Chapter 170
I stood outside of Darian’s office about to knock but I kept stopping every few inches from the door and pulled my hand back. My mind was groggy from the lack of sleep, I laid awake all night because whenever I closed my eyes I saw a pair of striking blue eyes, and our conversation played over, and over, and over again.
“Hazel, come in,” he said from inside the office and I looked around to see if there was glass anywhere that he could’ve seen me through but nope.’
I opened the door and walked inside- he sat behind his desk with a pile of papers and a candle lit that he used to press wax seals onto the envelopes he was writing.
“How’d you know it was me?”
He put the pen down and leaned back in his chair.
“Your smell is one I could sniff out from across Valeria. What’s on your mind?” He smiled.
Okay, I had everything prepared in my head that I would say but it felt like I lost every word in my vocabulary. Now that I stood here I found myself nervous and shaking.
“The Hunt,” I said without any context.
Darian rose from behind his desk and stalked across the office.
“What about it?” His voice was low and dark.
“You need to end it,” I blabbered out.
At least now there was context. The words fell without a nicely tied bow but he got the jest and with everything we’re building here, I begged that he saw it for it was that I just didn’t want any other girls subjected to a tradition that only benefited the males..
I don’t know why I was so nervous, he’d understand- hell, he had a daughter.
“The Hunt is a century-old tradition,” he stated.
I smiled and raised a brow.
“Yes, so is the prospect of multiple wives,”
Darkness crossed his face and his eyes narrowed, his sharp jaw clenched and I swear if I had a knife I could sharpen it on his jawbone. Before I could blink he stood in front of me.
“Careful,” he warned but his reasoning, that it was an old tradition, was pushing me over the edge into a place I’ve come to grow fond of over the past few months.
“And let’s not forget MarryBell, they are just as old if not older, are you saying it’s okay that I become a whore? You could share me with your men like you do the other girls,”
“Watch it.” He grabbed my face and pulled me in, his eyes turned obsidian as they threatened the next words that would come out of my mouth.
“These are also century-old traditions Darian, the big difference is that they are consensual,” I seethed through his rough grip.
His breathing was ragged and heavy- his chest pushed up against me with each deep breath and I reached up to cup his face.
“It’s not in my power to single-handedly abolish the Hunt. It’s not there as just a game, it’s how we continue the leadership in the packs. Some Alphas participate more than others because maybe their chosen mate can’t bear them an heir or the leadership skills of the one they chose are not fit for a Luna,”
My blood was rushing through my body like a fucking flood and my breaths grew shallow and quick.
“There you go again, speaking about what it’d be doing to the men but what about the girls? They aren’t women, Darian, they are girls,”
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Chapter 170
“Girls that seem to be perfectly fine speaking for themselves as I’ve noticed,” his voice dropped an octave and a faint smile grew on his lips while a playful glint glimmered in his eyes. Like this was some damn game.
They rate us, strip us down, and send us off to be claimed.
Some, a small amount, find a fated mate before the Chalice ritual and others that aren’t picked by an Alpha get to choose a mate to start their life with but those that are chosen are sentenced to a life under control by their Alpha.
I raised my head under his grip and narrowed my eyes to slits but what I really wanted to do was kick his Lycan ass.
“If it’s not in your power as you say, then it is because you are making it so,” I spat.
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