Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 171 An Inconsequential Object
Even in the dim light of the cavern with the shadows grasping greedily around the light, Ada could see her mother blanch suddenly and the briefest flicker of fear crossed her face.
“You’re lying. It’s not possible. He would not…” Narcissa stammered uncertainly as Ely chuckled darkly. “You know very well that he would. Ada is your child and your responsibility. She does not hold the weight of responsibility until she has reached the age of twenty-one and been bound to the coven and the Lord himself.” He snorted disdainfully as he flicked his eyes over Narcissa with what seemed like disgust.
Narcissa schooled her face into an emotionless mask as his words sank in and Ada couldn’t help but wrap her arms around her belly a little tighter. If her mother was afraid, then Ada knew things were bad. “I see you really haven’t changed one-bit, dear brother. Turned in by my own family… I should have seen it coming.” She spat bitterly.
“I am simply carrying out orders, sister.” Ely grinned unrepentantly as he spread his arms wide, “You know full well how everything works here. I don’t have the luxury of choice any more than you do.”
Narcissa snorted in disbelief as they continued into the cavern and towards the smaller tunnels that seemed to erupt from every available surface of the glistening rock face.
Their bedraggled party was met with curious stares and faint murmurs that were amplified in the acoustics of the cavern so much so that the very air seemed to be alive around them.
“Do I at least get the chance to freshen up before being brought before Him?” Narcissa asked carefully as Ada watched her pulling at her fingers with what appeared to be anxiety.
Ely snorted and continued forward without answering and Narcissa’s mouth settled into a grim line. As they reached a monstrous cavern, the ceiling so high that Ada could not see a discernible end to the roof above, Narcissa turned to Ada and scowled deeply at her.
“What happens here is entirely down to your actions, Ada. YOU have caused this with your selfishness and fixation on destroying Ann.” She hissed vehemently, “I hope you’re f*“**g happy.”
Ada swallowed nervously under the intensity of her hateful gaze and tried to shrink away from her menacing figure when suddenly, the sound of laughter echoed around the chamber.
Narcissa straightened up instantly and looked around her wildly as if trying to locate the source of the sound that made Ada’s instincts scream in terror. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as her body reacted subconsciously to the threat that the sound all but promised.
“Ah, would you look at that? The lauded prodigy returns as a failure after so many long years…” A lazy voice drawled from within the shadows and instantly, Narcissa and Ely dropped to their knees, leaving Ada standing beside them frozen in panic momentarily.
Ely glanced towards Ada and reached up, tugging the hem of her clothes downward insistently. The unexpected sensation pulled her out of her shock and she dropped to her knees clumsily.
“My lord, I…” Narcissa began in a clear and confident voice but she was cut off almost instantly. “I did not say that you could speak.” the voice snapped harshly as Narcissa’s head seemed to droop a little lower.
Ada could feel herself trembling as the sound of footsteps drew closer to where they knelt. Her heart was racing so wildly and with such f*orc*e, that she could hear the pounding in her eardrums.
A pair of large, heavy military-style boots stopped in front of her as she tried desperately to press herself closer to the floor. She could feel the power rolling off him and he made no effort to disguise it, the cloying darkness slithering over and around her, attempting to f*orc*e itself inside of her very being.
“Your mother would have me believe that such a pathetic little half breed is capable of derailing almost 20 years of careful planning, and that she was powerless to put a stop to it.” The sinister voice stated with a chuckle as Ada felt his fingers entwine themselves in her hair.
The barest sound of a whimper sounded in her throat as she scrunched her eyes closed, silently begging for him to leave her alone in her head, but whatever gods that remained in this realm were clearly not listening.
With a violent tug, Ada was pulled upwards by the male before her, her hair clenched tightly in his fist as he held her in the air before him. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips as her hands flew to where his fingers bunched her hair painfully and without meaning to, her eyes locked with his as she closed her hands over his.
This man was indeed the most hauntingly beautiful man that she had ever seen in her life, and for a moment, it almost took her breath away. If they had met under any other circumstances, Ada knew without a doubt that she probably would have done anything it took to gain even a minute of this man’s attention.
A shock of raven hair hung haphazardly over his forehead and his prominent brow and cheekbones seemed to enhance the almost ethereal beauty that his sickly complexion exuded. His luminescent golden eyes seemed to be ablaze with a rippling, golden fire, a sight that should have been warming, but the cold, hard hatred that practically oozed from him as he narrowed his eyes at her almost stopped her heart in terror.
His beautiful mouth curled upwards in a sneer and he turned to glare disdainfully at Narcissa with a paradoxical lazy smile playing at the edges of his mouth, before throwing Ada’s body violently towards where her mother and uncle were hunched over, as if she was nothing more than an inconsequential object.
The impact sent them all sprawling and all three of them scrabbled to retake their positions of genuflection before him as he chuckled darkly and strode towards them purposefully.
Without wasting a second he picked Ely up by the neck and flung him backward with such f*orc*e that he skidded across the floor and stopped only millimeters away from the entrance.