Demetrius didn't return for a long time, and when he did I noticed he had changed into a black jumper which I found odd because it wasn't necessarily cold within the house. I certainly wouldn't be wearing the singlet if it were. When he didn't join me back in the kitchen I stood up from the stool and followed the direction I saw him go in.
"Why are you following me?" He asked, no doubt hearing the patter of my bare feet behind him, I sped up my pace enough until I was walking beside him. "Where are you going?" I responded to his question with a question, he didn't seem to appreciate that as a low grunt left his lips. "I have some work to do." Was all he said.
I stopped walking and it didn't take him long to notice. I wasn't sure whether Demetrius was comfortable with me joining him as pack business was none of mine, I was an outsider, a werecat.
"You're just going to leave me alone?"
"You can take this opportunity to explore the house, I'll be done in a few hours." He tried to persuade, I wasn't convinced. He began walking away once more. "Wait!" I called back to him. "I want to learn more about you, I'm not going to find that by snooping around your home."
I made a very strong point, unless I went through every draw and cupboard in this home I wasn't going to find out much about him just by roaming the halls, and I didn't feel very comfortable staying in the home of a stranger, essentially that's what he was. I only knew three things about Demetrius, he was the Werewolf leader, he was my soulmate, and he lived all alone in this large house.
****
"So you're the youngest of four children?" Demetrius concluded after I explained the family I had back home, having only met my father and Mika I wasn't quite sure he knew there were others.
It had been close to an hour since I convinced him to hold off his work and talk with me for a bit as we sat on my bed. I had learnt the following information about Demetrius.
He was actually Demetrius Renwick Jr, he enjoyed visiting the pack's schools and interacting with the future warriors, nurses, teachers and overall members of his community. He was fluent in Greek, this didn't come as such a surprise after all, our goddesses were both Greek.
I nodded my head with a small grin plastered on my face. "Do you have any siblings?" I responded. There was a long pause and I noticed how Demetrius' entire posture changed. "Not anymore." He answered in a low tone, it was heavy with a mournful undertone. Had Demetrius' siblings passed away?
I felt as though it was rude to ask what happened so I didn't dare utter a word, despite my curiosity peaking for this hidden information. He sensed this and sighed. "I don't have any family anymore, princess." He trailed off. I found myself placing my hand over his as it laid resting on top of my bedsheets, my whole hand ignited with the warmth of his touch as it had done so time and time before, it comforted me in this sorrowful moment shared between us.
Something had happened to his family, to his parents and siblings and the thought of what possibly took them from him threatened tears to spill from my eyes.
His hand twitched underneath mine. "I'm sorry for asking." I murmured. He shook his head but didn't say anything for a moment.
"My grandfather raised me from the time I was nine years old, he had to take over my fathers place when he died and the rest." He trailed off. "What happened?" I urged, unsure of whether I was doing the right thing but asking, it seemed as though he needed to talk about it to someone, as if he were admitting this secret for the first time in his life. "The rest were picked off one by one. My mother poisoned herself after my father's death, unable to live without her mate despite having two sons to care for."
So he had a brother, whether was older or younger remained a mystery to me. "And your brother?" I asked.
"My brother denounced his title as a Renwick and went off the radar, he wanted nothing to do with the supernatural world, let alone his own people, he joined the humans in their society where he didn't have to carry the weight of losing both parents and taking care of me with him." Demetrius concluded.
I wanted to cry, I felt the tears welling up and I pleaded with myself internally not to make this moment about me, Demetrius was letting me in and I wasn't going to jeopardise this moment to see a softer side of him.
But he looked up to face me just as a tear rolled down my cheek, I could feel his pain as he talked about his family, this was a topic he never spoke about and I could tell, I felt lucky he had felt comfortable enough to speak about it with me.
Without any hesitation Demetrius reached his arm out and placed it at the back of my head, pulling me in against his body, my face was planted firmly in the nook of his neck and he hushed me. "It's okay, this happened a long time ago." He cooed. His other arm pulled away from my hand that still enveloped his on the bed and instead wound itself around my waist, the sensation of which spread comfort through me entirely and I felt his own body release it's tense posture against me as we hugged.
How could he comfort me after admitting to his own upsetting past? Why was I not the one comforting him? I pulled up my arms and laced both around his neck, edging myself slightly closer against him as I hugged him back, he responded by pulling me into his lap. I ignored the fact I was now straddling this large man as we sat in silence for a moment, just embracing each other, enjoying the company of one another.
