Chapter 38 CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
MAEVA
I knew something was wrong but I thought it was just the kiss. I shouldn't have let him kiss me, and more importantly, I shouldn't have kissed him back.
I wake up drenched in sweat, burning up, in pain but refusing to scream. What is happening with me? I close my eyes against the discomfort and listen to know if Caius is in the house. He is. I can hear his steady heartbeat as he sleeps.
It shouldn't be possible that I’m in heat and he’s still sleeping, but I'm grateful for it. Now I just have to make sure that I don't make any sounds so he won't wake up. My survival greatly depends on him not being awake.
His control on his impulses are already thin, I don’t want to imagine the fight we’ll have if he comes in here. Especially as I’m not as strong as I usually am.
Another wave of heat hits me and I curl on the bed. Why didn’t the witch tell me that the mix was temporary? How am I going to survive until the blue moon? I put both my hands over my mouth so I don’t make a sound. Being quiet is more important to me now that holding my stomach.
I suffer in silence, wondering why this is happening to me and why Caius isn’t coming here. How does he protect his pack if he is this much of a deep sleeper? How has he maintained his title as the most powerful Alpha if this is how he sleeps? The heat soon passes and I fall into a deep sleep from exhaustion.
The next time I wake up, Caius is sitting in that chair looking at me curiously. There’s a large tray in front of me with lots of food. I eye the food cautiously then look back at him. He brings me food just after he missed my heat? Suspicious.
“I didn’t poison it if that’s what you were thinking. I actually need you alive.” He says.
“That’s not what I was thinking but good to know.” I say.
My voice comes out hoarse and I clear it.
“That’s why I brought you food. You’re sick.”
“Sick?” I repeat dumbly.
“I’ve been in this room three times since dawn and you didn’t notice and didn’t shake. The last time you did that was when I drugged you. I haven’t drugged you since that time.”
Why does he think I was sick? I went into heat in the middle of the night but I should still smell warm and inviting to him.
“You look pale. Our pack healer said I should feed you first and if nothing changes, then she’ll know what to do. Eat.”
He can’t smell the heat. Now my confusion is clearing, my wolf is purring and thinking up different ways he can have us and he can’t smell it. Which reminds me that other pack members live around and I didn’t hear one single howl at the moon last night because I was too bothered about Caius coming into my room.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks.
Just to test things, I let myself take him in. I give into my wolfs impulses and he doesn’t move. His eyes don’t even twitch. What is happening? What did this witch do? I was so afraid last night about meeting him and about what he will do so this feels very anticlimactic.
I don’t know what to feel. I’m grateful he’s not trying to pounce on me, but I’m confused as to why. What else did this potion do to me?
I wordlessly open the food and start eating.
“Are you going to watch me eat?” I ask.
He shakes his head, stands up and walks out of the room. Good. I need time to get my thoughts in order and figure out what to do about my situation. I also need to find a way to bring the witch here. I have a lot of questions I need to ask and I don’t need Caius knowing about any of them.
The more I think of a way out, the more I realize that there isn’t one. I’m stuck in this situation until I can escape. He fucked up by bringing me food. I’m going to regain my energy and escape from this pack.
The solution to my problem comes from Caius himself. He comes back a few hours later to check on me and his brows furrow when he enters the room.
“What? Do I still look pale?” I say, mocking him.
I feel fine now, stronger even. I don’t need his worry or his pity.
“Maeva, you don’t have a fucking scent!”
What? I stand immediately and walk towards him. “Are you sure you’re fine? Of course, I have a scent. Everybody does.”
“You have a scent. I know it like the back of my hand but right now, it’s not on you. You smell like nothing. This is why you don’t do anything with witches, Maeva.”
I control my impulse to panic. Others can’t smell my scent because I don’t have one. Somehow, the potion took that from me too. He gets a look in his eyes like he’s talking through the mind link and I turn away so he won’t see the fear on my face.
I am close to begging him to bring the witch here. I have to find out what she gave me and what she did to me. He leaves without another word to me and slams the door on his way out. He’s angry.
I sit in the empty room contemplating how my life will go. Caius isn’t in the house but when he comes back, the first thing I’m going to tell him is to bring the witch. I need to know why.
The door opens again and Caius comes in. The woman smiles at me then turns to Caius. Everything she tells him is lost due to the ringing in my ears. There’s a fire burning deep in my gut at the sight of the two of them together.
He’s looking down at her softly and she’s smiling at him like they have an inside joke. I want to kill her. I want to smash her head down and make her hurt. How dare she be around my mate like that? The only good thing about this is how oblivious they both are to the war going on inside me.
“Can I talk to her alone?” she asks him.
“No. She took a potion from a witch to block the mate bond and now it’s screwing with her.”
She grinds her jaws together then looks at me. She gives me a look that says ‘men right?’ and I want to carve her up. We are not friends and my mate is not her friend.
“When did you start to notice anything different?” she asks.
I’m not telling her about the heat. They don’t need to know that.
“When I woke up and he was staring at me like a creep.”
“Did anything happen yesterday that might have caused this?”