“You have to be more specific when telling about the directions,” I said, reaching the same cliff where I first met her a few days ago. So much has happened since then.
I had seen Reed’s past, his life, his struggles, and his curse. We were marked now. We were officially mates now. I knew she was already here as I could sense her. She was hiding in the woods. But this time, she was alone.
“I don’t want unwanted arrivals,” Hecate said, emerging from the woods. Her eyes were the first thing that captured my attention whenever we met. They were still purple, and I sighed in relief internally. Her gaze collided with me, and I could sense her smile.
“You have seen it, haven’t you?” she asked. I tried my best to look smug and oblivious, but I knew she was a witch and had probably seen it before meeting me here.
“Why did you send the human on my territory? And severely injured at that. You could have sent me the letter just like you sent before in my bedroom,” I asked instead, directly off the bat, and I could feel the conversation was not turning on a good ride.
“She was a sacrifice,” she said matter-of-factly. She didn’t try to explain or go into further details. I lifted my eyebrows. She sighed in exasperation.
“Look, you don’t know about our cult. I can assure you she was a willing sacrifice which soon turned into failure when she reached your pack and got safe.” I narrowed my eyes but didn’t push her further.
“Look, I know you are not going to trust me; I know you think we attacked you, but I can assure you we meant no harm. I already told you.” Now, this got my attention. I looked at her face to see if she was lying. No, she wasn’t.
“You attacked us,” I said, my voice rising with every passing minute. She shook her head immediately.
“Your mate has thousands of enemies who wanted him and you dead. I can rest assure you I don’t kill people,” she said, and her eyes started turning a deep shade of vibrant red from purple.
“We can kill people in so many other ways instead of crashing their cars in some stupid accident,” she said, so full of herself. I started laughing mockingly.
“Then, why would they send a letter saying they have the blade and are threatening us. The Oracle signed it,” I said and folded my hands. She looked equally surprised with my statement but soon covered it with a smug face.
“We didn’t send anything. The only letter signed by the Oracle was during your annual meeting. All other letters were signed by me only, and they were addressed to you. I guess someone is using our name to cover their marks,” she said thoughtfully as if she were talking to herself. If she was right, then there also must be the involvement of the witches.
“You were the one who was threatening us to attack our pack. Thanks to your some kind of sick obsession to kill Reed, we are here in this deep shit,” I exclaimed. She looked angered by my sudden outburst but didn’t say anything.
My wolf was equally pissed off. She wanted to be released and eliminate whoever tried to kill her mate. If it weren’t for me, Hecate would be six feet under the ground.
“You think your mate is a saint or something? He is the ruthless, merciless, and a coward who runs when he has to do his part of the job.” Her voice was laced with anger, and it gave some kind of sick relief to get some emotions out of her finally.
Her words finally registered, and I looked at her in confusion. What deal? Reed told me the first day he ran when he was asked to kill someone. Someone who he hated and loved the most in his life. Love. I shook my head, trying to ignore the pinch of jealousy rising in my heart.
“Someone from your side is betraying you. They had the army of the rogues; I have kept the blade hidden so that it couldn’t get into the wrong hands. Be alert, Esma. Be careful while trusting your friends.”
Hecate must have seen my face because she didn’t say anything further. She walked slowly in my direction and held my hand in hers.
“I have done many things, things I regretted, and I have never been proud of them. But not this, I have good relations with your father; he saved me once from the wolves, and that’s why I am helping you. Because I owe him,” she said and started walking back in the direction from which she came.
Wait, what? My father knew her? She must be kidding.
“Did you by any chance have any involvement with his waking from the coma?” I asked, and she turned, and there it was, the same fucking smugness plastered on her face with an unknown emotion I couldn’t place.
She helped my father? She loved my father. Fuck, this was disgusting. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the unwanted thoughts before noticing Hecate was gone.
Be careful while trusting your friends. What did that actually mean? I knew too many people, but I didn’t have so many friends. Family was everything to me; it always had been. Diana was a sister to me, and now she was also family.
Then who?
The walk back to the pack was short as I was already trying to solve the new riddle Hecate give me. Why can’t she talk directly for fuck’s sake?
“I am home,” I said and closed the door behind me.
“Where you have been all day?” I stopped in my tracks, hearing my father’s voice. I slowly turned and met the same replica of hazel brown eyes like me sitting in the wheelchair. People always remarked how I got all my features from my father except for my hair.
“I was busy in the pack matters, you know, patrolling and checking on the borders,” I lied with all the confidence. He looked at me for a full long minute before nodding.
“You were never a good liar, not that I like your trait, but you can’t lie,” he grumbled, and I sighed. Okay, so he wanted to listen to the story. Alright, he asked for it.
