Chapter 79
Chapter Seventy-Nine
~Leon~
I stare at the door for about twenty minutes as she bangs on it. Thane simply walked away after ordering us not to let her out. Hours had passed, and still, she bangs and hits the door. However, her banging is getting softer, almost as if she is running out of energy.
Sitting at the table at dinner, no one says anything.
I have mixed feelings. Thane proved she was going to run off with another Alpha.
Yet she wasn’t going to go through with the glory hole thingy Talon warned us about.
But why did it feel so wrong, despite knowing she was going to run, taking our baby with her?
“Leon, eat,” Thane growls as I push my food around the plate.
Has he fed her yet? I wonder. My appetite is completely gone, my mind is consumed with my mate, locked in the Den below our feet.
Dinner is awfully silent and tense, while Rhen’s and Thane’s fury is palpable.
It courses through their veins like hot lava and bleeds into Raidon and me, twisting our thoughts and feelings about the matter at hand, yet no amount of anger I feel toward her makes the guilt lessen.
“I have to help Ma move next week, don’t forget,” Raidon suddenly tells Thane. Thane nods, waving him off.
“I know. We can help if you want?” Thane asks him before taking a bite of his food. Raidon shakes his head.
“No. Dad will be there to help. I’ll be fine,” he tells Thane, who nods.
They talk amongst themselves while they eat.
I don’t join in. I have nothing to say. I feel strangely numb, like an outsider looking in.
I am on autopilot. Raidon gives me a few worried looks and kicks me under the table several times, reminding me to eat.
Yet my mind is elsewhere. It’s with Harlow in the Den. The look of betrayal she gave me when I didn’t help her won’t leave my head. She stared at me as if I was her lifeline, and then I killed her by saying nothing in her defense.
Once we finish eating, I move to the kitchen to help Rhen do the dishes. We have a dishwasher, but Thane complains about how they should be cleaned before placing them in the dishwasher. I never understood it.
My eyes keep going to the door across the kitchen; the basement door leading to the Den. The banging had stopped about an hour ago, and only her silence followed.
I place each washed dish in the dishwasher, my eyes constantly going to the door until Rhen clears his throat.
“She was leaving us, Leon. What choice did he have?” Rhen reminds me. I nod my head.
“We need to face it. She may be our mate now, but we clearly underestimated her cruelty. I know you feel guilty, but think about it, Leon. Had she left, what would she have done with our baby?” he asks, and I try to think.
I truly believe she didn’t know she’s pregnant. But now he asked that question, and it is all I can think about.
She was going to run off with Jake. No pack would raise another Alpha’s baby. She would have had to abort the pregnancy. Or if she kept it, would she have used the baby as blackmail if we tried to get her back?
“See, don’t feel guilty. She did it to herself,” Rhen tells me, giving me a nudge with his elbow. Once we finish, we switch all the lights off and head upstairs to bed. Except I don’t go to Thane’s room like we all usually do.
Instead, I go to mine; I don’t want to be with my mates if I can’t be with all of them, and that includes Harlow. Despite everything she did, I still love her, even when I know I shouldn’t.
Hearing the door creak open, I lift my head to see Raidon step into the room. He strips his shirt off as he makes his way toward the bed.
“Why are you in here?” he asks, climbing over me to the wall side and slipping under the blanket. I say nothing, letting him manhandle me as he tucks me beside him. “Leon…”
I shake my head. I know he is about to give me the same lecture Rhen did earlier.
I know she will run if they let her out.
But Thane could command her not to leave the house.
He doesn’t have to lock her down there. As much as I love Elaine, I know she is a big part of the problem, pestering Thane about what she thinks we should do with Harlow.