04 She Dared To

Aeron

I waited at the door while I listened to be sure Jasmine wouldn't be going anywhere. After an hour, there was silence in the room, and I decided to call it a night. 

I was angry, frustrated, and turned on. 

I could smell her all day, and she remained in my face taunting me every fucking time. I needed to ease up, so I decided to take Candice up on the offer. 

I wasn't lying to Jasmine when I said I had memorised what Candice wrote on paper. My memory was good like that. It was photographic, and I never missed a detail. 

My wolf was still raging inside from the proximity I shared with Jasmine. She drove me nuts sometimes, and she had hit a nerve with me today, but I also found her daring behaviour attractive. Too bad we wouldn't work.

I believe I was nineteen, and she was sixteen when I noticed her. Her wolf had come, and I noticed her. I just knew we couldn't be friends anymore. 

My sister was the first to notice it, and when she told our parents, my father gave me hell for it. 

He reminded me of the King's charity and how it would be an insult to the King if I tried to get with his daughter. 

I wasn't even interested in her like that. I had too many demons. 

My father told me what he believed would be at stake if I crossed the line with her; I had no choice but to cut her off. 

I never said anything and just tried to avoid her, but when she turned eighteen and felt the boldness to take it further, I had to do what I believed was right. I had just turned twenty-one, and the King had appointed me his son's Beta. My family saw it as a great honour, and I dared not do anything that would jeopardise it.

King Nikolas had been kind enough to let my family settle in Forest; I couldn't be with his daughter. It will be too much. The moon got it wrong this time.

So I did the only thing I knew how. I pushed her away. I said she was a little girl, and I didn't do little girls. 

Jasmine was hurt that day. Her eyes were misty, and she sat in her room for almost a week, avoiding me. The relationship between us had been toxic since then. 

Sometimes, I know she would have been pleasant around me like she is with everyone if I hadn't said those things, but I had to. 

I had nothing good to offer her, likewise my wolf, and knowing the demons I battled in my head, I could not ruin the daughter of the man who took pity on my family and gave us a home and a new life.

Things have been toxic between us ever since, and I know it will remain like that. I can never give her what she wants; she will always hate me for it.

 I drove to Candice's house. Not like I liked her, but I wanted to blow off steam, to take the edge off, and she was right for it. Hopefully, I can go all the way with her and not just give her pain as usual. 

 Candice opened the door in a sexy night dress. It was obvious that she was expecting me. 

"Oh, beta," She said in a seductive voice as if she wasn't expecting it to be me.

"I didn't know you would be coming since princess..," She started, and I shut her up.

"Do not speak her name," I said curtly, and she nodded. 

It was amazing to see the shit these girls were willing to take from me. 

Jasmine will never take shit from me. She had a fire in her. I shook my head immediately and looked at the woman before me.

"Should I get dressed to go to your place," She asked, and I wondered if she was new in town. I never take anyone to my place. A hotel, maybe, a club, but not my house. That was a line I wasn't willing to cross. 

"Not my place," I said, and her face dropped.

"But get dressed. I do not have all night," I said, and she squealed and nodded. 

I wasn't the date type, so I hoped she wasn't hoping for anything romantic. Just some kinks and maybe a quick fuck if I need to.

She offered me to come in, but I refused.

"I will wait in the car," I told her, strolling back to where I parked.

 When I got into the car, I cursed for taking the same car I drove Jasmine and Ivory in. It still had Jasmine's scent. Wildflowers. How the fuck was I going to focus now. 

Candice better be wearing a strong perfume. The last thing I want to think of right now is Jasmine Kowalski. 

Thirty minutes had passed, and it was taking Candice too long to get ready. I do not know why I even waited. Usually, I would have driven off. I wasn't patient about things like this. Only Jasmine and Ivory could keep me waiting, but I didn't want to go home for some reason. It was a lonely life at night, and I didn't want to deal with my demons tonight. 

