The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas-Chapter 222: Soon, you will be mine

Elarliya forced a sweet smile and reminded him lightly, "Drink it, it will help you boost your energy," she whispered, the softness of her tone at odds with the flicker of satisfaction in her eyes before she turned, bowed her head, and left the room with a small, smug smile pulling at her lips.

Maximus watched her leave and then looked at the glass, his expression darkening as he scoffed under his breath, "Like hell I’m drinking something she brings," he muttered, pushing the tray far away from him with a disgusted flick of his hand. "I don’t wish to die," he added dryly before returning to his work, ignoring the glass completely.

On the other side of the door, Elarliya’s smile deepened into something twisted and pleased as she walked out, her steps slow and echoing, and her expression shifting into one of smug triumph.

"Maximus, I knew you would never drink something from her, but you forget... I am Elarliya," she murmured, her voice laced with amusement. "Even if you don’t drink it, the thing will slowly work... it will do exactly what it needs to do."

Her steps grew slower as she inhaled deeply, letting his faint scent drift into her senses, wrapping around her like a drug as she trailed her fingers along the walls, touching everything with that same obsessive expression she always had for him, and as she walked deeper into the hallway, she suddenly noticed a large carved door, one she had never been allowed near before, and the moment she realized what it was, her eyes brightened in wild excitement.

It was his room. His private place.

The moment Elarliya stepped fully into Maximus’s room, her breath hitched in her throat, as if the air itself had thickened with his presence, and she stood there for a long stretch of seconds, her fingers trembling, her pupils dilating with a feverish shine while she drank in the sight of every object that belonged to him.

And then, as if her knees could no longer hold her upright under the weight of her obsession, she slowly sank onto his bed, her movements slow and reverent, almost worshipful, like she was kneeling before a shrine built for him alone.

Her fingers clutched the edge of his sheets as she lowered herself further until she was sprawled across the bed, her cheek pressed against the place where his body had once laid.

And the moment she breathed in, she shuddered, her entire spine arching slightly as if the scent itself traveled through her blood like a drug.

She scrambled for his pillow, grabbing it with both hands before pulling it tightly against her chest, burying her face into the fabric like a starving creature finally given food, and she inhaled long, trembling breaths, making small unhinged sounds low in her throat.

"Maximus... Maximus..." she whispered into the pillow, her voice trembling with longing and madness as she nuzzled her face against it, "your scent... so strong... so perfect... I knew it, I knew coming here was a sign. It’s telling me everything will be mine soon, everything... you will be mine."

The pillow was clutched so tightly her fingers shook from the strain, and she hugged it like it was his body, sliding her cheek up and down the soft fabric, eyes fluttering in pure intoxication. Her legs curled slightly on the bed, her toes curling as she breathed him in again and again, each inhale seeming to drag her deeper into delirious joy.

She rolled onto her back, hugging the pillow to her chest as she stared up at the ceiling, smiling with a soft, dreamy madness, whispering, "Just a little more time... just a little more... and everything will be as it should... you and me, our home... you will understand, Maximus, you will stop pushing me away, you will stop being cruel, because you won’t have any strength left to be cruel... that little thing I gave you... it will work... slowly... slowly..."

Her voice dissolved into a faint, breathy giggle as she turned her head and pressed a kiss onto the pillow, then another, softer and more lingering, like each kiss was a promise she was sealing with herself. She dragged the pillow down and wrapped her arms around it again, clinging to it so tightly it nearly folded in half.

After a moment of basking in the scent of him, she pushed herself up from the bed, unsteady but filled with purpose, and she wandered across the room like a predator sniffing out prey.

Her fingers trailed across the surface of his table, his chair, and even the carved edges of the wardrobe, touching each thing like she was memorizing the shape of them.

She stopped at a small chest sitting near the wall, and her heart thumped in excitement, her fingers trembling as she lifted the lid. Inside lay a collection of personal items...rings he rarely wore, a pendant he kept from his father, a silver cuff, small metal tokens...things with meaning, things he kept away from others.

Her smile widened, her eyes glowing with a feverish delight.

"Oh... oh Maximus..." she whispered, brushing her fingertips across the neatly arranged items, "you keep your treasures so carefully... but you forget... what is yours is mine... everything... everything..."

She slipped her hand inside and took one of his rings, lifting it to her lips before pressing a kiss onto the cool metal, whispering, "I will keep this... until you finally come to me willingly... and you will... you will..."

She took a second item, a pendant with a wolf crest and wrapped the thin chain around her finger, admiring how it gleamed in the dim light.

She slipped it quickly into her sleeve, her expression euphoric. Then she rummaged deeper, taking a folded handkerchief embroidered with his initials, lifting it to her nose, and inhaling deeply.

She moaned softly as she tucked that too inside her clothes.

"You are everywhere... everywhere..." she whispered, "soon... soon I won’t have to steal anything because you will give it to me yourself... you will hold me, you will kiss me, you will touch me, you will not push me away anymore..."

"Just... a little more time... my love... a little more time... and everything will fall into place. You will stop fighting me. You will stop resisting. Because I, Elarliya... your Elarliya... will make sure there is no other path left for you."

Her fingers tightened around his shirt, which she found from his wardrobe, her face buried in the fabric as she smiled with the kind of madness that came from certainty.

"And then," she whispered, "you will finally be mine."