Betrayal's Gift

Chapter Seventeen

Cursing, Wendy started running towards the sound of Johnny snarling. She heard a yelp then silence as she skidded to a stop below them. Julius raised his head, blood dripping from his mouth down his neck.

"You can have your wolf, Wendy. You're the only one with a use for the mutt." he called out, tossing Johnny at her feet. "Until later." he turned and dissolved into mist. Wendy knelt by Johnny looking up when Varagon approached. A voice tickled the back of her mind.

"I'm sorry, me dea."

"You didn't do this. Julius did." she replied mentally. She heard a sad laugh as the voice faded.

"I'm sorry my brother did this." Varagon said quietly. She shrugged off his hand and his sympathy.

"Don't be sorry, just protect my sister." she said curtly standing with Johnny in her arms.

Varagon nodded and took to the air, following the scent of his mate. She should have had more than enough time to be waiting for him. Would she wait for him?

Delilah got up and wandered outside aimlessly. She sat down at the base of one of her favorite trees. The leaves rustled and she looked up and smiled. She seen the large cat stretch out on a limb above her. Loki hadn't been letting her out of his sight recently. Her smile faded as she thought of why she had needed him so much recently.

Varagon.

He'd hurt her badly. Humiliation had always struck her harder than most but coming from him it had been almost crippling. She knew that he needed her. She just knew it. But he didn't trust her or she wasn't strong enough to convince him of it. She honestly didn't know which it was. She had a sinking feeling that the lacking was in her. Delilah knew two things for certain, though.

One, Varagon would come back to her. Two, she'd let him back in. And as she let him back in, her one last bit of self-respect would go with it. She shook her head. What else could she do? She loved him. It wasn't the childish fantasies she'd had or anything like that. This love hurt. She laid her head on her arms and took in a deep breath. But for now she could rest and try to heal before he came back.

Varagon landed on the opposite side of the barrier and looked around. Relief flooded him as he seen her sitting beneath the tree. She always would wait for him. It was her nature and something he loved about her. He loved most of the things about her, so it wasn't a surprise.

He started forward and walked right into the sizzling wall. He cursed, stumbling back. He hadn't expected an actual physical barrier. Her head came up and he seen the silver streaks of tears going down her face. She seen him and hastily wiped them away. That she felt the need to hide hit him harder than chair shots to the head. She stood up and walked towards him, stopping just outside the barrier. He looked in her eyes and the pain he seen reflected there shamed him.

She had waited for him. But at what price?

"Hi, Varagon." she said in a husky voice then cleared the tears from her throat. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I know. I've been..." he blew out a ragged breath meeting her gaze. "I've been an idiot. Especially when it comes to you."

"You hurt me bad." she said quietly, eyes sliding down. "You left me when I needed you a lot." Shame filled him again at the hard truth in her voice, worse because there was no accusation in her tone.

"I know I did. There's no excuse for that." He swallowed down the hard lump in his throat. A slightly panicked feeling began building in his stomach.

"Since you left the first time, I've been attacked, humiliated, and hurt. You had left me. That almost killed me." Varagon bowed his head at her words, each one lashing at him. She wasn't intending to hurt him with these words but that is what she was doing. Because they were true. "You put me through an emotional rollercoaster. Yet through it all one thing hasn't changed."