Chapter 32

I exhale slowly, attempting to not make a big deal out it. For an unknown reason, I relish in those flicker of emotions he likes to keep hidden from me.

"I'm just doing what I have been told to do," I growl, completely disregarding the driver.

"Perhaps not in such a way as to kiss him so passionately in the middle of his room like that," Asher snaps, all so suddenly, knocking the wind out of me. "If you would like any kind of gratification, Alaya, then by all means, I'm open to your advances."

My mouth falls open without my consent.

He the golden eyed Alpha stares directly at this point. There is no hint of a smile, or sarcasm. Nothing to make sense of the words he just said. When I consider them further, I begin to get mad.

"You're trying to tell me that I should trust you in that way over Sinful?" I question in disbelief.

"You sound angry. All I'm doing is trying to protect your heart, is that such a terrible thing?" He asks, his eyebrow quirking up slightly. "You have been keeping him distracted, and we have gotten a lot of work done over these past few days, and I thank you for that. I'm saying it would best to at least keep space in that department, for your own safety."

Once again, Asher has managed to destroy any semblance of understanding, leaving me utterly confused. One moment he is the cold Alpha, and the next, he's trying to help me? It hardly makes sense.

"I'm going to make is clear that I would never come to you for...those reasons. How am I supposed to get pleasure from someone who is essentially as cold as ice?' I say, trying to make my words have more weight to them than they currently do.

"You would be surprised," he replies.

Rolling my eyes, I lean back against my seat, and attempt to think. At this point, I don't know what to think about Asher. For now, I'm going to ignore him until something make sense in my mind.

"Come on, kiss me."

Slowly, I turn my head back to him, wondering if I heard him right. Did he seriously just tell me to kiss him, or am I having a terrible hallucination?

I blink a few times. "What did you say?"

"I said kiss me," he repeats, making me flinch back a little. With the little emotion he likes to express, I have no idea whether he is being serious or not. He won't laugh, he won't smile at all, so I'm left gaping at him while I wait for an explanation to this.

He seems to notice my hesitation. "What's the difference between Sinful and I?"

"Is that what this is about. What, are you jealous?" I question, a little bit of anger flaring in my voice. Honestly, I can't imagine why he would have reason to be. He spent three years luring me to be killed, resurrected, then sent to do a job that I'm clearly failing at. "Or do you just hate me?"

"It's not hate that I feel," is all he says. Typical, short answer, not letting me know what he is feeling at all.

Before I could properly express what I'm feeling, the car veers to pull over on the side of the road. At that moment, I realise Asher had made a hand movement. Looking out the window for a reason why, I see we have reached the end of Sinful's territory. The reason I know this, is because the road cuts to an end, like Asher had warned me it would do earlier.

In the roads place, is a wall of thick pine trees, that loom ominously over the car.

"Everyone out," Asher mutters. I follow his instructions, which the driver does too. The night around us is cooler around the edge of the territory, now that we are away from any possible force of magic.

I watch Asher speak lowly to the driver in the headlights of the car. What are they speaking about? I assume it has to do with what he inevitably overheard.

Just as I was about to turn my gaze away, I witness Asher's hands come up to swiftly snap the neck of our driver.

I scream.

As the body slumps against the bonnet, then to the ground, Asher looks over at me, placing his finger against his lips. In utter disbelief, I only watch him, as he walks toward me.

"Beyond that line of trees is Time's territory, another immortal. The lands have been unoccupied for the thousands of years he has been missing. It will give us the perfect place to speak alone," Asher say calmly, as if he hadn't just ended someone's life right in front of me.

Without another word, he walks toward the forest, leaving me with no other choice but to follow.

Not only is the forest we walk into dark, but it's cold. Ice cold.

Asher walks in front of me, no part of his gait suggesting he is worried about what he just did. He killed someone. No, he killed one of Sinful's workers.

There is no direct path Asher follows. He just walks blindly into the darkness, that swallows us whole. The crunch of our footsteps on fallen leaves is the only sound I can hear, the entire place drenched with an eerie feel. How Asher can even see in this darkness is beyond me, as it gets to the point where I have to fist the back of his jacket in my hand as he blindly leads me forward.

