Chapter 34

Luka

“At least this means Caleb will be coming home sooner, right?” I asked Mia the day after seeing Declan and Olivia. It was my ham-handed attempt to find out how the phone call went.

“No.” Mia was usually gregarious, but not this morning.

After a week of doing riding and pool workouts, we went back to martial arts, which was a welcome outlet to vent our frustration.

It was fun to imagine the punching bags as Olivia on one side and Declan on the other.

“Take that!” Mia yelled, kicking the heavy bag so hard it careened like a plywood rope swing.

“And that!” I yelled after her, kicking it the opposite way.

I should have made sure my injuries were all healed before kicking the weight bag, not after, but it confirmed to me that yes, indeed, I was out of recovery and now back to strengthening.

“You’re making progress, I can tell,” Mia said. She had bought me a few gifts each time she saw an improvement, although with her it doesn’t take much to inspire her to go shopping.

She got me a set of water colors and pencils that she saw at the art store.

“Thank you, Mia. You make all of this so much better.”

“You, too, Luka. Really.”

She could tell I was surprised.

“I have a lot of friends,” she explained. “But I don’t have that many people I can really talk to like I can with you.”

I gave her a hug. “I’ll have to paint a picture of you, Mia.”

“That’ll be so nice.”

“I just have to learn how to paint people first.” She patted me on the shoulder laughing. I thought to myself, automatically, that I should paint Caleb first, and then I chastised myself for forgetting that I’m still angry with him.

We ended around lunchtime, and I had a solo picnic in the garden near the training grounds. I drew a pencil drawing first, studying the scene, getting a feel for the shapes and shadows of the landscape. I began imagining how I’d mix the colors in the palette to get the exact hues I saw.

I narrowed my eyes, shutting out the entire world. People around me were walking, but I was in the zone.

My heavy drawing paper is ripped from my hands, and I follow with my eyes to see what asshole would do that.

“Hello, Luka. You’re looking well.” Declan smiled like a vampire in the sunlight.

“Give me back my drawing.” I stood and grabbed at it, but he held it up high, away from me.

“You can’t take a moment out to catch up with an old friend?” He held it up higher, grinning like the devil.

“There are a lot of things I could call you, but a friend is not one of them. Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be locked up?”

“Mind if I sit?” He made himself at home without waiting for an answer.

“Yes. I mind.”

He shrugged. “The Elder Council determined that I had been wrongly imprisoned. The alpha king had overstepped his authority.”

“Enforcing the law is overstepping his authority?”

“According to the Elders Council, that seems to be the case. Maybe your boyfriend had something to do with it, too.”

I narrowed my eyes and my nostrils flared. “What do you mean?”

“Have you ever thought that he knows we have a stronger bond, and he wants to save face? Why isn’t he here? That’s some coincidence.”

“It’s not a coincidence. The Elder Council let you out because he was gone. I left Long Lake Pack for a reason, and if we didn’t have a vestigial mate bond, I’d do everything in my power never to see you again.”

He reached out and touched my face, and I flinched. I hated the electrical pulse that went through me when he touched me, and I hated him for preventing me from breaking our bond. I didn’t know exactly how or why, but I did know that my wolf’s departure was his doing.

“You look beautiful, Luka. I always knew you were pretty, but you’ve really come into yourself.” He looked me up and down like a dog eying a steak. “Did you wear that dress just for me? Don’t lie.”

I finally got the drawing paper out of his hands and collected the rest of my supplies in my arms. “I’m leaving now.”

I began to walk away, when I heard Declan say, “Wait!”

I shouldn’t have listened, but I stopped against my better judgment. “What is it?”

He dropped to his knees, and I was afraid he was going to propose. “I want to apologize. I made mistakes. I shouldn’t have let you go. I’ve changed, and I’m willing to prove it. I want to join the pack, and I want to win your heart.”

I rolled my eyes. “I find that hard to believe. But my mind isn’t going to change, Declan. You tortured me for my entire life.”

“But the mate bond is stronger. You know that.”

“No. I don’t.”

I walked away from him, furious that he interrupted my time to myself. Why couldn’t the mate bond have broken? Why did he have to be released? Why did Caleb have to be gone?

I kept Declan’s harassment to myself. I didn’t want to make Mia think for a second that I paid him any mind, or that he was anything except a chain around my neck that I was dying to break free from.

My mind was someplace else the next day at training.

“You’re missing Caleb, huh?” Mia asked.

“Yeah.” But I was actually preoccupied thinking about ways to avoid seeing Declan. I would go the long way in the back of the manor when I went to town, and I would go around the lake to the training grounds, not the central green.

I took my drawing pencils after training to try to sketch the mansion, in the back of the house.

“Luka…”

I almost screamed. I went this way intentionally to avoid seeing Declan, and somehow this is exactly where he came?

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

“You know that the mate bond is too strong for that. I can detect your scent like a shark with blood, Luka.”

“I don’t know. Calling you a shark is a little offensive. To the sharks.”

“I love our banter,” Declan remarked. “Such a flirt.”

“Ugh, God.”

“I came to find you because I got something for you. I know you like art…”

He revealed a box he had kept behind a tree, wrapped in paper with a star pattern.

“Declan…” I started walking away with a huff.

“Luka, look, if you hate it throw it away. But open it.”

“Fine.”

I was sure it would be something horrible. I opened it, and it was a wooden frame of some kind.

“Okay…”

“It’s an easel. For your drawings.”

I took it with me, although I was tempted to smash it right there. I could donate it to someone. Or maybe I could celebrate Caleb’s return by burning it in a bonfire when the time came. But for whatever reason, I took it.

“Goodbye, Declan. Don’t bother me again.”

Predictably, he didn’t listen. The next day, on my way to the training grounds, Declan blocked my way.

“I’m not moving, Luka. And I’m not going to stop trying. You’re mine, and soon you’ll realize that. The alpha king still hasn’t come back, and people are saying it’s because he doesn’t want to deal with you.”

I shoved him out of the way and ran back to the manor, locking myself in my room. I sent Luka a message on the phone.

“I think I need to take a break from training for a little while. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to resume again.”

Mia didn’t need to know the reason why.