45. Confession

Sire?

Shayde immediately stopped in his tracks as he heard Justin’s voice echo inside his mind, thanks to the mindlink. He wasn’t particularly thrilled at the voice reaching out to him this morning, happening to be one of the last people he wanted to talk to. Shayde was still smarting from their last argument.

What do you want? he sent back.

He heard him take a deep breath, gathering his resolve. I found the human's phone, Justin felt inclined to inform him, the reason he’d reached out to him. It was out near the gates. Do you want me to bring it up to you?

No.

He hated to admit it even if only to himself, but he simply didn’t want any of them around Danika for the time being. He didn’t trust them. Even Justin had lost his trust. From the moment he’d brought her home there’d been one trouble after another, leaving Shayde paranoid of the people surrounding them.

A deep pause, Was there a reason why the human was out near the gates?

No, he repeated, again. No need to inform his beta last night he’d caught the woman trying to escape him, following her request for the bathroom.

Justin grumbled in the silence of his mind, less than thrilled at his responses, Is there something going on you’re not telling us? Should we be worried about this woman being here, snooping her nose around? Is this something that needs to be taken care of?

His hands clenched tightly at his sides as anger coursed through his veins, easily hearing the underlying meaning of his question. By 'taken care of' he meant have her killed. It was the golden rule of their society, if a human was exposed to their world they were executed on sight, leaving no reason for doubt. There was no room for second-guessing or considering other possibilities. Simply the fear of them seeming something they shouldn’t warrant their deaths.

No, Caspar growled inside of his mind. He was in complete agreement with him this time. Shayde wasn’t allowing anyone to kill the woman simply out of fear of what she’d seen. Hell, he didn’t even care if she’d seen one of them amid the shift and confronted the supernatural world he lived in. He wasn’t allowing his people, Justin, to execute her for that.

You have nothing to worry about, he tried to reason with the man, in the hopes of forestalling his next words.

Justin sounded about ready to say something, but allowed the matter to drop. Okay, do you wish for me to summon Patrick, so that he could debrief us on last night’s events?

No, he shot him down.

There was no need for him to be debriefed. That was the reason he was up in the first place, rather than being in bed with Danika where he wanted to be. Patrick had reached out through the mind link to fill his king in on everything that’d taken place since last night’s dinner.

Justin paused, Have I done something wrong?

No, he denied.

He knew on some level he was being unfair towards Justin. The man had always supported his decisions, but when it came to Danika it couldn't be helped. In the face of Clarissa and her friends, his protective instincts were in full swing. And would be until he found out what had really happened.

The only person who could give him the answers he wanted, presently wasn't talking. Hopefully he could get her to without forcing the decision. Only then would he be able to progress from this point and know what his next move would be.

Would his little runaway mate tell him the truth about Clarissa?

As Shayde watched Danika's peaceful form, a surge of protectiveness swelled within him at the thought of the woman. The bond they shared was undeniable, a connection that went beyond mere physical attraction. He knew that he would do anything to keep her safe, to shield her from the dangers that lurked in the shadows of their world.

Rising from his seat on the balcony, Shade made his way back into the room, careful not to disturb Danika's slumber. He moved silently, his movements graceful and fluid like a predator stalking its prey. Standing by the edge of the bed, he reached out a hand to gently brush away a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her face.

Danika stirred at his gentle touch, her eyes fluttering open sleepily. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she looked up at him, her gaze soft and affectionate.

"Good morning," she murmured, her voice warm with sleep.

Upon seeing that she’d awoken from her slumber his gaze hardened on her further still, a complexity of emotions. “Do you mind telling me what the hell you thought you were doing? Trying to leave is bad enough, but in the middle of a fucking storm. Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

Danika failed to offer up an explanation for her reasons, undoubtedly knowing nothing she said could change his anger. She had tried escaping after all, there was no denying that and none of her protests could sooth his anger.

“What am I going to do with you?” he growled angrily. Shayde paced the floor like a caged animal, despising the thought of what had nearly happened. What he’d almost lost. Though his anger was due to the fact she’d tried leaving him, her mate. “Am I going to have to leave you locked up in this room, chained to my bed?”

“Please don’t,” she whimpered.

“Then tell me!,” he roared.

Danika gulped convulsively. “Better out there than in here. I’m not safe here Shane, nor will my child be. We both know the first chance your people will kill me.”

Of course. It all trailed back to them. She was still suffering from the effects of Clarissa and her friends attack, which was pretty brutal by the sounds of it. He should’ve seen this coming. Moving towards the bed he sat down on the edge of the mattress. “Talk to me, Danika. What really happened when Clarissa came to your room?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she sighed wearily, settling back against the mountain of pillows.

“Danika, please, tell me.”

Lured by the silent pleading to be heard in his voice, she dropped her head in resignation. “The girl came upstairs to my room to inform me that lunch was waiting for me downstairs. I wasn’t entirely comfortable at the thought, but you’d said you’d have food prepared. I didn’t want them to go to the trouble for nothing. I’d followed her downstairs, when she claimed you were in a meeting in the dining room, so I’d have to use a secondary one. I’d been walking down the hall when she’d attacked me.”

“She attacked you?” He queried curiously, confused by her confession. This was the exact opposite of the story that he’d been given. “You didn’t attack her?”

She arched a brow. “Come on Shane, what possible reason could I have for attacking a child? I won’t lie, I fought back, but only after my head crashed into the wall. The two of us were fighting for a while when someone hit me over the head. I came to inside of a room in the basement, these three girls standing over me.”

Anger built up inside of him as he listened to the story unfolding by her, at the reality of what had really happened between them. A room in the basement? He didn’t need to ask what particular room she referred to, as there could only be one. Danika had been lured outside of the safety of her room, to be ambushed. Then those same girls had the audacity to lie to his fucking face. As if they honestly believed that their crimes would go unnoticed.

Her voice brought him back to attention, refocusing on her story. “I only defended myself when it became clear that they had no intentions of allowing me to leave that room alive. They’d been fully prepared to kill me, to assuage your honor or some such shit like that. I was losing consciousness, confident I was as good as dead when that guy showed up. Justin, I think you said his name was. He swooped into the room, next thing I knew I was waking up in my bedroom.”

His world flipped completely upside down when he’d heard what she’d said to him. Justin. His beta. His best friend. The man he’d grown up with since the cradle and were closer than any two brothers. The one that had vowed his undying loyalty and would follow him anywhere.

He’d betrayed him.

He’d fucking lied to him too. According to the story he’d given him Danika was the one in the wrong. Danika had attacked the girls first and they’d only fought back to protect themselves. Only now he was being informed that wasn’t the case at all. Clarissa and her friends had tried to kill her and the bastard covered up their crimes.

“Get some sleep, Danika. I have some business I have to attend to, but I will bring you up some food when you wake up.”