Enchanting Visions - Chapter Six

Odin’s POV:

I could feel this woman’s control over me, and I was not sure how I felt about it. There was violence hidden deep within her that seemed to match my own if not rival it. I wanted to absorb her every breath, to protect her from the very world that I knew she feared and loathed. The moment she placed her palm upon my chest I could sense her very thoughts and emotions as if glancing through a murky pond and making out the unique stones that hid underneath.

She is dying, I thought to myself grimly as I sensed her pulse through her hand.

It was weak and fragile as she was but a defenseless creature in a new and unknown world, a world with which she had been shunned from her entire life. I could not be sure how I knew this to be true or not and yet it was something that I sensed deep within her. Her guard had been faltering the longer our skin touched, and I was slowly able to grasp small details from within her mind, and yet the moment she sensed my presence she threw her guard back up and blocked me out.

I could not be sure how I shared this type of connection with her as no wolves had ever told me about their connection with their mate running this deep before. It was something I needed to be wary of though as anything or anyone that seemed out of the ordinary was soon eliminated. A deep fear drove deep within the wolves of Thallyn, a fear that made them avoid the full Moon and observe each other as if a plague had been upon us. They were secretive and rarely trusted anyone.

Caoimhe, A voice said within my mind.

The voice was sweet as if nature itself created it. I could hear the distant ran falls of the long and forgotten land of Elaara, a place where gold runs through the ashen trunks of the Oaken trees, whose leaves bore white vines and were cold to the touch. Their black leaves smelled of moss and honey and soaked up the rays of the sun with the shadow of the leaves dancing golden upon the ground.

I took a sharp breath inward as the visions of the forgotten land coursed through my mind, with vast memories flooding through my very pores as I imagined tasting the honey that leaked from the pours of the trees. My mind began to wander as I was thrust away from the lands and thrown over the Southern Seas with my mind coursing through the world and past Thaalea until my attention was forced elsewhere.

"You cannot treat me this way, Odin!" Essen shouted harshly as she chose that moment to step forward and ripped my mate’s hand from my chest.

I growled instinctively as I turned on Essen and angrily placed my hand upon her neck and gripped it tightly wanting nothing more than to snap the frail thing in half.

How dare she tear me away from those images! My wolf barked from within me as I could feel his anger and resentment fueling my every move.

My body was aching now that my mate wasn’t touching me, I would give anything within that moment to have her hands back on my skin, to provide me with the feelings that I had once felt as she showed me things that no other creature could see. She was a gift to me from the heavens and I would give anything within that moment to protect her and cherish her very life. My claws extended as I willed them to pierce Essen’s porcelain skin and smirked as the fresh blood began to well up and poured gentle streams down her throat and over her chest.

A sickening grin spread to my lips as my mate watched with approval as I injured the woman who I had previously laid a claim on. I could sense that she knew, she knew that Essen and I were a couple and it angered her and deep down I could feel her anger and willed it to take a hold of me. I shifted my gaze from my mate’s beautiful opal-like eyes and looked down into Essen's murky green eyes that were now filled with terror as she desperately clawed at my hand as I slowly choked her.

I stared down at Essen in disbelief as it finally dawned on me what I was doing to her, I immediately released her and watched in horror as Essen fell to the ground and desperately gasped for air as she held her hands to her throat to stop the bleeding. My eyes grew wide as I looked down at my now bloodied hand as the reality of my situation finally hit me full on.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Essen barely gasped out as she shot daggers towards me as she struggled to climb to her feet.

“I…” I started, only I did not know what to say.

I could not reveal to Essen what I had just witnessed or the effect that this woman held over me.

Caoimhe, I thought to myself.

Her head shot up the moment her name came to mind as if she could sense when I was thinking about her. I was not sure what she was, but I knew she was not normal, and that in itself was dangerous.

Essen cannot know, I thought to myself as I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat as I imagined Essen running home and informing her father about these events.

A war would break out, I thought.

A war that I am not yet ready for.

“Don’t get in my fucking way,” I spat at Essen.

I knew she would retaliate over my treatment of her, but it was not enough to send her back to her father, I needed to protect Caoimhe’s existence. I could not let Essen discover that the beautiful creature now stood behind me was, in fact, my mate and that every fiber within my body was yearning to be with her and not Essen.

I needed to distract her.