Chapter 168 - By The River
"Yes, big boy, the earthquake has gone. Come now get up," I said with a gentle laughter, as I really couldn't believe what a giant baby he had turned into. It was hard to believe that this was the same person a few days ago who had maturely handled my rejection towards him. I wondered how funny it would have been to handle Channing if we had been together and someday he just came home drunk.
The moment that thought passed through my mind, my body froze. Channing gave me his hand, and I pulled him up.
My feet slowly turned around to look at Fang, who was blazing in his anger because he had read my thought just now. Even though very recently I had come to know that Fang could read memories, I knew that Fang was always inside my mind.
I gingerly walked away from the bonfire to approach Fang, and somewhere that single thought weighed a pang of heavy guilt on me, which wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Was it because of the soulmate bond? I did not understand, but I felt like that one thought was going to get me in trouble with Fang. Maybe it was Fang himself who made this feeling so overwhelming that I wanted to run away from here. There was nothing between me and Channing, and yet Fang looked at me like there was something.
Every step that I took towards Fang felt heavy, and the closer I walked, the more my heart thudded in my ears. It was like everything had disappeared and it was just him.
When I came closer to Fang, I saw his golden eyes and my heart stopped for a moment. "Still have any lingering feelings for the boy?" Fang asked, as his eyes were fixated away from me. But I dared not to turn back when Fang had mentioned Channing as a boy and not someone who was his close friend.
"No, it was just a passing thought," I answered him and that was when Fang hummed looking at me.
His jaw was clenched, showing his prominent jawline and how the bone below his ear peeked out. "Didn't I tell you what happened with his ex?" Fang asked me rhetorically and that was where I creased my brows, ridiculed by his claim. Fang had told me that Channing's ex was in prison because of Channing, but that was never the case. It was her own fault and Ellie was sentenced to prison for killing Akame. Fang was still trying to push me against Channing by that one piece of half-truth.
"Nice tries with lies," my wolf took over where I was equally infuriated now. "Channing's soulmate was crazy in the first place."
Fang looked at me as the energies of the two Alpha wolves taking over clashed.
This was the biggest problem why I never got along with Fang, because there were too many Alpha energies that challenged each other and that way, none of us took a step back. Rather, we always tried to stand one step ahead of each other with the dominance of our wolves taking over. And not even an Omega would deny that our wolf was the most ferocious and the most egoistic part of our soul.
Luckily, we stood in the less lit area, away from the bonfire so no eyes turned towards us.
"Ellie turned crazy because of Channing," Fang retorted, "have I not told you how Channing's feelings can catch up to the person? She probably fell in love with Channing because of his imposing feelings and then killed her friend because of the hate and grief that Channing was feeling during the revoking of the mark." Fang held me by my shoulder as if I was some toy he could order around, "You will stay away from Channing, henceforth."
I jerked Fang's hands off my shoulder, "Stop filling my head with your lies, Fang. " I glared at him with the same intensity that he was glaring at me with.
"You come to Waterwoods tomorrow. I will make you the beta here," Fang said as if becoming the Beta was my main goal. "There is no need to run around Channing as his Beta."
"Are you mad?" I almost squeaked as I raised my voice. The chattering around the bonfire started to dim after hearing me almost shout.
Bane was quick to come and cover me and Fang from the crowd's eyes, "Alpha please head away from here or there would be gossips." Unlike the first time when Bane had met me, he wasn't hostile towards me today. It was possibly because of how Fang acted around me. Others could not see our faces as we were in the darker part of the forest and Fang inhaled deeply as he grabbed my wrist and ran away from there, dragging me with him.
I did not resist, as this conversation about Fang's jealously needed to take place between us, and he could not just dictate his way around me.
Far away from the bonfire, Fang stopped before another clearing where the noise of the river filled the air and this was the perfect place to talk as one who have to come closer to hear our conversation.
"Listen, Fang, I am not going to do as and whatever you tell me to. I have a bigger mission to focus on," I spoke first. "About Channing, there is nothing between us and there won't be anything henceforth, so please stop being so possessive about someone that is not going to be yours as well," I said, pointing towards myself.
Fang gritted his teeth as he heard those words from my mouth. The next thing I knew, Fang had grabbed my throat and my back was against a tree trunk.
Fang growled at the back of his throat as he spoke, "You are mine, and you will be mine. If you don't keep a safe distance from Channing, the first I will do is forget about your mission and go to the castle and tell the king how you have been falling in love here, stalling on one thing that was asked of you. How about that? Sounds like a good price to pay."
My breath fastened as I looked at Fang and his hand, which turned higher around my throat. "You are hurting me," I grunted. This was not the first time I had seen this side of Fang, but his possessiveness was too dense in his eyes. "Fang!" I called out to him in a low voice.
Behind his wolf, the Fang heard me, and his grip around me loosened. His eyes slowly turned back to black and he slowly let go of me, turning around to run his hands through his freshly cut locks of hair.
I coughed as I finally got the right amount of air to breathe.
"Fuck!" Fang grunted as he banged his fist against the trunk of the same tree from where I had got away, making a huge hole. "Are you okay?" Fang came near me and I slapped his hand away from me.
"I am not okay Fang! and please stop making things difficult for me," I said in a furious tone, "Things are already tough and if you don't stop putting a price for everything you want, my life would be much better right now. Look at this troublesome mark that you already gave me. Do you know how alert I have to be!" I panted, as I had taken everything inside of me to say it out loud to him. No matter how many times I tried to give chances to Fang, it always seemed to come to bite me on my back.
Fang closed his eyes and sighed, "Okay, don't come to Waterwoods, but you still have to keep your distance from Channing."
"Why?" I yelled as I took an offensive step closer to him.
Fang towered over me as he close the distance between us, "Because I can read his head and Channing still likes you, damn it!" I gulped as I stared at Fang and everything inside me had calmed for that moment before Fang said, "If you don't keep your distance away from Channing, I am going to tell the king of what you are doing here dilly-dallying with Alpha of Winterwells."
"You wouldn't do that," I whispered as I strained my neck to look at Fang's eyes and he was damn serious right now.
Fang was breathing lava in his fury and he said in a calmer tone this time, "Oh sure, I can do that, Selene, and you know it."