Flora’s P.O.V
I walked hurriedly after Andre as he pulled me along with him by my hand, not so gently.
I could see several of my fellow maidens and soldiers looking at the scene wide eyed, but they were too scared of Andre to say anything. Did he really hold that much power over the wolves of Lindersay already?
He took me straight to his office and I saw his own soldiers hesitate a moment before the flung the doors wide open and Andre dragged me inside. I ripped my hand out of his instantly, massaging my wrist with my free hand. I was sure that if I wasn’t a wolf, I would’ve had bruises forming already.
Gone was the nice, polite man I had come to know in the last few weeks. The person in front of me didn’t seem as a stable wolf anymore and his behavior definitely hinted at anger issues. Maybe I had failed to notice what had always been beneath the surface.
“What are you doing?” I snapped at Andre as soon as the guards closed the door behind us. “How dare you hurt Clay?”
“So the rogue has a name?” Andre looked rather amused at my outburst and it made me want to hurt him. “And he had a name, Flora. He’s probably already buried under, or maybe Malachi left him in the open so other wild animals could feast on him.”
My nails lengthened to form claws but I held back my temper with iron control. Because I knew my anger would only fuel his amusement and his sadism. He didn’t care about other people’s feelings, only his own and hurting others brought him joy. I could not; would not, give him that satisfaction.
“Clay will live.” I told him, calming my nerves and my heart rate. “And my mate has a name and it is Clay Scotsman.”
The change in his expression was instantaneous and it went from amused to murderous within a span of seconds. He came closer so fast that I had to take a hasty step backwards to keep some distance between us.
“I am your mate!” He spoke through gritted teeth, his face inches away from mine and his hands balled at his sides. “You will never speak of anyone else as your mate, do you understand?”
“And what if I do call someone else my mate?” I didn’t back down this time; I couldn’t.
“If he’s not dead yet, then I’ll simply eradicate that person from this earth.”
“Clay will live.” This time when I spoke, I looked him directly in the eye, letting him know I meant every single word. “And in order to kill him, you have to kill me first.”
“FLORA!”
“Clay is my mate. He’s mine mind, body and soul.” I didn’t break eye contact, not once. “And I am his. There is no power in the world that can separate us now.”
“How dare you?” The shock was evident in his face as he spoke. “You are a Lunar Maiden! You went against the laws of the Moon Goddess! How could you?”
“I could because the Goddess herself had made that exception.” I told him confidently. “I was given the condition to remember my love so I could chose my own mate. And I fulfilled her condition. I remembered my Clay even though the Goddess herself wiped our memories. And now, I have chosen Clay.”
“I am your mate!” Andre raged, his eyes spitting fire as he came threateningly close to me.
“No…you are not.” I told him calmly, clutching my skirt with my hands to hide the tremors. “Because I, Flora Argentine, reject you, Andre Saltzman as my mate with the elements and the Goddess as my witness.”
A growl tore through the silence in the room as Andre fell to the floor, clutching his heart.
For a split-second, I felt sorry for him. Maybe it was the healer in me that felt sorry for his pain, but the next instant, he looked up at me with grey eyes filled with hate and the guilt was gone.
“Get out!” He spoke through gritted teeth and I instantly obliged.
I couldn’t wait to get away from him and the way he was looking at me, almost with murderous intension…I did not need another invitation to remove myself from his presence.
I opened the doors and strode out without a backward glance. I was finally free and once the fading rays of the evening sun hit my face, I truly felt it…the winds of freedom as they ruffled through my hair and blew my skirt back.
I was about to head back to my room when my eyes connected with Ezra’s on the other side of the courtyard. She was sitting on one of the fountain banks, the statue of an angel with broken wings at her back and I felt sadness in my heart for the woman who was a mother figure to me. I had never seen her this lonely in all the time I had been here. Ezra had always been my guiding light, my pole star in the darkest of nights. But when I looked at her closely, her eyes were worried even though she gave me a warm smile.
She had heard me reject Andre; there was no doubt about it. But she was worried about something? What could that possibly be? She was the Shrine Maiden, under the protection of the Alpha of Lindersay.
I went to take a step in her direction but she shook her head immediately and got up from her seat before walking in the opposite direction. She was right, now wasn’t the right time to talk. I could find her easily in the shrine later on and greet her properly, even apologize for leaving without telling her.
A sense of foreboding in the pit of my stomach made me wrap my arms tightly around myself. I didn’t like this sudden feeling. Something bad was about to happen…something that probably I set in motion.
What had I done? Was rejecting Andre a bad idea? But I didn’t have any other option. Andre was getting too forceful and I didn’t want to deal with him anymore. I’ve always had this strange sensation of uneasiness whenever I was near him and that only seemed to intensify after I rejected him.
What was going to happen now? I did not have the slightest idea, but whatever it was…it wasn’t going to be good.