Chapter 4 Lord Olen

Everyone froze for a moment at the sound of the commanding voice. Even I was shocked at the level of boom the voice had.

And… did he just call me his beloved?

Aldrich clearly looked lost, but that didn’t last long. His expressing turned quickly, clearly irritated at the interruption.

The strange man was now in clearer view but I couldn’t properly place his face as it all looked blurry to me.

“Lord Olen, the guests are meant to stay inside,” Aldrich sneered, but the man did not seem fazed by him.

Instead, he moved closer to me and steadied me. I didn’t even realize that I was almost falling until his strong arms enveloped my waist.

I could hear whispers from the rest of the wolves.

“Why is he here?”

“He never leaves the estate…”

Whoever he was, I knew he was important enough to elicit fear from the wolves whose loyalty lied with Aldrich.

Seeing that things were beginning to take a turn, Aldrich immediately changed his attitude into fake politeness.

“This is a private matter that doesn’t concern you, Lord Olen. If you would get back inside, everything would be resolved soon enough,” he said, his eyes trained on Lord Olen’s arms around me.

From how hard his jaw was set, I could tell this was a sight he hated and I was reveling in his annoyance.

Lord Olen used his hand to turn my head, so I was facing him.

“Are you okay, beloved?” he asked, clearly ignoring Aldrich.

The truth was, I was not okay. My ears were ringing, my vision was blurry, I felt so weak and there was a burning sensation in my side.

I tried to back away from him, but he had a tight hold on me waist that I couldn’t move.

I could see the concern in Olen’s face, but I didn’t understand why he would care for me, a total stranger.

“You’re hurt,” he noted.

I suspected I was having a bad reaction to rejecting him. That coupled with whatever poison Aldrich injected me with was messing with my vampire blood. I could feel it.

Olen finally turned his anger glazed eyes towards, Aldrich. “How dare you hurt her!” he growled.

Aldrich’s mask finally slipped and he replied, “Who do you think you are to question me?!”

“I can do whatever I want with her because she’s mine and you have no right to put your filthy hands on her!”

“From the look of things I don’t think she wants anything to do with you. That means she isn’t yours and you have absolutely no right over her!” Olen yelled back, but the sounds were only worsening the ringing in my head and I swayed to my knees.

Olen caught me and I looked into his eyes, hoping he could hear my silent plea for help. I needed to get back to mother and Masha.

“I said take your hands away from her!” Aldrich yelled again, advancing towards us.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Olen said, making Aldrich stop in his tracks. “You know quite well what I’m capable of, Aldrich and if you want to leave here with all your limbs intact, you’ll walk away from me and my beloved.”

Lord Olen’s words only seemed to add fuel to Aldrich’s anger. “She’s not your anything. She’s mine! I have put up with her for the better part of a year, hoping to officially make her my mate and I’m not going to let you intrude on that.”

“I rejected you…” I whispered, my whole body protesting at the use of my voice. “I’m not your mate.”

“You heard the lady, you’re not her mate,” Olen said.

Then, without waiting, Aldrich attacked but Olen effortlessly avoided the first strike much to Aldrich’s chagrin and everyone’s surprise.

But Aldrich was like a dog with a bone to pick. He attacked again, this time with more momentum. Olen barely moved as he avoided every single strike that Aldrich aimed at him.

“You don’t get to touch what’s mine!” Aldrich yelled, sounding out breath and frustrated at the fact that he had been unable to land a single hit on Olen.

“Interesting choice of words, Aldrich. I always knew that you weren’t very bright but I never pegged you as the possessive type,” Olen responded.

He was obviously enjoying riling Aldrich up. The fight escalated between both of them. Aldrich shifted fully into his wolf form and the guards surrounding them had increased in number but no one dared interfere between them.

Surprisingly, Olen wasn’t even really attacking him. He just continued to redirect, Aldrich’s momentum and the crowd weren’t doing him any favors either as they kept cheering on the fight.

I on the other hand wanted to be anywhere else but here. I felt like I was drowning and I was hearing their voices underwater.

The mark burns on me got worse and I could feel my breathing getting more shallow.

“Please…” I whispered, but nobody heard me, they were too engrossed in the fight to notice my pain.

I tried to make my voice louder. “Help… please… everything hurts.”

Lord Olen must have heard my voice because he looked towards me and immediately made a bee line for where I was. Aldrich tried to use that moment of distraction to his advantage but Olen blocked it effortlessly without even looking at him.

Who is this man and how does he have so much power?

My vision began to darken just as someone knelt beside me. I couldn’t tell who it was anymore. My body was betraying me and I could feel myself shutting down.

All I wanted was a reprieve from this pain.

“Please make it stop…” I said as I felt strong familiar arms wrapping around me, then I heard someone shout, “Get a healer now!”

But I was too far gone to focus anything else. I tried, goddess knows I tried to stay strong, but for the first time since I lost my father, I gave in to the weakness and everything went dark