,” she replied, making Armaros look at her confused.
“I’m sorry, Armaros, but she doesn’t wanna see you right now,” Diana explained.
“But she has to talk to me, please!” He begged, as he clearly felt desperate.
“I won’t force her, so you have to give her some time, ‘til she is ready to see you at her own pace, okay?” Diana explained, as he sighed.
“Okay, I’ll give her time, just.. Tell her I said hi, okay?” He spoke, as she gave him a sad smile and nodded.
“I will,” She replied before closing the door.
- Writer
