Chapter 26

“Why do you insist on sneaking out? Do you not understand the position you’ve been putting me in?” Rayne fussed as we stood outside of the cabin. We had arrived back at the glen in little time, though the argument between us had only grown.

He wasn’t at all happy with me for leaving as I had, and though he did have a right, I was refusing to back down. Call it foolish pride, but I couldn’t keep backing down from everyone.

“I am not attempting to put you in any position, nor am I looking to cause any more issues. I deserve my freedom and I make certain that I’m safe when I go out on my own, which is also what ~you~ told me I was allowed to do,” I reminded him.

“I did not say to go out into the forest while I was sleeping!” Rayne countered.

“Why does it matter?! I am not doing anything against you! So what if I wish to take a walk?!” I contended.

“Have you forgotten the rumors they have spread about you?!” Rayne responded. “Do you honestly believe that you wouldn’t feed them by disappearing from the glen at night?!”

The implication, even stated in anger, upset me greatly. “How dare you say such a thing?! You know that I am only dedicated to you!”

“I may, but they do not, and they will not until you act like a proper beta!”

I’d had enough. He wouldn’t speak down to me like this when I felt I’d done nothing wrong. It was hard to hold back the angry tears as I brought out my wings.

“Fine! I will not continue this argument with you, and you may spend the rest of your night alone until I can be that ‘proper’ beta!” I declared before flying off.

I couldn’t hear if he called out to me or not for how upset I was, although I believed I heard him do so. But I wasn’t about to stop and turn back. I needed to get away for now. I couldn’t handle much more.

The night sky was beginning to lighten as I flew blindly. I had no idea where I’d go. I just continued to fly forward until I finally caught the sound of the ocean from a distance.

The smell of the water came to me, and I wiped my eyes as it came into view. Wow, I had flown so much farther than I’d realized. I had been told that this ocean bordered the Southern and Eastern Lands.

I wasn’t sure which one I was closer to, but it didn’t matter. The soft smells and sounds of the water were soothing, so I decided that I’d land here for a while and try to pull myself together.

The ocean was a beautiful place in the coming twilight of the morning. Large cliffs loomed over the churning waters and beaches far below.

Huge rocks jutted out from those waters the closer one got to the shoreline. The sounds of the wind and waves were loud as I carefully landed on one of those large rocks about twenty feet out.

It was tall enough so that I didn’t have to worry about the ocean spray or anything that could be lurking within the water. It felt secluded enough for me to take my time to think.

I drew in a shaky breath as I sat down, curling my legs up and wrapping my arm around them as I wiped my eyes. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, or what Rayne had said to me.

How could he have done that, even if he was tired and upset? I hadn’t done anything wrong. I had the freedom to come and go as I pleased, and he should’ve known that I’d never, ever betray him.

Wasn’t that enough? ~Maybe Rayne doesn’t trust me enough to believe that~, I thought wearily. ~Maybe he does think that I’m going to give into my darker nature and turn to other males.~

But I knew that I could never do that. I never looked at any other males now that I had him. Rayne was perfect in every way to me. He was everything I ever could’ve wanted.

There was no denying it. I was deeply in love with him, though I feared that he may not have been so much with me. Wouldn’t loving me as I loved him mean that he’d trust me?

I had trusted him regardless of everything since we’d met, even when he’d left me alone most of the day and simply shared my bed at night. That should’ve counted for something!

The sun was beginning to rise now, the gentle first rays peeking over the cliffs. The water around the rock became a bit lighter as they did, and I could see forms swimming about ten feet from me.

~Sirens?~ I wondered. It seemed to be, judging by their size and shapes. I’d heard that there were many types in the oceans too, though this was the first time I’d had the privilege of seeing any, even if they were under the water.

The sun rose higher, and the area started to become bathed in the golden glow of morning. I remained where I sat, taking in my surroundings and allowing myself to calm down.

I needed to do so and think clearly before I went home.

