Chapter 18 - Kiara

Never in my life had I imagined I would have to mediate the meeting between my alphas and my mate. This wasn”t the usual way of doing things. There was nothing traditional about it, and it was far more emotional than I had anticipated. Seeing Blake and Troy enter the room was hard because it had been over a week and a half since I”d been back at my packland. The afternoon light that came through the windows felt more surreal than any light I had experienced. With what had happened the other evening during the Grimpaw pack meeting, I carried an edge of anxiety that was evident in my shaky movements.

To my left sat Regina and my father, with Harvey to my right. Regina clutched my hand. Harvey was holding my thigh. My father kept sparing us heated glances with a sound that resembled a growl, almost possessive in nature. Every so often, Regina would cast him a sharp look and he would cease his rebellious snarling, as I had become fond of calling it. No one spoke for a while. All I could hear was the clock ticking in the room and the ancient printer down the hall chugging away in an attempt to print something that I supposed was important for Blake.

When I heard Jermaine grumble and slap the printer, I realized it was him trying to do something important and not my alpha. I chuckled a little bit, drawing Blake”s attention, who looked a little angrier than usual.

“I”m sorry,” I said. “I know this is unusual. It”s not the greatest of circumstances, and I probably should have contacted you sooner.”

Blake continued to stare.

Harvey jumped in. “If it”s any consolation, it”s actually my fault. I”m the one who took Kiara from the woods,”

My dad leaned forward. “You kidnapped her.”

I waved for my father to calm down.

“Well…” Harvey stuttered.

Troy leaned forward and coughed once. At once, the entire table fell quiet, just like it had when we had first had our meeting here. It felt like such a long time ago that I had actually been in this particular conference room, in this particular mansion. It was a surreal experience, made more so by the light spilling into the room from the wide windows. Was I so used to darkness at this point? Was I just used to Harvey completely shadowing everything I did? Not that I had too many complaints about that either, but I had to admit this was probably the weirdest experience of my life.

Troy folded his hands on the table in front of him, sitting up regally. As Blake continued to brood, Troy looked at his co-alpha with an amused expression.

“We have much to talk about. Why don”t we get to it?”

I gave a quick nod. “We really don”t know what else to do. We”re here to ask for your help.”

My dad leaned forward to look at me again. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

I held up Harvey”s hand. “We’re a couple.”

Regina looked thrilled while my father looked horrified.

“You”re telling me that mutt that I fought is your mate?”

Blake held up a hand. “I did mention that the ritual had gone wrong, Kiara. Are you sure that this man is supposed to be your mate? He”s possessed, after all.”

I shook my head. “Actually, he is no longer possessed. You can check for yourself if you don”t believe me.”

Regina raised her eyebrows with a sort of victorious smile that she gave to both Blake and her husband. She knew that they were about to ask her for a favor, but she wasn”t going to stand and offer it of her own volition. She was going to wait for one of them to request it. Troy seemed entertained by that as much as I did. Harvey looked confused and Blake looked like his face was turning into a ripened tomato.

After a heavy exhale, avoiding eye contact with Regina, he said, “Would you please do the honors?”

Regina grinned and stood, beaming. She released my hand and walked behind me to get to Harvey. She rested her hands on his shoulders, causing him to jump slightly. He relaxed as I squeezed his hands, shortly releasing them so that I wouldn”t interfere with Regina”s magic. She quietly ran her fingers along the back of his neck up to his scalp. Watching her do this burned me up inside and made me feel an eager desire to send her away from him.

I had to reign myself in. I had never experienced these kinds of heightened emotions before, especially about another person, and especially not about another man. A man I had watched turn from a human into a demonic wolf and back again. I”d watched him convulse in his bed, I had held his hand tenderly in my lap, and I”d made love to him in ways that I had never fantasized about. Yet, here I was. I felt an urgent desire to have his body pressed against mine. I wanted this meeting to be over so I could drag him to an empty room in the mansion and do things unspeakable things to him, but it was more important to focus on the present instead of what was to come. Soon, Harvey would end up fighting Cain in the middle of their village. We needed help if we were going to survive that battle.

Once Regina was done with her magical scan, she released Harvey and returned to her seat, giving an approving nod. “It’s true. The man is free of his demon.” Blake and Troy exchanged a look. Their question was very much evident in their expressions—their twin expressions.

I blushed as I held Harvey’s hand. “Yes, it”s true. The mate bond actually cured him. I had to accept his demonic form and give him real love.”

My dad huffed. “Real love isn”t forced or kidnapped.”

I shot him a hard glare. “I don”t think you”re the one who gets to judge.”

Regina held up her hands. I knew she was about to intervene again, but when she saw my expression, the one that pleaded for her not to do it, she lowered her hands. She gave a nod and scooted back so that I could focus on my father fully.

“Whether you like it or not, I found Harvey and I love him.”

Harvey squeezed my hand. I wasn”t going to stop and address what I just said, but it excited me and made my heart skip a beat to realize how much I meant it, how much I could feel the word fill me up. It transferred to him, where it bounced off his heart and came right back to me. Metaphorically speaking, we were like ping pong balls on a table, perpetually bouncing back and forth toward each other in a joyous union. Almost like a coordinated dance.

