Chapter 13 - Klaus
The next morning, I made breakfast and let Aubrey sleep in. My head was still spinning from everything last night. I couldn’t get over how great it felt to be inside her and how right it all felt. I expected it to be awkward, but her body moved right alongside mine.
I couldn’t get her words out of my head. I knew she had a past, but I hadn’t expected what she said. When she fell asleep, I just lay there and held her, wanting to fix everything.
I wish I’d known sooner, and I felt terrible about so many things. I’d called her a sex worker for God’s sake. I felt like I’d violated her last night. She’d had a shitty life, was stuck in an abusive relationship, and ended here.
I stared at the pancakes as they cooked. My mind was swimming with so much information.
I wondered if she had marks that he’d left on her. I wanted to know what he’d done, but I knew if I did, it would only anger me more. I’d want to hunt down the bastard and rip his limbs off.
I heard footsteps, and I turned just as Aubrey came down the hallway. She had a robe on, tightly wrapped around her middle. I glanced at her legs, searching them for marks. I scanned up and paused when I noticed a hickey on her neck.
Shit.
“Morning.” She plopped herself down on a stool. “Is there coffee?”
I nodded, grabbing her a cup. “How are you feeling?”
She raised an eyebrow as I placed the coffee in front of her. “What do you mean?”
“Does anything hurt?”
She offered me a soft smile. “I’m fine, Klaus.”
“I just want to make sure I didn’t hurt you.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t.”
“You promise?”
She nodded. “I promise. I’m totally fine. It’s not like I haven’t had sex before.”
I nodded, waved a hand. “And do you feel anything? Any change?”
Her smile slipped, and she shook her head. She looked down at her mug. “No, I don’t feel any different in that regard. I probably should have asked Elize for details on how quickly you notice it.”
I frowned, wondering if we’d done something wrong, but you couldn’t fuck up sex. I thought we had a moment, shared a connection, but maybe it was just me.
I looked back toward the pancakes and flipped them. I had so many questions, so many things that I wanted to know. But I didn’t want to press either because I could see how hard it was for her to talk about it. I saw the way she tensed up, and the nightmare. It scared her.
I shook my head. “Pancakes sound good?”
“Sounds great.”
I flipped a couple more and placed them onto the plate. Aubrey stirred her coffee as she stared out the window. I slid a plate toward her, my eyes landing on her hickey. I quickly noticed there wasn’t just one. I’d left several.
She tilted her head. “What are you staring at?”
I pointed to her neck. “You have a hickey, a couple actually.”
Her face went red, and her hand moved to her neck. “Shit, I didn’t think about that.”
“Sorry. I have a tendency to mark people.”
She offered a gentle smile. “I don’t think I’ve seen you flustered like this.”
I tapped my hand onto the counter. “Did…” I snapped my mouth shut, not sure I wanted to know. But I couldn’t ask. “Do you have scars?”
Her eyebrows went up. “Pardon?”
“From him. Do you have scars from him?”
Her fork paused, and she looked down at her plate. “I have a few, but he was normally careful where he hit.”
I tightened my fingers on the spatula. “Where?”
She licked her lips. “If I share, will you share? How you got yours?”
I didn’t like to talk about my scars, but if she was going to open up, it was only fair that I told her about mine. “I guess that’s a fair trade.”
She clicked her tongue, her eyes growing sad as she looked down at her coffee.
“I have a scar on my left ankle from when he tripped me, and I fell down a flight of stairs. I had to get surgery. So, I suppose the scar wasn’t his doing.
I have a scar on my right shoulder from where he threw a piece of glass at me. ”
“What!”
“I broke a cup, and he threw the broken glass at me. He was pissed and drunk.”
I ground my teeth together, and she softened her gaze. “I don’t have to talk about the details.”
I shook my head. “I want to know.” I’d been trying to ignore her past, trying not to dig anything up, and that had been wrong. I needed to know. Aubrey was a part of this pack now, and I needed to treat her like a member.
She tapped her hand on her mug. “But the more you know, the angrier you’re going to get.”
I nodded. “Yes, and when I meet him, I’ll strangle him to death with my own bare hands.”
She snorted. “I’m okay, I swear.”
I frowned. “You’re not, Aubrey. I saw the way you shook like night. You’re not fine.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Maybe, but I’m getting there.”
“I wish I knew sooner. God, I wouldn’t have been so rough last night.”
She shook her head. “You weren’t rough, Klaus. You were gentle with me last night. You asked me to tell you if anything hurt, and I promised I would.”
“I could have been nicer.” I wasn’t sure if that was true.
Once I kissed her, all rational thoughts went out the window.
I wanted to hear her moan. I wanted to mark her body up in every way that I could.
I pulled her hair because I saw the way her body reacted to it.
I bit her neck, and I could feel the way she tightened around my dick.
“I meant what I said. You’re safe here. I don’t want you to feel that you have to look over your shoulder. He will not touch you here.”
She frowned. “You don’t know Mike or what he’s capable of doing.”
I smirked. “And you don’t know the things that I’m capable of. I protect my pack, Aubrey. I don’t take threats lightly, either. If he so much as comes near you, he’s going into a grave.”
She poked at her pancake. “I’ve been trying to break free for a long time, Klaus. It’s not that simple.”
“I want to help. Let me help.”
“You are.” She offered me a soft smile. “This is helping. Just being here and talking is helping.”
