46. Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Dante
I never thought I’d change my mind about Celeste. For so long, I saw her as a heartless, vapid monster, who killed by proxy. But every second I was with her, I doubted she had the capacity to do what I’d suspected.
Now, watching her as we drove home from the most amazing date of my life, I was starting to think I’d been blind or stupid to ever think she could have been behind the worst of what Harringday had done.She was quick to forgive, she fought hard for her beliefs, and she seemed to have a good heart, despite her cold exterior wall. But I knew all about having walls to protect yourself.
Soon, we’d have to talk to her about Arkala, and find out what really happened. I was ninety-nine percent sure she probably didn’t even know about it. If she didn’t know about what happened in Tedena behind her back, then she might be a pawn in a much larger game. But I’d have to break that to her gently, and once we had proof.
We pulled into the gate and up the driveway. The date had been illuminating, and I was starting to lose every inhibition around her. I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. If I’d been truly wrong in my assumptions about Celeste, then I was looking at someone who could be my true mate.
She stood as we got out of the car, and I grabbed her hand. She turned to look at me, an unspoken question in her eyes. Out of our pack, I was the only one who had kept my distance. Truthfully, I had my own secrets, ones even my pack didn’t know about. But right now, all I wanted to do was the one thing I’d held back on all this time.
“Celeste, I just want to say -” I stopped, my breath caught as she looked at me. For once, I allowed myself to see her as just Celeste, instead of the evil image I’d burned into my brain for so long. In front of me was a woman - an omega - my scent match. She made me lose my thoughts. “...You’re dangerous,” I finished. But there was no accusation in it this time. Just awe.
She smiled, tipping her head playfully. “Oh? And why’s that?”
I exhaled, shaking my head as she pulled forward again. “Because the more I’m around you, the harder it is to resist you.”
She smiled that coy, mysterious smile of hers, then moved in so close that I could smell her real perfume, directly from her scent glands. She leaned in, her lips nearly touching mine as she locked eyes with me. “So stop resisting, then.”
Suddenly I was following Celeste down the hallway, her hand gripping mine, pulling me forward with a breathless urgency. My pulse pounded in my ears, my thoughts a chaotic blur as something inside me unraveled. The world around us faded, and there was only her, only this moment. My chest tightened, the rush of emotions nearly knocking the air from my lungs. It was overwhelming, intoxicating, something I knew I’d felt before but had been too afraid to name.
I felt like I was complete, like I had someone. My pack was a part of me, but this was different. Celeste was something new, a vital piece that was missing. I felt like happiness was a possibility for me again.
We entered into her suite and I could smell her - her real scent - the closer we got to her room. As we walked through the door, I was surrounded by the fragrance of her body, the perfume she emitted in between suppressant pills and descenter. It was light, but it was there. It felt like we were in some alternate universe, a utopia of elation as she pulled me toward her bed. Every doubt I had was pushed back as I fell onto it with her. As I looked down, I saw not Celeste, the enemy and heiress that haunted my thoughts, but the sweet, smart omega who had broken through my shell, who was finally helping me remember who I was, and who I could be.