"I've never been this close to you." I murmured, gliding the palm of my hand through his hair, it was soft and thick, healthy for a man, it didn't feel like straw.
Demetrius didn't say a word but instead tightened his hold around my body, as if I were going to pull away from him, I didn't want to. I felt as ease against him, surrounded in warmth coursing through my entire body, I was intoxicated as his scent caught my attention, I smelt the pheromones he was giving off, the only indication for me to know what kind of state he was in, there was no complaints on my part, but I grew frightened at the uncertainty of what was going to occur if I allowed this embrace to continue much longer.
I loosened my arms and pushed away from his body, he grunted in dissatisfaction as he realised I wanted to get away. "You're so small." He commented, his arms lacing even tighter around my body. "So fragile."
"I am not fragile." I argued, pushing away once more, this time he allowed me to do so and I sat up enough in his lap to view his face, he gave me a deadpanned look. "Your father seems to think so." He taunted.
"She-cats are the most agile species in our society, we can go into an attack and come back out without a scratch."
Demetrius' gaze held something close to amusement in his eyes, but his lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed angrily. "My respect for your kind only goes as far as you Madeline, and that's only because you're my soulmate."
I was shocked, he'd never come across as prejudice but he sounded just like my father. I won't sit here and pretend as though I don't hold any prejudices against Werewolves but mine are based off injustice, not ignorance. My people were kind and good-willed, it would take a terrible person to hold a negative disposition against my people. "And what about the rest of my people? Our doctors and teachers, our officers and farmers, do you not respect them?"
"Your people are not the angels I think you believe them to be. You trade with so many other species not because you have the resources, but because your pride owe the rest of world for the destruction they caused in the war." He argued. "Yeah the war that your people started." I bit back quicker than I would have liked.
"And we would have won." He declared, in a lower tone that expressed his pure irritation to the conversation. Our first argument.
I wasn't stupid, I knew of the war that occurred centuries ago, long before the humans had built their civilisations. I knew that was why our people were enemies, but even I thought that as the Alpha he would hold himself to a higher standard.
I pushed myself off of Demetrius and stood before him, brushing out my shirt as if to dust away the memory of being against him. "It's really a shame that you believe that Demetrius. I respect you because you are a leader, not because of who you are as a person. It shouldn't have taken the goddesses to pair you with your worst enemy for you to realise that the prejudices you hold against my people are based on ignorance and a war that ended long before you came into this world." I trailed off to give him room to argue back, but he remained silent in front of me. "When you look at me I don't want you to see me as your soulmate, I want you to look at me and see me for who I am, a Werecat, a lioness, and respect that it's a different time now than it was hundreds of years ago." I sighed.
Demetrius shook his head and uttered the words that shattered my heart from the inside, out. "When your father declares war on my people, and he will one day, I'll take pleasure in doing what my ancestors couldn't in the war, kill your Alpha."
My palm connected heavily against his cheek as the blow left my hand throbbing mere seconds after the slap occurred, his face barely twitched to the side. I just slapped my mate, the Alpha of werewolves, a leader.
He let out a low snarl and shot up from his place at the edge of my bed. "How dare you?" I yelled. My father was not the kindest person in the pride but he was still my father nonetheless, I couldn't believe the character that was beginning to mould itself in front of me, this was not Demetrius Renwick, this was Alpha Renwick, and I refused to believe they were the same person. "How dare you say that about your equal, about my father."
"Felines will never be my equal, they will never be allies to my people."
"Well they are my people, we're good people!" I exclaimed, pushing his torso with my hands, he didn't move back with the force in the slightest, I pushed again but no movement, he was like a statue standing next to my bed.
His hand grabbed me harshly by the jaw and tipped my face up to look at him. "You are the only exception I'm willing to make, but don't ever think you can raise your voice at me. I outrank you, you are on my land." He snarled, I flinched in his grasp but his fingers didn't loosen their grip against my face. He was right though, I was on his land, unknown territory. Here I held no rights, no standing, no title. I wasn't Madeline Falkov, daughter of the the Alpha Werecat, in Demetrius' land I was merely his soulmate.
And that of itself as I've come to learn held almost no validation to him unless it reaped his own benefits.
