For Me,There Is Only You |18+|

20. The Origin

The hallway was eerily quiet as I made my way to the stairs. Each step felt burdensome, and I couldn't help but think I should have asked him to bring dinner to the room or simply stayed hungry.

Descending to the ground floor, the hushed whispers from the kitchen seized my attention, halting my movement abruptly.

"You brought her here..." Gen's voice sliced through the air, laden with a sharpness that cut deep, accusatory undertones making me go still.

"She is my mate, Genesis." Ansel's voice resonated with unwavering conviction. "Of course, I brought her here."

"She's a liability," Genesis countered, her voice rising. "You're jeopardizing everything because of her."

Liability.

Ansel offered no immediate verbal response to her argument. When the silence lingered, Genesis pressed on, "I understand you marked her to save her and feel responsible, but she can't stay with us. If Steven's pack comes searching for her, it puts us all at risk."

He marked me to save me? What does that mean?

"Genesis," Ansel's tone turned as cold as ice. "I never thought I needed your permission to keep my mate with me, in my own house."

Though I couldn't see their faces, the deafening silence that followed suggested tension between them.

"Stop it, Gen," Kyler intervened. "Ansel is just protecting his mate. He did nothing wrong by bringing Neev here."

"Protecting her?" She scoffed, and my grip on the banister tightened. "He did a great job in protecting her by keeping his distance for four years. What changed now?"

"You know what changed," Kyler raised his voice. "She's marked."

"Then what about the promise he made to us?" Genesis also raised her voice. "Wasn't he going to protect all of us as well? Karson almost died because of him," she said. "Why don't you ask him where the hell he was for the last two weeks?"

When Kyler remained silent, another uncomfortable pause settled in.

I hadn't been here for more than a few hours, yet I already felt unwelcome.

"Even I can't support you on this, Ansel," Kyler said slowly. "We all want to understand what happened with Karson that day and where you've been all this time."

Ansel took a moment, a heavy silence hanging in the air before he spoke. "Karson and I were near Spellridge village when both Zev and I sensed Neev's fear. When Zev connected with Neev through their soul threading, he discovered that Alaric was attempting to force himself on her. I was so enraged that my control slipped and Zev took over." He paused, giving me a chance to process the shocking revelation.

His words hit me like a whirlwind, and my mind raced to comprehend what he was saying.

Did he sense my fear that day? How?

And what was soul threading?

"Karson forgot our cardinal rule, never to challenge Zev," Ansel explained, a note of regret in his voice. "When he attempted to stop him, Zev tossed him as if he were nothing but a nuisance."

"What happened to Alaric?" Kyler inquired.

"Exactly what he deserved for laying hands on our mate," Ansel replied with a cold tone, causing me to swallow hard. "Although he left him alive, Alaric will never be able to use his useless body again."

"Good," Kyler said, a sense of satisfaction in his tone. "Served him right."

In any other circumstances, I would have felt grateful to Zev for what he did to Alaric because of me. But right now, I was too numb to feel anything.