Chapter 368 - Two options

But first, there was one more thing to deal with.Erik, Nora, and Emma were standing next to a couch, and looking down at the women lying on it. Elora was sitting on Erik's shoulder.

"We can't just stand here waiting forever. Any idea when she's waking up?" Erik asked Elora, a little impatiently. "If it doesn't happen soon, we'll just leave her behind. That was a viable option, anyway."

Elora shook her head, "Don't worry, should be any moment now. I can feel her energy stirring." Erik nodded, and continued looking down on Anne, until her eyelids finally started trembling after another few minutes.

Her eyes slowly started opening. She blinked slowly, and a confused frown dominated her brow. "W— What happened?" she muttered. Then, she noticed the people staring down at her, and she quickly sat up, a little alarmed.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious," Erik grinned at her.

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked softly, a little concerned.

Anne turned towards Emma and her confused frown deepened, "M— Mom?" But then she shook her head and her eyes cleared up a little, "N— No. You're not."

Emma smiled kindly, and sat down on the sofa next to the confused werelynx. "No, I'm not," she confirmed with a shake of her head. "But how do you feel when you look at me? A human?"

For a moment hatred and disgust flashed through Anne's eyes, and she opened her mouth to snap at Emma, but then she stopped. The negative emotions drained away, and she frowned in confusion again.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open wide, and she pointed her finger accusingly at Emma, "Y— You did something to me!"

Emma nodded slowly, "You could say that. But I didn't force anything on you. I helped you reach a conclusion that you would have reached on your own, if you weren't so drowned in hatred. Your mother didn't want this for you."

Anne's expression loosened, and she looked down sadly. She curled up, and hugged her knees to her chest. Slowly, the memories of exactly what happened before she fell unconscious came back to her. Tears appeared in her eyes.

Emma, Erik, and Elora simply watched patiently for a moment.

Finally, she looked up at Emma with pain, frustration, and a hint of fear, "Why did you do that? My hatred of humans was simple, easy… I— I can't do anything against the hunters… so what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

This time, it was Erik who spoke up. He shrugged, "You have two options. Option one is, you go back to the Enclave and try to move on, while helping them move towards a more human-tolerant way of life. This is the hardest option, but perhaps also the safest and most rewarding."

Clear unwillingness shone in her eyes, as she muttered, "What about option two?"

This time, Erik smirked slightly with a hint of possessive desire, "Come with us. We're going after my mother, your teacher, and the hunters. You can get your revenge, just not on humans."

Anne narrowed her eyes, "What's the catch?"

Calmly, Erik explained, "Obviously I'd have you take the same deal as Nora. You'd be a servant. Unable to betray, or disobey me. Your life would be simple, you'd meet your teacher again, and you'd eventually get revenge on the hunters."

Although Erik preferred it if Anne chose the latter option, he would be fine if she chose the former. Either way, Anne was one of the biggest, and most powerful, human haters in the Enclave, and he couldn't allow her to keep spreading her hatred considering his plans for them.

Since he didn't want to kill her, or force her to follow him, he had to figure out something else. And that was where Emma came in.

With Emma forcing Anne to confront the memories of her mother, and realize the true enemy, she could either go back to the Enclave as a reformed xenophobe and try to influence others the same way, or she could come with him.

While the latter option didn't bring much benefit to the Enclave, it still removed a large obstacle to the Enclave's eventual integration into the Council, while Erik gained another helper, and servant, to lighten Nora's load a little.

Finally, Nora, who had been silent so far, spoke up with an excited grin, "Come with us, Anne! I'd love to do this together with you!" Her eyes showed a slightly crazed sparkle as she continued, "And you'll love serving him, I promise you that."

But despite her redirected hatred, Anne wasn't fundamentally any different, meaning the idea of serving a man, especially sexually, still repelled her somewhat. So when she heard Nora's pitch, she scowled a little.

She had been pushing Anne towards this goal ever since Erik arrived in Kirkenes, and Nora admitted to serving him. She couldn't deny that a spark of interest had been awakened, especially after Erik's kiss, but she still didn't like the idea.

"I guess this service includes sex?" Anne continued scowling a little as she looked up at Erik.

Erik smirked teasingly and shrugged, "Technically you'd be forced to obey if I ordered you to, but I'd never force anyone to have sex with me. I'm happy waiting until you come to me yourself."

With that promise, Anne suddenly seemed far more interested. She looked into Erik's amber eyes, and wondered if he was telling the truth. But all the things she'd seen him do and heard about, and the fact he was Runa's son, made her decide he was probably trustworthy.

So, eventually, she sighed, and nodded, "Fine. I don't want to go back to Kirkenes like this. I don't want to let go of my anger. I want to hunt the hunters."

Immediately, Elora jumped down from Erik's shoulder, and flew in front of Anne's face. "Good choice!" she chuckled gleefully.

"Now don't resist!" she continued, while making a small, dark-green orb appear on the tip of her index finger, before she started drawing the same collar of runes on Anne's neck, as was on Nora's.

The werelynx gasped as her eyes widened. Her body trembled, and her fingers dug into the sofa's cushions. She pursed her lips, but in the end, she managed to not resist at all.

After a few seconds, the Bond of Service was formed.

Anne felt the bond wind chains around her soul. A sort of instinctual reverence and fear filled her when she looked at Erik and Elora, but she kept her calm. She'd made her choice, and she'd live with it.

After that, things moved fast.

Elora shared a method of controlling those ghouls with Liv, that didn't require an entire control centre. They wouldn't have the same coordination, but they'd be able to shuffle across the cold wastes until they reached Council territory just fine.

After that, everyone said their goodbyes, Elora gave communication sigil stones to Liv and Viljar, and then they boarded their ship.

Next stop, England. Sёarᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.