Transgression (Ménage)✔

⊰78⊱

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Acacia/Ciarán - Age 18

When I release a breath after telling Lailoken...

...I turn to my side and take a few steps away.

He follows me again, and he says, "You're coming with me, Ekáti."

My eyes narrow at him and I retort, "I'm not your mate, I will never be your mate! I will never be yours!" Just like that, all the anger and hurt I've pushed down rockets to the surface.

I've seen the so-called mate bond from both Mercury and Taron...

...the last thing I need, is this true born hybrid to top it all off. After how terrifyingly powerful Ciarán is physically, I don't want to be absorbed into this man who's also so much older than myself.

Lailoken tilts his head to the side and asks, "Fine, and then I'll throw you in Elysium for releasing a highly dangerous prisoner," when I glare at his remark, he takes a threatening step toward me before I scrabble back and away. I hit a tree and grab the sides of the trunk with my hands, the bark rough beneath my touch.

Lailoken corners me, and I look away from him, trying to keep my breathing even as he regards me, "Why are you frightened of what's drawing the two of us together?"

"You're a true born..." my voice trails off as I continue to avoid eye contact with him because those irises bring back bad memories of my brother.

"And?" He asks this as if it's the ridiculous thing he's ever heard. He's quiet for a moment while I say nothing, though I feel his fingertips make contact with the side of my neck. I exhale quietly when he traces over Mercury's mark before he questions, "You've been claimed by your beloved?"

The way he says it...

...he's not angry and actually...hopeful?

This causes the bridge of my nose to sting, the tears I've been fighting off for a long time are close to finally breaking through again...for what? For this man who claims I'm his mate?

"It's complicated," is the only thing I can say as I'm still making sense of what Nimue told me. Swallowing that pill is a hard one.

"Ekáti, look at me," Lailoken's voice surrounds me, but I don't and continue to keep my gaze sideways and toward the forest. I feel his fingertips leave my neck, only to entrap my chin and bring my gaze back to meet with his. His eyes stare into mine as he asks me, "Who hurt you this badly..." it's a look of...pity that crosses his features.

I don't want his pity.

They don't know that the ones they've been looking for, are the same ones who hurt me...

I push his hand away from my chin, and I retort, "Who hasn't is a better way to start..." my voice trails off as he looks at me with confusion at the way I don't fall into him. My eyes narrow and I tell him, "My name is Acacia Arin-Valentine...stop calling me Ekáti."

Lailoken's features shift slightly as he notes, "The Hybrid Queen's daughter..."

"Yes, now I'm going to leave and go home to-" I'm cut off a second later after I try to move to my side, only for Lailoken to pull me back against the tree trunk.

There is a hardness in his features when he says, "I've almost lost you...twice. I'm not going to let you go unprotected. You will come with me as I don't trust anyone else to keep you safe."

"No, I will not!" I shoot right back, but when he moves forward slightly, a fear surfaces for the first time since I shut everything down. The fear that he'll hurt me, just like Ciarán. My defiant stance shifts and I press back harder against the tree trunk as I don't want to be hurt again. The air leaves my lungs when his hands grab my waist, my voice losing its strength when I cry out, "What are you-" a second later, he throws me over his shoulder, my waist making contact with it before he holds the back of my knees tight with one arm while the other presses against my lower back.