“What are you doing here, Esma?” A very familiar voice interrupted my train of thought. I turned to the owner of the voice, which was revealed to be none other than that of Dumeny.
He looked amused and happy at the same time. I must have been clutching the doorknob with a lot of force because, in the next moment, Dumeny walked toward me and touched my hand to release it.
Immediately, the door opened, and a pair of hands wrapped around my waist, trying to pull me again to the bedroom.
“No running, kitten.” Reed chuckled and pulled me more toward him but stopped as soon his eyes collided with Dumeny’s and finally set his hand on mine.
Without wasting a second, I shook my hand from his hold and chuckled nervously.
“Hey, Dumeny. What a surprise visit, huh?” I said and rubbed my neck nervously. The two alphas were staring into each other’s eyes, demanding authority and trying to prove their dominance at the same time. What was it with alphas and their crazy obsession? For god’s sake, I was also alpha.
Reed looked as if he was not happy to see Dumeny. He looked jealous. He finally looked in my direction and lifted one eyebrow. I flushed immediately, knowing he had heard my thought.
He looked at me intensely, and I prayed for the ground to swallow me whole. Dumeny cleared his throat finally.
“Emmy, are you fine?” he asked. His voice was laced with worry and one more emotion I couldn’t place. It took me two minutes before finally understanding he was referring to the accident.
“Yes, she is fine, Dumeny. Thank you,” Reed answered for me instead, and again, the surroundings were charged with electricity and testosterone.
“The breakfast is ready,” my mother hollered from downstairs, and I sighed in relief when Dumeny finally broke the eye contact and started walking back downstairs. As soon as he left both of us alone, I folded my hands and turned towards my mate.
“What exactly were you doing a second ago?” I asked and narrowed my eyes.
He didn’t look at me until Dumeny was finally lost from his eyesight, and finally, when he was gone, he regarded me.
“Marking the territory,” he said, shrugging as if talking about the weather. I looked at him in utter shock. What did he mean by that?
“He wants to get in your pants,” he grumbled and looked again in the direction from where Dumeny had departed. My jaw literally dropped and touched the ground. Either he must be joking, or he was completely stupid to even entertain that thought.
“No, Reed. He is my friend. We've known each other for ages,” I said as if talking to a kindergarten child instead of a full-fledged man standing in front of me.
He shook his head but didn’t say anything. He pulled me closer so that we were touching skin to skin, and only then, did I notice how little clothing I wore. The sparks ignited between us, starting to make their own chain reactions.
Reed traced his right hand over my chin before pulling it up to make me look into his ocean blue eyes. They were filled with seventy percent possessiveness, twenty percent anger, and well, the remainder, I don’t know. Maybe love.
“He wants what’s mine,” he said, and his left hand slipped under my shirt and settled just where his mark was. I clung to him. The sparks were the strongest I had ever felt at that place. I bit back a moan as his fingers danced on my skin.
“Tell me, Esma. Who do you belong to?” he asked and pulled me more to him. He let go of my chin and slipped his right hand to my waist.
I shook my head, already knowing what the consequences would be. But it was fun knowing he was jealous, and he would never admit it.
I could feel the turmoil in his eyes, the storm brewing inside him, ready to swallow me whole. The possessiveness was leaking through the mate bond. I was overwhelmed by the so many emotions I felt through the mate bond.
He pulled me back to the room and locked the door behind him. My heart thudded inside my chest, and I forgot to breathe. I slowly walked back and finally stopped when my back collided with the wall. He didn’t move till I stopped moving.
“Tell me, Esma. Tell me that you are mine,” he ordered, and I could already feel the edge in his voice. He slowly ate up the distance between us before standing in front of me. Again.
He put a loose strand of hair behind my ear before looking at the ground.
“You will never leave me, right?” he asked, and his voice was suddenly filled with so much pain I regretted not doing what he asked me in the first place.
He pulled my hands and put them on his chest just above his heart. “This….” He looked lost for words for a moment.
“This was nothing but just a void before I met you,” he said with so much truth I almost melted under his fervent gaze. Sometimes, his honesty took me off guard. His eyes held so much sincerity and compassion. I wanted to say something, but somehow the power of speech had abandoned my senses.
“And now when it knows how to beat, its every beat is in the name of you,” he said and held my hands in his. I couldn’t utter a single word. The feeling from his side was too overwhelming.
I wanted to hold him, hug him, wanted to cry at the top of my lungs, to let him know I love nobody but him. That he also deserves happiness. Instead of doing that, like a coward I was, I nodded.
“I am yours, Reed, and no one else's.” My answer brought satisfaction on his face, but his eyes lacked that boyish delight I liked to see every now and then. He kissed me briefly before pulling away to look into my eyes.
“Let’s grab something to eat before your brother devours everything,” he said and planted a kiss on my nose.
I love him. I don’t know how he would react to it when I tell him. I don’t know if he loves me or if it was just the damn mate bond that makes him feel something for me.
I don’t want my heart broken. Again.
“You coming?” he asked, standing near the door. I nodded and quickly walked to his side before slipping my hands into his. And together, we walked downstairs.
“How are you so sure it was not the witches who attacked you?” Dumeny asked, saying each word in intervals. Dumeny was sitting opposite me alongside my parents. Reed was sitting at the next seat adjacent to me. Diana and August, well, they don’t look very hungry, but they still sat at the farthest corner of the table.
“Because they don’t,” I said, almost shrugging, and continued eating my food. All of them except my father looked surprised and confused by my answer. I glanced at my father. He looked smug and continued eating his food.
“How can you be so sure? You are saying it as if you know them or you talked to them.” This time, August asked, and I could guess he was doubting the possibilities of me revisiting Hecate.
I knew I had to play it cool or none of them would listen to my reasons, and in the next moment, I would be locked up in my own bedroom.
“Just think for a second; the witches don’t do things like this. I have learned from them that they never do such short lame things like toppling someone’s cars. They will never stoop down to that level.” They all hummed in unison, and I internally sighed in relief. At least they believed me.
“You remember, Dumeny, how they paid their first visit to us?” Dumeny nodded, and his jaw set in a hard line. Out of all of them, the two people that were the calmest I had ever seen in my life whenever we talked about the witches—my mate and my father.
Reed didn’t look up from his plate, and well, my father was eating his food at an escalated pace. He didn’t want me to say anything about his ex in front of Mom.
Dumeny looked deep in thought, and I found him several times staring at Reed with a blank emotion. I didn’t know if Reed had noticed it or not, or if he was acting oblivious deliberately.
After our breakfast, I walked to the kitchen to clear the dishes but was soon interrupted by the musical voice of my mate.
“Now, just tell me what the real truth you are holding back is.” I felt his minty breath on my ear, and I almost shuddered visibly. My heart leaped out into my mouth, and I clutched the plate tighter.
“And don’t you dare lie to me because I will know, and then it won’t be pretty.” His voice was pregnant with an unknown threat, but I decided to concentrate on the dishes.
“I said now.” He held my waist and turned me to look at me in his eyes, and soon the words were out of my mouth automatically.
“I met Hecate last night.” His eyes turned a dangerous shade of black and blue.
The sound of something breaking filled the room before I realized I had lost contact with the plate.