Chapter 185: If you want me back

She was asking him for something huge.

Leave everything behind like it never existed, then help her burn it all down.

And she knew he wouldn’t be able to do it.

The burnt down expression that crossed his eyes and made his face fall was more than enough of an answer for that. She’d been expecting it. She’d told him this so that he would back away from her, so that he would fully understand that there was no future left for them.

Not after everything he’d made her go through.

"See?" She said and turned around, "Now go back to your Pack and do what you do best. Protect them from everything. And if I do come to you guys—"

"You won’t attack us. You don’t have it in your heart to,"

"What heart?!" She almost laughed, "The heart they trampled on at the marketplace? The heart you shattered a hundred times?" Then she looked back at him and continued, "I’ll fucking come for you guys if I want to,"

He looked at her, and she stared back at him.

"This is where we part, Malachi,"

"Don’t reject me," His voice sounded pained again, "Don’t reject the mate bond,"

"Alpha Malachi Astridge of Eclipse Crown, I hereby rej—"

He moved even faster than the wind, and his scent invaded her nostrils sharply right before the warmth of his lips caressed hers in a firm press to keep them shut.

It felt like striking cold, but it didn’t stop him from deepening the kiss.

Della’s eyes widened in shock, and she immediately pushed him away from her. Her eyes were still in surprise, wiping her lips as she looked up at him. What the hell did he just do?!

"Are you insane?!" She was glaring at him now, "Malachi, I reje—"

She stumbled forward as his hands suddenly snaked around her waist and pulled her into another kiss, this one a little more wicked than the last. He ravaged her lips this time, so hard the words got swallowed back down to her stomach, and it was like all her strength had been zapped into nothing.

As unthinkable as it was, she actually found herself... melting.

FUCK, NO!!

Her palm came up the next second, and Malachi’s face was whipped to the other side from how hard she punched him. She heard his jawbone crack, but she didn’t care.

She immediately put some distance between them, then she slowly wiped her lips before staring at the man who didn’t look like he had regretted doing that one bit.

"Keep enraging me, Malachi," She snarled at him angrily, "You just keep doing that, and I will break you in half and your silly little pack. I’ll steal those barrels of Moonfire myself and watch you all burn gladly, I swear!"

"I couldn’t think of any other way to shut you up," He said in a low voice, looking guilty but not regretful.

Her lips twitched angrily at the edges, "Even after breaking me completely, shattering everything and allowing me to die...you’re still going to be selfish,"

"I don’t want you to break the mate bond," He confessed

"I didn’t want you to break it that night in front of everyone!" She confessed back, her black eyes beginning to take on a vicious golden glow, "I didn’t want you to make me Luna. I wouldn’t dare dream of it, but I simply wanted you to fight for me. But you chose to make me your slave permanently and you severed the mate bond and left me dying inside a cold, empty room for days,"

"I... thought you deserved it. It was before I found out—"

"You didn’t think I deserved it," She cut him off with a glare, "You wanted me to deserve it. Every second I lay there, I spite you. I spite all of you," She walked closer to him and her eyes glowed even more, "You wanna make things easier for yourself?"

He almost took a step back, his head lowered, "I don’t—"

"You wanna be my mate again so you can use the mate bond to gradually get close to me so you can start feeling less like damaged goods and so that I can start leaning into you more and more without even realising it," It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

He didn’t answer.

"That’s why I gave you an option, Málachi," She continued, her eyes turning back to that dead calmness, including her voice, "You want us to be close again? Fine," She shrugged, "But you’ll have to become a traitor to your kind. You’ll have to openly take my side on everything. You’ll have to abandon everything you’ve worked to become, then you’ll sit beside me and watch as it all burns to the ground."

Malachi’s breath was shallow.

Even Gideon was now silent inside of him.

"The day you agree to this, then maybe...I might just consider giving you the smallest piece of my bleeding heart again," She whispered, "Now if you’ll excuse me...I have a wedding to catch,"

And then, she turned around and was gone.

.

.

.

The last time there’s been a wedding like this at IronRidge, Della had been scrubbing toilets and greasy floors for most of the time. Then she’d been ordered to bring ceremonial silver and Evangeline had chewed her out for breaking one.

Was also one of the worst days of her life.

Her sister’s betrayal.

And now she was watching that same sister take another husband. She and Emmett were standing on the sacred altar, and the eldest council member was officiating the whole thing.

A few maids stood close to the torches, not too far away from Della and were whispering about Beatrice and how she had been behaving paranoid.

Della couldn’t help but feel relaxed.

She had enjoyed messing with her dear nemesis sister so much.

That doll had once meant so much to her, but now, it was just a piece of wooden shit she was using to traumatise Beatrice.

The maids suddenly looked up, fear flashed in their eyes, and then they all scurried away. Evangeline stood on the opposite side, seated next to Conan’s daughter, with her glaring eyes.

She’d tried to kill the rumours this morning.

As much as she could, before Riverrock heard about her paranoid daughter and decided to call off the wedding.

But unfortunately, a scheming man from Riverrock had already heard about it and was just pretending he didn’t know.

Della could see the way Conan was watching Beatrice like a hawk. His gaze had slid over her silk-covered skin more times than she could count since when Beatrice had walked out, and Della couldn’t wait for the drama at Riverrock to start to unfold.

It’s just like she said in her message to Beatrice.

Conan will fuck her!