Chapter 29

Luka

I had whiplash from the speed of all of the changes over those three days.

At the dinner table, over a meal of chicken, corn on the cob, and cantaloupe, I searched Caleb’s face for signs of disappointment, chastising myself every time I did.

He was telling me about a time when the limo broke down on the way to a royal visit, deep in the woods, and he and the king had to camp overnight.

“It was one of the best times with him in my life. Him and his bodyguard, Terrence.”

“How did you get out?” I asked. But I was barely thinking about the conversation. I was thinking about him holding my hand, and what it meant, if it meant anything at all.

But he held my hand in front of the pack. That had to mean something, right? Or was he just helping me with my injury? He wasn’t holding it now, when we were at a romantic dinner, with candles.

Caleb leaned in toward me, palms on his knees. “Terrence had gone to get help, but the next morning, he still wasn’t back. Dad and I got ready to find him. And all of a sudden, there’s this deafening rumble. I was afraid it was an invading army or something, to take advantage of an undefended alpha king.”

“What was it?”

“A pack of motorcycles! And guess who was at the front.”

“No idea. A rogue?”

“Turns out, we were just three miles from the pack we were visiting. When we didn’t get there on time, they thought we’d died or feared we’d turned our backs. But when Terry showed up there, they were so thrilled to see him, they liquored him up and fed him a feast. He needed to sober up before he could take them to where we were.”

We both laughed, and I touched his hand briefly. I pulled it back right away, but I regretted it immediately. I wanted him to hold my hand, the way he had in the training court, since it was the same sequence. But he didn’t.

“Caleb…” I started to say.

A violent knock at the front door interrupted, and a second later it flew open.

Caleb stood in a defensive stance. “Arthur! Intruder!”

Security was by his side immediately, and they raced to the door. I hung back, just behind them, watching, prepared to get someone if they needed backup.

It wasn’t a robber, though.

“Olivia, this isn’t the appropriate way to enter…” Caleb said.

“It’s an emergency, Cay.” Olivia batted her doe eyes at him, then gave me a poisonous stare.

She whispered something to him, and they went together to his office. He didn’t even say goodbye. Why was he choosing her again? Why didn’t he tell her just to leave?

I tiptoed toward his office, trying to hear. If someone saw me, my cover story would be that I was looking for Caleb. Or that I was looking for my room and got lost. Yeah, kind of lame after three months here, but still. The mansion was huge.

My were like a storm growing in strength in all directions, moving wildly.

I stayed for about fifteen minutes before I realized how ridiculous I was being. If Caleb caught me, he might have an actual reason to throw me out. Instead, I went to my room and tried to sleep.

But when I started to drift off, the feeling of his hand in mine came back, haunting me. I tried to listen to hear the door when Olivia left, but I was in and out of sleep.

I might have been asleep for five minutes or five hours, I had no idea. I might have even still been dreaming, but I heard the door open a crack. When I looked up, the door was closed again. Did I imagine it?

I kept waking up from dreams, some about Long Lake Pack, some taking place in the woods with the witch, probably inspired by Caleb’s story. I dreamed of the door to my bedroom opening…and Caleb coming in.

And I realized I wasn’t asleep.

“Caleb? Is everything all right?” I asked groggily.

He said nothing. Was it even Caleb? He answered with his body, climbing into the bed. His skin was more invigorating than the silk sheets beneath us.

“Everything is fine. I wanted to make sure you were okay after today.”

I nodded, but didn’t know if he could see in the dark.

He leaned down to rub my ankle. “The swelling has gone down.”

He swished his hands up slowly over my nightie, from my ankle to my knees to my thighs. He kissed me lightly on the stomach, and then grazed my breasts with his closed mouth, barely touching it, but feeling his breath.

He kissed my neck sweetly, and I wanted him to go further. I touched his soft cheek, feeling the boxy angles of his square jaw, the stubble of his face.

I took his hands in mine, like I wanted, and I felt his body relax. It was like this morning, his body abutting mine, but with him guiding my hands. He placed them underneath my nightgown, nudging down my spaghetti strap.

He angled himself near me. I could feel the hard throb of him next to my body. I angled myself to feel it through his clothes. It felt like it had a magnetic field stopping me, but I wanted to go further. I wanted to feel him again. Even though it gave me an attack that time, it was almost worth it.

But I needed to heal. I couldn’t handle a setback.

The palm of his hand went down without mine, and up my nightgown. With the palm of his hand, he cupped me, and I could feel it dripping onto his hand. It made him rub more rhythmically.

My hips were bounding toward him.

With a rub of my shoulder, he moved slowly away from me, and lay on his side. I could see the shine in his eyes.

“Something wrong?” I worried that I wasn’t enough, that he realized I was disgusting.

“The opposite.”

He stayed next to me until I fell asleep. I dreamed of him almost making love to me. I wondered if even in my dreams, I’d have to wait for my wolf to reemerge to consummate our contract marriage.

The sun filled my room, and I felt a new energy, a new surge of confidence after the night. I slept more deeply than I had since my previous attack.

I was looking forward to seeing Caleb, training alone with him. Even if he didn’t hold my hand, last night was even better.

I walked past the largest training court, thinking about him holding my hand in front of everyone. I thought about sparring with Jordyn, how Mia’s friends complimented my sword.

My sword. Shit.

I had left it there, and the ankle injury eclipsed everything else.

I went into the group training area, hanging my head low. I didn’t want any attention after getting way too much of it the day before.

A few people noticed me, but I stayed by the edges. Thank God the equipment was stored on the sides, and not right in the middle, although I have no idea why it would be there.

“Couldn’t get enough yesterday? I thought you’d take a break.”

“Olivia, hello.”

“Don’t hello me, you bitch.”

“I’m not training, I’m just here for equipment…”

“Let me assist you, you shouldn’t be doing it on your own with your injury…”

I felt myself falling backwards, hitting my head on the weapons rack. I felt myself losing consciousness, when a sharp agony went through my shoulder. It penetrated my muscle, and I looked down, seeing if it had gone straight through to my chest, the pain was so intense.

I fell to the floor, weak, unable to stand. My ankle was a paper cut compared to this hell. Blood pooled all around me.

“Luka!” Caleb parted the crowd and ran toward me, fear and rage mingling on his face. “Medics! Code red!”

He disinfected my wound and wrapped it in gauze, to make sure it was contained immediately before the medics came.

“Caleb…I wasn’t fighting…”

“I know, Luka. I saw the whole thing.” He glared at Olivia, almost snarling at her.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Olivia Riventree?”

“She’s lying! I didn’t do anything!”

Caleb shakes his head, his eyes burning with fury. “Olivia, if you had been honest, I would have considered giving you another chance. But what did I tell you last night, when you had your so-called ‘emergency?’”

“That you knew it wasn’t my fault…”

“No! That if you hurt my mate one more time, you’ll be imprisoned. Guards! Take this prisoner to the dungeon.”

Olivia was screaming as she was dragged away. “You’re doing this for that omega whore? She’ll never be Luna. She won’t ever even be a real part of the pack.”