Chapter 184

[Arthur’s POV]

I haven’t been able to think straight since the morning. I don’t even know how I managed to make it through the day without snapping at someone. Thanks to my mother's excessive nosiness and relentless need to keep herself in power, I’ve been on edge and fighting off the worst thoughts that could possibly come to mind.

Ella’s already been kidnapped once by my insane father. But Liam raised a good point by asking how dangerous Cecilia really was.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know. I was never at the receiving end of the woman’s wrath. It never once occurred to me that she could be as daring and ruthless as Aaron—shit, maybe worse.

The only bright side to all of it was that no one knew the truth about Ella and I being fated mates. If that were to get out, then there would be absolutely no dividing wall that would make them think twice.

Bonding was serious business. Even someone like her, of her high standing in society, knew the troubles and severity that came with such a thing. It was no surprise to hear that my parents weren’t fated.

Being that their marriage was mainly an arrangement, I was never greatly interested in the concept of marriage or being paired off. But ever since I met Ella and discovered the truth, everything in my mind had shifted.

I quickly came to realize that the only future I wanted was one with her. With that being said, I had every intention of making sure that my side of the bond with her was going to be done properly and within our own time.

To be utterly honest, I didn’t care about the supposed elevation that came with bonding with Ella. Yes, I was still a bit skeptical about the whole matter in general. But given the fact that my mother seemed to believe it was real, it had me second-guessing my opinion.

When I watched Ella leave the room to go meet up with Ben, I nearlyjumped out of my skin. I did not like the idea of her meeting up with him, knowing what he'd done.

“I should have known something was up with that little twerp the moment I met him,” I snarled.

“I have this awful feeling in my gut that won’t go away,” Liam commented.

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.

I had half a mind to suggest that the two of us head to the library to eavesdrop on Ella's conversation merely for the sake of calming their own nerves. I didn’t even care if she were to catch us and proceed to verbally rip us to shreds, I was worried for her.

Right as I got up from my desk chair, we heard a loud knock on the door. Both Liam and I turned our heads and swiftly answered the door.

My heart dropped and my eyes practically bugged out of my head. “What the fuck?”

It was Ben—looking utterly exhausted and struggling to find his breath.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Liam snarled.

I had to actually hold out a hand to keep him from lunging at the guy.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here, after all the shit you’ve put us through,” I told him.

Ben held up his hands in defense. “Look, I understand that you guys are pissed. Believe me, I deserve whatever the hell you two throw at me. But that can wait. Ella’s may be in trouble.”

It felt like my veins had filled with ice. All the anger had dropped from our faces as Liam and I shared a look.

“What kind of trouble?” I asked.

Liam stepped forward. “Wait, what are you even doing here? Ella was supposed to meet you at the library.”

“She did but things sort of escalated from there. Come on, we need to stop her before she does anything stupid.”

“Who? Ella?”

Ben shook his head. “No, Amy—well, err, I guess her real name is Ava?”

I watched the blood drain from Liam’s face.

His jaw dropped. “Ava?! Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

He stormed out of the dorm without so much as looking back. We all raced toward the center of campus where we were struck by the shocking sight of two fully-shifted wolves snapping and clawing at one another.

Shockingly, neither one of the wolves was Ella. I could tell, based on the color of their fur.

I remember when Ella had first shifted, the color of her coat was practically opal-colored.

I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried because, in general, I couldn’t find her.

“Arthur,” Liam called out.

My attention was immediately captured and my head whipped around to find Ella propped up against one of the pillars on our left. Bonnie was standing close by her with a grave look on her face.

For a brief moment, I felt myself relax...And then I caught a glimpse of the bloody rag that was being pressed to Ella’s face.

“Ella!”

My heart plummeted.

We all rushed to her side and dropped down beside her. Liam went on to inspect the other parts of her to make sure that she was alright, whereas I focused on the blood-soaked cloth. More importantly, what it was trying to cover.

Obviously, Ella hadn’t managed to escape whatever altercation was happening just a few yards away.

“I need to see what’s under the cloth,” I said gravely.

Even with half of her face showing, I could tell that she was hesitant to let me look at her. Yet, after a good moment of contemplation, she nodded her head. Slowly, I reached out to take the cloth from her and gently pulled away.

Every nerve in my body screamed in silent rage at the sight of seeing three, deep claw marks streaking down the side of Ella’s face. One of the lines broke through her brow but was lucky enough to have missed her eye.

I felt Liam go tense beside me. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that he wasn’t feeling the exact same way as me.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“I-Is it that bad?” she asked.

I felt myself filled with anguish and guilt for not being here sooner to prevent such a horrible attack. Neither one of us dared to answer her question. Let’s just say, that had she still been human, there would have been a very likely chance that she would have bled out.

I took in several deep breaths and fought to keep calm for whatever it was worth. My sanity was teetering on the edge with every passing second that I looked at Ella’s injuries.

“Come on,” I said lightly. “We’re taking you to the infirmary on the north side of campus.”

A deep voice spoke out that halted our movements. “Not so fast.”

I turned my head to see the vice president and several administrative staff members come bustling down the sidewalk.

“I’m afraid that Miss Belmont is going to have to come with us to the main office to explain what’s gone on here,” the man said with a stern look.

I gritted my teeth and snarled in displeasure. “No. What Ella needs is a goddamn doctor to make sure that her wounds don’t get infected.”

I felt Ella pull at my hand. “It’s alright, Arthur,” she said softly.

No, it wasn’t. But I didn’t have much choice in the matter, did I?