I stared into her eyes and felt the twist. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her.
It surprised me how much I wanted to care for her.
I’d never wanted to care about a person as much as I did with her.
I wanted to keep her safe from any harm, even what my own hands could do.
I sighed. “I just… I don’t want to hurt you any more than you have been, Aubrey. ”
“I’m okay, Klaus. I promise. I have to head to the library. Are we good?”
I nodded, feeling a tug deep in my chest as she got up. “I’ll be around later.”
“I have a city hall meeting this afternoon if you want to join.”
“Of course. Just send me a text of what time and I’ll be there.” She got up and headed back up the stairs.
I finished breakfast and put the leftovers away. I headed to the city hall, where Cal was waiting for me. He was spinning in my chair in my office. “Took you long enough to get here.”
“Get out of my chair.”
He smirked. “I was keeping it warm for you.”
I rolled my eyes. “If you want to be Alpha so bad, all you had to do was ask.”
He laughed, pulling himself up. “Not a chance in hell I want that job.”
I sat down. “Did you arrange for the meeting?”
He nodded. “I did. I also reached out to the other Beta’s like you asked.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “They didn’t have much to offer me. I tried bribing with beers, but that didn’t get me anywhere.”
I frowned. “So much for helping each other out.”
“I think you should discuss with the other Alphas. I got the impression they weren’t sure what they could and couldn’t share.”
I rubbed at my eyes. “Great,” I sighed heavily. “I’ll give them a call, and I’ll meet you in the meeting room.”
He gave me a thumbs-up before he slipped out of the room. I gave Troy a call first, figuring he’d answer. But I got his voicemail. So, I called Riley next. It rang a few times before it went to voicemail.
I left him a message and headed to the meeting. The town hall was packed, and I quickly spotted Aubrey sitting in the front row. She gave me a gentle smile as I headed to the podium.
I cleared my throat, getting everyone’s attention.
“Afternoon, everyone. I know this meeting was thrown together quickly, and I won’t take up too much of your time.
But I did want to get out there and open up some discussion about what is going on in the pack.
I know that there are questions and concerns. ”
“What is going on, Klaus?” Someone spoke up right away. “What is happening to Tom?”
I wish I had more answers. I suddenly wished I’d joined more meetings with the other Alphas so I would know.
“I’ve reached out to the surrounding packs and asked them about what they did that helped. I know everyone is concerned about the dark magic and wants answers. I know that there are a lot of rumors going around, and I can’t tell you what is true and fake at this time.”
“What!” The crowd erupted loudly, everyone asking questions at once. I looked at Aubrey, who gave me a concerned expression.
“I know you all have questions, and I don’t have answers to them all. But we are working on a solution. Just know that Cal and I are on top of everything.”
The crowd didn’t settle, and the pit in my stomach grew. I needed answers before this situation got worse. I only had a few guys right now, but that number would only grow.
The next morning, I called both Troy and Riley again. I left another message for each of them, explaining that we needed to talk. By nighttime, still no answers.
“Klaus?” Cal waved a hand in front of me, breaking my concentration on the papers I was looking at. “You good? I was just about to head home for the evening.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for everything you did today.” I glanced at my phone, still not seeing any messages waiting for me.
The next morning, I drove to Troy’s pack. I’d pushed Julia to call Troy’s assistant and find out where he was going to be. He had a meeting with Riley at eleven. I figured two birds with one stone.
I arrived in his pack and headed straight for City Hall.
I knew how to get to Troy’s office and headed there right away.
I found the door shut and didn’t bother even to knock.
I pushed the door open and found Troy at his desk.
Riley was sitting on a small couch in the corner, and both looked surprised to see me.
“Well, look at this. Both are not too busy to reach back out to me. You must have just missed my calls.”
Riley scowled. “Klaus, you do realize we are in a meeting.”
I kicked the door shut. “I do, and you both do realize that my pack is having issues, and I’ve left both of you messages to reach out to me because I have questions. But I figured you were both so busy. But looky here, you’re just loitering around.”
Troy scowled. “We were in the middle of a discussion.”
“Was that the discussion about whether or not to return my phone call? Because I bet if Titus or Dustin had given you a call, you both would have returned that call pretty quickly.”
Riley shook his head. “Klaus, you’re throwing this out of proportion.”
I ground my teeth together. “No, me having to wait patiently for you two to call me back is not throwing it out of proportion. Is the fact that your packs are healed making you blind to everyone else’s issues?”
Riley sighed. “Klaus, please. Just calm down.”
“Don’t ask me to calm down. Your packs were in the same situation not too long ago, and I bet a lot of money neither of you just calmed down.”
Riley looked at Troy, who looked uncomfortable, and I knew there was something I was missing. I crossed my arms. “I’m not leaving until I get an answer.”
Troy frowned, looking at Riley. “We should tell him.”
“Tell me what?”
Riley shook his head. “It’s not worth it. If Elize and Janella were unable to open it, I doubt they will.”
“They could try.”
“Try what?” I asked.
Riley sighed. “There is a diary that we found with the cauldron. We’ve been unable to open it. But we’re pretty sure it has information inside.”
I ground my teeth together. “And why am I just hearing about this now?”
“Maybe if you joined more meetings, you would have known.”
I wanted to snap at them, but I couldn’t. They were right. I was the one who put up the walls and wanted the distance. And now I needed their help.