A/N: Two updates in one weekend! I think I deserve a medal. I will not update until I get at least 12 votes and 5 comments. Cheers!
Chapter 37:
In the two weeks and 10 hours that had past almost nothing had changed. The Monster would not touch at me or really even speak to me. He would escort Cheyenne home from school in the afternoon and then leave, not to come back until the morning. He had not slept here. He had not attempted to do anything to me.
So what was he doing?
He wasn't sleeping well that much was for sure. Every time that he came back in the morning the dark circles under his eyes would be deeper and the scowl on his face would be more pronounced. He would only look at me occasionally and his expression when he did it was hard and unreadable, it almost felt like he was forcing himself to look at me. Kyrie was worried about it and so was Carlos.
But they were just as clueless as me.
None of us had ever heard of a werewolf becoming this...detached when it came to their mate. It was like someone had flipped a switch inside of him from the "obsessively love" position to the "obsessively hate" setting in his little dog brain.
While it was sort of comforting that the feeling was mutual now it bothered me on another level. If he could hurt me so badly when he "loved me" what would he do to me now that he didn't. He was a loose cannon. I didn't know what he was thinking.
It scared the crap out of me.
I didn't sleep much.
Every time I closed my eyes I would have nightmares, the fear of those nightmares kept me staring at the ceiling for hours. Staring at the ceiling for hours made me eventually get up and start compulsively baking. At this point the kitchen was littered with more baked goods than could be eaten. There were five different types of cookies, brownies galore, three cakes, four pies and chocolate covered fruit everywhere. It had gotten to the point that even Red would get to full to eat when she came over. I had effectively become the insomniac stress baker who didn't have the stomach to eat a single thing that I baked. Kyrie had even tried to give me sleeping pills but they only kept me asleep during every one of my worst nightmares so I ended up not taking them.
It was like being stuck in a bakery hell. Not even the constant smell of baked goods could calm my paranoia and eventually it even added to it. I needed these last three days to pass quickly or I was sure that I would be put in the nut house right next door to Chey's bat crazy mother.
I was sitting out on the balcony forcing myself to drink some tea at about 1:00 in the afternoon when I heard the doorbell ring through the apartment from the front door. Kyrie had left just a little bit ago so I figured that he must have forgotten something and I got up to open the door without a second thought.
And I should have given a freaking second thought because as soon as I opened the door I wanted to slam it shut. I wanted to slam it shut and push anything heavy I could possibly could in front of it because the man in the doorframe was not Kyrie. It wasn't Carlos, the Monster or the freaking pizza delivery boy.
I knew this...thing without ever meeting it. I was frightened of it without ever having set eyes on him myself.
It was the Alpha.
The Alpha gazed over my petrified and shocked expression with a sinister smile stretching across his face. His dark brown hair fell down to his chin and his coal black eyes made me feel like I was slowly shrinking into a small puddle of "oh shit" at his feet. He was even scarier in person than he was on all the posters that surrounded the lower sector and all of the television warnings that we were forced to watch during breaks. Alpha Argos Steele was just as tall and imposing as Alfred was, taking up the entire doorway with his massive frame but there was something about him that made Alfred look like a big cuddly teddy bear. His gaze wasn't aloof and disinterested like Alfred's, it was direct, cold and straight up malicious. Where Alfred looked at me like a piece of furniture and Sean looked everywhere but at me, the monster in front of me looked like he was a fox in a hen house. He looked down at me in my moment of shocked silence like he was a Cheshire cat, here to screw up your life and enjoy every minute of it.
"You must be Juniper I presume?" he asked, his voice frighteningly normal. It didn't fit him and it made him even more frightening. There was something absolutely petrifying about normal nowadays. He leaned forward a little, dropping his gaze down to my level. "May I come in little minx?" he asked me his sinister grin widening.
His gaze said it all. There was no question about whether he was going to come into the apartment. The question was whether he was going to have to mow me over to get in.
I reluctantly I stepped to the side cursing myself as he stepped into the apartment like he owned the place. As he walked into the living room I took a deep breath to try to settle myself.
The Alpha was in the apartment with me.
The most powerful and frightening of any monster that I knew was in this 1000 square foot apartment alone with me. There was something off about this and I had to watch myself. I couldn't let the wrong thing slip and I sure as hell couldn't act like I was up to something.
I had done this before.
I just had to hang in there until the Monster showed up at 3:00.
Two hours...oh for Christ's sake.
"It smells like someone likes to bake." The Alpha commented when I finally decided to leave the door and go see where he had decided to place himself in the living room. He was sprawled across the couch like he owned the place, still smiling at me with that teasing smile and looking at me with those hate filled eyes. "I can hardly smell anything other than derby pie and cookies in here. Would you mind if I stole a sample before I leave little minx?" he asked. He was playing with me. He was enjoying the fearful pound of my heart and the way that the little hairs stood up on the back of my neck under his gaze. I swallowed hard and squared my shoulders, refusing to show any more fear.
"Why are you here?" I asked, deciding to be direct. The monster sitting on the couch looked up at me with a hint of amusement in his black eyes.
"Ah...I was wondering when you would decide to speak. Not the best words for a first impression I might add." He commented, leaning back in his seat. "Maybe you should try again. You might think of throwing a few honorifics in there; I like to be buttered up you see." He prattled, deliberately avoiding my question. It angered me.
And I had a tendency to do stupid things when I was angry.
"Why are you here, your majesty?" I asked again, mentally cursing my damn pride with his eyes flashed hot with anger before cooling back down into cold humor.
"Not quite what I was expecting but I think I quite like it. Has a certain ring to it don't you think?" he asked. He looked at my unmoving face and sighed heavily.