Dad was annoyed, but he let me speak. “I love him, and I”m not letting him go. My love has given him a new life and he”s given me the same. Sure, the circumstances aren’t great. Our situation didn”t exactly begin like a fairy tale, but I want to see this through. You’re the one who taught me to see my problems through, didn’t you?”

My dad reluctantly nodded and turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. It was going to be hard healing the bond between them, the connection that they could have. But I knew I had to try.

Harvey leaned forward. “I”m willing to do everything I can to write my wrongs. I”ll take complete responsibility.”

Blake hummed thoughtfully. “I am worried about what this possibly could have done to the land itself and the surrounding communities.”

Troy waved a hand in agreement. “This is true. We must consider the surrounding environment, including its people and this ecosystem. It”s so delicate around here, so we have to make sure that we”re doing everything we can to live in harmony with nature.”

Harvey tapped the table, drumming lightly. “I couldn”t agree more. My pack members who remain are willing to exorcise their demons, they”re completely committed to it.”

I side as I leaned back in my chair. Regina scooted forward again and rested her hand over my hand. Holding on to her made tears spring to my eyes. Before I could stop them, they were flowing down my face and soaking the collar of my cashmere sweater. The same one that had been dirtied by Harvey and also cleaned by him in his tub. There were certain things I was used to living without, having been at that village with the Grimpaws. Yet, there were also things that I missed, like laundry machines, computers, and my damn cell phone.

“I”ll have to fight Cain. It”s pack tradition,” Harvey explained, to which Blake Troy nodded. Both alphas understood this necessity. They were also fascinated by how Harvey offered them respect. I hadn’t expected him to do that. It wasn”t that I expected my mate to be disrespectful, it was just a strange place to be for all of us. Blake and Troy exchanged another silent look. It was interesting to see them both look at Harvey, and to witness all three of them connect in a way that was so subtle. I could have sworn I saw something magical happening between them. Were the three of them making eye contact at the same time? If they were, how was that possible? At once, the illusion flew away, and Troy raised his hands triumphantly—just high enough to his shoulders to exhibit the joy that he felt.

“We will assist the alpha of the Grimpaws in his fight to retain his alpha title.”

I sighed with relief.

***

Later, after the meeting was over. I walked with Harvey to the cornfield where the lively vegetable had grown in the fall. We stood among the tall husks, feeling the freedom and strength in the air. It was exactly how I felt. I held his hands in mine as he focused on my eyes. I heard his heart beating loudly in his chest, heard the way his blood raised through his veins. I tilted my head back to look up at him.

“You need to be protected.”

He smiled. “I was about to say the same thing.”

My smile grew as my heart joined his rhythm. Together, they were beating like drums.

“I mean it, Harvey. I think I should bite you. I’m sure it would solidify everything.”

His eyes widened. “Aren”t we already solidified in everything that we”ve done?”

He held my hands to his cheeks. The warmth that I could feel from him was so soothing and comforting,

“I mean it,” I insisted. “Let me do it. I want to.”

Without argument, he bowed toward me, cradling me in his arms as I stood on my toes and allowed my mouth to shift into my wolf”s snout—just enough so that my canines and my teeth would be useful. I”d never done this before, but I had considered it many times, especially during the night when no one else was awake. I thought about how it might feel, or how It would change the course of my life. It was never something I considered with Harvey, yet at the same time, it was something I asked for without even thinking about it.

I wanted so much to plunge my teeth into his throat, to drink of him as he had drunk of me. To make that soulful promise that he had made. As soon as I broke the skin, he gasped in such a lustful way that the sound shot right down to my center. He leaned against me and I held him up, as carefully as I had when we were in that oceanic cave. I pulled him closer to me and carefully licked the wound. I stood back as it healed, and his eyelids were heavy. But he still managed to look at me with a lazy grin that spoke of his contentment.

“I can”t believe you did that.”

I chuckled lightly. “Why wouldn”t I?”

“I don”t know,” he admitted. “But I guess it”s good that you did, isn”t it?”

I quietly took his hand and wiped up the remaining blood from his neck. After leading him out of the corn maze, we walked to the barn where we could get some more privacy. Being with him like that made me want to do so many things to him—the same things that I thought about earlier, before the meeting. Now that I had the chance, I wanted to take it, because I wasn”t sure how the next few nights were going to go. I wasn”t sure if we were welcome here, and I wasn”t sure if we should return back to the village. With Kirk and Clancy watching the remaining members, they were safe enough. We didn”t have to worry too much, and we could get in touch with them at the drop of a hat, if it was necessary.

While walking into the barn, I smelled the musty earthiness and the decaying wood. I noticed a ladder leading to a loft, which was a little creakier than I would have liked. After closing the door behind me, I led him toward the ladder and up to the loft. I wanted him to do whatever he wanted, and I told him that by pulling his hands toward the very areas that I knew would get us rubbed up. His lips joined mine in a heated and lustful display of affection, so desperate that it turned me into a mess within seconds.

My ears were filled with the sound of our gasps and pants, unable to sense anything else. This was my mistake, and I would forever blame myself for what transpired next. For, as I was distracted with Harvey, I didn”t notice the figures that had enclosed the space and crept up on us. That had been waiting for us to go inside. When we were caught, we were separated, and I was taken away from him, kicking and screaming into the night.