Chapter 36

Luka

I tried to tell him, but he wasn’t listening. No, I don’t want to be with Declan, I kept trying to say.

“Every time I’m near Declan,” I started to say, and he cut me off. Every time I felt the mate bond with Declan, it was a full-body wave of disgust.

I shuddered when I said Declan’s name. And Caleb shuddered every time I spoke. It made me wish my wolf were awake so I could sever the bond immediately.

No torture could come close to the torture I had now, of having the mate bond with the man I hated most, and being unable to end it.

Before he started the firing squad of questions about me and Declan, I was going to tell him that I had been thinking the entire time about how much I wanted to be with him officially.

“I love it here. I don’t want to leave. I’m so happy here,” I told him, never meaning anything more in my life.

It seemed for a moment he understood. I swear I got the impression for a split second that he felt the same, that he’d tell me he wanted to keep me here forever.

But it was just my imagination. “All right, then,” he said. “I accept your word that you’d like to stay. But I expect you to prove that you want to be here.”

I had reached out for his hand, but nothing was there. He had gone.

I tried running after him, but he was too fast for me. His words echoed in my mind.

How was I supposed to prove I wanted to be here? It was an impossible task. He just had to believe me.

The next few days, I spent time walking to give me time to think. I also joined the pack training, but I felt more alone than I had since I came to Red Moon Pack.

“How are things going? It must be nice with Caleb back,” Jordyn said insinuatingly.

“Yeah. They’re good.”

Jordyn searched my face, looking for more, and I looked down so they wouldn’t be able to see the sadness coursing through me.

“I’ve been hearing that others have caught your eye, too…” Jordyn suggested.

“Where did you hear that?” I answered, more angrily than I intended.

“Oh, just, you hear random pieces of conversation.”

We practiced in silence, but it felt like even the bonds of friendship were weakening. Everything was falling apart.

We finished one half-hearted bout, a simple block-and-parry exercise, and I exited the training facilities.

I started walking home, thinking maybe I’d see Caleb, and we could talk. I didn’t know how long his anger would last, although all I wanted to do was hold him, have him tell me it would all be okay.

I was lost in my own head, looking down at the ground and not watching where I was going, when something came out of the shadows, looming over me.

Before I could even see who it was, I was engulfed in greedy hands, holding my head and neck as he kissed me forcefully.

Luka? I thought to myself optimistically, before the vile reality sunk in.

This was not someone here to rescue me, and it was not Luka.

His tongue went into my mouth violently, painfully, and he pressed himself against me, knocking me into a brick wall at the edge of the courtyard next to the training facility.

The swampy musk emanating from him gave him away.

“Declan, get off—” I began to scream, and he clamped an angry palm over my mouth to silence me.

I pushed against him, somehow mustering up the strength to get him off of me. I used my leverage to slap him so hard across the face that he actually stood stunned, rubbing the angry welt I had left.

I turned to run, and he grabbed me by the hair.

“You are not going anywhere. You’re mine, you little whore. No one can save you.”

“That’s not true…”

I punched him in the chest, and he doubled over, clutching his middle. I ran as hard as I could without looking back, not wanting to know how close he was behind me. I ran to the manor house.

Myrna nodded at me when I entered, but she didn’t hold open the door or greet me.

“Is Caleb…?” I asked the housekeeper.

“He’s not to be disturbed for any reason.”

“Do you know when he…?” I asked.

“No.”

Somehow, it was like as soon as he determined someone persona non grata, everyone in his orbit got the memo.

I holed up in my room the next few days, waiting for Caleb to come see me, waiting for him to realize he had made a grievous mistake by thinking I wanted anything except for him. I had a store of food remaining in my bedroom, from the time when I needed to recover from starvation. It was replenished regularly.

Caleb’s proximity was the only thing helping me get through the bombardment of memories of the assault from Declan. No one was around us, thank God, but I felt dirty every time I was thrust back into that courtyard, feeling his barbed tongue suffocating me.

I listened by the door for Caleb’s footsteps, but they never came, not even in passing. On the third day, after showering and dressing in mid-day, I noticed a letter had been slipped under the doorway.

I knew the letters on the envelope spelled my name, but nothing else beyond that, not even who it was from. I needed help, and there was no way I could ask Mia.

Jordyn.

I tucked the letter into my large skirt-pocket and ran as quickly as I could to Jordyn’s apartment complex on the other end of the village, past the training grounds and shops, near the edge of the woods.

I pushed in the door so quickly that the buzzer barely made a sound, then ran up the stairs. Jordyn awaited me at their door as I stood disheveled and out of breath.

“Well, hello there, Luka.” Jordyn smiled, opening the door wider.

I swallowed. “Hi…Jordyn…Can I come in?”

They ushered me onto the sofa and brought me a cold glass of water, which I swallowed down in two gulps.

“Don’t choke, Luka. What’s happening?”

I answered by handing her the letter. Jordyn understood right away. They unfolded the envelope and started reading it, their face turning more serious with each word they read.

“Don’t just read it. What does it say, Jordyn?”

They pursed their lips and took a deep breath.

“Luka,” Jordyn began reading in a detached voice.

“God, not even ‘Dear Luka?’” I said.

“I know things are not going the way I had hoped, and I imagine they’re not going the way you had hoped, either. Things are not working out with us. It is time you and I met to discuss where we go from here, since our arrangement is not unfolding for either of us as it should be. Meet me at the Red Moon Elders Clubhouse, in the Crescent Suite, to discuss the future of our entanglement.

Regards,

The Alpha King”

Tears flowed down my cheeks instantly.

“Oh, Luka.” Jordyn wrapped me in their arms while I heaved sobs.

“What do I do?” I asked them.

“You go over to the clubhouse, Luka.”

“Walk with me?” I asked pathetically.

Jordyn held my hand. “Of course.”

We walked to the club, by the lake, at a pace just short of running. I could barely breathe from crying.

“Do you want me to go in with you, Luka?” Jordyn asked.

I shook my head. “I can face him alone. Thank you, though.”

I hugged my friend goodbye, and I entered the clubhouse, with dark oak paneling and velvet carpets. It was such a formal environment, I couldn’t imagine anything good happening here with me and Caleb.

“I’m expected…” I told the attendant at the front desk.

“Yes. Ms. Shaw,” the guard said, and took me to the room. “They’ve been waiting for you.”

“They?”

The attendant looked at me strangely, then led me to a room labeled as the Crescent Suite. I hungered to see Caleb’s face.

“Hello, Luka.”

“Declan? What are you doing here? And why is Olivia…?”

The door slammed behind me, and I was alone with the two people I hated most.