FROSTBITE • mikaelson mate

chapter four: calm and cruel

CHAPTER FOUR
calm and cruel

There was a tense silence as Elijah turned away from me to face Rose and Trevor. When nobody answered his question, he adjusted his sleeves is a casual, calm manor. But he was the furthest thing from calm.

"Must I repeat myself?" Elijah said in a cold tone, "Which one of you laid a hand on my mate?"

I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole mate thing. It was obvious what it meant and yet it made no sense whatsoever. Why was I, a random orphan with anxiety, the mate of my best friend's brother? Henrik hadn't mentioned the existence of mates to me during his long explanations about the supernatural world. Were they fairly common, or were they a rarity that he didn't know existed?

Trevor took a shakey step forward and Elijah's piercing gaze shot towards him.

"It was I, and for that I beg your forgiveness." He told the Original with a shudder.

Elijah sent him a cold smile and he walked over to me and untied me from the chair. I immediately stood and backed away from him, trying to ignore the need to be close to him. He frowned at me before saying, "We have a long journey head of us. We should be going."

"What about the doppelganger?" Rose inquiried.

"The doppelganger is of no concern to me." He replied, not looking away from me, "One last piece of business and then we're done."

He turned and walked towards Trevor.

"I've waited so long for this day, Elijah. I'm truly, very sorry."

"Oh no, your apologies are not necessary." Elijah said casually as he walked around Trevor with slow strides.

"Yes, yes it is. You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you." Trevor insisted.

"Oh yes you are the guilty one and Rose helped you because she was loyal to you and that now I honor." The Original said before stopping in front of him, a small smirk adoring his face, "Where was your loyalty? And after everything you've done, you still had the audacity to harm my mate.

"I beg your forgiveness."

"So granted," Elijah said a spit second before ripping his head off.

I couldn't stop the scream that escaped me as I witnessed such horror. It had all happened so quickly and my brain was having a hard time catching up on the fact that a man that murdered in front of me. My eyes landed on the decapitated body as tears stung my eyes. Trevor may have kidnapped and hurt me but the sight of him dead brought no sense of justice, only disgust and fear for the man responsible.

Having grown up in the system, I was no stranger to acts of violence, having occasionally found myself on the recieving end of it, but it didn't make what I'd just witnessed any less horrific.

Rose wailed as Elijah turned back towards me and I marveled at how calm he could be and yet so cruel. I took a tentative step backwards as I eyed the exit. I couldn't let this man, mate or not, take me. Before he could get any closer, I took off in a run towards the exit.

I pulled the door open and shot out the house before banging into someone. I panicked and looked up, a relieved sob escaping me as I realised it was Henrik. I found my arms around him neck, clinging to him as he held me tight.

"Morgana, what happened?" He asked urgently.

Before I could answer, we heard the font door slam and I turned to see Elijah casually walking towards us. Henrik froze in my arms when he saw his brother.

"Elijah?" He whispered in disbelief.

The vampire stopped, confusion flooding his face as he took in Henrik. He blinked and inhaled sharply upon recognition, "Impossible."

Henrik glanced at me, untangling himself from my arms before standing protectively in front of me, "How are you here?"

"I'm guessing I'm here for the same reason you are," Elijah summarised, "For our mate."

I jolted in shock at Elijah's use of 'our'. Did he mean that both he and Henrik were my mates? I almost laughed in disbelief but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I'd always felt a pull to Henrik, as well as lust, which I'd tried to ignore. I'd written it off as him being the only person who had ever protected me but deep down I knew it had been something more.

I turned towards Henrik, question in my eyes, and found that he did not seem the least bit surprised by this news. He had known, and something inside of me broke a little at that.

"You're all grown up." Elijah said with a small smile, "It's good to see you brother."

They embraced and I looked away, not wanting to intrude on a private moment. When I looked back, they were both staring at me and I shifted uncomfortably. Henrik sent me a small smile and flung a hand over my shoulder. I instinctively leant my head against him as I watched Elijah rummage around in him pockets before pulling out a key card and handed it to his brother.

"That's the key to the hotel I'm staying at, the address is on it. I have some business to take care of but after that we need to have a family meeting." Elijah said with a soft smile.

"Yes, we have a lot to talk about." Henrik replied with a nod before leading me towards out hire car.

Something inside of me protested at the idea of leaving Elijah behind but I ignored it as I climbed into the passenger seat. Refusing to meet Henriks gaze, I stared out the window and watched as the abandoned house became smaller and smaller.

I was going to need some serious therapy.

Originally published: December 20th 2022