Chapter 40 REDEMPTION
Sianna's POV
Bursting into the pack house, I was like a mad woman going to war. Throwing the office door open to meet Vance in a meeting with Duke and Blayne. Both men raised eyebrows at me, but ignoring them, I walked in looking Vance in the face, trying to read the expression on his face. The impassiveness of his nature was sometimes annoying to me, but it worked for him as an autocratic figure.
Around 10 a.m., the sun had already begun to illuminate the sky with its brilliant yellow rays when I woke up. When I noticed that Vance wasn't at home, I assumed that he would be blaming Curtis for what he had done. Moreover, the worried phone call sent my alarm gauge higher. In an effort to stop him, I hurriedly showered, drank some orange juice, and came over here, but it seemed that he had already performed his heinous act.
He sat there, cool as ever. When he blinked up at me from his desk, he smiled silkily, "Hi sweetheart."
I rolled my eyes, giving him daggers, and slammed at him through the mind-link, "Don't you sweetheart me!"
"Well," Duke cleared his throat. "That's our cue to leave these two alone." He got up and pulled Blayne by the collar. They both left, giving Vance a you-are-in-trouble glance.
As the door closed, I went to the front of his desk, placed my hands on the wooden surface, and looked him square in the eyes. He peered back into mine, stoically.
"What did you do?" I snapped at him, feeling that he deserved the harshness in my voice.
He was too angry last night to simply let this go. By now he would have found out the missing details that I refused to tell him. Curtis' attempted kidnap was a crime and Vance had a duty to demand respect for himself and our family.
Had it not been for my healing ability that quickly flushed the chloroform out of my system, before he was out of the territory, I would have been abducted by Curtis and later hunted down by Vance. No Alpha could ignore the notion that a pack member or anybody else could threaten to take their Luna away.
"Meaning?" He closed the file that he was working on, and laid back in the chair with his hands folded so that his right-hand fingers caressed his chin playfully.
That response irritated me and I grind my teeth at the thought of pulverizing my mate. He understood completely what I was referring to. I ran a hand through my dark hair so that it would fall back and out of my raging face so that he would see how mad I was. My heart ached for Curtis if he got hurt.
"The Blacks called me this morning asking about Curtis. They said he mind-linked them to say his goodbyes." The cracking of my voice was evident as I struggled to say my next words. "They were trying to reach you but you wouldn't get back to them. Vance......."
He observed my emotional state and just sat there, looking stagnant at me. With my anger spiraling, he was currently unable to exploit his jealousy. He must understand why it hurt me, I'm sure of it. I wasn't going to be intimidated when I needed answers, either.
"Is he dead?" I felt devastated as unmanageable tears rolled down my face.
Vance heaved a sigh and replied, "He said that you'd hate me for this, do you?"
Dumbfounded, I allowed what he said to process. It wasn't hatred that I was feeling, it was the pain that my mate could have let Curtis live or come up with another form of punishment. The guilt of knowing that he did it out of love for me was another factor. Being mad at myself as well, I was desperate to make the liability go away.
"Didn't he seal his fate when he kidnapped you?" All I saw and heard was a stone-cold mate before me, callous and dense. "A pack needs their Alpha and Luna, and anyone who brings disarray by putting either of us in willful and intended danger cannot be spared."
Wiping the trail of tears from my cheeks, I cleared my eyes of the water that had built up. I didn't know when I started to cry." Vance.......he just needed time to adapt to losing me. I am yours. Haven't I proven that?"
"You don't get the point!" Shaking his head defiantly with blooming rage. "He became a danger to you and our pup." "But he didn't hurt me!" I yelled, glaring at him. "I'm here now, and you can see for yourself that I am fine."
"Tell me about how you took him into the storeroom and were in there for quite some time, alone!" His anger fanned out so wide that the entire pack house ought to feel it. "What happened between both of you? What encouragement did you give him?"
As the strain built, the weight of his words smashed me into a bombshell, and my body froze at the accusation. There was no way to communicate with this man. "I.......I..." Words stuck in my throat, refusing to be voiced.
He stood, slammed his hands on the desk, then walked to the glass cabinet to get the whiskey bottle and a glass out. Going back to his desk, he poured the glass full, holding it in one hand, leaning his head against his other with his elbow on the desk. Eyes sending me spears and arrows.
"We talked about you staying clear of Curtis, didn't we?" I was aware that he was experiencing righteous indignation and aggravation in addition to fear and worry. But the accusation plunged a knife into my heart and left me in his Alpha aura gasping for air. "However, you left on your own and instructed the guards who were supposed to keep you safe not to follow you. What will it take for you to end things with Curtis?" He downed the whisky in two-thirds. "The best way was for him to die."
Dejectedly, I slumped down in the chair as the trouncing of the sad reality sank in. Curtis was gone. How do I face his parents again? How could I live with myself?
