Captive

17 // Induction Ball

Warning: (16+) More steamy shiz, and another long one. You're welcome.

Alessia sat with me for hours talking about color schemes, entrances, and all the royal dilly-dally that came with the Luna's Induction Ball. Essentially, I had to do a grand entrance, and a solo dance with Damien in the ballroom. 

She had also taken it upon herself to drag me once again to the dress shop, and pick out a beautiful dusty blue floor length silk dress for the occasion. By the time she had figured out an outfit and hairstyle for me, it was dinnertime. She sat beside me at my vanity, finishing up my hair as I waited for the dreadful encounter with Damien. 

"What do you think he wants to talk about?" I automatically scoffed at her question. 

"That's the question of the century, isn't it? He always 'talks' to me, but it dances around the subject. He's so frustrating," my voice trailed off at the end. 

She set the last curl in her hand, dousing my head with a thin layer of hairspray before sending me out the door. 

"Remember, no matter what, you're his mate first. Use that to your advantage." 

My feet felt wobbly underneath me as I headed down the hallway to the garden. If saying "we need to talk" is the human way of breaking up, was the werewolf way inviting you to a formal dinner? Damien and I hadn't eaten in such a formal setting in weeks. It was normally at the bar in the kitchen, or in my studio while I was working, but never this. 

When I came to the entrance of the garden, I was taken aback. If this was his way of breaking up with me, it was incredibly romantic. Once again, just as he had done at my home, twinkling lights lined the pergola, weaving through the branches of the bushes. Lanterns hung loosely from the four corners, and wispy, transparent cream curtains blew beautifully in the direction of the breeze. He was standing by the table set with a white tablecloth, holding a dozen roses. 

I stood there, frozen, and it was a cough on his part that drew me back into reality. I approached him slowly, looking from him, to the flowers, to the warm food set out with steam still rising off of it. 

"Damien...what's the meaning of all this?" 

"You are going to be the official Luna of this pack in a few days, a Queen deserves to be treated as such," he leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead. I took the roses delicately from his hands, and stared down at them with a small smile on my face. 

"Damien, are you just softening the blow?" 

"You've always been a reality check," he chuckled darkly. I placed the roses into the vase on the table and rubbed my sweaty palms on the skirt of my dress, trying to regulate my breathing. 

"So let's just get it over with, shall we?" I gestured to the table beside us. I sat down, not giving him a chance to object.

"I want to know what happened those five days you were staying with my brother." 

"Didn't you already interrogate Lyon and Ace?" I raised my eyebrow at him, taking a spoonful of the penne a la vodka placed in front of me. 

"They refuse to say a thing, saying they don't want to get in the middle of it. Even my second in command, a coward when it comes to you," his sick laugh filled the air again. I rested my spoon on the edge of the plate, shaking as it hit it with a light clang. He was getting angrier. More livid. "So enlighten me, Cyan, what did you do while you were there?" 

"I sat at the lake and drew in my sketchbook. I breathed. For once, I wasn't suffocating here. For once, I wasn't afraid," I spat. " Lyon was with me the entire time, he didn't leave my side, just like you made him promise."