My father believed I was too young to remember our lives in Pictoria, but things happened to me there that I never wanted to speak of. Yes, we had a new home different from Pictoria, but the demons followed me here, and they wouldn't leave me alone. 

This was one of the reasons I couldn't allow Jasmine into my life. It had nothing to do with the King. I doubt King Nikolas would have a problem with it, but I knew she couldn't handle my demons. So, I will settle for the banters and the snide remarks until she finally moves on and settles down.

"I do not think we can handle that or allow it, Aeron," My wolf Razor said in my head. He always had a darkness about him, and I guess that was the difference between our wolves and the wolves of the people in our current continent. 

Our wolves were dark and inclined toward evil. We spend years taming and learning to control them, but left on their own; they could wreak havoc. I couldn't blame the mad King or all the wicked people back in Pictoria. Darkness was in our nature.

"We can't be with her. She has to be with someone else. Someone normal," I told my wolf, and he laughed in my head.

"I would like to see her try," he said, receding to the back of my mind. He liked having the last word and had just had the last word on this matter.

I wouldn't lie; thinking of her attending that party made my blood boil. I knew the Trevor guy. He was a pretty boy, but he was rotten to his core. I doubt he had noble intentions, but Jasmine longed for adventure so much that she was willing to go there. Had she insisted on going, I would have remained by her door all night. At least she spared me that stress.

Candice finally entered the car, and it took me a bit to snap out of my deep thoughts. The whole issue with Jasmine and my wolf had agitated me, and I was no longer interested.

"Get out," I said to her calmly, ready to leave.

"What? Aren't we…" She tried to protest, and I started the car.

"I said, get the fuck out," Razor ordered her, and she shivered. I could smell piss, but I didn't care. She opened the door with shaky hands and stepped out in a hurry. I stretched over to close the door on her side and drove off.

 I guess beer would have to do for tonight. If I took Candice to that hotel thinking of Jasmine like I was, I would break her. Letting her go was a huge favour. 

I returned home. 

My house was a small building within the palace compound. I would have gotten a better place in town, but I chose to remain there. Should the King need help, I will be close by. I wanted to be of service in every way I could. It was my way of showing gratitude for his kindness.

 Entering my house, I did not bother to turn on the light. My night vision was impeccable, and I did not need light in the darkness. I could see well. 

I went to my kitchen and opened my fridge. The only thing I had in it were beers. I took a six-pack and went to sit in the living room. 

Taking one of the beers, I opened it and gulped it down. I sat in the darkness, staring at nothing, trying to empty my mind of what troubled it. 

Maybe I made a mistake by letting Candice go tonight. I could have occupied my mind with her torture, and I knew she would have liked it. Anyway, my decision was already made, so there was no need to consider it. Tomorrow was another day.

 I wondered how Mathias was and when he would return. He was the only one that got me, and I was very comfortable around him. He knew his sister had a thing for me and said he did not mind, but I knew I was too fucked up for her. I was too fucked up for anyone. Hopefully, he will come home soon, and we can head to Woodland to carry out the King's orders.

I was still sitting on my couch when my cousin Julia linked me. 

Our mind link surpassed the Lycans both in range and speed. The King consistently praised its efficiency. Despite having phones, we rarely relied on them due to the extensive reach of our mind links. The same couldn't be said for the werewolves and Lycans of Forest, who required phones for long-distance communication.

"What do you want, Julia?" I asked my cousin.

"Princess Jasmine and Ivory are at Trevor's party, and I think the guys are planning something. I do not know, but you need to get over her quickly. Jasmine has been drinking since," She said, and Razor growled in my head.

Why doesn't that girl ever listen? She argues she is a woman but behaves like a child. I had warned her.

 I got pissed and hopped into a car, stepping on the gas to head to Trevor's house. 

Julia couldn't intervene because she had no office, and Trevor's father was an Elite, being rich and all. I was the only one that could intervene. 

