#Chapter6

-White and Red-01

Sapphire Nightborne

My heart pounded against my chest as I stared at the man in front of me. I never thought that the next time I would see him would be in such a civilised setting, after all... my preferred setting in which I would see him was on the battlefield with his heart in my hands, but I guess you can’t always get what you want.

There was just silence with the exception of Damien’s whistling as he sat on the other end of the long Oak table with his feet propped up, my nails dug into Xander’s shoulders as I took in his relaxed posture. Xander himself sat opposite Damien, twirling his pen in his hand as he stared at the man in front of him, he removed my hand from his shoulder before leaning back onto the back of his chair and broke the loud silence.

“What do you want, Alpha Damien?”

That man was not worth the title, and I hated that Xander had to address him as so. There was a thud as Damien swung his feet off the table onto the floor, he then propped his head on his clasped hands.

“My demands, forgive me, my requests are actually quite simple... I just want you to return what belongs to me and never contact them again.”

My hand instantly went to Xander’s shoulders as I watched his back visibly tense at Damien’s words causing a glare from Damien to be directed towards him, Xander placed his hand over mine as I returned Damien’s glare. How dare he see Chloe and me as property to be passed back and forth? He regarded us as if we had tags on that said, ‘Alpha Damien’s property, please return if found.’

“Alpha Damien, they came to me and I offered them asylum, thus they are under my protection. Besides, your sister, as well as Sapphire, have both found their mates here and thus by law, the choice to stay or leave is in their hands alone... you have no right to the both of them.”

There was a crash as Damien shot up from his chair, causing it to fall backwards. Jared and Brendon immediately fell into a defensive stance before trying to pull me behind them, and shocked looks appeared on their faces as I wrenched my hand from their grasps. I was not going to hide from Damien, if he wanted to start a fight and break this temporary truce then the laws of diplomacy no longer applied to him and I would want myself be able to move freely to ‘defend’ myself against him. I watched as his eyes slowly raked down my face before stopping at the necklace that Xander had just given me, the left corner of his lips lifted into a smirk before he let out a small chuckle.

“Sapphire, you really do move quickly. I see you have already spread your legs for this Alpha, it seems that under all that bravado there is just a little gold-digger who can’t stop herself from opening her legs when a powerful Alpha walks by... and here I thought you were different.”

My nails bit into the skin of my palms as I clenched my fist harder, I was about to retort when a loud growl rang through the room causing even Damien’s guards to flinch. My eyes widened as I took in Xander’s appearance, his grey eyes had turned golden but the whites of his eyes had turned black as night, his fangs were bared and I watched as they grew almost past his lower lip. The chair he had sat on was now laid on its side, the arm-rest on either side reduced to splinters from his grip. The lacquered table now displayed cracks on its surface as Xander gripped on it, his black claws, which were twice the length of mine, scraped the wood as he glared at Damien.

“Watch what you say to her! You are already treading a very fine line here and I am sure you would not want to cross it!”

His voice was so low it almost felt like a vibration, a shiver ran down my spine as he spoke, sounding more like a wolf than a man.

Damien masked his fear with a smirk as he placed both of his hands in the air in mock surrender as he moved away from the table. His mouth opened again, probably to say something that would anger Xander and incite him to attack Damien which would break the grounds of this ‘diplomatic’ talk, giving Damien the right to call for war. Before a word could fall from his lips I stood in front of Xander, ignoring the grabs for my hand by Brendon and Jared as well as the growls coming from Xander, I was not going to let him be baited into doing something stupid.

“I think you have said enough, Alpha Damien, I would hate for a situation where our packs would end in war. I considered your demands, but am sorry to say that they have been rejected.”

He slammed his hands down on the table causing more cracks to form and growled before I raised my hand again.

“Thank you for coming but now I, Sapphire Ragna Nightborne, the Alpha Female of the Shadow Mountain Pack have to ask you to leave.”

His eyes narrowed as I spoke the last title, I had given the title he wanted to force upon me to another... willingly. Brendon and Jared, as well as all the other guards in the room tensed as Damien made a move towards me, my body stiffened as I felt Xander claws sinking into my skin, slicing through the fabric of my shirt as he made a grab for my waist to hold me close to him. To my surprise it was Damien’s own guards who stopped him from coming any closer to me, whispering into his ear and pointing to Xander’s monstrous form. He took one more look at Xander and his hand that was around my waist before nodding, the coward. Despite all I said about wanting to not go to war just yet, there was still a part of me that wanted Damien to cross that line, that wanted him to give me a reason to tear him apart on Shadow Mountain land.

“This isn’t the end Sapphire when the time comes, remember that I gave you an out.”

“That’s what they all say and don’t worry, I won’t regret it.”

He gave one last growl before he turned on his heel, I watched his back as his group left the room before turning to Brendon and Jared.

“Follow him till he reaches his lands.”

They nodded before relaying the orders I gave them to the guards standing around us who promptly ran out to follow them.

“I purposely asked the two of you as I need both of you to make sure that Damien and his guards do not grab any of our members as they leave. I know I just became Alpha Female today, but I would really appreciate if my orders were followed.”

My left eyebrow ticked, making my annoyance clear.

“No disrespect Sapph, but we are staying to tackle with a slightly urgent matter here.” Jared gestured to my middle where Xander’s hand still remained, the fabric around his hand slightly darkened with blood. They made a move towards me causing Xander to tighten his hand around my middle causing the newly healed skin to tear again, a low warning growl rumbled from his throat resonating throughout the room.

“Jared and Brendon go join the rest of your men and make sure nobody enters this room till I say so.”