Chapter 5 No.5

Sapphire Nightborne

My heart pounded against my chest as I stared at the man in front of me. I never thought that the next time I would see him would be in such a civilised setting, after all... my preferred setting in which I would see him was on the battlefield with his heart in my hands, but I guess you can��t always get what you want.

There was just silence with the exception of Damien��s whistling as he sat on the other end of the long Oak table with his feet propped up, my nails dug into Xander��s shoulders as I took in his relaxed posture. Xander himself sat opposite Damien, twirling his pen in his hand as he stared at the man in front of him, he removed my hand from his shoulder before leaning back onto the back of his chair and broke the loud silence.

��What do you want, Alpha Damien?��

That man was not worth the title, and I hated that Xander had to address him as so. There was a thud as Damien swung his feet off the table onto the floor, he then propped his head on his clasped hands.

��My demands, forgive me, my requests are actually quite simple... I just want you to return what belongs to me and never contact them again.��

My hand instantly went to Xander��s shoulders as I watched his back visibly tense at Damien��s words causing a glare from Damien to be directed towards him, Xander placed his hand over mine as I returned Damien��s glare. How dare he see Chloe and me as property to be passed back and forth? He regarded us as if we had tags on that said, ��Alpha Damien��s property, please return if found.��

��Alpha Damien, they came to me and I offered them asylum, thus they are under my protection. Besides, your sister, as well as Sapphire, have both found their mates here and thus by law, the choice to stay or leave is in their hands alone... you have no right to the both of them.��

There was a crash as Damien shot up from his chair, causing it to fall backwards. Jared and Brendon immediately fell into a defensive stance before trying to pull me behind them, and shocked looks appeared on their faces as I wrenched my hand from their grasps. I was not going to hide from Damien, if he wanted to start a fight and break this temporary truce then the laws of diplomacy no longer applied to him and I would want myslef be able to move freely to ��defend�� myself against him. I watched as his eyes slowly raked down my face before stopping at the necklace that Xander had just given me, the left corner of his lips lifted into a smirk before he let out a small chuckle.

��Sapphire, you really do move quickly. I see you have already spread your legs for this Alpha, it seems that under all that bravado there is just a little gold-digger who can��t stop herself from opening her legs when a powerful Alpha walks by... and here I thought you were different.��

My nails bit into the skin of my palms as I clenched my fist harder, I was about to retort when a loud growl rang through the room causing even Damien��s guards to flinch. My eyes widened as I took in Xander��s appearance, his grey eyes had turned golden but the whites of his eyes had turned black as night, his fangs were bared and I watched as they grew almost past his lower lip. The chair he had sat on was now laid on its side, the arm-rest on either side reduced to splinters from his grip. The lacquered table now displayed cracks on its surface as Xander gripped on it, his black claws, which were twice the length of mine, scraped the wood as he glared at Damien.

��Watch what you say to her! You are alreadt treading a very fine line here and I am sure you would not want to cross it!��

His voice was so low it almost felt like a vibration, a shiver ran down my spine as he spoke, sounding more like a wolf than a man.

Damien masked his fear with a smirk as he placed both of his hands in the air in mock surrender as he moved away from the table. His mouth opened again, probably to say something that would anger Xander and incite him to attack Damien which would break the grounds of this ��diplomatic�� talk, giving Damien the right to call for war. Before a word could fall from his lips I stood in front of Xander, ignoring the grabs for my hand by Brendon and Jared as well as the growls coming from Xander, I was not going to let him be baited into doing something stupid.

��I think you have said enough, Alpha Damien, I would hate for a situation where our packs would end in war. I considered your demands, but am sorry to say that they have been rejected.��

He slammed his hands down on the table causing more cracks to form and growled before I raised my hand again.

��Thank you for coming but now I, Sapphire Ragna Nightborne, the Alpha Female of the Shadow Mountain Pack have to ask you to leave.��

His eyes narrowed as I spoke the last title, I had given the title he wanted to force upon me to another... willingly. Brendon and Jared, as well as all the other guards in the room tensed as Damien made a move towards me, my body stiffened as I felt Xander claws sinking into my skin, slicing through the fabric of my shirt as he made a grab for my waist to hold me close to him. To my surprise it was Damien��s own guards who stopped him from coming any closer to me, whispering into his ear and pointing to Xander��s monstrous form. He took one more look at Xander and his hand that was around my waist before nodding, the coward. Despite all I said about wanting to not go to war just yet, there was still a part of me that wanted Damien to cross that line, that wanted him to give me a reason to tear him apart on Shadow Mountain land.

��This isn��t the end Sapphire when the time comes, remember that I gave you an out.��

��That��s what they all say and don��t worry, I won��t regret it.��

He gave one last growl before he turned on his heel, I watched his back as his group left the room before turning to Brendon and Jared.

��Follow him till he reaches his lands.��

They nodded before relaying the orders I gave them to the guards standing around us who promptly ran out to follow them.

��I purposely asked the two of you as I need both of you to make sure that Damien and his guards do not grab any of our members as they leave. I know I just became Alpha Female today, but I would really appreciate if my orders were followed.��

My left eyebrow ticked, making my annoyance clear.

