Chapter 166 - The Scars

It was around 9 am. The weather seemed glum today compared to the blissful springtime. The endless skyline was filled with dusky clouds as it indicated that the rain could start pouring heavily at any moment. 

Waking up from his bed holding a pale, sleep-deprived look on his face, Zeus trussed the waist belt of his dark blue silk nightrobe. He had an irked expression on his face resembling a bit restless. He was continuously scratching around his necklines and tapping bold giant footsteps, he walked straight towards the huge dressing mirror crafted over his sumptuous cupboard. 

As he peered a glance on the mirror at himself, a tinge of fear and palpitation swirled his core. Surging his dilated black pupils wider, he gulped his saliva and continued monitoring himself, fretting his face.

The lower portion of his neck, just above his collar bone had a quite number of small reddish-brown scars forming on their own. Just by glancing at those scar marks, his heart throbbed with angst, and with a still gaze, he continued staring at them. Softly, he raised his cold palm and tried to touch one of them apprehensively. But, as soon as his fingertips brushed against them, a painful burning sensation stirred within him, causing him to immediately shove his hands away.

"Fuck! The lunar eclipse is still a day away and these scars have already started to appear... I guess... I can't escape the curse after all... But...

If I fail to survive this time... what would happen to Eva? I bet...those nasty brutes would keep coming for her... If I am gone... who would be there to protect her? Fuck! How am I gonna get out of this trouble? Fuck that bastard...I should have dodged the attack! Fuck!!" Slamming his fist hard against the wall, he stroked his messy hair up from his forehead, grumbling in a serious deep voice.

He was looking extremely frustrated as his wide eyes were blazing in anger. Every time he glanced at himself, the number of scars forming around his neck was increasing in number. Some of those reddish marks had already started to grow around over his chest muscles which were concerning him quite bad.

...

KNOCK KNOCK!

All of a sudden, the knocking sound on the colossal metal door of his room flinched him out of blue. Quickly, he clenched the knot on his nightrobe and turned behind. 

"Who's this?" In a thick voice, he growled.

Clutching the doorknob open, Aelia walked into his room with a frown, intense look on her face. Her appearance seemed a bit pale and she was fretting her brows, walking near to him.

"Mom?"

"Why didn't you arrive at the dinner party? You didn't even pick up my phone, Zeus!" She fussed at him, looking much vexed from her cast.

"Mom, I was late from work. Besides--"

"I had asked Ivory to pick you up from your office. But even she ditched the party we threw to introduce you both to our guests! I bet... both of you must have a fight regarding some issue." Before he could finish his remark, she sharply intervened crossing her arms holding a stern posture.

"Mom... I really don't have time to spare like that. And... Ivory had separate reasons to ditch the invitation. Both of us had our own personal reasons." Taking a deep sigh out, Zeus tried to turn away from her but she quickly observed his fidgety behaviour and grasped his arm, intending to stop him from leaving.

"Wait!"

"Now what?"

"Your neck..." She trailed off and scrunched her eyes, filled with awe.

"It's nothing."

"The scars! The scars have started to appear, Zeus!!" All of a sudden, she shrieked out aloud looking badly panic-stricken. Clasping his forearm tighter, she was gawking impatiently all over his body. "Where else they have appeared? C'mon, show me!" 

"Mom, calm down! Don't panic like that." Holding her arm with a purpose to cool her down, he reciprocated in a low, considerate voice. 

"Don't panic like that? How can you say this so easily to a mother? Do you even know what does that means? The...The eclipse is still a day away and they have already started appearing! I...I can't imagine what can possibly happen on the red moon eclipse itself! Yet... how can you be so calm about it?" She grumbled in a loud angst voice, furrowing her brow ridge.

Zeus momentarily kept his silence for a few seconds and tried to hide the inner turmoil he was battling within. Clenching his fist, he took a huff of breath out murmuring out, "it was my fault, to begin with... I should have dodged the wolfsbane yet I failed to do so. Thus... I have to face the consequences." 

"Dodge the wolfsbane? How can you pathetically lie with that straight face of yours!?" She was irked, her whole body was shivering in rage as she glared at his eyes erectly. "You jumped before the darn human girl and willfully chose it just to save her life! You knew how dangerous wolfsbane can be to the true blood alphas...right? You knew it all... still you put your life on the line just for a human? Have you really gone crazy?" 

"Don't fret too much, mom. Everything will be fine after I survive it through this blood lunar eclipse--"

"That's what I am worried about, son! If you survive! There lies a big mountain of uncertainty and even the thought of it is shuddering me from inside! Two of our alphas had failed to endure the tremendous pain you will have to go through! What we are gonna do if it happens to you too!?" She was gritting her jowls, while her big brown eyes were glistening in tears as she was staring at him, holding his arm tight.

"Only two of them had died till now, mom. The proportion of fatality is very low. And you know it already, I am a strong alpha. This curse, won't kill me." He tapped her arm once, trying to console her grievous heart with his words. Though he was trying hard to hold a fake smile on his grimace, his left arm was shivering a little indicating that he was quite apprehensive from inside.

She lowered her head down and tenderly punched on his chest trying to depict her inner palpitation. Tears rolled down her cheek as she mumbled on her own, "it's all because of that human! Your life is on the line today just because of that human! You can't even understand my trepidation after watching these scars!! I had a tiny hope that you might be excluded from the curse but...no... Shit! Why? Why did you do it? Why did you have to be so reckless?" She was knocking his chest muscle, sobbing in grief.

His heart was growing heavier to watch her drowning in her angst. Tenderly, he gripped her arm and responded in a benign tone, "I can understand what you are feeling now. But...if I face the same situation today...I will opt for the exact same choice I have done earlier. Protecting her will be always my priority, mom." He concluded in a bold, assertive voice.

"What?" She lifted her teary eyes up and gawked straight into him. "What do you mean?"

"I love her." A small sad smile appeared on his lips as he stared back at her, firmly confessing his truth.

"What? Zeus, have you lost your damn mind?"

"Mom, I know you have known it all along. Yet you still tried to turn a blind eye on the truth, just because you don't want to accept that it has really happened. Don't you?" He frowned his brows, answering in a sullen tone.

"Zeus, I won't allow you to ruin your life purposely for that girl! I absolutely decline---"

"It doesn't matter to me if she can ever accept me in her heart, but I am and I will be always in love with her. And that's the reason, I can't get engaged to Ivory. I am sorry, mom." Gently unleashing her arm from his grip, he murmured those words quite intensely.

She was awe-struck for a few seconds hearing his bold proclamation. Opening her mouth wide, she was gasping in angst looking at him with disbelief in her eyes. After a moment of silence, she gripped both of his forearms and mumbled out, "Zeus...you have really lost your senses! Don't let your emotions take over your mind! Liking a human is...is a sin for us! You know the consequences quite well! And... I can't let it happen to my one and only son...

No...Let's think about it later, first, we need to deal with this curse and...I will look for some way to help you. I think...we should go to our Mountain Spirit together. I know he can somehow help you a bit---"

"No one will be allowed to even come near me on that day!" Before she could complete her words, he declared in a bold, affirmative manner, ogling into her eyes.

"What? But!"

"You know how deadly contagious it is! I don't want any one of my pack to even get a glimpse of me that day. Mom, I will go alone to the forest and I will fight it alone... I will make sure to survive..." His voice grew heavier, as he tossed the remark with a sad sneer on his face.