Chapter 151: Painful Consequences
There was a sickening crunch that filled the air, and from my spot on the bed, I could see Cassian’s eyes bug out in shock as he staggered back, taken by surprise by the full weight of Rowan’s anger.
I guessed he had never expected his own brother to hit him so hard. Even though Cassian was also an alpha, whatever strength he had was still considered paltry when compared to Rowan’s righteous anger, especially since Cassian was taken off guard.
If he could fall to a sudden kick to the nuts, then a proper punch from Rowan would’ve hurt a lot more than whatever human strength I had put into kneeing him previously. Or perhaps, Cassian simply hadn’t fully recovered from his earlier poisoning.
Either way, I was too tired to care about his problems when I had a laundry list of my own.
"You hit me?" Cassian spat out a bloody mouthful. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rowan’s punch had dislodged a couple of teeth, considering how red his mouth was. "Over her?"
"You need to be taught a lesson," Rowan snarled. "What you’ve done could’ve killed her!"
"For the last time, like I told Soren, I didn’t know it would kill her!" Cassian yelled, enraged at his brother’s accusation. "I just wanted Soren to get away from marking her, which is something you would’ve agreed with too, if you had been there. Why are you taking your anger out on me and not on him?! He was out there marking Briar when your back was turned!"
Rowan glowered, shifting his gaze to his other brother.
Soren’s face was pale, and I caught him swallowing his saliva, his throat bobbing in nervousness. However, to his credit, this time, he met Rowan’s eyes evenly without flinching. It was as though the earlier argument I had with him had snapped something in his mind. Now, he met every accusation and conflict head-on.
"I have every right to mark her as much as you do," Soren said as evenly as he could. "I am also her fated mate."
"And what a fantastic job you have done," Rowan spat back. "You couldn’t even do the bare minimum and make sure you prepared a bed and locked the door? Or did you not even think of ensuring her privacy and comfort before you tried? Were you so desperate to mark her that you didn’t think about whether you deserved to be her fated mate?"
At Rowan’s heated words, an ugly, shameful flush crawled up from Soren’s neck. Rowan was accusing him of negligence, and it wouldn’t be far off the mark. Markings were meant to be momentous, life-changing experiences, signifying the start of a new phase in life as a bonded pair. It wasn’t an impromptu tumble in the sheets, or a quickie in the middle of the day.
Part of me did find Rowan’s rant highly ironic, though. Back when I was marked by Rowan, I did have a bed and a locked door, but it wasn’t as though the situation was a grand and romantic affair.
It had happened in such a spur of the moment that the only difference between then and now was that no one had managed to disturb Rowan before he could complete the mark. By the time I pushed him away, everything was already done and dusted. The mark healed almost instantaneously, leaving me with no room for regret.
Besides, Rowan didn’t want me in his bed then, but times have changed now. I guessed he must have been furious that I was being treated so cavalierly by his own brother, my other fated mate.
As though he could sense my thoughts, Rowan’s eyes turned towards me, and I saw how his gaze softened almost instantaneously.
Surprisingly, he said, "Briar deserves a lot better from you."
I wanted to say that I did deserve better, but from all three of them. It wasn’t just Soren who owed me that, especially after everything that had happened. As my fated mates, especially ones who refused to accept my rejection or to reject me back, they were bound by duty and honor to live up to that fated bond.
If they couldn’t do at least that, then they should’ve set me free.
However, despite wanting to say all these things and chip in my two cents to this argument, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open. I felt my body begin to shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the weight of his stare.
Without Rowan’s touch, my body could no longer enjoy the warmth and relief he provided, forcing itself to recover in the only way it knew how.
Through cold, painful sleep.
I could feel my entire body starting to shut down. My eyelids felt as though they weighed a ton each, and I struggled to keep them open.
My suffering lit a fire under Rowan, and he immediately took action. He picked me up in his arms as though I weighed nary a feather. Instinctively, I curled closer to him, desperate to feel the warmth from earlier.
"I will settle scores with you later," Rowan said warningly to Soren.
I could feel his chest rumble at the words, and I let out a little sigh even as my hand reached out to feel it. Rowan adjusted his hold so I was pressed more closely to him.
Shooting his brothers one last flinty glare, he turned and walked away, carrying me back to his room.
"Where are you going?" Cassian asked, following us to the door of the room, only to be stopped by another nasty glare from Rowan. That one cold, deadly look instantly stopped Cassian in his tracks.
Rowan didn’t bother replying to him properly. He turned on his heel and walked down the hallway, arriving in his bedroom. Cassian, Soren, and Samuel were left alone in our wake.
As soon as we entered Rowan’s room, he placed me down on the bed. I sank into the soft mattress as he made his way over to the door, locking it.
The moment he let go, I subconsciously let out a small whine. It had felt so comfortable when he was holding me, that when he let go, pain slowly crept back into my body.
"I’m here," Rowan said. He crossed the room quickly with his long strides, holding my hands gently when he heard my whines.
He kept quiet for a moment, his lips pinched tightly together as he stared at me. Then, he climbed into bed with me, cradling me in his arms. I melted instantly into his embrace. It felt as though my whole body was slowly getting soothed by his presence.
"It hurts," I croaked out breathlessly. I couldn’t form any other words. Rowan’s touch offered relief, but it was far from enough. It was as though I had been given only a spoonful of water when I was dehydrated from thirst.
My whole body no longer felt cold. Right now, it was quite the opposite, and it felt as though it was on fire. Whatever pain suppressants that Samuel had given me were starting to wear off. I didn’t think that its effects would disappear so quickly.
Yet, it did. I couldn’t understand why.
Either my body was slowly mutating, or this failed mating mark was proving to be a bigger problem than I initially thought it would be. The part of me that hadn’t yet gone insane with pain wondered how I was meant to cope with this for the rest of my life. I couldn’t be hooked on drugs forever.
And even if I did need to resort to that, the body would eventually learn to build immunity against those drugs. I would need stronger pain medication every once in a while, until eventually, nothing would work on me.
What would happen then?
I sucked in another breath as another frisson of pain enveloped me. It felt like someone had painstakingly stabbed at every nerve I had. It had even gotten to a point where I was starting to think that Samuel had underestimated its effects. Perhaps he had undersold it to me, hoping to reduce my panic.
Or more frighteningly, it could be because he simply didn’t have the words to describe this particular brand of agony that I was enduring. The worst-case scenario would be that even he wasn’t sure what sort of pain this would bring, considering it was a much rarer case right now in modern society.
For one, it felt as though there were fire ants running across my skin, biting every inch of my body. In addition to that, it felt as though there were tiny organisms stabbing my every nerve. I could feel every single vertebra in my spine protesting in pain. Blood coursed through me, and every beat of my heart sped up the agony. Even maintaining consistent contact with Rowan didn’t seem to be enough anymore.
I whimpered, unable to keep my voice in. I hated showing weakness in front of Rowan, but it was nearly impossible to hold everything in right now. Maybe death would be a better solution.
"Briar... Briar, look at me. Don’t close your eyes."