"You are not going to let me have any fun are you?" he asked, eyeing me with slight distaste. "Such a pity...I was hoping you would be fun to play with. The whole bravery thing is refreshing though. It's been a long time since someone has spoken back to me."
I just continued to stare at him, hardly even letting myself blink. He sighed again and looked at his fingers in apparent boredom.
"I'll restrain myself from killing you though since it would surely break my little cousin's heart if I did. How the mating bond can make you love such people I have no idea." He finally said, sitting up and seeming to decide to cut to the chase.
But something struck me about his last statement.
"Your cousin?" I asked.
If it was even possible his sinister grin widened at my statement, obviously enjoying that he had hit a nerve.
"Yes little minx, Sean is mother's brother's son, practically like a younger brother to me." he informed me, enjoying my paling face. "So...you can see how seeing my little brother in such a state over his mate would...worry me."
I had to force myself not to swallow in fear.
"I don't know what you are referring to." I muttered, hating how my voice tried to shake in front of him. The monster growled lowly, keeping that leering grin plastered on his face.
"Do not play dumb with me, doll." He crooned at me, his eyes locking onto my face like a predator locks his eyes on prey. "My cousin has always been a hard worker...but lately he has been working obsessively." The alpha drawled, standing up from his place on the couch and taking a step toward me. "He doesn't sleep...he doesn't go home. He has been snapping at people and while Sean has always had a short fuse...he's never almost killed someone because of words." He dictated, keeping his eyes on me to gauge my reaction. "If he keeps...slipping like this he is going to become sloppy. He's going to become a risk and I cannot put up with a risk, so I need to know. What did you do to him?" he asked again, taking another step closer.
"I don't know." I stated before he could ask again.
"You don't know what?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "You don't know what you did to him? You don't know what is wrong with him?"
"I don't know what is wrong with him." I clarified, not taking a step back even though he took yet another toward me. He didn't say anything for a moment, just looked me over like I was some sort of rodent.
"You broke him...that is what is wrong with him." He commented, taking yet another step until he was less than a foot away from me. "What did you do to my cousin little minx?" he asked again, his voice wrapping around the name he called me like a smothering blanket.
"I don't know-"I started to respond when suddenly I was back handed into the wall behind me. Pain gripped my entire face so hard that I couldn't make my eyes open before he was on me again, lifting me up by the throat and slamming me against the bookshelf on the wall, making the books and pictures rattle.
"Don't play dumb with me little minx. I may have a sweet face but my temper has been incredibly short as of late. So answer me now human, what did you do to Sean?" he growled in my face, his grip tightening slightly in warning. My heart was rattling in my chest like a staccato siren.
"I...don't...know." I gasped only to be hit again on the same side of my face harder than the last time. Black dots splashed behind my eyes and my sense of equilibrium swirled.
"You are going to tell me the truth you crafty witch or so help me I'll...." His voice faded suddenly and his grip loosened on my throat. I braced myself for another blow but none came. "Who is this?" he asked. I opened my eyes and tried to make myself focus on him. His voice sounded shocked, stunned and a little vulnerable as he asked the question.
"W-what?" I stammered completely taken aback by his change in demeanor and tone. He reached forward suddenly and I couldn't stop myself from flinching again as he reached past my face to grab a picture frame off the shelf behind me.
"Who is this in this picture?" he asked again, shoving the picture in my face.
"My cousin, sister and me." I replied, looking at the photograph of my sister's sixth birthday party in confusion.
"Who is this girl? This girl right here." He asked me again, pointing desperately at the photograph. I looked then at the expression on his face and paled. No longer did he have the demented creepy grin on his face...it had been replaced with something much more frightening than ever imaginable. The expression was familiar and it made all the blood drain from my face and a sickening feeling build up in my chest.
His face was worried, excited, possessive and crippled with that disgusting expression that the Monster had worn the first time that he had ever looked at me in the eye.
Love.
"M-my cousin....S-sarah." I stammered, absolute dread filling my veins. Terror gripping my frame.
" Where is she?" he demanded. "Where?" he shouted at my silence, slamming his hand into the wall behind my head.
"T-they moved to N-Nevada seven y-years ago." I stammered.
"You're lying. I went to the Western pack and didn't find her." He barked at me, anger and pain filling his face as he shoved me harder against the wall, baring his canines in my face.
"Did you look in the lower sector?" I snapped back, trying to get my heart to stop beating so fast in fear of his hands and his teeth.
The monster Alpha paled and he let go of me gently...stepping back.
"No...I never looked at the humans." He mumbled. "I never thought that she might be...what is her last name? Is it the same as yours?" he changed tones, going back to being demanding.
"Desmis. Her n-name is Sarah Desmis." I stammered, shaking all over now.
"Sarah Desmis." He repeated before getting a sickeningly sweet expression on his face that was creepy and deranged to my eyes. "Sarah Steele."
He added his last name to hers with a possessive growl.
"I have to go. I have to get to Nevada...I need her. I need the mate....now!" he growled, moving away from me and practically running back toward the front door. I thought he would burst right through it but he didn't, he stopped for the briefest of moments and glanced back at me with an eerie smile on his face.
"Thank you cousin. You don't know how much you have helped me." he told me with a loving protective look in his eyes. "I owe you."
And then he left.
I slid down the wall, my legs giving way for the first time in weeks in pure terror.
Because I hadn't helped him.
I hadn't helped him in the least.
Because the girl in the picture that he pointed to wasn't my cousin. The eyes that had made the Alpha change from threatening to desperate and needy in seconds did not belong to Sarah Desmis.
It wasn't my cousin that was the human mate of the Alpha.
It was my sister.