"Care to explain?" I question breathlessly. His strides are much longer than mine, and the more I walk, the more I struggle to keep up. Soon, his shirt comes out of my grasp, and when I reach out again, he's not there.

I quicken my pace over, my feet catching at times on the debris I can't see. Eventually I accept that I won't be able to catch up with him.

"Asher!" I cry out loudly, but it's as if the ebony of the night consumes my words.

Suddenly a pair of warm hands clasp my biceps from behind, making me shriek and jump. "Lost, sweetheart?"

Fate.

I don't need to see him to know. He has this caressing voice that's back by a tone of arrogance. Even though it would be nice to have some space between us, I still turn around and hold tightly onto his arm, pressing it against my chest. I'm not about to be left behind again.

"Where's Asher?" I question. I could strangle him right now.

All of a sudden, the space we stand in alights, and I can suddenly see again, after a few blinks. There are a circle of people around us, each one staring at Fate and I. In the middle, close to my feet, a pit fire had been lit by a force I would never be able to question.

"Right here," he says, and when I glance over my shoulder, he is right there, as if he had never left. Quickly, I let go of Fate's arm, stumbling away from them both, and the fire.

"How did you do that?"

It's pointless to ask, but I don't appreciate being messed with. When I look around the small group, I only see familiar faces. Destiny sits on a log pushed close to the fire, her hands folded neatly over her lap. She looks directly at the fire, her gaze unwavering. Aspen stands away from me, watching carefully to see if I would run. And Death, who sits close to Destiny, looking plain bored.

"We had to play with your mind to make it hard for you to explain where you went, if of course, in case you decide to speak to Sinful about us," Asher explains, and I growl lowly under my breath.

"Asher told us about your current relationship with Sinful," Fate adds, a smile toying on his face.

I'm not going to explain myself to him at all. There's no point. Obviously they find ridicule in the job I'm doing for them, so I'm not going to bother making sense of it to them. They can thank me later, when they are taking me back home. And if I'm right, I'll be the one who figures out why everyone is so terrified by him.

"Leave it," Asher says darkly, cutting Fate off from continuing on the subject matter. I try my best to ignore the look Fate shot us both.

Fate only continues to play. "Is there jealousy here, or is Alaya still convinced you can't feel any emotions?"

There's a darkness in Asher's eyes that chills my blood. No single rupture of expression is made, but with the golden swirl of his irises, I can see a secret. A threatening one, that if pressed, might get someone killed. I know he's into keeping to himself, but for the first time, I truly see something that has me almost terrified.

It was Death that shifted the attention. "Can we talk about why we are here?"

"Yes," I say, "I would like some answers."

Aspen steps forward, holding his hand out to me. It's a trust manoeuvre, as he tries to convince me with just his eyes that he doesn't want to hurt me. I have no other choice, if I want answers, to grab his hand and let him know that I'm willing to listen. I know I'm not about to find out anything about the plan, since I still am working with Sinful to find his secrets.

"Me first," Asher suddenly says, taking everyone around the circle by surprise. "You're hiding things from me. Not just the extent of your relationship with Sinful-"

"There is no relationship," I snap, but Asher holds his hand up so he can continue.

"And also what you found up in his bedroom."

That got everyone's attention. His piano, the music, even the kiss we shared. Even if I wanted to tell them, I don't think I could. When I try consider if I wanted the kiss or not, I feel ashamed when I realise I did. As much as I try to regret it, I can't possibly do so. If I admit the music thing, then surely the conversation will make it back to the kiss.

Luckily, I've already come up with a way to cover my tracks up. "Why would I tell you that when all you have been doing is keeping secrets."

"That's for your own safety," Asher exclaims.

"Maybe this is for your safety," I snap back my reply, folding my arms across my chest protectively. Everyone shifts uncomfortably, while Asher narrows his eyes. Something tells me he doesn't like the idea of being protected.

Aspen pulls me slightly closer to him. "Maybe you should sit down."

I listen, but only so I can tear my gaze away from Asher's. Whenever I look into those eyes, it's almost impossible not to get lost in them. It seems as if the group is ready to discuss why we are here, finally. After all that, I'm exhausted by arguing with Asher and deflecting all of Fate's comments. I don't know how anyone could handle him for a long time...