“Oh, hello there.” The sudden voice startled me, and I sat up straight, quickly looking around. My eyes landed on a form leaning against the rock, halfway out of the water.

She was a pretty female with pale-blue skin and big, black eyes with long eyelashes. Her ears were fins that jutted out from her incredibly long black hair, which floated in the water around her, and I saw the end of her shining blue tail waving in the air.

“A siren?” I said absently.

She giggled. “Yes, I am. I will take it that you have never seen one of us before.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling too. “No, I have not. This is actually my first time seeing the ocean too,” I confessed.

“Really?” The siren sat on a low outcropping of the rock near me. I could now see her fish body from her pelvis down.

“You must be from the far interior of the lands. You’re quite pretty too. I love your wings. Are you a Fae?”

“You’re half right, but I don’t want to speak of my other half. It tends to make others back away from me simply because of what my father is,” I answered.

“Ah, I see. You are a mixture of a creature that’s considered undesirable. Poor girl. Is that why you were looking so sad and lonely here?” the siren questioned me.

“It’s part of it. I think I’ve been like this on the inside for most of my life, and sometimes I get stark reminders of it,” I answered.

“I see.” The siren caught herself. “Oh, how rude of me! I’m sitting here talking and haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Eimi.”

“I’m Luna. It’s nice to meet you, Eimi.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Eimi leaned against the rock, smiling at me. “It’s okay to talk here too. I promise you that I am not one to spread things. I simply worried because you appeared so lonely when I saw you. Did someone hurt you?”

“You could say that, although I believe I may have left myself open to it,” I admitted. I decided to be vague about who I was a beta to. “I recently met an alpha that I’ve come to love, but we have had our share of issues between us because of my heritage and his. We ended up in quite an argument in the middle of the night over it. I needed time to myself, so I flew off and ended up here. I thought perhaps thinking things over would help me.”

Eimi nodded. “I understand. It can be hard when you are early in a relationship, especially if you are lucky enough to have one with an alpha. They aren’t typical in any sense, and can be quite demanding.”

“You’re telling me,” I scoffed, though I quickly amended it, “though I will say that he has been mostly very good to me.”

“I believe you, and as I said, none of that can be easy. I know some of our males can be quite demanding at times too, and we become fed up after a while; but isn’t that nature? We cannot be pushovers in our lives and be any kind of happy, can we?” Eimi offered.

“You have a point, but what can I do now? Words spoken can’t be taken back for either of us,” I stated, sitting back and taking in the sight of the blue sky.

“True, but you can always meet in the middle and talk it out, and there’s always the opportunity to say you didn’t mean what you said in anger,” Eimi reminded me.

“Good point.”

I pictured Rayne’s face as I’d declared that I was leaving during our argument. I hadn’t noted it at the time because I’d been so angry, but his eyes had looked shocked and hurt.

No, it was even more than that. It was like he’d instantly regretted what he’d said, but he didn’t know how to take it back.

“Foolish pride,” I whispered to myself.

“Pardon?” Eimi spoke up.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking out loud,” I apologized. I shifted a little on the rock. “You are right too. We can talk things out once we’ve cooled our tempers down, and maybe I should get back now and do that. It’s not fair to either of us if we simply try to avoid each other.”

Eimi smiled at me. “I’m glad to hear that, and I wish you the best of luck. Will you perhaps come back sometime to visit with me too? It’s been nice sitting here talking to you, and I don’t get much of a chance to do things like this,” she requested.

“I don’t see where the harm would be, and you’ve been nice to talk to,” I agreed.

“Wonderful!” Eimi chimed, clapping her hands and swishing her tail excitedly. “I come by this area every morning on my way to the caves with my sisters, so please be sure to come by and I’ll come out to see you!”

I returned her smile, using my wings to hover down there and give her a quick hug.

“I promise I will. Thank you, Eimi.”