��No disrespect Sapph, but we are staying to tackle with a slightly urgent matter here.�� J

ared gestured to my middle where Xander��s hand still remained, the fabric around his hand slightly darkened with blood. They made a move towards me causing Xander to tighten his hand around my middle causing the newly healed skin to tear again, a low warning growl rumbled from his throat resonating throughout the room.

��Jared and Brendon go join the rest of your men and make sure nobody enters this room till I say so.��

They said it was a mate��s duty to be a rock for each other... I guess it was time to put that statement to the test.

��But Sapph,--��

I gave them a look which caused them to sigh and leave. The moment I heard the click of the door I put my hand on Xander��s slowly trying to pry his hand from my body, but all I was met with a growl as he tightened his grip yet again.

��Xander, he is gone now so please let go, you��re hurting me.��

In an instant his hand was removed from my body, I turned to face him as he stood there looking in horror at his extended claws that were now spotted with my dried blood. My hand reached up for his face before he turned away, slamming his hand against the table causing it to completely give way. His hands formed fists and blood dripped to the ground as he dug his claws into the palms of his hands.

My heart began to ache as I saw the movements of his back... he was crying. Tears dripped from his face to the floor, mixing with the blood. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him, one around his chest and the other around his middle. I placed my head on his shoulder as I let my hands travel down his arms before reaching his hands pushing against his clenched fingers to slide my own between his, at my touch his claws slowly went back to normal allowing me to run the tips of my fingers against his.

��Xander, everything is fine.��

I almost lost my balance as he spun around to face me.

��Everything is not okay Sapphire. I promised not to hurt you and now look at what I have done!��

He gestured towards my stained shirt, eyes brimming with tears. I tried to wipe them away, but he knocked my hand aside.

��You should not be trying to comfort me, you should be hitting me or at least yelling at me, screaming at me to let you leave.��

��And if I did?��

Hurt filled his eyes, he really thought I was going to leave him.

��I would let you go because no matter how much I want you to stay, I promised that I would protect you and today... I broke it.��

He turned his head away from me as tears streamed down his cheeks, I sighed before reaching my hand up again to wipe away his tears.

��Xander, you made me the Alpha Female of the Shadow Mountain Pack today, I don��t think I should abandon that post anytime soon.��

With my hand still on his cheek, he turned to look straight at me before he pressed his lips against the skin of my wrist, holding it as he leaned in to my touch.

��But please, tell md what was all of that about? I have never seen you lose control like that.��

He sighed before taking my hand away from his and used it to lead me out of the room. bringing me into his office. He continued to hold on to my hand as he pulled a book labeled, *Lycan*, of the shelf causing the whole bookcase to move to the side, revealing a small room covered in scratches as well as five thick iron shackles embedded into the walls, each cuff and its links were as thick as my index finger.

��This is where Brendon and Jared would take me when I lost control, the bottom two are for my legs, the top two are for my hands and the middle one is for my neck. I designed this room to allow myself a space for when I turned rabid, a space where I would be a danger for no one by myself. That was why Brendon and Jared stayed because I gave them the orders to put me in this room if I ever became a danger to my own people, but I just couldn��t leave you, not after what Damien said, not after he threatened to take you away from me.��

He let go of my wrist to push the hair that had fallen on my face behind my ear.

��I just got you, I am never going to let him do what he did to you or Chloe ever again.��

I smiled as I took both of his hands and placed them against the sides of my face.

��I am still here Xander and I don��t plan on leaving anytime soon.��

I could not blame him for what he did. Even I due to my Lycan heritage had bouts of uncontrollable rage where my Generals had to restrain me and for a Pure Lycan, he showed more restraint than I ever would if I was a Pure Lycan. He returned my smile before leaning forward to place a soft kiss on my forehead, this was what I liked about Xander, he never gave big gestures of affection and love to show off to his pack but rather small bits of it, just like this one, in private to show how he felt.

��So judging from your transformation back there, it is safe to say you are a Pure Lycan?��

He chuckled as he brought his lips from my forehead.

��Way to ruin the moment, Sapph. Yes, I am a Pure Lycan and so is my entire family. No, we do not live forever but we just age slowly, every five years after we turn twenty-five is just a year to us. I am twenty-six this year which means I am actually thirty years old.��

"Why did you not tell me?"

"I was going to in the forest... you always seemed so defensive when it came to your lineage, that I did not want to mention it earlier."

"I am proud of my lineage, Xander... just not overtly fond with what came with it."

"That was what I meant, I did not want to remind you of what they did to you."

"Being a Lycan is what you are, and what I am...in a way, promise me that you will not hide things from me."

"Of course."

"Out of curiousity, why twenty-five?"

"My mother said that it was because it took the first Lycan twenty-five years to shift, although I am not sure about it since many shift much younger. As a Lycan Legacy, you will start to age slower after you turn twenty-five."

��If I manage to live that long... Damien's threat before he left was not an empty one. We need to start preparations now and increase the number of perimeter patrols as he could launch an attack at any time.��

Xander nodded at my words before going on about something to do with security measures, I tuned him out as I stared at a group of girls walking past the window.

��Xander...can I ask you something?��