Chocolate Temptation (10 page)

Each step up to the floor the pack occupied increased the weight of their grief on his chest. Cathen warned them off, even persistent Griselda who felt she had the right to see Alexia. He opened the door and the hall was vacant but for the sorrow around them. His room was across from the mated pack members. They too lay huddled, mourning. All of the things were set up to his preferences. The covers were turned down and two towels rested at the foot on the bed. He entered, and with Varor’s help, they carefully put down the trunk with sleeping beauty.

“Thank you. The others are expecting you in the common area at the far end of the hall.” Cathen pointed in the direction of his charge.

“It is I who is grateful to you for saving my life and trusting me. I’m honored you allowed me to help. For saving my life I shall repay the favor.” Varor bowed.

Given what had happened between them, Cathen was uncomfortable with the connection they shared.

Varor spun to leave and paused at the door. “I know it’s none of my business, but I hope for all of our sakes you don’t keep your promise to her.”

Cathen wished Alexia had kept his pledge between them. “You’re right. It isn’t your business.” The last thing he wanted was for others to find out what he planned to do. They would try and stop him. There was no life for him worth living if his mate rejected him. Not because of the mark on his chest, but the love in his heart that dwelled there long before.

“Understood.” Varor exited the room and closed the door. Though he trusted Varor more than before, he still wasn’t sure where the Shunu’s loyalties lay.

As instructed by him, Serafin and Franko took up a post outside his bedroom.

Cathen kneeled next to the trunk and opened the lid. Alexia lay peacefully at the bottom, unhaunted by the loss of VanWolf. He picked her up, carried her over to the bed and laid her on it. He wished he could kiss her plump mouth to wake her. And that when her eyes opened, they wouldn’t be filled with disappointment, but rather joy at the sight of him. He reached into her mind, moved away from the bed and put his back to her.

Alexia stirred. “Why?”

“Your fear of small tight spaces. I didn’t have the strength to box you in, knowing how much it would pain you and that I could not comfort you.”

She sighed. “I can’t decide if I want to slap or thank you.”

It was evident she didn’t trust her growing attachment to him. She feared it was because of the mark. There was no magic that could change someone’s heart, or he would have tried it on his own when she’d paired with VanWolf.

“Is what Varor said to me true?” She did not want to cause his death, nor did she want to be his mate. But those two things were mutually exclusive now. No amount of wanting could change that. “That to release me you must die?”

“No,” he lied. Varor had left him no choice. He refused to have her agree only to save his life and honor. She had to want to be his.

“Then why did he say that to me?” She rustled on the bed.

“I can’t predict another male’s motives. My gift is to speak to animals, not understand other Shunus.” If it were his ability, he’d know why VanWolf had betrayed him by telling him she was his mate and then taking her as his own. “Maybe the uneasy feeling was too much for him to bear and he knew it would be simpler if we had sealed our bond. Could be, that he was told those were the consequences by his pack before they died. There is no way for me to know.” By the time she figured out the truth that Varor was indeed correct, Cathen’s life would have ended. His promise would be kept.

“I’m struggling to figure out what you are feeling. There is such darkness inside you I’m unable to read you.” She stood, and her footsteps tapped the wood flooring. “Am I your chosen mate?”

“Not mine. But my wolf’s.” He could not control that part of him.

“So you didn’t want me as your mate, but your wolf did–does?” Her voice quavered with hurt.

It didn’t matter what he’d said, somehow his words wounded her. “The moment I laid eyes on you I wanted you. But I have no power over the wolf, and he knew you were what we needed as a mate.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she shouted.

Why was she angry with him when it seemed she lacked basic information about being a Shunu? “Did VanWolf not explain to you how these matters work?”

“He might not have given me enough information for me to understand everything. Why didn’t you mark me before I was sent to Paris?”

“What did he tell you?” he said, unable to keep his voice from rising.

“That a Shunu will pick his mate, and once he has the Alpha’s permission he will mark her… He will not ask, just take.”

“Exactly. I neither had the right, nor the blessing of the Alpha. As the Epsilon-Beta I gave up the right to a mate unless the Alpha relieved me of my post and picked a new Epsilon-Beta. Despite knowing all that, I could not keep away from you. That was why Griselda watched me around you.” Did she not get how hard it had been at the castle with her so close yet so far away?

“Then I came back to the pack, engulfed in all that was him.” She stepped closer.

“Not even that could change my wolf-spirit’s heart or my soul. When he tossed you to the side once you rejoined the pack, I was willing to wait until you’d mended to mark you. I knew then that you did not understand our ways, and could not force a union upon you by marking you.”

“Are you blaming VanWolf?”

“No, never. He was your mate and cared for you. You loved him, and for that I will hold his memory in high esteem.” He had loved seeing her happy, even though it had been with VanWolf. The beaming smile VanWolf had managed to elicit from her brought him joy too.

“And beyond that?” she pressed him.

“He was my Alpha. I served him to the best of my abilities.” He’d done as required of him in his Epsilon-Beta duties.

“What does that mean exactly?”

“Why do you seem in the mood to argue? I’ve done everything in my power to protect you, and as you’ve asked of me. Must we quarrel?”

“No, of course not. I don’t want to fight. Maybe it’s just the energy from the pack setting me on edge. I’m sorry.”

No one was sorrier than him. “I need to meet with our contact for the ship that will transport the pack. Griselda and Gabby both want to see you.”

“I’m not ready to see Griselda just yet.” She pouted.

“I’ll send Gabby in on my way out.” He gathered the wallet and pipe the pack had placed in the first drawer by the nightstand.

