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"Breathe, Willow.” Viktor’s hands were already pressed on my cheeks, and I realized I was on my knees just like him. “What do I always tell you?”
“To stop thinking because, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the ring.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “The ring you’re going to be entering where you have all your gear that will make you a walking menace to all those who are threatened by you.”
He wiped away the tears I didn’t realize were falling, and I followed his breaths so mine matched his.
“I hate this,” I confessed as I blinked away new tears. “Feeling so weak…and naked. I’m supposed to be at my strongest, Viktor. This is the moment where I’m supposed to shine.”
I closed my eyes and muffled a sob.
“But I’m fucking scared. Everything is going to change. The moment I walk down that runway, my life will fucking change again…and I’m not ready for it to,” I fretted. “Responsibilities are going to be thrown onto me. Roles I know nothing of and probably have no care for. I’m gonna be pulled into another new world that I have no clue about, and what happens to everything else?”
The frustration of it all boiled through me as I angrily wiped away my tears which forced Viktor to move his hands.
“Like…for fuck’s sake, I just want to be with my pack. I want a week of running Forbidden Enterprise without some chaotic bullshit. I want to celebrate a holiday without it going into shambles or enjoy our new house without having to leave abruptly and simply pass by it as a route to ABCD. I want time with my mates! I want to be lost in love and lust…and fuck whenever I damn want rather than put the rest of the world ahead of my relationships!”
He listened to my rant without a hint of pity in his eyes, which made me sigh and rub the palms of my hands across my face.
“I shouldn’t be complaining. I know this is a privilege that is not only mine to claim, but something I endured shit to receive. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, and I don’t want to let my enemies win, but fuck, Viktor. I hate this. I hate being given all this responsibility and power but having no control over it. What’s power without the ability to maneuver it in a way that most benefits you? I’m literally winning a trophy after fighting for twenty-five years, but is that all it is? A symbol of my resilience to all the madness invoked against me so I’d come out at the top? Aren’t I supposed to reap the rewards and enjoy them with those I love?”
Bria quietly listened to my words as well, and I felt her strong yearning to enjoy just a few days with our pack like we had after we cut our friendship with Aurelia.
Despite the circumstance that led to those few days of peace, it was something we now craved more than anything.
Revenge for all the suffering we’d endured from so many was on the list, but how much could one drive themselves forward without a moment of rest and rejuvenation?
Letting out another sigh, I let my hands fall before facing Viktor with a sad smile.
“I know you’re going to tell me to suck it up, put my boxing gloves on, and enter that ring with the intention of putting all my frustrations toward my opponent, but if I do that on this runway, people will probably think I’m pissed as fuck.”
“I wasn’t going to say that,” he reasoned. “At least, not this time.”
“So you’re admitting you’re predictab—” My words got caught in my throat as his hand lightly gripped my chin. “Viktor?”
“Close your eyes for a sec,” he encouraged as he began to lean closer to me.
I followed his words, wondering what magic trick he was going to pull off.
“If you’re going to do some magic trick to try and cheer me up, it’s not going to wor—” I couldn’t finish because his lips sealed mine while his hand that gripped my chin moved down my neck.
Opening my eyes just slightly, I caught onto his half-opened eyes of silver. Our gaze did nothing to detour the slow kiss his lips were delivering to mine, leaving me no choice but to close my eyes and allow myself to get lost in this brief moment of sensual serenity.
With a light suck of my bottom lip, he broke the kiss just as his fingertips brushed along my chest. The magic locket hidden against my flesh came to the surface, and I watched as it glowed very gently.
Its activation triggered the magic symbols across my neck, and my pink hair shifted to white almost immediately.
All I could do was kneel there and watch how my body grew hot with magic but also experience the soothing waves of calm that hummed through me from head to toe.
“Who says you need to suck it up?” Viktor tossed back at me which left me looking into eyes that replicated mine, which were surely sparkling with various colors.
His short strands were illuminated with multicolor shades, and his attire itself went back and forth from his completely black outfit to one of various hues of silver and white.
It was like seeing an illusion flickering back and forth—reality versus an alternate world where magic was as endless as the opportunities it awakened.
“You can have everything you want, Willow. You’re claiming a position that will grant you the title and power to request what you wish. Just because you’re claiming your birthright, that doesn’t mean you have to bend to the rules of all those who wished to test you,” he affirmed and offered his hand.
I stared down at it and placed mine in his grasp. The warmth his hand delivered only further comforted me while he helped me stand up.