What the fuck was Jasmine thinking? 

Trevor was planning to worm his way into the Royal family. How the fuck did the idiot think the King would accept him? The bastard. 

And to think Jasmine took Ivory with her, knowing Ivory's condition, made me mad. This was unacceptable.

 I arrived at the party and exited the car in a hurry. Julia met me at the entrance, sounding hysterical.

"Trevor took her upstairs. His friends went with them," She said, pointing at the house. I moved past her, and two bodyguards blocked my way.

"Invitation only," they said. My fist to their faces was my invitation. They passed out, and I crossed their bodies and stepped into the house.

There was loud music, and people were dancing everywhere. 

There was the stench of alcohol in the air and people doing all kinds of crazy stuff. 

The light was red and dim, and the faces of the people could barely be seen. 

I did not care what was happening. I began to move past the thick crowd, searching for the stairs. I was panicking, wishing there was a way I could sense her. 

"Julia, find Ivory and take her to the car while I search for Jasmine," I linked my cousin and continued to push through. 

While I moved, a blonde girl rested her hand on my shoulders and began to sway to the music, trying to entice me. 

I thought to push her away but decided against it because I figured she would know where the staircase was.

"Where are the stairs?" I asked her, and she pointed in the other direction. I was going the wrong way.

 I did not bother to thank her; I just turned and moved quickly in that direction. 

I found the stairs and moved up. 

I tried to isolate the scent of Wildflowers to locate Jasmine quickly. It was faint, but I could pick it up. 

It led me to a room on the top floor. I did not know what came over me, but I went crazy immediately. Some guys were posted at the front of the door, and it seemed they were waiting to go in. I knew the three of them. James, Micheal and Henry. They were Trevor's good-for-nothing friends, and I didn't want to imagine what they were planning to do. 

The look on their faces when they saw me said it all. 

They had nefarious intentions. I did not bother to let them speak. I knocked them out cold, then broke the door open. 

Trevor and Jasmine jolted. 

They were making out. Her shirt was opened, exposing her bra. It took a lot for me not to see red at that moment. 

"What the fuck! You'll pay for that door," A drunk Trevor said, but I wasn't here to speak. I jerked him close to me and held him up by the neck with one hand, making him stand on his tiptoes. I could lift the arsehole off the ground, but it would kill him since his neck can't carry his weight.

He began to thrash and fight, throwing weak, drunken punches.

"What were you planning to do, asshole? How the fuck did you think you would get away with what you wanted to do to the Princess?" I asked him and felt Jasmine hitting my hand to let him go and put him down, but I wouldn't listen to her.

"Let him go, asshole. Let him go. I am not a little girl anymore. Stop it, Aeron." She yelled, and I punched Trevor so hard in the face that I felt his bone crunch, and he passed out.

 I lifted Jasmine, placed her over my shoulder, and carried her out of the room. She kept kicking and screaming. Hitting my back and trying to bite me with her teeth.

"If you claim me with your teeth, I will claim you, Jasmine. Don't tempt me," I warned her, and she stopped trying to use her teeth and continued hitting my back instead.

I doubt she knew what they wanted to do to her.

I walked out of the house. Ivory was already in the car, crying. Her blouse was torn, and her tears had washed away her eyesdrops, so her eyes shimmered a little. I hoped no one noticed her shimmering  blue eyes at the party, or it would be a big issue.

"Get the sunglasses from the glove compartment and give them to Ivory," I said to Julia, tossing Jasmine in the backseat. Julia helped me hold the door close while I turned around and entered the driver seat, then activated the central lock and child lock. I drove off without saying a word.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Jasmine said.

"Look at your sister!" I yelled at her, and she was silent. I guess she was too angry to figure out what had happened to Ivory. 

"Ivory, what happened?" she asked her sister, and Ivory continued to sob.

"Julia saved me, Jasmine. Those people are horrible," Ivory said, and Jasmine was silent.