He sensed her tension from concern over his safety. “I should come with you.”

“That’s out of the question. You’ve been in enough danger.” He opened the door and glanced back.

“Please be careful.”

“I always am,
coquette
.” Exiting, he let Gabby know she could go to Alexia and left out the back stairwell so as not to be seen. In less than a day, he could set her free.

Chapter 15

Alexia stared at the lone bed in the room. The sheets had been turned down on each side. Her brush and toiletries were laid out on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. Once the pack was out of danger and headed for only God knew where she would arrange to head back to America. She had an aunt in the south somewhere, and she’d look her up.

The door creaked open, and Gabby tiptoed in with her head down. When her gaze met Alexia’s they both cried. Gabby wrapped her arms around Alexia and whispered words of comfort to her. They sat on the bed together.

“We’ve been on pins and needles, worried we’d lose you both too.” Gabby kept hold of her hand.

“It was harrowing, to say the least. But Cathen was never far.” He’d saved her life again and again. Even that first time they met, he’d saved her life and brought her within the pack. When Griselda had questioned him, he hadn’t backed down.

“The fact that he has managed not to claim you is amazing.” She squeezed Alexia’s hand.

After everything she’d put him through, maybe he finally didn’t want her anymore. “Yeah.” She sensed from Cathen that he didn’t want her speaking of their arrangement with others. But something just didn’t sit right with her. She had no reason not to believe him, as he’d given her his word.

“Are you all right?” Gabby rubbed her hand.

“Under the circumstances, I am okay.” She hadn’t had a moment to figure out what she felt. They’d gone from danger to danger.

“The mated pack females have been preparing for your cleansing. Are you nervous about joining with him?”

“What would happen if we didn’t join? If I didn’t go through with the ceremony and become his mate?”

“I don’t understand. What are you asking me? You are already his mate, you’ve marked him. The bond that you shared with VanWolf has been branded into Cathen. He is your mate.”

She hated when she was told how she’d marked him. No one had explained to her she would be the marker, and not the one marked when she’d become like them.

“I’m just curious. What would happen?” Why couldn’t she seem to get an answer that didn’t involve everyone telling her what she should know?

“Cathen would be consumed by darkness and be lost to us.”

“But there is a way around that right, a way that I can be set free?”

Gabby’s mouth fell open. “Has he hurt you? Hit or mistreated you?”

“No.” None of them got what she was going through. All of them just accepted it. “I’m just wondering about these types of unions. Let’s say Cathen didn’t want me, how would he gain his freedom from his obligation to me?”

She gasped. “Has he told you he wishes for you to set him free?”

“No, Gabby.” Was this so complicated a question to answer?

“You scared me for a moment. This union was created to protect you from that ever happening.”

“What is the ‘that’?”

Gabby tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “From the new Alpha killing the previous Alpha’s wife and offspring.”

The room closed in around Alexia. She placed her hand on her abdomen. “So the only way for him to free himself of me is to kill me.”

“But he could never do it.” She nodded vigorously. “He is unable to harm you.”

“So my only way out is if he dies?” More death. She couldn’t handle all the death.

“Hasn’t that been what I’ve said to you?” Gabby crossed her arms.

No. If it were she wouldn’t be so frustrated. “And if he picked an Epsilon-Beta, I would become his mate.”

“Yes. No matter what, you shall be protected. But this isn’t something you should be worried about as you have a bright future ahead of you both.”

Her stomach cramped and the bed seemed to have disappeared beneath her. She had to verbalize what her mind didn’t want to accept. “So the only way for Cathen to free me is to die?”

“Why would you even think such a thing? You aren’t a prisoner. You are one of the most cherished members of the pack. You’d be lost without your mate. Trust me when I tell you that it isn’t easy to have picked a mate who doesn’t want you back.” Tears pooled in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Gabby, I didn’t mean to upset you.” From Gabby’s reaction, she could imagine Cathen suffered the same sting of rejection. It wasn’t as if she’d meant for this to happen.

“What would I do without you, or any of us, for that matter? You saved the lives of nearly every member of the pack in some way or another.” Her friend’s words reminded her that leaving meant losing the pack for good too.

“Of course you are right, Gabby.” Alexia wasn’t strong enough for this.

Gabby hugged her. “It’s okay. I’m sure you’ve been through so much these last few days. You must remember that VanWolf picked Cathen as his Epsilon-Beta. If he didn’t feel he would care for you as he should, he would have picked another beta. In your heart you know that.”

Did she? All she knew right now was VanWolf had lied to her and so had Cathen.

“The others should be ready to receive you shortly to prepare for the ceremony. That way you will be ready for when Cathen returns.”

“Did he ask them to do this?” The question remained, which was the lie? Did he intend to set her free, or would he force her into their pairing?

“No, but now that you’re both back there is no reason to delay your union.” Gabby smiled.

“That’s a wonderful idea.” She needed to get Gabby out of the room so she could leave. “I’d like to rest before they bathe me. I think this will be a wondrously long night.”

“How thoughtless of me.” With a hand to her chest, she exhaled. “Given your journey you must be exhausted, you poor thing,” Gabby said.

She hated lying to Gabby, but if they suspected what she was up to they would stop her. “It’s okay. I’ve missed you so much.” She walked her to the door, hugged her, and when Gabby had gone, closed it.

Alone in the room, she withdrew the leather carrying bag from the trunk. As fast as she was able, she stuffed in money and a few things from her nightstand. She stood at the bedroom window and opened it.

The sun was setting in the distance, the perfect veil under which to escape. A metal staircase led down below. She grabbed a jacket and refused to look down, then climbed on the ledge.