-HER-

"Close enough?" I couldn't help but question him in astonishment. I was close to losing my shit after hearing him say that. I looked at him, expecting an answer but he remained quiet. "Tell me Ezekiel what did you do? Did you kill your family for the throne too? I want to know,"

"You don't have to know. You'll hate me," He returned.

"What makes you think that I don't hate you already?" I asked pointedly. My words seemed to have fuelled something dangerous in his eyes.

"So you hate me?" He questioned darkly.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"It's very childish to hate someone just because they called you ugly. I didn't even mean-" I interrupted him with a growl. Just his blatancy and obnoxiousness were enough to hate him. He didn't need to open his mouth to say something or do something to make one hate him.

One didn't need to have a particular reason to hate him. His simple existence was enough for one to hate him but the mate bond and the wolf in me strongly disagreed with this. I guess I'd have to push them back even more for now.

"I hate you because you are a scheming, sexist son of a bastard and the king of chauvinists and sadists," I spat loathingly while he stayed silent and still beside me, taking all of this in.

"That's not a good enough reason,"

"It might not be for you but it's for me,"

"So you'll never mate with me?"

"Ever,"

"That's not going to work out, Celeste. You're my mate. You'd have to come to me one time or the other,"

"What makes you think that?" I challenged, "I spent almost a decade without you. I'd always do well without you and besides, you didn't want me," I reminded him.

He replied after a brief silence, "I might not want you..." He trailed off before brushing his lips against my earlobe and whispering, "but I need you,"

His words sent a shiver down my spine and made my wold stir inside me. Any girl in my place would have melted. I would have melted too if I weren't aware of his dark side.

"I don't want to do anything with you even if we're mates,"

"I'm not perfect, Celeste,"

"Yes, you're not perfect, Ezekiel," I told him gently before adding sarcastically, "You're straight-up sexist and an obnoxious idiot. I don't do people who have these two traits," I told him, jagging a finger in his chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Add ignorance to the list too," With that, I turned away to give him my back. He sighed deeply behind me before wrapping his arms tighter around me and pulling me further close to his body. I wanted to protest but I was very much tired by now and my eyelids felt too heavy.

"I know you'll accept me some time," He spoke after a while. His voice was more like a whisper.

"In your dreams," I responded before I was being trapped into a dream myself, and oh, the kind of dream it was.

~

The next day I made sure to maintain a good amount of distance from him. If he ever got too close to me then all I had to do was glance in the direction of the river. It was enough to keep him away because he knew that if he laid his hands on me again then he'd have to tell me about the river.

It was not much of a laborious day for us. Though we needed to move to the other side of the mountain and set our camps there because we were still very close to the Drakon's camp and we needed the mountain to act as a buffer if something were to go wrong and they managed to find out about us.

While we were setting up our camps, I was almost surprised to find Nuessa having her own tent. A lot of wolves had complained to me on the journey that she had a habit of stealing and hoarding things. Though I hadn't had the time to deal with her so I decided to talk to her now.

When I approached her skimpy-looking tent, I realized that it was my tent that had been destroyed by Ezekiel on our way here. She'd somehow managed to sew the pieces together and make something out of it. It wasn't that great but it was still something against the harsh weather in the valley.

"What?" She questioned pointedly, stopping halfway fiddling with her bag. She gave me one of her nasty looks which always made my hand itch for blood.

"I heard you have a habit of stealing,"

"I might,"

"Nuessa," I growled at her, "I don't know if you realize this or not but you're nothing but a liability to me. It's very easy for me to get rid of you if you don't follow my rules,"

"I didn't come here on my own. I was brought here to protect you in return for nothing. I'd been sleeping under the sky, eating shit, and trying to survive. Yo-"

"What's going on?" Ezekiel's voice boomed behind me and instantly, I saw fear flash onto Ness's face. She looked complexly petrified as Ezekiel walked up to us. "Is she bothering you again?" He asked grimly.

"I've been trying to tell you from the beginning that she is not needed here," I told Ezekiel.

"What did she do now?" Ezekiel demanded, stepping close to Nuessa with his hands fisted. Nuessa flinched and tried to take a step back but before Ezekiel could punch her, I stepped between the two.

"I'm dealing with her. You don't need to interfere," He growled at me.

"That's no way of dealing with a woman!"

"She is a slave,"

"Step back, Ezekiel," I warned, holding his intense gaze. He gave me a warning growl before finally taking a step back.

"Nuessa," I turned to the creature, "If I hear anyone comparing about you again, I'd make your life a living hell," I warned.

"It's already like that," I thought I heard her mutter under her breath before she lowered her eyes. Her head hung low as well.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes," she muttered.

"What?" I asked Ezekiel when he didn't move while I was leaving.

"I need to have a word with her in private," He growled. Before I could ask him what it was, he was already walking past me towards Nuessa. She flinched even more. Ezekiel said something to her which made her cower even more. Though he didn't touch her because he knew I was watching.

Though I couldn't watch them for long because one of my wolves came to inform me that some of the members of the scouting team were back. This time, they had some news.

"What is it?" I asked one of my wolves from the scouting team.

"We've found a tunnel in a mountain near the Drakon's camp," The wolf answered, "And they don't know about it yet,"

"Perfect,"

~

The next couple of days were spent keeping an eye on the Drakons and also getting to know as much about the tunnel as possible. We could use it to get closer to them without them knowing about it. It was an easier path for us but here was the problem— we didn't know what might be waiting for us in the tunnels.

As far as I knew from my research, there were a lot of mountains were with tunnels like these where dangerous creatures lived— like basilisks, high lizards, and whatnot. If we aren't being careful then it was very easy to be killed in the valleys.

We ended up spending another couple of days monitoring the Drakon's movements while Lua and some lycans went to look into the tunnel.

"We were right," she informed me that night right after returning from her small trip, "It's dangerous. As far as I can guess, there could be at least three basilisks in there, and to top that off, it's past the mating season, which means that there might be some eggs and very overprotective mothers,"

"So what do you suggest?" I asked her.

"We take the tunnel. I haven't slain some basilisks in a long time," she winked at me.

_

I have an easter egg for you in the 12th chapter of The Lonely God ;)

Comment if you were able to find it :D

Read up to chapter 67 on Patreon. The link is in my bio.

Also available on Patreon: Mr. Night, Stefaan, The Gentleman's Trial, Made For Him, The Beta's Catch, Marmadoke, Exclusive books

Read the next chapter on Inkitt for Free. The link is in my bio.

Instagram: authorritz

thanks for reading <3