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CHAPTER 34
LILY
After Raiden had left to deal with some urgent pack matter, I continued to go out of my mind. What was he going to tell me? Why didn’t he take me to his room? And why hadn’t he marked me yet?
My feet were growing tired of pacing, the pressure in my head gradually building into a steady throb. This was not how it was supposed to go. Usually, when a wolf met his mate, he would take her to his home, claim her as soon as possible, and that’ll be the end of it. They were considered married after, which also meant that they would be living together from then on out. Not only had Raiden not claimed me yet, but he also decided to show me to another room. It was humiliating, confusing. Was he having second thoughts? Did he have a girlfriend or worse, married someone else while I was gone?
I didn’t understand what was happening. If he didn’t want me, why did he kiss me? Why bring me here at all? Was the mate bond playing tricks on him? Forcing him to do things he didn’t want to? Frustrated and emotionally exhausted, I sank down onto the bed, burying my face in my hands. Did Raiden give his heart to another in the time I was away? Wasn’t that the exact thing I was once afraid of?
So many things could have changed over the years. He could have changed. His taste, his personality. How would I even be sure he was still the same person I grew to love all those years ago? We were kids. Hell, I still felt like one even now. It was hard to learn that I had gone from sixteen to twenty four in barely a few days.
With muddled thoughts and a troubled heart, I decided to wait for my emotions to settle before acting on any of them. I knew I hadn’t been myself lately and owed it to Ray to at least hear what he had to say, before jumping to conclusions. I wished Axel was here to tell me what to do, Mat to comfort me and hold me against his smoky chest until I could envision Hollow Stone’s campfires in my mind.
I began unpacking, slowly pulling out drawers and filling them with my own things. I had brought so little compared to how much space the room provided. My heart ached with every piece of clothing I placed inside the dresser. How horribly empty and bland the room seemed. Nothing special hung from the walls, no pictures of family or friends scattered along the surfaces, no stationary sprawled over the desk. My throat constricted at how impersonal it all felt and I found myself stumbling towards the window, propping my head outside and greedily gulping down air.
My eyes stung, but I wouldn’t cry again. I couldn’t. At some point I had to stop. At some point I had to start fighting back. I couldn’t give up, not after all I’d been through. For some reason, Celene had decided to spare me, and I’d be damned if I didn’t even try picking up where I’d left off.
Outside, the wind howled around a corner. In the distance, children played, their shrieks of excitement floating up to meet me. I closed my eyes, listening for what else I might hear. Finally, my breathing slowed and I began detecting more sounds. The roar of a car, a gardener shouting at someone. Slowly, my heart began to ease and the panic which threatened to consume me, loosened me from its grip. The sounds were a reminder that I was here. That I was alive and that I had escaped the enslavement he had me under. I didn’t know how long I stood there, simply breathing and listening, but eventually, a knock sounded from the door and my heart walloped, thinking Raiden had returned to me.
I sprinted across the room, ripping the door open, but instead of finding Raiden there, a young woman with long dark hair stood in his place. She stared at me as though I had vomit all over my face. A sneer instantly pulled at her lips, tainting her hazel eyes and sharpening her features into something ugly. Her disgust rippled in the air between us.
Behind her, two other females stood, staring at me in horror. I lifted a hand to my face, just as the first woman said, “so, it’s true then?”
Her words came out sharp and charged. I didn’t know whether she was addressing me or the other two. My eyes scanned over the trio, lingering on the two behind her. They looked like servants of some sort, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. I didn’t recognize any of them.
“What’s true?” I asked, returning my gaze to her.
“That Raiden’s brought home a toy,” she hissed, looking me over from top to bottom.
My blood boiled at the utter disrespect this woman was showing and the familiarity in which she addressed her Alpha. Although my wolf was livid, I schooled my features and took a single step towards her, into the hall. With surprising calm, I replied, “if I were you, I’d rephrase that.”
Flecks of gold began to swim in my vision as my wolf tried to push forward, resulting in the two behind her stepping back. But she raised her chin even higher and straightened her back.
“You need to learn your place, Wolf,” she said, looking down her nose at me.
No one has ever disrespected me as openly as this woman before. Did she have a death wish? Couldn’t she smell I was an Alpha? Or was she simply too daft to care?
“And where exactly do you think my place is?”
“Definitely not in Raiden’s bed,” she almost growled.
I took another step closer. We were mere inches apart now and I could already feel the fangs in the back of my mouth elongating. Claws pushed against skin, barely staying hidden. She was trotting on very dangerous grounds, and the stupid bitch didn’t even know it. Well, not yet.
“What would you know of Raiden’s bed?” I asked, my voice sounding low and deadly. The two behind her took another step back.
Her arrogance was starting to get under my skin and the doubt I had felt earlier, dissipated into pure rage. With white fur spurting in the back of my neck, I allowed my wolf to push into my eyes, taking over my vision. I knew my irises had turned from blue to yellow when she flinched and inhaled sharply. Too fucking late. I focused all of my Alpha dominance solely on her while waiting for her reply. Raw power radiated off me, making her confidence falter and the two behind her retreat entirely.
“I asked you a question.”
Fury seared through me, a possessive urge to protect and claim taking hold of my mind. It was instinct kicking in. The beast side of me gaining the upper hand.
She took the tiniest of steps back. “Well, I should know,” she said in a voice too shaky to miss, “I’m his chosen Luna.”