"Don't beat yourself down. He had it coming." Vance gave no sympathy. Curtis was also my best friend. He's had my back for years. He was the most caring and loving person I've known before Vance. I felt like I failed to protect him. I had failed him when he had never failed me before.
Now he was dead and gone. Am I even fit to be Luna if I couldn't protect one person? Someone very important to me. Would Hailey or my parents understand? Curtis didn't deserve this. I stood and looked into the shrewd pupils of my mate. "Okay."
I nodded. "Okay." I sniggered. "What's done is done?"
I will take the blame and carry the weight of my sins to my grave. Maybe in the afterlife, I can beg Curtis for forgiveness when I see him. Until then, I was alive and a Luna. I had to do better for the pack, my baby, and me.
This possessive Alpha shit was underestimated by me and the message was loud and clear this time when it was too late. My heart won't be in contentment for a while. Summoning all the willpower I had, I forced back the pressing tears.
"Can we close this issue now?" Vance asked with his palm down on the desk. He got up and walked toward me. He brought up my chin to look deeply into my wet eyes. "Are you hating me now, Sianna?"
A condescending chuckle came from me. I pushed his hand away from me and he clenched his jaw. "How could I possibly hate you? You are my Alpha and mate, but sometimes I wish you would control your damn anger! You wasted a good life. He served this pack and his goals were of all the missions that he could accomplish for us, Vance!"
Vance put his arm around my waist, pulled me into his chest, and held me. He ran his hand down my black hair trying to soothe me. "It hurts to know that you care for him so much."
"Don't you know that I love only you now? You should have trusted in our love to know that no one could come in between us." I mumbled into his chest, but I knew that he heard me.
I put my arms around his waist, hugging him back. "My wolf is hard to control sometimes. And when it comes to you, I don't know how to control my emotions. I would have gone insane from the rage that was eating me out." He said softly. "Curtis is the one man that I fear who could take you away from me."
He sat in the chair and placed me on his lap. I leaned my head on his broad shoulders." Do you remember when Gail Howlers ran up to hug me and your wolf got so mad?" I nodded. "That's how my wolf gets every time something comes up with you and Curtis. As long as Curtis is in this pack, my wolf will want to kill him."
The sincerity of his words pierced through the mate bond. What he said was a sudden and striking realization. Is that what's been bothering him all along? "Vance, I love you. I will always love you no matter what."
"Are we okay or do you need time?"
Yeah, right! I was aware that he wouldn't wait twenty-four hours before demanding that I come back to his house. I'm afraid that if I opted to spend a few days with my parents, he would vent his rage at them.
"Have you told the Blacks?" I inquired, hoping that I wouldn't have to break the news to them.
"They are aware and they will stay in our pack and visit him there."
My face twisted as I tried to analyze what he uttered. "Visit who?"
He smirked at me, and with his hand rubbing my cheek, his smile gave me comfort, "Curtis. They will visit Curtis at his new
pack."
"Wait, what?" Puzzled, confused, and lost was how my mind reacted. "Vance, please talk to me properly, what's this about Curtis' new pack?"
"I almost killed him but I didn't. I thought of you and knew I couldn't kill him." His face was almost touching mine. "But I've already transferred him to his new pack. My brother Virgil gave his permission for him to be with his mate, Jazmine.'
"Curtis is not dead?' The shocking moment had still not passed as yet.
"No." Vance touched my tummy by rubbing it. The butterflies caused the familiar swoony sensations to fill me with his love." Your mom patched him up so that we could transfer his comatose body to the Crimson Hyde Pack. My brother will have doctors monitor him there. He will be with his mate and so the mate bond should be able to take root between them so that he can move on eventually. I am sure that she will nurse him back to health in a few months."
"The transfer documents are completed but I will fax them over to Virgil tomorrow. His mom is staying by his side. I gave his parents the choice to move there with him." Vance pecked my lips. "He is banned from this pack. He will never step into our pack again, which means........that you are never to see or talk to him again." He sighed as if relieving a burden from his chest. " Can you live with that?"
"May I see his file?" I inquired, nodding, but I had to see it to believe it. Relief washed over me in waves.
He allowed me to stand while he led me to his side of the desk and sat again with me on his lap. The file showed a passport-sized photo of Curtis. His medical condition was detailed. There was his current status that he held and the transfer pages of why, how, when, and where he would join the Crimson Hyde Pack. I sighed knowing that the worst-case scenario didn't happen, but was this better than death?
I closed the folder and gave Vance a long hard kiss. "Thank you, baby." Then I applied a few short smacks on his lips with mine. The anger alleviated and I was happy that he was alive.
I smiled with my hands on his cheeks, his face relaxed and his lips curled into the sweet smile that belonged to me. "I won't talk or see him because I've got you. You are all that I need, my big bad wolfie." Relieved that Curtis was given the chance to redeem himself. He should be stable in his new life within a year.
I held his face in my palms, wiped the smile off my face, and sternly rebuked him, "Don't you ever deceive me like that again!"