The male cursed, hands covering their eyes.
"What is it with people coming in my damn room?" I shrieked.
"I thought you'd be dressed!" Caleb shrieked.
"Well, no! I showered, therefore I am naked!" I spat, grabbing some clothes.
"Sorry! Shit!" He cursed. "Don't tell Alpha, he will gut me!"
I quickly dressed in my underwear and pulled a dress over my head. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be out on the secret mission, too?"
"I'm not allowed." He mumbled, peeking through his fingers.
"You can look." I rolled my eyes, and he dropped his hands. "Why?"
"Eliza..."
"Eliza..." I cocked my head.
"Well... she..."
"Spit it out, man!"
"She's pregnant." He blurted, and my eyes widened.
"With a baby?"
"Yes, with a baby." He scoffed. "What else?"
I narrowed my eyes at his scoff. "Well, congratulations?"
"Thank you." He huffed.
We eyed each other before a smirk broke out on his face and I laughed softly. Tension officially broken.
"That's great news. How far along is she?"
"Eight weeks." He mused. "It may be why you have not seen her much. She gets terrible sickness when she wakes."
"Oh, bless her." I sighed sadly. "You've been together a long time, right?"
"Five years." He nodded. "I caught her on a hunt."
"How romantic." I grimaced.
"Eliza took it very well." He laughed. "She was raised in a district."
My lips pursed, and I nodded. "I suppose that would help. Was this a spontaneous pregnancy?"
He laughed at my bluntness. "She has been on birth control her entire life. She came off it about four months ago."
My eyes widened. "Wow, that's surprisingly quick to fall pregnant."
He shrugged, a lazy smirk on his face. "Wolves have a high reproductive count. It was only a matter of weeks."
My nerves suddenly grew as I counted the amount of times Asra finished inside me. Let's not forget whatever the fuck he did last night when I was falling asleep.
I eyed the male before me. Our relationship wasn't very personal, so I wasn't sure I felt comfortable, but Caleb seemed easy going enough...
"Caleb, can I ask you a... personal question?"
Caleb's shoulders stiffened. "What's the topic?"
My eyes cast to the ground as I distracted myself by pulling on some shoes.
"Uh... sexual?"
His nose crinkled. "Will it get me into trouble?"
"No, no..." I shook my head, nervously chewing my cheek. "I don't know who else would answer me without it being awkward."
"I am easy to talk to." He nodded.
I gave him a strange look at which he laughed at.
"What's the question?"
"After a bond has been complete, Asra says that instincts can run rather... wild." I dropped my eyes. "He was very possessive last night, and he half-shifted when we... you know, and then he wouldn't let me go. I don't know if it's... normal?"
Caleb was mature, his face deep in thought. "Sounds like a post-marking bonding to me. Thefull moon wouldn't have helped."
"What's that?"
"If you were both wolves, you would let your instinct take over." He suggested, and my nose wrinkled. "You, being human, caused him to hold back his wolf. He still wanted to dominate, so him not letting you go was just a way of making sure you-
I flushed, colouring coating my cheeks. "Don't you dare go any further."
"I was going to say smell like him." He smirked.
"No, you were not." I glared.
"Okay, I was going to say the male does it to complete the mating. Sort of like making sure it all stay-
"Okay! Thank you, Caleb!" I shouted, cutting him off.
He laughed, ignoring my weak attempt at pushing him out of the bedroom. "What did I do?"
This was too awkward for me. I should've kept my curious thoughts to myself.
"Thanks for the embarrassment! Bye!"
"Wait, no-Luna-
I paused when I recognised his demeanour change. "What?"
He grimaced. "I came to get you."
"What for?" I sighed.
"You have a phone call."
I gasped. "You made them wait all this time?"
"Well, I couldn't exactly mind-link you-
"Caleb!" I scolded him. "It has been like ten minutes for them to be on hold."
He grinned. "Better go answer it?"
I groaned, pushing my way past him to go downstairs. I can't believe the morning I was having! My grumpiness returned.
"Where am I going?" I huffed, stepping out of the elevator. "I'm meant to be at work."
Caleb had the audacity to roll his eyes. "Alpha's office."
I mimicked him sarcastically and hurried my way to Asra's study. There was nobody in here, and I unlocked the heavy door with ease before rushing to the phone. It lay it on its side, and an annoying ass tune played through the speaker. Eying the keypad, I faltered when I didn't know what to press. Thankfully, Caleb was behind me and showed me which one it was.
I smiled. "Who did you say it was?"
"Your brother." He shrugged before he pressed the button.
I paused, grimacing. I didn't have a brother.
The phone hummed. "Ailia..."
You know that feeling when you are about to slip on ice? That sudden heart-jerking stomach falls out of your ass feeling?
I had that now, only, instead of falling on my ass, I felt my heart stutter and fail to pick back up its pace.
"Ailia, I know you are there."
His voice sent a shiver down my spine, and my hands shook. I was faintly aware of Caleb beside me, leaning over the chair I sat in. His mouth moved, but I couldn't respond, too focused on the sound of breathy laughter on the other line.
"You think you'd get away?" He jeered. "I know exactly where you are, you filthy whore."
