Chapter 29: Chapter 29

“It’s already past four, I have to go.” I whisper to Casper, but he’s asleep. He doesn’t answer me, he just snuggles in closer. I sigh in frustration—I was just telling him I need to go train a few minutes ago. How does one fall back asleep that fast? I try to carefully remove his hand that is wrapped around my waist, but it doesn’t budge.

“Casper!” I whisper sternly. He doesn’t budge, and I just want to push him off me. “Casper come on.” I start giving him light kisses on his lips hoping to bribe him, and in no time, he’s responding to them, fully awake.

“You could start waking me up like this more often.” He murmurs.

I giggle and finally push him off me, untangling my limbs from his. “I really have to go.”

“Do you really have to?” He sleepily mumbles while rubbing his eyes and yawning.

I stand up from the bed, but he pulls me back. “Yeah I do. I’m getting so good now.”

He skeptically raises a brow, “I know you are. Dakota tells me about your progress. She’s so proud, you know.” He says.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You should be proud.” I feel like I can hear Faye now, telling me to have confidence in myself and my abilities.

He pulls me closer and murmurs against my lips, “My little Oracle.” He kisses me.

It feels so good kissing Casper. We kiss like that for a while, then I remember that I actually have somewhere to be. I pull away and hit his arm, “Stop distracting me.”

I decide to ask him about something that has been bothering me for a while now. “What happened to Mason?”

He frowns and pulls his brow together, “Why are you asking?” I notice the anger and confusion that came with that question.

“I just wanted to know if he got punished.” He doesn’t look convinced at my words but answers me.

“He’s stripped of his alpha title. He was sentenced to twelve years for sexual misconduct, attacking an alpha’s child and attempted murder.”

“Why attempted murder?” That’s news. Was he really trying to kill me?

“He confessed to wanting to kill you and Javier the night he came.” He tightened his jaw as he spoke. I feel terrible about asking and walk over to him.

“Don’t be mad. We’re here with you now.” I murmur as I kiss all over his face.

“I’m not mad.” He grumbles, but I know he is, and I kiss him on the lips finally. “Please go back to sleep. I’ll be back.” I tell him and leave his room.

The T.V. in his sitting room is switched on with no sound playing, and I switch it off before I leave. I check up on Javier in his room and look around the room just in case something managed to get inside, but I don’t see anything. I jog down the stairs of the quiet house to my room and enter my room before picking out leggings and a sweatshirt. I take them in my hand before running out of the house and changing into my wolf.

I run for a long time and my thoughts stray to Mason during the run. I need to talk to him now and fast. I don’t know why, I just have this feeling I should. As always, I see Dakota in front of her cabin, but this time she’s—dancing? Or is it training?

“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask after I change and get dressed in the outfit I brought. I nearly lose my head if not for the fact that I dodge the leg swinging at me by a second. How does this old woman do it?

What the fuck?

She now has her upper body on the floor supported by her elbows and her lower body is ninety degrees in the air. She quickly stands straight and does the move again. It almost seems like she could break her spine with this move.

“I can smell Casper on you.” She smiles after she stops whatever she was doing and pays attention to me. I sniff myself and I realize that I do smell exactly like Casper, my scent isn’t as powerful.

“We’re together now. He never leaves my side.”

“And you’re coming from his bed.” She completes, and I blush a little.

I shake my head at the thought of cute, sleeping Casper. “What was that?” I ask.

“That, my dear, is one of the ancient moves that were performed to please the moon goddess during former human sacrifices.”

“It seemed more like a performance to offend the moon goddess.” I murmur to myself.

“Watch your tongue.” She warns without any heat and continues, “It is a dance that I’m going to teach you. It’s like learning an easier and more graceful way of fighting. I know you’re better at fighting than when we first started, but you’re still terrible.”

“You really like knocking me down, lady.” I joke. “When do we start?”

“We start whenever you want.”

“I actually came right now to know if there was a way I could talk to Mason.”

She raises a brow, “Unanswered questions?” She asks, and I nod. “Well then—follow me.” She says and starts walking towards the cabin.

I follow her closely into her cabin that is only lit up with one lantern. She goes to her room while I wait outside the door, and she returns with a small bowl of a substance.

“Star anise.” I say when I sniff the bowl.

“You’re getting better at this stuff.” She says with a proud look. I remember Casper’s words from earlier.

I drink up the substance and she leads me back to the front of the cabin. We sit cross-legged in front of each other.

“What is going to happen?”

“Keep shut and find out.” She murmurs back.

She shuts her eyes and I follow suit. I don’t feel anything for a while and I almost want to ask Dakota if anything should happen now, but then I feel it—that pulling sensation. It doesn’t feel painful, it just feels like I’m floating somewhere. When I open my eyes next, I’m in a dark, smelly hallway.

No.

“Dakota where is this?” I scream, but I don’t get an answer. I look around me and I recognize this place as a dungeon of some sort. The only source of light were from the moonlight through small cracks on the wall.

This must be where Mason is being held. I walk for a bit and very soon, I start to see prisoners one by one in different cells, and very soon I stop in front of Mason’s cell. I walk forward and put my arms forward which pass through the cell bars, and my body follows. Mason is at a corner, sitting down, the silver chains holding his arms up.

“Mason.” I whisper, and he doesn’t reply.

“Mason.” I say, and it sounds so loud. I gasp and cover my mouth with my palms and look around to see if a guard heard, but everywhere is still quiet.

He raises his head and looks at me. His eyes widen when he sees me, “Odetta is that you? What are you doing here?” He rushes, then pauses and looks at me. “How?”

“I didn’t come to answer questions, I came to ask them.” I say sternly.

He looks like he wants to say more, but he just nods. “I understand, but before you ask me anything, I just want to say that I’m sorry. I’m very sorry and I hope you can forgive me.”

I ignore him and take a deep breath. There’s a lot of questions running through my mind now, but I stop and ask the first one.

“Why did you reject me?”

I hear him take a sharp intake of breath before he lets it out. “Don’t lie to me Mason.”

“I was made to do it.”

“Made? What do you mean made?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

“Alexa doesn’t know about this and she shouldn’t know. Her father and my parents forced me to be Alexa’s mate. Her mate was a vampire and you know how that is. They said that if I didn’t do it, they would kill you.”

A vampire mate is not unheard of, but it’s rare and incredibly frowned upon. People with vampire mates usually didn’t stay with them or ran away with them. I’m sure it’s also frowned upon in the vampire world.

“Why you?”

“My parents owe him and that was a way to repay their debt.”

“I thought that your parents loved me.”

“They were more in love with paying off their debt and the idea of their son being an Alpha. You know we don’t have any titles. After my parents died and Alexa’s father had gotten so old, I could’ve left her, but I didn’t. I couldn’t do that to Alexa or our twins. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”

“Did it hurt to reject me?”

He looked me in the eye, “You have no idea.”

Looking into his eyes, I expect to feel some sort of emotion towards him, but I don’t feel anything, no spark, no love, no hurt—nothing. Maybe a bit of sympathy.

“Why did you come to attack me that night?”

“Another threat.” He sighs and hangs his head low. “You need to protect that little boy with you at all cost.”

“Javier?”

He nods, “Yes him, and please protect my children and Alexa. Please. They’re in danger.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Just do it. My little girls and Alexa need you more than ever. I’ve said more than I should.”

I feel that pulling sensation again. “No.” I whisper to myself.

“Mason what is happening?”

“I can’t tell you much—” His voice was getting fainter and fainter, “—but they want to kill you—all of you.” And that was the last thing that I heard before I felt myself in the real world.