0026
Dane
Raven had been right about the constant fear. Now I was paying more attention, I could hear it in Neah's voice but her scent stays exactly the same. The strange scent she carried from our first encounter to now, the only difference was the lavender essence that accompanied her
I could see her reflection in the window. I could see how she uses her sleeves to wipe away the escaped tears. Barely making a sound.
"For what it's worth. Devon doesn't sound like a monster." I mutter. "His priority appears to be you and nothing more. As I said, he is very forthcoming with information."
"You mean you haven't had to torture him." She speaks the words slowly as though she was talking about herself. I see how she fidgets on the seat. Her head turns over her shoulder to look at the locked door. Talking about torture was a trigger. "No, it was not needed." I wanted to get her thoughts onto something else. Turning around to look at her, I see how the tears make her blue eyes bright.
'Just tell her.' Aero moans
'Do you really think now is the time? She has just asked me to stop looking for someone to help her. To find out that her mate is right here and she can't even sense me, what do you think it will do to her?!'
He rolls his eyes at me and shuts his mouth.
Another tear rolls down her face. I hated seeing her like this.
Moving around to her, I crouch down in front of the chair and cup her face. With my thumb, I wipe away the escaped tear. Her eyes close and she leans into my hand, like it was a comfort to her.
The words tumble from my mouth. "Neah, I am your true mate."
A little wrinkle appears above her eyebrows as they knit together.
Slowly, her eyes open.
She keeps her face resting against my hand and just stares at me.
Properly staring into my eyes like she had when I landed on top of her at Moonshine.
My heart thuds and I feel a pull to her.
I just about hold it together and stop myself from doing something stupid.
"My.... my mate?" she whispers while still frowning
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes, Neah."
"I was mated to Kyle."
"And yet you are mated to me too." It was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. I thought she would be happy. Or at least feel a sense of relief.
She pushes herself back as far as she can in the chair and away from me. "Mated....to you?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Trust me. I know and so does Aero."
"How....how long?"
"A while." Something told me that if I said, from day one, she would freak out.
She presses her pink lips into a thin line and once again, looks over her shoulder, at the locked door.
"No." she mutters again. "You...you....you made a deal with me. Why? Is this what you say to all your brides? Is this... Is this supposed to.... make me feel better?"
The more panicked she became, the more she stuttered. It would be cute if she was happening for any other reason then panic. She really was nothing like any of the other brides or any of the women I would typically go for.
Moving to the door, I slide the lock back and hold the door open. "If you need to leave, go. I know I have sprung a lot of information on you and you probably need some time to think."
I watch her nod her head, but she doesn't move from the seat. "You...you didn't answer my questions."
I leave the door open and sit on the desk directly in front of her.
"I have never said it to any of the others. I told you I have been looking for my mate for a long time. Did I expect it to be you? No. Am I happy it's you? Yes. I don't care if you are a Lycan or whatever. That is not important to me."
She bites her nails, not quite looking at me.
"Is that why you were so angry when you found out what they were doing to me, because of the matebond?" She doesn't stutter this time. "You are the only one who didn't join in. And you lied to Trey too, you said I met you at the front door. You said that I was the one to show you to his office."
"If I hadn't lied to him, he would have beaten you. My priority was getting you out of there."
I sigh, this was not going at all like the way I wanted it too.
"You can't sense the bond, Neah so I understand that you don't believe me. I promise you it is there. Think of the smaller things. Think of how you feel comfort when I'm holding you or how you curl up against me in your sleep. I know you feel safe when I am around. You can't deny that."
Aero was oddly quiet too, because this hadn't gone the way he had hoped.
"You killed Kyle so that you can claim me?" Neah blurts out
"Yes."
"I'm not..... I'm no one special. You are an Alpha. A powerful one and I'm not...."
"You are an Alpha too."
****
She didn't say much after that. She just asked if she could be alone, to think. Which was just frustrating. It was not supposed to go like this. She was supposed to be happy, not fearful and angry. She was supposed to want me to claim her. Not want to run and hide.
'This is your fault.' I snap at Aero. 'You couldn't just leave it. You had to go on and on and on. And now look at the mess we have caused.'
'In my defence, I thought she would be happy to find out she is mated to the greatest Alpha. Maybe you should have led with that instead of telling her about the prisoner first!' He snaps back at me.
Heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I spot Raven, stuffing her face with food.
"Are you ever not eating?" I snap at her
"I'm hungry." she shrugs "And something has clearly pissed you off!"
I slam a mug down a little too hard and the handle snaps clean off. Raven gets up and adds 'Mugs' to the shopping list.
"We won't have any left at this rate." She mutters as she sits back down. "So what's happened now?"
"I told her."
Raven stares at me with her dark eyes. "You told Neah that she is your mate?"
"What else am I talking about, Raven?!"
"Woah, okay. I take it that it didn't go the way you hoped."
"Do you see her?" I snap, gesturing around the room
She wipes a crumb from her bottom lip. "I would be mad too."
"Thanks for the support, Raven."
"I'm just saying, not everyone is like Charlene or Daisy or Veronica or......"
"That's enough Raven!"
"Sometimes, I wonder if you actually know anything about women." She shakes her head at me as she takes another bite of her sandwich and I wait for her to continue.
"What?" I snap, "I know you are dying to tell me Raven. So come on, let's hear it, seeing as you think you know her better than anyone."
"I didn't say that, did I? I said you don't know much about women. And that is something I do understand."
She moves to dump her plate in the sink and immediately starts looking through the cupboards for something else to eat.
"Do you think she expected to find a mate? For most of us, the idea of finding a mate is a number one priority, yourself included. It most likely has never been her priority and I'm guessing you just sprung it on her."
"She can't sense the bond. How else was I supposed to tell her?"
"It doesn't matter anyway, it's too late, you can't change the way you told her. But you should be with her and not down here talking to your baby sister."
"Alright, smart ass. I'm going."
Neah stares at me with wide eyes when I enter the bedroom and once again, I feel that pull. She is perched on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over, almost like she was waiting for me.
I will not admit to Raven that she was right, she already had a big enough ego.
"It makes sense." Neah whispers. "You wanted me to sleep in here. You didn't want me to be alone with Jenson. You said you didn't want anyone else touching me. That was never because of the contract, was it?"
"No."
"Because you knew?" Oddly, she doesn't sound angry. It was more like she was trying to put the pieces together.
"Yes." There were very few people that I would allow to talk to me this way. To allow them to second guess my decisions.
"I thought about telling you, so many times. I thought about just claiming you and never having to reveal the truth. I didn't want you to feel obligated to be with me because of the bond."
"So you used a contract instead?" She asks with a slight frown.
"When you say it like that, it sounds just as ridiculous." I mutter. Scratching the back of my head, I try to think of something to say, but there was nothing that sounded right. Nothing that seemed like it would make her feel better about my poor choices.
She gets off the bed, pulling her sweatshirt off and revealing a white fitted tee, where I could clearly see her erect nipples. I watch her walk over to the laundry basket and dump the sweatshirt inside.
She turns back to me and places her hands on her hips. "If.... if you claim me, does that mean you can sense my needs? Will you be able to tell if I need help?"
"I will know everything about you. I will feel your every need. I will know all your desires. I will know when you need me."
She loosely ties her hair back and closes her eyes. "Claim me then."