Page 41 of Fighting the Lies

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

She knew the delaying tactics could only work for so long and that time was up. As the sun set on the horizon, its spectacular light show of purples, pinks, reds, and oranges should be enthralling to watch, but they filled Emma with terror. She was walking down the hastily made aisle in Nuka's grand hallway. Her heels clicked on the floor, their tune an ominous death march. Her intended stood at the front of the small assembled crowd. She didn’t recognise anyone, not that she expected to. These were Nuka’s people, and this wedding was an elaborate façade, designed to show his power. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it would be the most hilarious farce ever written. He had won. He’d taken a prized possession from his brother, and he would use her to display his intentions to the world. She would never be lady of the manor. She would be a slave to his whims and sexual proclivities. Dragged out and forced to perform before the audience of unsuspecting nobodies. For that is what all people were to Nuka Lincoln. Nothing but pawns in his game. She arrived at the alter, and he tried to take her hand. She pulled away, so he forcibly took it this time.

“Play the part, and I’ll not hurt you later.” He grunted the ominous threat into her ear and presented her to Ciaran, who would perform the ceremony. The druid was dressed in his robes of office and gave off every sense of self-importance. Nuka Lincoln was the only man that Ciaran would ever bow to. He was a force to be reckoned with. His power superior to most warlocks in the world. All his success had been achieved through hard work and selling his soul to the devil. A devil named Nuka.

“Do you want the short or the long version?” Ciaran asked

“Short.”

“Long.”

Both she and Nuka replied at the same time, she obviously choosing the long version.

“I’ll meet in the middle.” Ciaran’s response only earned a growl from Nuka. It was welcome with a half sigh of relief from her.

“If this is to be my wedding day…” Maybe if she waffled on for a bit, maybe that would delay them even more. “Then I want it done properly. Besides you wouldn’t want my brother, or even yours, to say somewhere down the line that this was a messed up wedding so doesn’t count and would be declared void.”

Nuka pulled her close to him. A fake look of love in his eyes. He was playing a part for the audience as well.

“I see what you are doing, but it will not work. They will not come for you. He will not come for you.” The smirk that formed next on the polar bears face had her swallowing deeply. “Do you know what your lover is doing at this precise moment?”

“Planning every way that he can decapitate you and deciding on which one will be the most painful.” She spat in his face.

Nuka threw her at Ciaran and then turned to address the small crowd. It was mostly made up of senior members of his pack and a few from her brother’s, including the monster himself.

“If you would all be so kind as to give us a few moments. It appears that my fiancée is experiencing a few jitters. It is nerve wracking for her to be marrying a man of such renown and importance such as myself. If you could just wait outside, while I reaffirm to her my desire for a happy and bountiful future, I will call you in when we are ready.” The crowd filed out. Phillip remained behind. He stepped up to the alter.

“Do your duty sister. Believe me, what Nuka will do you if you don’t will be the vastly preferred alternative to what I’ll do. With me, you’ll be broken within days not months.” She tried to lash out at him, her claws emerging from behind her manicured nails. It felt good to have the bones in her hands crack and reform as a lion. Nuka grabbed her hand.

“If you shift to a lioness, I will have Ciaran force the change back, and I will marry and consummate this marriage with you naked in front of our audience. I’m offering you respect, Emma. Do not waste it.”

She retracted her claws and growled out a moan of frustration.

“Good girl,” he said patronisingly.

“I’m not a pet. You don’t need to speak to me that way.” She responded through gritted teeth.

“You seem to think that you have a say in what happens here. You are my property now. A chattel to do with as I wish. And what I desire is to get enough babies out of you before your body gives up. Then you die.” Nuka was almost foaming at the mouth, when he spoke.

“That’s assuming you aren’t firing blanks. You ever fathered a child with one of the whores I’m sure you keep around here.” Time, she needed to kill time. Even if it involved her getting hurt or beaten up. Antagonising Nuka was not the smartest idea that she’d ever had, but it was one that could work. Delay. It was all she was reciting in her head. Hurry up Kas.

“You bitch.” Nuka pulled his fist back and sent a punch flying into her face. Fuck. She staggered back. Yeah, smart one Emma, insult the seven foot almost three-hundred-pound guy come polar bear. She was lucky that he hadn’t broken her jaw. He grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her to him. She could feel his erection digging into her thigh. “You think that will not be able to get you pregnant. It will tear you apart, so no man will ever want your used and abused body again.”

“Scott would. He’ll come for me.” She tried to twist away, but his grip was far too strong.

Nuka let out a bellowing laugh.

“He’s the reason that you are here. He talked me into giving you freedom, halt the death sentence.” She gulped at Nuka’s response. This wasn’t how she was expecting the argument to go.

“What do you mean?” She hesitantly enquired.

“He gave himself to my pack. He’s currently not thinking about saving you. He’s fucking my lionesses and impregnating them with an army for me. Selective breeding at its best. You and I will create leaders; he will create the soldiers to fight. An army of Moroccan Kings to annihilate the Glacial Blood pack and then the Council.”

“Moroccan King?” She stammered. Scott was a King? Why hadn’t he told her. Why had he given himself in that way to save her. A vision of him in a romantic twist with another lioness ripped through her heart.

“The strongest and most well connected of the lions. If one of their brothers is hurt, the entire clan will fight against who hurt them. Your little insurrection is at an end. You cannot win.” She went limp in Nuka’s arms; her vision clouding at the edges where tears formed in her eyes. Even if they came for her, she would have nothing. Scott was gone. He was creating children with Nuka’s pack. He was sleeping with others. It didn’t matter that he was doing it to save her; she’d never be able to look at him again. Her thoughts turned to the tiny child growing within her womb. A part of her and Scott created when they could love each other. Circumstances had destroyed that. Ciaran would find out about the baby soon, and it would die. The alternative, as it would be a Moroccan King’s child, would be too frightening to consider, raised in Nuka’s army; the destroyer of the world. Instinctively her hand grazed over her stomach and in her head she whispered.

“I’m sorry I cannot save you. Heaven will welcome you. You’ll be safe there. My mother will protect you.”

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