Sins Among Royals
Chapter 69

While Noah and Indie knocked, banged and destroyed everything in sight Nathaniel stepped out from his hiding spot, “stay put Rita.” at the sound of Nathaniel’s voice both beasts stopped suddenly and turned their attention to the vampire and the mother.

An eerie silence fell as Nathaniel backed back towards Rita in an effort to shield her.

“I think we should run,” Rita mumbled as she looked towards the main entrance of the infirmary. Before Nathaniel could respond or even move Rita dashed off towards the door. One of the beasts ran off after her immediately. It ran and its claws scratched the stone floors leaving deep gouges in its wake. Rita screamed and pushed against the doors.

“Pull it you idiot!” Nathaniel yelled in anger as the wolf descended upon her quickly. It snarled and nipped and as Rita stood there frozen to the spot she saw her entire life flashing before her eyes. She saw her childhood filled with warm memories and innocent shenanigans. Laughter and mischief soon gave way to many years of high school and the world of teenage mischief. It was both good and bad for Rita, there were many things she wanted to forget but it was also a time filled some of the best moments of her life. Next came her mate, Craggy Bluff and adulthood. She’d had a great life and Rita never thought her day would come so soon. She screamed and closed her eyes as the beast pulled one arm back and was about to take a swipe at her.

Rita waited but nothing came. She heard a loud rumble before she was shoved to the side.

She gasped for fear of what was coming next but when she dared open her eyes and peek out into the room she did not see a large beast before her. Instead she saw empty space. Nathaniel soon appeared at her side and urged her to stand. Rita was so frightened that her legs felt like jelly, she collapsed against Nathaniel as he turned them towards a gaping hole that was once the doors to the infirmary.

A scream resonated through the hallway as Nathaniel dropped Rita quickly, “stay here. I don’t think they are likely to return.” in the blink of an eye Nathaniel dashed off, hopeful that no one was hurt.

Turning a corner Nathaniel spied a young man and woman, he recognised the boy as one of Rita’s son’s and assumed the woman to be his mate. The same wolf that went after Rita now cornered the pair at the far end of the hallway. The boy protected his woman and stood defiantly against the gigantic beast. “You’ll not hurt her,” he shouted as he readied himself to shift. The young woman cowered and screamed as the large beast swiped it’s elongated claws at her mate.

The young man, Hunter, was soon sent flying into a wall. His body crumpled against the floor as his mate ran to him quickly, “Hunter please get up, please, please get up!” She urged him to move but he didn’t.

Nathaniel heard a loud howl resonate through the entire castle. The loud call shook the room around him as he turned back and saw the second wolf like beast behind him. It squared legs and steadied itself as Nathaniel and the mated pair seemingly became invisible. He quickly realised that the beast behind him was the girls mate. The one doing all the damage was Indie. With a sigh Noah quickly dashed passed him and straight towards his mates beastly form. Indie was so distracted by her brothers unconscious body and the whimpering, cowering mate that tried to rouse him that she didn’t see Noah running towards him.

Noah’s beast ran head first straight into Indies beast and knocked it clear off its feet. They tumbled passed Hunter and Madeline quickly and disappeared off around another corner as Indie tried desperately to escape her mate who seemed to be overpowering her. She snarled and snapped her jaws at him in an attempt to inflict damage but Noah was too quick. Nathaniel watched from a distance as they fought their way towards a giant window that overlooked an enclosed courtyard. Before he could blink or even move Nathaniel heard the large panes of glass shatter and break as they tumbled into the perfectly manicured garden.

The vampire ran quickly to see what was happening but was more than a little astonished to see that both Indie and Noah were returning to human form. “What a strange pair,” he muttered a he watched on. Their beast like skins fell away quickly and turned to ash as they both came to stand on their own two feet.

For a long while there was only silence as they stared at each other, neither blinked and neither moved. Indie looked completely annoyed while Noah was completely confused. The last time he had seen her was when he had pushed her off of the stage and now, suddenly she was a rampaging beast through his castle.

“What are you doing?” His voice was strong and stern. What was she doing? What was she trying to accomplish? “You attack me, almost take your mother’s head off and probably just seriously injured your brother.”

At the mention of Hunter, Nathaniel disappeared to tend to the boy, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be suffering from many broken bones. It was also very clear that Noah and Indie had a lot to talk about. There was much resentment aimed towards Noah.

“Well?” Noah pressed her for an answer. He was confused as to why she would behave in such a way. He thought he was making progress with her, he thought they’d been in a good place.