“Where’s August and other family members?” I couldn’t sense any one of them, which meant neither of them was at the house.
“August has taken his mate out for dinner, and I don’t know about yours, which I am glad,” he grumbled.
“Where’s Mom?” I asked, searching and scanning the whole house. I didn’t want a scene, not at this hour of the night.
“She has gone round the road to buy some things, god knows what,” he said, and I could sense he was starting to get irritated because of the sudden change of topic by me.
“Okay, so how about if I told you I had met your ex today, which happens to be a witch and the greatest enemy of our pack till today,” I said, and saying that his face turned pale would be an understatement.
“You met who?” he asked, not believing my words. He was not upset; he was not angry; he didn’t look anything but surprised. Surprised to hear it from me.
“I met Hecate. She told me how you ‘saved’ her life once.” I put force on the word save, and I could feel he was really embarrassed by now. All my life, what he ever told me was witches were never good. They were the personification of evil, but never in my life would I believe that he had an affair with one.
“Did Mom know about it?” I asked, checking the water. He looked deep in thought but soon lifted his head to meet my gaze.
“No, it was before I met your mother,” he said, and I could feel he was remembering his past.
“I was not even the alpha then. I was going for a run and found her fighting three rogues by herself. When one of them was going to attack her from her back, I quickly changed and killed all of them. I helped her, and well, yes, we fell in love, which was temporary,” he said and looked away.
I lifted my one eyebrow encouraging him to complete the story. “She was a witch and on top of that, the daughter of the head of her coven. I was next in the line of the alpha; we were never meant to be together, so one night she left me without any notice,” he said, and I could feel he was still not over it. Hell, Dad, you want to have closure at this age?
“Good night, Dad. Let’s never talk about it again,” I said dismissingly. It was disgusting to know about your father’s affairs, especially with your enemies.
As soon as I reached my home, I called August. “What about the girl?” I asked lowly, knowing my father could hear all way from his room with his super-hearing specialty.
“She is dead, Emmy. Rush couldn’t save her. One minute, she was fine and stable, and another second, her heart suddenly stopped,” he said from the other line of the call. She was just a sacrifice. A willing sacrifice. Hecate’s words rang in my head.
“Okay, don’t tell this to anyone and enjoy your dinner.” With that, I cut the call.
I ate something before finally picking a book to read. I wanted to clear my head from all this mess.
The chilling vision of my death Diana showed me, the human girls’ death. Meeting Hecate and, of course, knowing my father’s love scandals with the most powerful witches.
One year ago, I complained to the moon goddess for my boring life. Really, moon goddess, so much for my boring life?
The door creaked open audibly like in horror movies, and Reed peeked from the other side. He looked worried, but soon his face turned into relief when his eyes collided with mine.
He smiled his heartwarming smile before entering fully inside the room. Only then did I notice how much I had missed him. The bed dipped as he made his way to my side and kissed my cheek so fast I hardly blinked.
“I missed you,” he said, and I almost melted at his touch. Almost. He quickly went to the bathroom and returned soon in nothing but his PJs. He jumped on the other side of the bed, and his eyes scanned me from head to toe.
I knew what was going through his mind. I closed the book and turned the lamp off at my side before draping a blanket over me.
I heard him groaning, and I grinned from the blanket, knowing I won. The room turned silent, and for a second, I thought he had left the room, but the sound of his racing heart was telling me he was still there, looking at me like a hawk, waiting for me to turn so that he could attack.
Two can play this game. I didn’t move. After what seems to be hours but were merely a few minutes, I felt his hot and minty breath on my ear.
“Are you asleep, kitten?” He called me by the nickname. I bit back a low moan. Hearing his soft velvet voice could have this much effect on me. In the next moment I knew, I was in the sitting position in my favorite place in the world—on his lap.
“Where’s my good night kiss, kitten?” he asked huskily, and I shivered from the intensity of his fervent gaze.
“You don’t stop at the good night kiss,” I pouted and wiggled, trying to get away from his tight yet gentle hold.
He chuckled at my remark, and I swore I would burn heaven and hell to hear that chuckle for me for the rest of my life.
“Well, that was a fair point well-made, Miss Rockwood,” he said and leaned forward so that our lips were few inches apart.
“I will not kiss you because we both know it will not just end on the good night kiss,” he said, and his breath turned me even more hot and needy. Needy for his touch.
He quickly leaned forward so that we were again a few millimeters away from each other before he pulled himself away as quickly as he leaned forward. Fuck.
I didn’t notice I had closed my eyes. He smiled, and I knew he was winning this cruel game he was playing with me. He turned on his side and turned off the lights.
“Good night, kitten,” he wished, and I could feel him grinning from ear to ear. I turned to my side of the bed and huffed.
“Bastard.”
“Indeed.” He chuckled.