wrong reasons
1080 Words
Bella POV
"I didn't want you to stay for the wrong reasons." Asher replied in a small voice.
"I didn't want you to complete a bond out of guilt or pity or obligation. You have already been through enough people deciding things for you." His voice dropped. "I was not going to be another person on that list."
I stared at him and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had everything figured out for others except himself.
"Do you know what I thought when I woke up in that apartment?" I asked but Asher said nothing.
"I thought about you." I revealed.
"At that moment I opened my eyes, I did not think about my freedom or my plans or what I was going to do next. I thought about you and I scrambled off that bed and ran." I shook my head.
"I ran through an unfamiliar human town on blood moon night without caring about the consequences.
I forced a shift for the first time in months which hurt like hell by the way.
Asher, I raced back here following your scent like Luna had taken over my entire body." I continued, fighting to keep my emotions at bay.
Asher was looking at me with an expression I didn't have a name for.
"Do you still want to tell me that was an obligation?" I asked, meeting his gaze and holding it.
"Bella…" Asher called me, my name coming out as a plea.
"Don't try to explain it away." I warned him because he was good at doing that.
The cave was very still with none of us saying anything except our soft breathing.
I looked at his wrists where the chain marks were still red.
The black veins that had taken over his skin earlier had faded slightly but were still visible along his neck.
He was twenty nine years old meaning he had less than a year and yet he had spent the weeks I had been here giving me space and patience.
He gave me honesty while slowly dying the entire time without once asking me for anything in return.
"Why didn't you just tell me from the beginning?" I asked.
I was not angry, just tired of the question that had been sitting in my chest for weeks.
"Bella, how could I tell you?
You walked into this pack not wanting a mate." He pointed out.
“You made that clear every day and you had every right to feel that way after what happened to you." He paused.
“If I had told you about the curse from the start, every kindness I showed you would have felt calculated.
You would never have been able to trust any of it."
His answer should have pleased me, only that it didn't.
“ You are the Alpha King. You are the man feared across packs so why should you care about what I thought?
You were supposed to cage me here until I agreed to complete that mating bond.” I declared with frustration.
I expected any reaction from Asher after my declaration but not him looking at me and laughing.
It sounded weak, but he laughed.
“ What's funny?” I asked, my frustration bubbling.
“ You are funny. Are you seriously angry that I did not use my authority to lock you up until you accepted to mate with me?” Asher teased.
“ Bella, I didn't know you were into those kinds of things.” He added.
“ Is that all you picked from my words?” I asked, glaring at him.
I didn't know from where I got the confidence to speak to the Alpha king like that. I only knew that the man before me was nothing compared to what rumours said about him. He was nothing compared to Hunter, that asshole who made me question my worth and leave me scars I was still trying to heal from.
“ What else would I pick? I would never force anyone to do something they are not willing to do. Especially not my mate.” Asher replied softly.
He was not entirely wrong.
If he had told me on day one that his life depended on me completing the bond, I would have been out of that pack before he finished the sentence.
I was wounded by a mate bond, I would have run as far as possible from anything that included forming bonds.
"So you chose to just die instead." I asked.
"I chose to let you be free." He corrected me.
"If that cost me my life then that was my choice to make."
I looked at him for a long moment, my face giving zero reaction.
Luna was very quiet inside me. She hadn't said a word after Asher drank our blood and sobered up.
“ You should be selfish sometimes. Think about yourself first.” I said in a small voice.
Asher chuckled.
“ Bella, I am the alpha of this pack. I have responsibilities to everyone in this pack and they always come before myself.
That's what my position dictates, that's who I am as long as I remain the alpha of this pack.” Asher pointed out.
I could see that I was not going to make a breakthrough in convincing him otherwise so I sighed in defeat.
“ Not every Alpha is like you.” I pointed out.
Although I haven't interacted with many Alphas, I knew for a fact that Hunter would choose himself overnight and everyone else any day anytime.
“ Bella, I am not just any Alpha. I am the Alpha king.” Asher declared and I could not agree any less.
I didn't give him an answer about the bond. Instead, I reached over and took his hand where it rested against the floor.
He looked down at our hands then up at my face.
"I am not going anywhere tonight." I informed him.
I didn't know about the future but tonight? Tonight I was going to stay with him.
Asher didn't say anything, he didn't need to.
His hand turned under mine and held it.
We sat there in the quiet cave while the blood moon burned itself out above us.
After what felt like forever, Asher broke the silence.
“ I don't understand something.” He said.
“ Understand what?”
“ Why did the curse get suppressed by your blood? Also, your blood tasted…different.”
- Writer