“I hate you,” Indie muttered through gritted teeth. Her jaw was tense and so too the rest of her body but she was far too tired to keep fighting in her wolf form. “I hate you for ruining my life, I hate you for making me leave my family and I really hate you for leaving me on that island to die!” the more she spoke the more anger she felt well up inside her. “You have no idea how lonely and broken hearted I was. You didn’t care about me! You only care about yourself.” Indie was so blinded by her anger for him that she failed to see reason, she failed to see the good he had done since.

All Noah could manage was a sigh. He had no words and could scarcely believe what she was saying. “I thought I was making progress,” he admitted quickly. “I can never express how truly sorry I am for what I’ve done to you but if I have to spend the rest of my life making up for that I will. You just have to promise to give me a chance.” Noah was genuinely sorry for what he had done but he was beginning to feel that she didn’t want to forgive him, he was starting to feel that maybe she wanted to stay mad at him. “You are right. I was selfish and I was only thinking about myself,” Noah felt a strange feeling seeping through his body and it wasn’t one he particularly liked. He felt it when he learned that Astrid bad been lying to him but now he was feeling it again with India but it was many times worse. “If you hate me that much though then reject me and return home with your family. I will release you from our bond.” Noah felt sadness consume him completely. He didn’t know what else to do or say. If all be had done so far wasn’t enough for her to forgive him what more was there for him to do? “If leaving is your wish I must warn you that once you leave the castle I won’t have you back.”

Though he heard the words he spoke he couldn’t believe they were coming from his mouth, he couldn’t believe he wasn’t shouting them at her or threatening her with death. It was what he would have done in any other situation and it proved just how much he had changed for her.

“You don’t want me?” She asked in disbelief. Anger again threatened to take hold of her but this time it was not aimed at Noah but at herself. Was she really that bitter that she would reject her mate and return home.

A smile pressed itself gently against Noah’s lips, “I will always want you no matter what happens.” He admitted as he felt a lump for in his throat. He was holding back tears and he needed to leave, he didn’t know how long he could hold them back for. “But I also want you to be happy with your choice.”

Noah began walking towards a small set of wooden doors that lead back to the interior of the castle. As he did so however he heard a sob and when he turned back he saw India trying to hold herself together. She had her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her face buried in the crook of her arm as she tried to muffle her cries from Noah.

He sighed and walked back towards her. Taking her in his arms Noah held her tightly as she cried. ma were utterly confusing and Noah was having more than a little trouble understanding Indie. Was she crying because of what he’d done?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered through the tears that slipped down her cheeks.

Indie had never known what she wanted out of life, she just knew she didn’t want to be controlled and as she stood there wrapped in Noah’s arms she was hit with a the memories of them together. Right from the first time they’d met she had misinterpreted the look on his face at first sight. While she was convinced he was disappointed she now knew it was somethin else.

She thought back to their disagreement in the car where she told him he would never change her and he didn’t argue. All the snide remarks from Poppy that he didn’t defend himself against. He stood up for her when he first introduced her to his parents, he stood with her against Ebony and tried to protect her from Felix. He’d brought her beautiful jewellery and given her money to buy a beautiful dress for Willows party. He’d even brought her a building. Indie had never been brought anything by anyone that wasn’t a relative so for Noah to lavish so much on her was strange.

The more she cried and the more she let out the better she felt. Indie realised much of her anger was because of fear. Fear of losing her family forever and not being able to see them as frequently as she’d like. Fear of disappointing Noah and not living up to the expectations that were placed on her. Fear of failing everyone around her.

Indie had always held a lot of pride in doing things for herself and she got to a point where she thought she would never need a mate for anything. She had made herself believe that she could do everything for herself.

She was wrong. Hearing Noah barely mutter the word rejection sent fear racing through every single nerve of her body and it forced her to realise that many of her fears were unfounded. Noah had changed and he was making attempts to change every day but what was Indie doing to change? She pulled away and looked up at her mate, her face covered in tears, snot dripping down her nose. She knew he looked a right mess but Noah looked at her like she was the most precious thing in his world.

“I’m such an asshole,” she cried again as Noah wrapped his arms around her once more.

“We can argue about who the bigger asshole is later. Although I think Hunter will agree that it is you.”

At the mention of Hunter, Indie pulled away, her eyes wide with fear and realisation. “Oh no!” She exclaimed, “he’ll never forgive me.” She dashed for the door and ran down the corridor towards him leaving Noah in the courtyard on his own.

He hoped that was the end of her anger towards him but as he stood there contemplating life even he felt an aggression he had never before felt.

What had they done to him? His wolf was no longer wolf like. Instead it was a gigantic beast that hungered for blood and flesh. It was a new feeling for Noah and not one he was sure he liked.