“He is right, ma’am,” the man told her quietly, and Jed’s eyes narrowed in to mere slits.
“Well, he can mark me now,” Leana said hotly sweeping back her hair and pressing herself closer to Caden who looked down at her with surprised black eyes.
“That’s not how it works,” another voice said, and they all turned in surprise as an older gentleman stepped through the door.
“Sir,” Jed said bowing slightly. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
The other council member bowed his head as he said, “Sir, welcome.”
The man looked at each of them with eyes almost white that Leana literally gasped stepping back and tripping on the stair falling on her ass.
The man turned at the noise and Caden stepped forward bowing his own head. “It is a pleasure, sir, although we have never been formally introduced.”
The man laughed as he stretched out a hand and Caden took it with ease. “I have wanted to meet you for some time, Alpha Caden, but I hear that you are going on a vacation.”
“Yes, sir,” Caden said as he let go of the man’s hand and the man nodded his head.
“Of course,” the man muttered a smile playing around his mouth and Caden wondered why he looked so smug. “When you return, we shall have a talk.”
“Of course, sir,” Caden said nodding his head.
The man chuckled as he turned slightly, and said, “Jed, do you think you can lead me to the bathroom. It has been a long journey and it’s not over yet, but I don’t think I can hold it any longer.”
Caden had to smile as did a few others at the man’s words as Jed directed him to the bathroom.
“Who is that man?” Leana asked pulling herself to her feet.
“One of the oldest living werewolves,” Caden told her.
“But he looks…and his eyes are…” Leana stuttered out.
“He was blinded almost thirty years ago when another werewolf poisoned him,” someone said quietly. “Although they had hoped his shifting would reverse the effects, he didn’t shift as soon as he should’ve because at the time he was protecting someone precious to him so he sacrificed his eyesight for that individual.”
There was silence after his words but Caden swore he heard Leana mumbled under her breath, “What a waste.”
Caden felt his heart clench at her words and his wolf literally went still as if frozen but neither did anything as Jed and their visitor returned.
“Well, I will take my leave,” the man said turning his head in Caden’s direction. “I know it is merely a stopover but there is somewhere I need to be at the moment so I hope you forgive my rudeness.”
“Not at all, sir,” Caden told him. “In fact, if you don’t mind, I will walk you out.”
“Thank you,” the man said as Caden stepped forward allowing the man to grab his arm although Caden was sure that the man didn’t need his aid.
“Very perceptive of you,” the man murmured as they walked outside and Caden only smiled.
“Also Alpha Caden,” he said before he got in to his car, “when you return you must mark your chosen mate before the first full moon.”
“Why, sir?” Caden asked confusion evident in his tone, but the man evaded the question as he turned slightly.
“Jed, remember what I said,” he told him in a confident voice.
“Yes, sir,” Jed said although his voice lacked the conviction and confidence like his elder’s, and the man laughed again before he climbed in the car.
“That man is weird even for a werewolf,” a pack member uttered as they watched the car drive away.
“You have no idea,” Jed said aloud before he turned meeting Caden’s black eyes with hooded silver eyes before he went back inside.
“What is his problem?” Jenna mumbled scanning the yard with a frown. “Has anyone seen Briac?”
Caden watched pack members shake their head as they headed back inside or to the backyard, and he stopped himself from smiling when she turned to look at him.
As Leana walked over to her, he noted the similarities between the two although they didn’t look anything alike.
No wonder we hooked on to her, his wolf told him in a huff.
Caden didn’t respond as Leana and Jenna each grabbed an arm smiling at him. “I hope that you are not leaving yet, Caden,” Leana said with a downward sweep of her lashes.
“We made you a meal,” Jenna added giving Leana a hooded look before turning back to Caden.
“I guess I can eat something before I leave,” he told them with a polite smile his eyes blank.
Jed observed them as they walked in how Leana and Jenna clung to Caden, and the smiles he gave them before he snarled and turned away.
“It is for the best, Jed,” a voice said and Jed turned his head to look at the council member who stood off to the side.
“For whose best, Dave?” Jed remarked his body still as Dave smiled and stepped closer.
“Caden agrees with me, Jed, after our little talk,” he told Jed with a smirk. “As for the witch, well, I don’t think we will be seeing her for much longer.”
Jed reacted quickly grabbing the front of his shirt. “What did you do?”
Dave laughed as he pushed Jed away and brushed down the front of his shirt. “I haven’t done anything about the witch, but I heard that some witches have been dying recently. I don’t know if she has been informed or not.”
Jed’s eyes narrowed as Dave smirked at him and walked away before Jed pulled out his cell phone.
“Abella,” he said when she answered. “What is going on?” He asked as he looked up catching Caden’s black eyes on the stairs before he turned away and disappeared from the hallway.
Caden turned as Leana called his name but his face was impassive as she started talking and leading them back downstairs.
Half an hour later, Caden sipping on a drink noticed how bored some of the pack members were and as he walked around the room he heard whispered comments.