I had every intention of keeping that promise as I flew back into the air and she dove back into the water after waving to me one more time. Speaking with her had helped me sort out my feelings, and now I could approach things with Rayne with a level head.

If that look of regret was real as I believed, then he would be sorry for what he’d said, and I’d tell him that I was sorry too for becoming defensive so quickly. The stress of everything had gotten to us both, but we could make it through it.

I had a general idea of where to fly to head home, and I was well on my way now. The morning was quickly warming, and I was going to be glad when I got there.

~I wonder if Rayne stayed and is waiting for me. Maybe he’s worried about me but wants to give me space.~

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden feeling of a ~whoosh~ of air going by me, followed by the feeling of searing pain in my left wing. It startled me to where I couldn’t keep myself up, and I plummeted to the ground.

I fell through the trees, hitting the ground hard. The breath was knocked out of me, and my entire body was racked with pain. Through this haze, I could hear what sounded like heavy footsteps approaching me, and I managed to open my eyes to see a large form coming toward me.

~An ogre?!~

Now that my vision was returning to normal, I could make out that he was a very tall, ugly-looking creature with gray skin and an oddly square jaw with his bottom teeth jutting out.

He was holding a bow in his left hand, and it finally dawned on me that the searing pain in my wing was where I’d been shot with an arrow. Had he been hunting me?! As if things weren’t bad enough!

~“You know what you have to do.”~ a male voice suddenly spoke inside my head. I recognized this voice almost immediately. He was the same one who had been speaking to me before.

~“I can’t!”~ I thought back.

~“You can and will! No daughter born to me will be violated and killed by a beast such as this! Now wake up and fight as you were meant to!”~

A blazing heat went through my veins as he yelled at me, bringing out the anger in me. How dare all of this happen to me! I had done nothing wrong, yet so many were against me!

I no longer felt pain as I growled and flew up, knocking the ogre back into a tree. The large trunk cracked, and it was his turn to have the wind knocked out of him.

I felt like fire was surging through me as I stared at him. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to see this beast die for what he’d tried to do to me.

The ogre was quickly pulling himself together, grabbing a large trunk from the ground to use as he began lurching toward me. His beady, black eyes were fixed like the only thing he could focus on was his urge to kill me.

Something in the back of my mind said that something wasn’t right about it, but I couldn’t think any more about it. Not when I was ready to do the same to him.

I jumped out of the way as he swung the trunk, not even feeling the pain in my wing anymore. I zipped around the ogre as he continued trying to hit me, moving faster than I’d ever known I could.

I didn’t have to give any of this any thought. It was as if I was going completely on an instinct of bloodlust and rage. I didn’t even feel any hesitation or remorse when I jumped behind the ogre and broke its neck with one swift movement.

Yet I didn’t feel any satisfaction from the heat coursing through me as I stood there, watching its body collapse to the ground. It felt like I wanted to rampage even more.

~No, this isn’t you!~ I told myself. ~Call it in! Call it in!~

But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to rein in this fury. Now that it was loose, it was almost beyond my control.

As I stood there, I suddenly felt immobilized. A white mist rose up around me, surrounding me in a torrential swirl, and a figure appeared just outside of it.

“Oh, dear. This escalated rather quickly, didn’t it?” I heard Emelio say.

“E-Emelio…,” I managed. It felt like my senses were trying to return, even though it was hard to fight the darker instincts that were trying to continue overriding them.

“It would appear that you’ve been pushed over your edge this time. It’s probably just what he was hoping for. But don’t be afraid. We can help control this. You can still be who you are,” Emelio continued. I remained frozen as the mist faded.

He stepped forward, holding up his hand. “Rest now, my dear. You will feel much better when you awaken.”

Everything began to darken as he spoke, and the heat that was consuming me died down. Thank God. At least I felt like I would be myself when I woke up, although my last thoughts were wondering what would happen when I did.

The beast within me had emerged. Could there be any hope of completely taming it?