"And what are you going to do about it? I won't allow you to sit there and discriminate against my people, you know nothing about us." I argued back. "You won't allow me?" He taunted, cocking and eyebrow in anticipation, I swatted his hand away from my chin, growing overwhelmed by the burning sensation that I was beginning to feel across the bottom half of my face. "When you accepted me as your soulmate, you were accepting my people too. Don't forget that." I stood strong in front of him, despite the tears that threatened to pour from my eyes, how could one person make me feel so distraught? I knew of the differing opinions our people had against each other, but I expected better from the Alpha in front of me.
He leant down to my level suddenly, i stilled in my spot when his lips connected lightly against my cheek, how could he kiss me at a time like this? I wanted to move away and not allow him the satisfaction of using the mate-bond against me, but I couldn't will myself to move. "I'll give you one thing, there's a certain aspect about a strong woman that is is so refreshing to see, and your species breeds them. But they will always be our enemy." He whispered before standing up straight and walking around me towards the bedroom door. "When you decide to stop being so ignorant about the past, you can come find me, princess." And with that I heard the door slam shut, and indication that he, and all the anger he had pent up in the last five minutes, was gone.
And only then when I knew I was alone, did I allow myself to cry.
****
The bed provided me comfort for the rest of the day as I remained in my room. I couldn't give Demetrius the satisfaction after this argument, he was ignorant and rude and I couldn't understand what his aggression was about my people. The war happened so long ago I didn't know people other than my father still held a grudge, I wasn't even quite sure as to why my father held such a predisposition against werewolves, but not even he would have behaved the way Demetrius did.
The sun had long set and I watched the drapes by the balcony dance as the chilled wind blew lightly into my room, I didn't have the energy to get up and close the balcony doors, I enjoy watching the drapes move about in the wind.
I guess Demetrius had placed me in this room so that I could look out the balcony, knowing well that he didn't want me to leave the building, no one knew a werecat was on their land.
But that's when I realised, I could go out onto the balcony and view the pack from where I stood, I'd never been this far from home and noticed how the climate was different, it was wet and humid, almost what I imaged the Reptilian kingdom to be like. But the air was refreshing and the trees stood tall around the wooded territory, trying to remain as hidden as possible.
Pulling back the duvet I stood up from the bed and walked slowly towards the balcony, the chill of the night air making goosebumps rise all over my body and it tried to adjust to the change in the temperature. I stood out into the cold and placed my hands lightly on the balcony railing as I peered over. I could see Demetrius' long U-shaped driveway that was utilised as a path both in and out of the property, a garden in the middle as a centre piece, at each end of the curved driveway were two large gates, both of which were shut to keep outsiders, out.
In the distance I could see the light from street lamps, smaller building collectively together, most likely shops and small housing for residents, the town seemed to be alive at this time of night, it was close to eight o'clock at night.
"When will we know?" I heard an unfamiliar voice speak and gasped, noticing the man appear by the parked car in the driveway which I had assumed was Demetrius'. I dropped to my knees on the balcony and peered through the pillars of the railing, watching the stranger and the tall man who I believed to be Demetrius, talk to one another.
"Hopefully soon, the she-cat is getting on my nerves." Demetrius, responded. I rolled my eyes, he wasn't the only one who was annoyed at the other.
"We can always place her in a cell." The man offered, and Demetrius shook his head. "She's not a prisoner, and her father will provoke a another war if she's not treated humanely."
The strange man chuckled as though my mate had told a joke, obviously I'd missed the punchline. "That's rich coming from them."
What did he mean by that?
"She doesn't know about what her people did, Commander."
Commander? This man was Demetrius' second in leadership. The commander was in charge of security, training, patrol and fighting. He was the packs strongest warrior.
"Did? They're still doing it." The man corrected, there was a grunt from Demetrius in agreement. What were my people still doing?
"She's innocent in all of this, fortunately. She's not a threat, you don't need to check in on me, especially unannounced."
The man bowed his head momentarily out of respect for his alpha. "Will she need more clothes?" He changed the subject.
"Yes, be sure to leave them by my front door tomorrow morning during your rounds, goodnight commander." He dismissed.
"Yes of course, goodnight alpha." And with that the man entered the car and started the engine, Demetrius walked away before the man had driven off and I watched as he looked up at my balcony through his car window, as if sensing me there. I froze, surely he hadn't seen me from that angle.
As the car began driving away from the house and towards the exit gates I made a dash back into my room and into bed, had I been seen?
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