“It hasn’t been two days since the ceremony for Sean and Dale,” one member remarked.
“Sean and Dale’s send-off was rubbish compared to this one,” another said angrily, and Caden privately agreed looking around at the decorations that floated around the house.
“I heard even the Alpha didn’t want this,” he heard one member say until she saw him, and her face paled. “Alpha…”
He held up his hand and told them softly, “You are correct as I wanted to slip away after a quick ‘goodbye’ but I ask that you support Timothy and Gregory while I am gone.”
They nodded their heads and Caden glanced around the room viewing Leana and the council member, Dave, as he recently learned standing close together and chatting. “Also,” he continued shifting his eyes back to the group who he was talking with, “keep an eye on Leana.”
At his words, they all looked at him in surprise but he only nodded his head and gave them a hooded look that they responded to with nods.
“Take care and I am coming back,” he told them with a stern look although his mouth went up at the corners.
“Yes sir,” they all said with a sharp nod before Caden walked away his eyes scanning the rest of the members and he knew from the stares they were giving him, the group he just talked to already spread the word.
He nodded his head and walked out of the living room as Jed said from the shadows, “Are you going to say goodbye to Abella?”
Caden’s eyes flared with heat before he said sharply, “Why should I?”
“I have to agree, Jed,” Dave said coming up behind Caden patting him on the back. “Why should he tell that woman he is leaving? The only woman that needs to know is his mate and she has already given him a going away gift from what I understand.”
Caden turned away from both men as his mouth turned up with smile thinking about Leana’s going away gift. With a wave over his shoulder, he grabbed the satchel that Jenna had pulled from him as they came back in the house. He checked the bag making sure that nothing ha
d been removed or taken out, and he nodded his head as he saw the book along with a few other things before he zipped it back up.
“I’m leaving now,” he told them quietly. “Jed, tell Timothy and the others I will see them when I return.”
“Contact them through the pack link,” Jed suggested his voice hard.
Caden chuckled without humor as he told them, “Right now, they are mad at me even though I am their Alpha.”
“Don’t worry, Alpha, once you return and mark your mate they will understand,” Dave told him.
Caden turned to him with a hard look before he walked away giving Jed another hooded glance before he walked out of the house and before he left the porch, he shifted to his wolf and disappeared in the woods around them.
Dave smirked as he watched him leave before turning to Jed. “When he returns, Caden will mark Leana as she is his mate, and then we shall see.”
Jed wondered at his words as Dave walked back in the house.
“There is something off about him,” someone murmured quietly, and Jed turned to see Timothy and the others minus Natalee standing off in the shadow of the porch.
“We wanted to see Caden off even if we didn’t speak with him,” Jessa told Jed as they walked closer.
Jed nodded his head before he asked, “Why don’t you trust Dave?”
Gregory and Timothy looked at each other before looking over at Briac and their mates until Asilynn said, “Because we think he was the one who started the rumor about how a witch destroyed the first pack.”
“But if that is true, what is the purpose?” Jed asked his brow wrinkled in thought.
“That’s what we need to find out,” Briac said with narrowed eyes. “We also should keep an eye on Leana at the same time.”
“Huh?” Jessa and Asilynn turned to Briac in confusion as a few pack members came out of the house.
“Alpha Caden already told us to do that,” one member said getting their attention.
“What does Caden suspect?” Gregory asked in a soft voice as everyone looked at each other before they all turned their attention to Jed who stood there deep in thought.
Chapter 44
Natalee sat on the couch staring at the TV although she wasn’t paying attention to what was on the screen. She was worrying about Abella who disappeared in her room soon after they arrived back to the house after she picked her up at the restaurant.
“I wonder who called her earlier,” she murmured to herself as her cell rung. She lifted it up to view the caller id and she stilled at Briac’s name. She bit her lip before she dropped the phone back on the sofa next to her and sighed as her wolf growled at her.
He betrayed you, she said bitingly.
Did he really Natalee responded back as her wolf went silent.
What if he does it again, her wolf moaned in a harsh voice.
That’s why we make sure he has fully rejected Jenna first, and besides, I’m not letting him back in that easily, Natalee told her thinking about what happened before and a hand went automatically to her leg rubbing it before she blinked as Abella came down the stairs.
“What are you watching?” Abella asked sitting down on the other end of the couch.
“It’s…uh…” Natalee started before she stopped frowning at the TV scene. She gave Abella a sheepish look. “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”
Abella nodded her head before she said, “I guess it can’t be helped, can it?”
Natalee glanced over at her seeing the absent look on her face before she turned to her. “You were rubbing your leg a few minutes ago. Why?”
The blunt question had Natalee’s eyes widening as she stared at Abella noting how stormy her eyes looked and she believed that Abella had something on her mind, but needed something to distract herself at this time.
“I met my first mate almost four years ago,” Natalee began her eyes distant as she stared at Abella. “My family and I were rogues to say the least so when I met him, I was naïve enough to think things would change.”
She shook her head at herself as Abella made her body more comfortable on the couch and faced her.
