Chapter 21

By the time night came around Celine was starting to get quite troubled, Asher should have returned by then but there was still no sign of him. She had spent the entire day in a worried state, there was no one she could ask about him seeing as she was restricted to two rooms, she barely had the appetite to eat, and now she couldn’t sleep. What made it worse was that she couldn’t figure out what she did wrong, *was it the tears in her eyes?* She hadn’t even noticed them until Asher was long gone.

*How long would he stay away?* She would have never imagined that Asher’s absence would bother her. *Did he not want her anymore?* Wasn’t that the best possible scenario? Why did she feel bad whenever she thought about that possibility?

She slept early that night after worrying herself to exhaustion, and was surprised to be woken by a maid, that hadn’t happened since her first morning here. *How long ago was that?* Had it really only been roughly five days? It felt like weeks at least.

“Alpha Asher has invited you to breakfast, please get ready.”

That was enough to quickly get her out of bed, not expecting the maid to say that. She was left alone to get ready and although she hadn’t seen Asher in two nights, she got ready in the bedroom and not in the walk-in closet like he told her to.

Celine’s heart was in her mouth as she headed for the dining room, wondering what she would meet when she stepped into the dining room. The maid hadn’t hinted that she was in trouble but was that even something the maid would be aware of? It was difficult not to talk herself into a panic attack before she got to the dining room.

The sight of bodyguards in front of the dining room showed that Asher was truly inside and she wilted a bit at the thought of the room being completely filled with mafia gang members just like the first morning she spent in Asher’s mansion.

The doors were thrown open at the sight of her and to her surprise it was completely empty save for Asher and the familiar face of Jael. Not wanting a repeat of the last time, she walked in although it was the last thing she wanted to do, putting her bravest face on.

At least, this time she would be able to sit on a chair by herself and stay on the edge of the conversation because whenever Asher and Jael were together, they had a lot to say that she couldn’t follow, so she just let the conversation wash over her, not about to accidentally be an accessory to a crime.

Celine didn’t know what to say to either of them, avoiding their gazes for different reasons, it didn’t help that they both went silent when she stepped in, and she could feel their gazes on her. Sitting at the other end of the table would be too strange so she intended to walk over and sit on Asher’s other side, the silence in the room weighing heavy on her.

She somehow managed it without tripping, pulling out the seat nervously in the tense silence only for her to feel a familiar hand on her wrist, Asher’s rings cool on her skin.

“That’s not your seat,” He drawled when she turned to look at him.

Celine went with him when he pulled her to sit on him, her face a soft red as she stared down at the food in front of her. Asher’s casual hold on her waist burned through the fabric of her clothes, his scent enveloping her.

*Had she just been overthinking what had happened the other night?* Because Asher was acting no different, so had she just made it all up in her head? He was a Mafia King after all, it wasn’t like he was expected to come back to her every night when their relationship was just between an owner and his property. If anything, she had been thinking too highly of herself to believe that his absence had anything to do with her.

Celine wasn’t disappointed by this outcome, eating heartily even. Maybe she was being a little shallow but after being ignored by her mate for years, she craved reassurance even if it was from a Mafia King who lacked a moral compass.

Behind her, Asher took in measured breaths, the veins on his forearms visible. Taking in measured quantities of Celine’s scent did little to reduce its potency but it was better than drawing in a deep breath. Asher wasn’t the type to lose control of himself, even his chaos was measured but something about the Omega on him made him lose himself.

He could have taken her that night and she hadn’t been against it if her sweet scent had been any indication but Asher didn’t like how dangerously close he had been to snapping. He hadn’t lost his head even in his justified anger but one look at her on his bed had sent him careening towards the edge. It was why he had to stay away for a couple days to better cultivate control and it was working well enough.

Asher liked to torture himself though because that would be the only reason why he would invite her to sit on him even when his control was so fragile. He would hate himself if he were to hurt Celine, she was fragile like crystal and he was wildfire so he was well aware of how dangerous he was.

Yet he was unable to stop himself from leaning closer to get more of her scent, it was clean and sweet, it smelled of sugar and violets and it made his mouth water…

“… you don’t have to go to the meeting tonight,” Jael’s raspy voice broke him from the spell his was falling under, which was good because any longer and he would be really close to sinking his teeth into Celine’s scent glands, his fangs throbbed as he leaned back in his seat.