Chapter 9 In The State Of Being Perplexed
Kristen's POV
The middle-aged man is drawing closer with his flashlight, stirring up a churn in my stomach as panic punches out of my lungs.
"Relax," Calhoun quietly orders upon sensing my fear but I can't. Things are so messed up right now that I just want to close my eyes and wish I never came here.
And the thought of my mom finding out what I did with her husband. Oh my God!
It all happens in a swift motion when Calhoun leaves my body and before I am left with moments to process what's unfolding right under my gaze, Calhoun snaps the man's neck and lets his body drop to the wet ground.
My hands fasten to my mouth to suppress the screaming intending to erupt from it. Because he just killed someone. An innocent man!
And when Calhoun shifts his gaze back to mine, I tremble so hard that my teeth are beginning to chatter.
"Put on your clothes, I don't want anyone seeing you like this," he commands, whilst he's standing naked in full glory.
"You just killed someone," I force these words out of my throat, too shocked to even move.
"No, I did not. I put him to sleep. He'll be awake in a few hours," Calhoun hunkers down to the man's unconscious body and turns his head in my direction, there I see the man snoring with his tongue out.
A slice of relief cascades through me, but that doesn't mean I am ever meeting Calhoun or letting him come close to me.
My hands move to pick up my wet clothes and I put them on in haste.
The rain has stopped but my heart is threatening to rip out of my chest from the unexplainable emotions inside of me. Not to talk of the way Calhoun is standing a few feet away from me, still naked and not even bothering to cover up. He just lets me stare as it pleases me.
"I can't believe I let you touch me," my hand is already on my face because of shame, "this is your wedding night. You finished making love to my mother and came after me, her daughter," resentment is laced in my tone as I lay these accusations.
"No, I couldn't bring myself to touch her." He defends himself, with his hands on his waist.
"Why?" I pop this question after a slice of silence and a few seconds of stare exchange between our two. I can't believe this man was inside me just a few minutes ago.
"Because I thought about you throughout," Calhoun puts his hand on his mouth after making this known to me.
Upon deciding I don't want to listen to him speak anymore, I take off, leaving him standing naked there. Running away is the perfect alternative because when he's near me, I can't think about my mom as much as I want to, nor does the guilt slice me deep. Who knows if I had remained there, he would have tried to sleep with me again.
I'm cringing as I run because my pssy is queefing and it's so embarrassing. I don't want to see Calhoun again. And I've made a mental note to leave first thing tomorrow morning, to avoid impending disaster which may likely ruin my mom and I's relationship that wasn't so great from the start.
"Where did you go, Kristen?" Mom is already at the door in front.
I flinch since I wasn't expecting to see her here.
"Out for a stroll and I got beaten by the rain" my voice comes out rougher than I expected, so I pause to clear my throat, "why are you outside?" I add, wanting to ease the thick tension in the air.
But Mom doesn't respond, instead, she nears my side, as if trying to catch a scent.
"You smell of rain and of a familiar masculine musk," she pulls back after sniffing me, "where have you been and why did you let yourself get soaked in the rain. You could fall sick."
"I couldn't run ," and while it rained, I had your husband inside me. He pounded the shit out of me. I very nearly let this out but bite my tongue, after imagining my mom screaming and throwing herself over the floor to weep.
"Are you upset that I married someone?" Mom looks at me with worry and at this point, I hope Alpha Calhoun doesn't show up looking wet as I am.
"What? No," I feign confusion for a second and swallow down the lump tightening my throat from the regret of betraying my mom and enjoying it so much, even when I didn't want to.
"You found someone who cares and loves you," except Kristen is in the way right now.
The taunting voice in my head is just making me feel awful, not even letting me finish with my speech. And to worsen things, my wolf wants me to be held by Calhoun right now, so she can connect with him.
Mom takes a step forward and wraps me in a hug, "I'm so sorry that I couldn't wish you a happy birthday yesterday," she strokes my hair and sighs, "I never forgot about it. It's just that I feel guilty about not staying by your side and being a mother to you."
"It's all in the past, Mom," I breathe out and pat her back.
"The months that I abandoned you and left you alone to fend for yourself, I am so sorry for leaving you when you needed me the most," she apologizes through sobs.
And before I can tell her to stop, I see Alpha Calhoun coming from afar, because mom's back is to him. He's fully dressed now, in his wet clothes.
"Mom, can we just go inside?" I pull away from the hug just to put my arm around her shoulders. I'm doing this because I don't want her to see him like that.
"Sure," Mom offers me a small smile and sniffs.
We side-step the guards and make our way in.
Later at night, I am contemplating telling my friends about everything. Upon having a thought about what their reaction would be, I chose not to tell them. They're partly the reason why I'm in this and they can let things slip off easily. One cannot trust them with secrets because when they get drunk, they don't know how to control their tongues.
Aside from that, I can't risk becoming my mother's enemy. I know how she behaves when she's enraged. She's trying to apologize for how she treated me over the years and wants to start a new mother-daughter relationship with me.
I dreamt of Alpha Calhoun making sweet love to me once again and I broke out in sweats when I awake by six in the morning.
After tying my hair into a loose bun on top of my head, I change into a light dress and grab my box, ready to leave. Thankfully none of my clothes are outside, they're all tucked in my box because I didn't offload my stuff when I arrived yesterday.
In a hurry, I drag my box out of the room because I want to skip the chances of getting seen by Mom. I'll text her when I return home. I can't risk staying here another day and getting to see Calhoun again.
To my dismay, a bunch of black-suited men are seated at the large dining table in the hall, involved in a heated argument. Calhoun is in their midst. Looking so good that it hurts to stare at him for too long. How dare he manage to look better than before each time I see him? Is it because we're mates?
"Kristen?" His brows furrow in confusion and he leaves his seat and walks up to me, "What are you doing?"
"Leaving," I blurt out, avoiding his gaze.
Upon hearing this, he turns his head in the direction of his men who are now silently observing us, their argument long stopped.
To my uttermost surprise, they leave the table one by one until it's empty. Including the guards and servants.
"What's going on?" I'm sure confusion is clear on my face.
"They can't stay here while I talk to you," Calhoun shoves his hands in his pockets as he looks at me.
"Why? Doesn't this make things suspicious?" I raise my arms for emphasis.
Calhoun pushes his fingers through his hair, pants and puffs out and stares at me with his face in a straight expression.
"You can't leave, Kristen." His voice is full of authority as if he's addressing a rebellious pack member.
"I don't want to ruin things for my mom, staying here is just worsening the situation. Our relationship is on the rocky part but she doesn't deserve any of this," my voice is far from normal.
"It's true that I love your mother and I don't want to give her any reason to cry…"
"Then let me go, Alpha Calhoun," I interrupt him with this plea.
"I can't," he persists. Tone firm, unyielding.
"Calhoun, Kristen?" The abrupt voice of my mother interrupts me from speaking. And the pace of my breathing increases because she's here. Standing on the stairs in her nightdress. Looking confused as hell.