Chapter 8
Emily's POV
"Water." I croaked, even before opening my eyes.
"Did you hear that?" One hushed voice said.
I heard footsteps running to the bed I was stretched out on.
It didn't feel like the hospital bed, in the ward part of the palace. It felt big, plush, and spacious.
"Emily?" Two worried voices, with creased faces bent over me.
"Yes." I croaked.
Damon looked like he'd aged ten years faster.
"Get her some water please." He tapped Dathan, who ran along.
"How do you feel?" Damon asked me as soon as Dathan left us both to ourselves.
"Dead." I answered, choking.
"That's fair." Damon sighed, looking away. "Why did you do what you did?"
"Because I wanted to?" I replied lamely.
My head hurt so bad, it felt extra heavy to hold up.
"You don't get to do that." Damon said to me, his face morphed from concern to unexpression.
"I don't get you." I answered, straightening up.
"I don't need saving!" Damon yelled, and punched the table beside me.
Coincidentally, Dathan walked in that same moment, confused about what had just happened.
"Did he hit you?" Dathan asked me.
"No." I answered, taking the water from him and setting the cup to my mouth. I made it last long enough, just so I do not answer any more questions.
"What's up with you?" Dathan asked his brother, Damon.
"I'm okay." The latter replied to him.
"You don't look it." Dathan objected. "I guess I'll tell the lawyers off. Would you be able to meet with them tomorrow?" He asked.
My head hurt and I was feeling unwell, but their conversation sounded a bit funny.
"Why are they here?" I asked. Only then did I remember what I really was, a maid.
I bit the inner part of my cheeks, a punishment for being unable to control my curiosity.
"Forget I asked anything." I said quickly, bending my head in hopes that I'd disappear back into the oblivion I was when they were having their conversation.
"My mother is dead." Damon said.
"Our mother." Dathan corrected.
"How did that happen?" I asked.
It couldn't be true. The last time I saw her, she was a picture of life itself. Luna had always been strong, extremely healthy.
"I pushed her." Damon said, looking pensively at the floor in front of him. "I pushed her while I tried to bring you here."
"Don't do that." Dathan shot at him."Don't blame yourself and try to drag the poor girl into it."
"Don't question me." Damon threatened.
I know inside me felt hot, and uncomfortable, but outside did too. It felt like I was sitting on the lid of a pot about to boil over.
There was no one to stop them again, with Luna gone.
"You couldn't have pushed her that hard." Dathan added. "We're waiting for the results of the investigation, after all there are cameras on the stairway." Dathan schooled his brother.
Damon remained silent, and just walked to some other end of the room,
Everyone was quiet, enveloped in their own thoughts.
"What next?" Damon asked.
"We wait, watch and see." Dathan replied.
"That's not possible." Damon said. "It's the easiest thing to do, which is why I'm not surprised that you brought it up, but the rug could verily be shifted from beneath our feet. It's been almost twenty four hours since it happened. The news is now public.
"So what are you suggesting?" Dathan asked his brother.
"Maybe it's time for me to step up." Damon said.
"Are you ready to?" I loved how Dathan asked all the questions at the tip of my tongue.
"No." Damon answered truthfully. "But that's a question life never asks us before things happen."
"I think you still have more time to think. Don't rush into things." Dathan advised.
"What do you think, Vynara?" Damon asked, switching attention to me.
Firstly, I wasn't used to being called by that name. Secondly, I didn't expect him to ask for my input. And lastly, I felt out of place.
Only a few days ago, I was a silly negligible orphan, in a community of fellow orphans from different packs. And now, my opinion matters to one of the biggest packs in history.
"I think the question is, 'What do you want to do, Damon?'" I asked, deflecting his question back to him.
Damon turned 180°to face Dathan and I.
"I need you." He said.
It was pretty dark, but I saw clearly enough to assume he was talking to me.
"Me?" I asked him for confirmation.
"Yes." He replied, affirmatively. "I need a Luna." He added.
"Don't you guys groom girls for it or something?" I asked. It was too much to take in.
Dathan was equally as shocked and confused as I was.
"That doesn't matter now." Damon replied. "I do not know any of them. I know you."
"I only just asked you not to rush things with yourself, and you decided to take her along." Dathan interrupted.
"These are hard choices, Dathan. Don't make it any harder." Damon cautioned.
"Why do I feel like there's more to this?" I asked Damon, summoning the courage to look straight in his eyes.
"I need you, Emily. You have a strong wolf, I'm only alive by your power." Damon said.
"This is rather too much." I managed to speak.
"Please leave the girl." Dathan said, on my behalf.
"It's you who should leave us." Damon countered, "right now, as a matter of fact."
"Are you about to sweet talk her?" Dathan laughed sarcastically. "Tell her some of the things you told Maya?" He added.
Immediately, Damon's eyes switched, one minute, he had the blue eyes of a tall, handsome 6 '1 man, that he was. The next, he had the hazel slit eyes of a feral wolf.
Dathan didn't need to be told twice, he made a quick exit.
"I'm sorry." Damon said, more to himself than to me. "I know this all seems rushed, it is actually. But you've seen all sides of me, Emily, you saved my life. And I think I owe this to you. It doesn't have to be a marriage of love, even though I'd admit that being in such close quarters with you of late has planted something strange in me. You would be my mate, and accept my mark, because I can protect you, and I would take you in because I do not want to hear a word about Zathen's death, ever. And also because I owe my life to you. I need a yes."
Like a sheep led to the slaughter, I gave Damon the answer he wanted.