“At first, he didn’t mind the fact that I was a rogue, or so I thought until I learned that his father had promised to pass down the Alpha position when he find his mate,” Natalee informed her.
Abella frowned at the news but didn’t ask what was on her mind as she said, “Go on.”
Natalee’s voice dropped low as she continued, “So he introduced me to his father who accepted me although he wasn’t thrilled about me being a rogue. We had the marking ceremony that every Alpha must do and after that, everything was okay for a while until his father was killed by a hunter. That’s when things began to change.”
Abella watched as her mouth trembled before she firmed it and continued on with her story. Abella’s grey eyes went almost molten grey when Natalee talked about how her mate started to cheat on her not long after his father’s death. She went on to reveal that her mate used her to get the Alpha position from her father without upsetting the other members, and his father hadn’t liked any of the women he preferred. Once he started cheating, he also started beating her and one day he beat her so bad that he broke her leg in the process. Instead of calling the pack doctor, he made her take care of herself not allowing her to shift so when she finally did shift, it didn’t help and she limped from that day forward. He would constantly harp on her name and how it was lame and no good while going on about her appearance. Most of all he made sure the whole pack knew that her and her family was rogues so her parents and brother were driven away from the pack. For three years she put up with the abuse and torture he inflicted on her until finally one day, he decided that he wanted another as his mate so he tried to kill her. Abella was astounded to hear everything Natalee had to say and when she told Abella that he claimed the other women as his second mate, Abella knew that she didn’t know the truth about Alphas in general.
It made Abella wonder if her first mate knew the truth about Alphas and she frowned as she thought about the implications that may arise because of it.
Finally Natalee had run out of words and tears coursed down her cheeks that Abella leaned forward putting a hand on her arm.
“I think you should go get some rest, Natalee,” Abella advised softly.
Natalee nodded her head and got up from the couch her leg trembling slightly underneath her until she straightened to her full height giving Abella a small smile.
“Goodnight,” Natalee murmured quietly heading for the stairs.
“Hey, Nat,” Abella said, and Natalee turned to her in surprise at the nickname but Abella didn’t look at her. “Does Briac give you the same feeling as your first mate?”
Natalee shook her head automatically as she said softly, “No, he doesn’t. The first time I met Briac, he made me feel safe, safer than I have ever felt my first mate.”
Abella nodded her head as she said quietly, “Goodnight, Nat.”
Natalee nodded her head before she continued on up the stairs and at the door of the guest bedroom she froze at what she said.
She shook her head and mumbled, “You are sly, Abella” knowing that she wouldn’t be sleeping tonight as there would be a lot on her mind this evening.
Downstairs, Abella smiled slightly before she focused on the TV her own mind whirling with the news she had recently been given and she sighed as she wondered when she would finally get a break for once.
She shook her head and picked up the remote turning off the TV as she stretched herself out on the couch and placing a forearm over her head she stared up at the ceiling.
“I wonder if he has left yet,” she said softly her voice loud in the quiet room. Her eyes closed as sleep began to claim her although the nightmares hadn’t completely dissipated even thought a certain someone was able to hold them off but now there was a new one entwined with the old ones. The new one, though, left Abella more angry than scared as an unknown figure ran through her mind tak
ing out witches.
She was up early the next morning planning on going to the library but when she called she learned that she no longer had a job due to being absent for so long. She couldn’t harp about that because it was the truth so her plans changed to looking for a new job while she finished the night classes which according to Ms. Helms would take at least two months although Abella had the suspicion that Ms. Helms was helping her in some way to graduate faster.
She left a note for Natalee who she wasn’t sleeping but she would leave her alone as she had a lot on her mind.
As Abella left the house, her eyes scanned the area around her and she mentally prepared herself because she wasn’t going to get caught a third time no matter whom they were.
She made sure the door was locked behind her and headed for her car as she slipped on her sunshades her eyes scanning the area around her. She slid in her car as her phone rung and she answered shutting the door behind her with a slam.
“Hello,” she said putting the key in the ignition and turning on the car.
“Abella, would you and Natalee like to meet us for lunch around one?” Jessa asked after a brief ‘hello’.
“I have a few things I have to do, but I don’t mind,” Abella told her backing out of the drive. “You can call Natalee and see if she would like to go and if she does, can you pick her up for me? Whatever you decide to go just let me know and I will meet you there.”
“No problem, Abella,” Jessa told her wondering what she had to do, but Abella didn’t say anything else except a quick ‘goodbye’.
Around one clock, Abella walked in the restaurant that Jessa and her frequented when they were doing their project together.
“Over here,” Asilynn called as Abella stopped and scanned the room.
She smiled as she started over sitting down just as the server arrived to take their orders, and Abella ordered what she normally ordered not in the mood to look through the menu for something different.
“So why did you leave early today?” Natalee asked sipping her drink as everyone looked at Abella.
“I was looking for another job,” Abella said without hesitation as she looked around the room. “I was going to go to the library this morning, but I learned that I was replaced after being absent so many days just like with school.”
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