Chapter 21: Chapter 21

[Lucien’s POV]

I had checked on Nivera and she was still sleeping, so I went downstairs and Celeste was there, waiting for me.

“You’re the one who asked me to come. Why did you take so long?” she snapped.

“Why are you mad? It’s not like you had anything better to do anyway,” I retorted, then beckoned on her to follow after me, which she did without a word surprisingly.

“Are you ready?” I asked, once we got to the basement.

“You know I am,” she replied.

I opened the door, and there he was, chained to an electric chair with his hands and legs bound so that he was unable to move. He had many bruises on his body and they weren’t healing quickly; that’s if they were even healing at all.

Previously, his eyes had been closed, but they opened up as soon as I stepped in. He looked at me wearily and forced a smile. “You… you’re here,” he managed to say.

“Isn’t that Tyler Jefferson, the Alpha of the Crescent Pack?” Celeste asked, with undeniable shock written on her face as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in disbelief.

Tyler chuckled. “Wow. You guys know me all too well. I guess that good-for-nothing peasant has been all over the place running her mouth about how badly I treated her,” he said with disdain.

“Who is he calling a peasant?” Celeste asked.

“Who do you think?” I asked, then landed a blow on his left eye to which he screamed and shrieked in pain. “The fool came here looking for Nivera and wanted to fight me off and take her away by force,” I explained.

“How… how is that possible? How did he know she’s here?” Celeste stuttered.

“It turns out you were right after all. The mate pull is stronger than I thought it was. Apparently, he followed his heart and came here,” I replied.

“Does that mean you like her and you came all the way here to get her back?” Celeste asked, looking intently at Tyler.

He began to cackle loudly and it was several seconds later before he stopped. “Like who? I came to find her in order to kill her and get rid of her once and for all, so that I can be free from this bondage called a mate pull,” he retorted.

I attempted to strike him hard, but Celeste who was reddened with anger and so much irritation got to him before I did. She whispered some words and with a swipe of her hand, the chair began to rumble and somersault. It would bounce onto the ceiling then onto the ground, and he began to scream and pleaded that she stopped it.

“At this point, you’ll kill him,” I said, trying to calm Celeste down.

“Isn’t that what we all want? You want him dead to have Nivera all to yourself, I want him dead because he’s annoying the shit out of me, and Nivera also probably wants him dead for all he put her through,” Celeste said.

“I know, but now isn’t the time,” I said to her, then with a snap of her fingers, the chair stopped rumbling and became still. His head was spinning and I could tell he felt pains in every part of his body.

Celeste turned to face me, wearing a perplexed expression.“I don’t understand you, Lucien. Fate has brought him to you. Get rid of him now, so he doesn’t become a toxic substance that comes back later to bite you in the future,” she said.

“If I’m to die, it will certainly not be by a mere werewolf’s hands. I’ll kill him, but not now. He hasn’t yet seen the error of his ways, he hasn’t yet pleaded for his life to be spared, he hasn’t asked for Nivera’s forgiveness. Death is too merciful for him, and I don’t owe him mercy… only terror,” I said.

He began to laugh out loud, feeling no iota of remorse.

“Are you laughing right now? Is this funny to you?” Celeste asked, glaring at him.

The smile on his face dried up and he looked angry instead. “Why? Wasn’t what he said meant to be funny? Why should I ask anyone for forgiveness? Did I ask to be mated to her? Don’t I have a right to hate her?” he yelled angrily.

“Actually, you don’t,” I responded in a thunderous voice. “If you’re mad, take it out on your Moon Goddess. You defend your actions all the time and yell about being cheated because you were mated to her. How about her? Have you ever stopped for one second to think about how she feels? Did she ever ask to be your mate, too? Did she ask to have a mate who doesn’t love her? How is this her fault? What makes you believe you have the right to hate her?” I screamed at him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Celeste said. It was her turn to calm me down.

For years, that’s how it had been. We helped each other, and we needed each other because one of us would lose their mind without the other.

Tyler mellowed and seemed to give what I had said a thought. “Maybe you’re right, maybe it’s isn’t her fault, but then, I came up with an amicable way for us to be free from each other since we never begged to be mated. Why won’t she just accept my rejection in peace? I love someone else, but no, your Nivera is way too selfish and a gold-digger. That’s why she doesn’t want to let me go,” he said.

“How dare you!”I yelled.

“You might bark at me all you want, but it’s true and you know it, too,” he retorted.

It was Celeste who dived forward and placed both of her hands tightly around his neck, attempting to strangle him, but suddenly, she looked into his eyes and an unusual terror washed all over her face. Like she had been hypnotised, she suddenly stepped away from him and fell to the floor.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, running over to Celeste’s side.

“Kill him now, Lucien. Kill him or you’ll never get a chance to do so again,” she said, trembling and quivering in fear.

I covered her mouth to stop her from talking. I didn’t like hearing any of her prophecies because they always came true, and I knew more bad words will be said by her if I didn’t shut her up now. I couldn’t complicate things for myself.

“Celeste, I…”

She forced my hand away from her lips. “Please, Lucien. Kill him now. You know I’ll always be on your side. For centuries, I have been on your side and even when the witches scorned me and threw me out, I stayed with you. Just heed my warning this last time, or…”

“Shush,” I said, placing my index finger on her lips. “You don’t have to say anything more. I’ll get it done, I promise you,” I said, then stood up swiftly and moved like a flash of lightening so I now stood directly in front of Tyler.

He also knew the end had come and just gave a wry smile. “Please, do me a favour. Send my corpse back to my people,” he said.

“You don’t deserve anything from me. The birds of the air will devour your corpse and your people will spend years in search of you and eventually give up on ever finding you,” I said, then stretching out my hand, thunder struck and Celeste summoned the silver dagger which found its way to my hand, and I immediately placed it on his heart, wanting him to say his last words before finally driving it in.

“I just want to know something. Why? Why are you doing all these for the sake of a mere slave?” he inquired.

“She might be a slave to you, but to me, she is my everything,” I said, and in response, I got a satisfactory smile from Celeste.