CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 23
TAMMY.
I stare at his face, trying to see if I would get a favorable disposition.
No dice.
His face is hard and inscrutable, just like the day he had rejected Catherine.
And it hurts. Who would have thought that one day, he would also look at me like that?
Not me for sure.
"That is my phone," I say as I slowly walk to him. "Can I have it back?" I ask, my hand outstretched.
"Of course," he says as he walks deeper into the room. "Just as soon as you answer some questions for me."
"Okay, what questions?"
"Just one. This package of yours, who is she?"
"Wha-what? I don't understand."
'You don't? Here let me read some to jog your memory. Send proof. She is not dead yet. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Payment. How was that? Did that help?"
"Vance, I can explain. I ca-"
THWACK!
The slap sends me flying and crashing into the wall, and both sides of my face instantly begin to swell.
"Let me see if I can get this right," he says as he begins pacing. "You have in your repertoire some contacts gotten from my father's days. Once you realized that Catherine was alive, you contracted
this one to kill her. You went to the edge of the border to deliver his payment as requested. How did I do?"
What? How?
"Hmm. It must be confusing. Someone saw you sneaking off one night and reported you, I guess you don't have as many games as you like to think. Getting your phone was easy, you are very careless with those you consider beneath you."
"Vance, please… I can explain."
"I thought about it," he says, completely ignoring me. "Killing you immediately, that is. But I got a splendid idea. Have you tracked and then followed your contact to wherever he is keeping Catherine. I get her, you die."
The shadow… oh no."
"You look heartbroken. Good. You should be. Here is your phone," he says as he crushes it in his hand and drops the debris on my lap.
"I won't kill you now though, no. I will wait for Catherine to arrive and then you can die as you watch me mated to my true mate."
He turns away and leaves, his departure quickly followed by several men's entrances. They are carrying tough planks and other materials.
In a matter of minutes, every window is barred and sealed, effectively trapping me in here. Têxt belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.
This… this can't be my end.
VANCE.
I walk away with the feeling of vindication.
Catherine is going to be pleased by this.
"You wish," my wolf snorts.
"What? Why not? Why do you say so?"
"What makes you think she would be pleased by any of this? That she would even want to be here?"
"she is my mate."
"You say that like it changes everything."
"Well, it does. We are mates. We are meant to love and accept each other."
"Oh. And where was that love? That respect, when you rejected her in front of everybody? On her birthday no less."
I take a deep breath at that.
"I made a mistake. I am correcting it now."
"she accepted your rejection. Truly and completely. She doesn't want you anymore."
"That is a lie! Why are you saying all this? You should be on my side."
"Not on this. She is wasted on you. And I am starting to get the feeling she knows this."
I cut off the communication, no longer willing to hear his crap.
Catherine is my mate. Her place is by my side. It doesn't matter if she doesn't want it, she will learn to love it.
And me.
FAYE.
I watch as the windows of the bitch's room are sealed shut.
This is a problem.
"No shit."
Not now, wolf.
I had been lucky to find the kidnappers' scent being strong at the border. I couldn't see him though, only the woman he was talking to.
She had seemed familiar.
I would have done after the man but my wolf had for some reason warned me against it.
She was very loud about her thoughts on the matter.
"You would have died."
I believe her.
There was something off about him. Something… unnatural.
Soni had followed the woman instead.
And boy was I lucky.
The conversation I overheard was worrying.
Vance was Catherine's mate.
Well, former mate.
He was the bastard that had rejected her and now he wants her back.
No bloody way in hell.
This is going to set the Alpha off, I think as I set off in a run to the border of the pack.
Just as I am about to cross it, something crashes into me.
Without hesitation, I turn around and swipe at its head, just as it moves towards me again only for us to freeze at the same moment.
First of all, it is not an "it" it is a he.
And he is my…
"Mate. Mate. Mate," my wolf chants.
"Mate," the man grows.
Hell no.
I don't waste any more seconds, I leap over the boundary and tear through the crags before diving into the river.
Hopefully, that throws him off my scent.
A few miles farther off, I pull myself out and begin the long trek back to my pack and the mansion.
"What the hell are you doing?" My wolf screams at me.
"He is a member of the Skylight pack."
"And?"
"And… I can't be mated with someone from there. They are monsters."
"Catherine is from their pack."
"Catherine is an angel who doesn't deserve to be born there."
"Not all of them can be bad."
"Enough. We can't betray our Alpha."
She doesn't respond to that.
Thank goddess.
I make my way through the woods and into the mansion.
I feel slightly bad about dripping water onto the nice Persian rugs, but what I have can't wait.
As I approach the study, I am stopped short by a shout.
"I SAID NO!"