Chapter 23 HER DEATH THREAT
DEREK’S POV
It’s been five days since my fight with Damien and five days since I’ve set eyes on Amber.
I couldn’t bear to sleep next to her, so I instructed her to sleep in her room.
These two days have been hell for me, and I’ve struggled to go against the desire of my wolf, who has been pining in all his glory for his mate.
I feel cursed. After a decade of searching for my mate, I ended up with someone whom I can never love or be with.
Subtract the mating bond from my feelings for her, and all that’s left is disdain, disgust, pity, and physical attraction.
But the mating bond has me wrecked with an obsessive craving and longing for her, which eats at me.
I’m currently in my room debating on whether to call her here or not, and I feel the logical part of the struggle loose by the second.
In the next second, I’m mind-linking Hera. “Tell the Luna that I request her presence with me tonight.”
“Yes, Prince Derek,” she says nervously back, and I shut the link, giving way to my thoughts again.
I imagine what her reaction to me today will be, and if we’ll quarrel this night like the first night, and most of all, if our sleeping position will be like the first night.
The last possibility brings a rush of warmth within me and has me anticipating her presence.
I take off my clothes and get under the covers. This time, feeling too hot to sleep with pajamas on, I lay down in my boxers and wait for her.
Ten minutes pass by, and she’s yet to get here, I start feeling agitated. Another ten minutes pass by, and I throw the covers off my body and pick up my pants, ready to bring her here myself.
Just as I put one leg through the fabric, I hear a knock on the door, which has me halting my action.
“Who is it?” I ask, placing the pants back on the couch beside the bed.
“It’s your prisoner,” comes Amber’s sassy voice, and I find myself hurrying to the door to open it.
I twist the doorknob, and one look at her has my heart doing flips with increased thumping, while she stares at me with bland eyes, seeming unaffected by the waves of emotions pulsing through me.
“Come in,” I say, choosing to ignore the last word she said.
She doesn’t say another word as she walks inside. She doesn’t spare me another glance as she keeps walking towards the bed casually, as though I’m not in the room, while I find myself entranced by her scent and her looks.
“I’ll build a barrier with the pillows so what happened last time won’t happen again,” she says calmly, logically, still not looking at me, while my eyes remain fixed on her as she makes the barrier.
“I don’t think that’ll stop your legs from finding me,” I say lightly without thinking, and her head snaps to me in surprise, but she doesn’t look at me for more than three seconds before turning away again and getting under the duvet.
My wolf growls in annoyance, and I feel vexed at her lack of acknowledgment.
How is she ignoring this, after five days of not seeing me, isn’t she feeling this craving like I am?
I'm practically almost naked, and she hasn’t batted an eyelid in my direction, as though I’m an insignificant figure in the room.
“Why are you quiet?” I ask, annoyed and walking towards the bed, and she turns to me, piercing me with her enchanting grey eyes, and for a second, I forget that I’m annoyed and appreciate how beautiful she is.
Just for one second.
“What do you want me to say?” she asks, her voice still as cool as the breeze, and it ticks me off.
“I usually don’t have to tell you what to say; you mostly say anything that comes to your mind without a care,” I say, getting frustrated while I get under the covers with her.
“I have nothing to say to you, Derek,” she says with a smile – an actual smile – and at this point, I release steam from my ears.
“When have you ever had nothing to say to me, Amber?!” I say with my voice slightly raised.
“Maybe I’m tired Derek, maybe I’m exhausted from sitting in my room all day and doing nothing, maybe I’m spent for the day from lazily lying on my bed without a purpose, maybe I’m overwhelmed by the discomfort I feel as my body changes for the baby, maybe I’m feeling cranky because I was woken up from sleep and told that you summoned me and as your prisoner I had to respond, or maybe I’m going crazy because the isolation is getting to me considering the last time I had a proper conversation with anyone was five years ago, or maybe I’m quiet so that you’ll fall asleep and I’ll stab you with the first sharp weapon I find,” she says, sounding as calm as a sea and as quiet as a whisper, with a smile on her face that unnerves me.
“My senses are too sharp for you to catch me off-guard even in my sleep,” I say, not knowing why I’m entertaining this. Maybe it’s because I sense no negativity from her, or perhaps it’s because I know she’s smarter than to try killing an alpha in his pack.
“I guess we’ll find out in the morning, goodnight mate,” she says sweetly before yawning and turning away from me, while I’m left thinking of the possibility that she’s desperate enough to try and take my life if it means she gets a bit of relief.
Would she really be willing to sacrifice her life to have me dead?
Knowing her history, I can’t put it past her. She might even have a plan to be the sacrificial lamb to take me down for the success of her pack. Maybe there was a secret message in the letter that her brother sent that I missed, and he actually instructed her to kill me. Maybe this was her plan all along, and by insisting on sleeping next to her today, I just brought her a step closer to actualizing her goals.
I become paranoid as more thoughts like this fill my mind, and I listen to her breath steadying, hinting that she has fallen asleep, or maybe that’s what she wants me to think.
With a frustrated groan, I sit up on the bed, unable to fall asleep with my wolf being restless and craving physical touch, and my mind trying to decipher if she is truly capable of killing me.
It worries me that if she tries and fails, her fate would be out of my hands and she would be immediately beheaded once the baby is born. That would wreck me.
If there’s anyone who could succeed in killing me, it would be her, because I’m naturally wired to be comfortable around her, and my wolf is completely in love with her, uncaring of whose daughter she is.
He is desperate enough for her touch to not alert me in case of any funny business.
I feel her move beside me, turning to face me, and I take in her peaceful appearance, breathing steadily, mouth slightly parted, and body completely lax. She’s definitely asleep, but this doesn’t settle the thoughts in my mind.
She wouldn’t dare kill me, would she?
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FEEL HIS BREATH