IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy

Gabrielle

Warmth instantly flooded my cheeks and butterflies erupted in my stomach. He was smiling at me, Axel Scott, my mate. He was smiling at me!

A husky chuckle reverberated from his chest, and I realized that I hadn’t answered him yet.

“Uh-I,” my mind had gone absolutely useless.

“You look positively pale,” he said in a chuckle, leaning back a bit so that he could study me better.

“I’ll be fine,” I muttered and turned my face away from his, looking back at the wounds that weren’t showing any signs of healing yet. I held out my hand, palm facing up and heard him chuckle again as he placed the tiny bottle in my hand.

As my fingers constricted around it, I couldn’t help but feel utter joy within me. Things were finally looking up. Even the colours around him had changed into a light shade of blue. The lightest shade I have seen on him since his arrival.

I liked this Axel. The smirking, handsome, strong male. Why did he keep hiding him from me? From all of us?

My informant had told me that Axel got along quite well with his warriors, that he was strict but fair. A hard worker, but also knew how to have fun. Apparently, he and the boys made jokes and went at each other relentlessly in the arena, yet he never accepted their invites of drinks or any other social events.

Even my informant had grown to like him. He asked me to spend some time with Axel, get to know him better myself, but Axel never allowed me to do so. Was this the start of something new? Something better?

I aimed the nozzle at the first wound, lowering the opening slowly into the bloody, tender hole and squeezed gently.

Axel made a hissing sound and jerked his leg away from my hand. I got such a fright, I lost my grip on the bottle and it fell into the tub, rolling down towards the plug. My eyes snapped towards his face, but I found him laughing and clutching his stomach.

“Are you serious!?” I found myself scolding with an angry frown on my forehead.

He kept on laughing, but leaned forward to retrieve the little plastic bottle, “here, I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, eyes bright and full of mischief. The light blue aura around him fizzled with flecks of silver.

I grabbed the bottle from him and turned back to his wounds.

“Your wounds aren’t healing,” I stated in a matter of question.

“I’ll be fine,” he repeated my words from earlier, still smiling with amusement.

“You should have started healing by now?”

“Should I?” Sarcasm tainted his voice.

“Especially since you are an Alpha,” I stated and aimed for the next hole.

“I am of Alpha blood,” he corrected. The playfulness from earlier now gone.

“It’s the same thing.”

“It’s not.”

I wasn’t in the mood for arguing. He certainly did not like being called an Alpha, so I made a mental note of that and kept on tending to his wounds. The colours around him kept changing, darker blue and green, not as hostile and deadly as it had once been, but not as friendly as before either.

“Still, you should have shown signs of healing by now.”

I leaned in closer, hanging over the side of the tub so I could reach one of the further puncture wounds. It was at an odd angle, and I struggled to reach it. Axel’s mind was somewhere else, because he didn’t turn his leg to help me, and I didn’t want to interrupt his inner battles, so I gently placed my hand on top of his furthest leg to pull it a bit closer.

The moment my palm touched his skin, tingles exploded underneath my touch and shot through us like an electric current of pleasure and lust. A deep rumble echoed from inside of Axel and his eyes practically rolled back into his skull.

With eyes as wide as saucers, I ripped my hand away from his leg. My heart had started to race uncontrollably, and I watched as Axel’s back arched and he slid down from the side of the tub, into its belly, lying flat on his back on the wet, white enamel.

Fur started to spurt from his arms and his chest heaved violently.

“Gabrielle! Get out! Lock the door behind you!” He ordered haggardly, eyes of bright golden-yellow and brown snapping towards me.

It was the first time I had ever heard him use my name before, but the urgency in his tone made me jump to my feet and run to the door.

There was something wrong with his wolf, that much was clear. I ran out, jerked the key out of the keyhole and slammed the door shut behind me. Instantly I spun around and locked the door from the outside.

Taking a careful step back, away from the door, I stared at it like it would fly off its hinges any second.

I could hear Axel’s agony as he protested, groaned and panted on the other side of the wooden barricade.

What was I supposed to do? What was happening?

Was that the reason why he kept avoiding everyone? Did his wolf go feral? Was he a danger to himself and everyone around him?

Tendrils of darkness started seeping out from underneath the door and I took another uneasy step back.

“Axel!?”

He did not answer.

“Are you alright?”

Still no answer.

My heart was hammering so loudly, I could feel it thumping in my veins, in my head.

“Axel, answer me!?”

Silence.

He wouldn’t hurt me, would he?

I inhaled a deep, shaky breath and took a step closer.

He wouldn’t hurt me.