The Inauguration
Chapter 24

“Just because we are a pack that’s diverse, filled with witches and fae doesn’t mean that starring into the fire will solve your problems”,

“And yet I could ask one of the witches to make it so, make it green and let it show me what my enemies conspire”,

“Well then if that happens, I’d be out of a job”, he chuckles turning away from the flames and towards her frame that leans against his door.

“I’m sure we could find something to make you useful”, she smiles at him and closes the door behind her before walking towards him, sitting in the chair across from him.

The silence between them is filled with the sound of him pouring some whiskey into an empty glass and pushing it slowly towards her across the table.

They both sit and stare at the flames for some time before she exhales, taking a sip from the glass. She clenched her teeth feeling the liquid burn her throat and finally kicking in her taste buds.

“So, are you going to talk about her or are we going to pretend that my sister isn’t your mate?”, she asks turning her eyes away from the flames to him.

“Are we going to acknowledge that she is your sister now or are we only discussing this because you don’t want me to accept her?”, his voice void of any emotions.

He didn’t want Genhji to know what he was feeling, especially with this matter for he didn’t know what he was feeling himself. So, how would he explain it to the person that could read him like a book?

“Are you?”, he turns to her, raising an eyebrow in question,” going to accept her?”, she finishes the sentence looking away from his grey orbs.

“And if I did..,” he says, looking back at the flames, “accept her?”. He wasn’t sure if she could feel the hesitation in his voice, and even if she did, she didn’t show it.

“Then you would be a fool,” she scowled immediately.

“A fool who is thankful that the goddess has blessed him, a fool that desires what you have, how would…could I be a fool?”, he huffs standing from the chair.

Silence follows after his questions and he watches as she inhales deeply before setting the cup down on the table making the sound echo in sync.

She stands before him, her cheeks puffed and he couldn’t help but think if hers did the same when she was mad. He quickly shook the matter away wanting to focus on the conversation at hand.

“I will not give you my blessing and I will make sure everyone is this pack resents her-

“I don’t care about what the pack thinks-,” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before Genhji interrupts him.

“An alpha puts the pack above all”, she growls at him.

“And a mate puts their half first”, he growls back at her, meeting her glare.

The tension in the room grows as they both continue to growl lowly at each other, one demanding the other to back down but they were both stubborn beasts.

Lucien’s eyes flash with a colour yellow before steps closer to her, growling louder. Ordering her to submit. He watches as she fights with her wolf, the colour of green and yellow flashing in her eyes but finally she looks away while inhaling deeply.

The tension dies out but the atmosphere around them remains in a cautious state as if waiting for something terrible to happen.

She sighs lightly, her shoulders sag and she turns back to him. He could feel the vulnerable emotions behind her eyes and he exhaled the air he didn’t even know he was holding.

“I won’t stand back and watch you suffer, just like she made my family suffer,” she whispers to him.

“Genhji you also know that your family wasn’t exactly innocent”, he sighs, “she did what she thought was right and I can’t be angry at her for that”.

“Well tell that to my father who’s decaying body was left in the woods, left to be food to the scavengers. To my brother who was humiliated as he was dragged from my fathers’ corpse and forced to kneel in front of the enemy before being killed while my beloved sister did nothing but watch as innocent men and women…children die”, she seethes as he watches unshed tears threatening to fall from her eyes,” so yes, what my father did was bad, atrocious but no one has to endure such…animosity especially from their flesh and blood”.

She turns away from him, and he feels his heart clench as he hears her sniffles, watching as her hand rises to wipe away the tears that must have fallen. She turns back to him with red eyes, “so excuse me if I think my dearest sister deserves to be punished by the gods and excuse me, goddess forgive for my next words if I think she made a mistake”.

With those words she turns to leave and just when she’s about to leave, Lucien can sense the hesitation in her footsteps. He watches her and she sighs holding onto the door handle.

“Why do you get to have your justice but I don’t? What your father and brother did is as horrible as my father’s sins and yet you stand there and tell me to forgive the person who killed them while you continue to prosecute theirs, so where is the justice in that Lucien?”, she asks with her eyes trained on the floor before looking back at him.

He could see the vulnerable emotions that were once there…gone and a wall is now put between him and her.

“Don’t be a hypocrite, your mother taught you better than that”.

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