I swallowed. "Darius..."
"Oh, so you remember me?" He spat. "I have to admit, it wasn't easy to find you at first. But then I heard from a little birdy that you were whoring yourself to a pack of wolves. I have my contacts. Remember that, darling."
"What do you want?" My voice was a whisper.
"You know what I want." His voice was deadly. "I won't stop until I have it. This is a warning, Ailia. I expect you to understand I don't like my little whore escaping. Faking your death..."
"What do you mean?"
I could feel my pulse in my throat, and only registered I wasn't breathing when Caleb's hand settled on my shoulder. My eyes were wide as they stared at him, and just as he went to take the phone away from me, my ex-fiancé chuckled darkly.
"You, Ailia. I want you."
The line disconnected, and I felt my entire world shift. Fear gripped at me until I started hyperventilating, my body sliding from the chair to hide under the desk. Mutters of horror escaped my lips, my hands gripping my hair as my body gave into the panic.
How did he get this number?
How did he follow us?
Why did he want me? He treated me like crap. I had nothing left to give him.
"Ailia..."
"No!" I gasped, kicking out from beneath the desk.
"Who was that man on the phone, Ailia?"
Tears were pooling from my eyes and I lifted my head to peer at Caleb from over my arms. He was crouched, one hand on the arm of the chair as he peered down at me. His face was etched with concern, but I didn't have it in me to seek for his affection.
I barely knew the guy.
"A bad man." I whispered.
"Are you going to come out?"
I swallowed, shaking my head. "I'd like to be alone for a moment."
"I don't really want to leave you..."
"Please." I whispered, staring at the carpet between my knees.
I have handled many panic attacks in my lifetime, and being alone was usually the best way for me to deal with it. I always felt too judged in the presence of others.
He paused and eventually sighed. "I will be outside."
I nodded and listened to the sound of his footsteps retreat from the room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, I gave into the emotions. My chest heaved as panic took over, spots covering my vision as I fought to breathe.
I thought I was safe. I thought he was out of my life. He thought I was dead. He saw me get taken by the wolves. How did he know I was alive?
Who was his birdy?
Why contact me now when I was alone? Did he know Asra wasn't here? Was the emergency something to do with Darius?
I shook my head, ridding the horrible thoughts from my mind as best I could. My eyes slipped closed, and I lost track of the minutes I spent under the desk as I disassociated from my surroundings.
I didn't want to move, didn't want to face the world outside of the comforting dark desk.
My heart felt heavy, my lungs aching. Something was stirring within me and the deepest longing I ever experienced filled my blood stream.
I wanted Asra.
I needed him.
More tears streamed from my eyes as the haunting images of what Darius did to me replayed like a movie.
A knife in my shoulder.
A glass shattered on my back.
A chopping board across my head.
A chair smashed into my hips.
Hands that wandered.
Hands that took.
Hands that shared and gave me no room for arguments.
Hands that I feared would come back to haunt me.
I had no power, no control.
I was afraid, and weak under his gaze.
He was strong, so strong he could pin me down.
So strong he could think of excuses for the pain.
So strong he could lie his way to the town about my disappearance.
He was smart, always planning. Always covering his tracks.
Nobody listened to me. I was just a bimbo; a poor, docile housewife. Darius was the son of a head family; their future leader. They all worshiped the ground he stepped on.
So why me?
Why did he have to pick me?
It made little sense.
None of this made sense.
Why didn't I fight?
Why didn't I stand up for myself?
Why did I let him win?
Because he was stronger and I was scared.
He made it up to me; he brought me flowers some days, let me drink my favourite drinks. Bought me pretty dresses, gave me a house to live in, provided me coins for food and homeware. What was his was mine.
He told me many times he was sorry.
It wasn't him; it was the drink.
He didn't mean it; he just lost his way that night.
He was sorry. He didn't mean to get me. The poker game just didn't work out in his favour.
Drunken words spoke sober thoughts.
It leaked like bleach on a dark fabric, warping its way where it shouldn't have been and impossible to remove. Taking over the daytime, forcing me to do his bidding, to bend to his will. To let him take what was his whenever he wanted because that was my job. Even though he went to the 'secret' brothel most evenings, I still had to submit to his will.
Isolation.
Pain.
Rape.
None of it mattered to him. After all, I was his. But he was not mine. He never would've been.
Why can't I see that?
My mind shifted, thoughts altering until brown eyes stared back at me.
I inhaled sharply, lifting my head from my hands to stare at the dark wood of the desk.
Darius was not mine, and I was never his.
Despite the hold he had on my mind, I always locked my heart out of reach.
Life took the only person I ever loved from me, and after that happened, I lost the key to my heart.
But I had something now, something that made that rusty old lock snap under pressure. Something that wormed its way through the cracks and made itself at home. Like a virus, it spread across my entire being without me realising.
A teasing smirk, a deep chuckle as he realised he won.
He won my heart.
My heart may be mine, but somebody else had taken claim and I let them, so willingly.
Because I was mine, but I was also theirs. And Asra, well, he was mine too. There was nothing Darius could say to me now, to make me believe otherwise.
And so help me, when he gets back I am going to bite his fucking ass.