~ Chapter Forty-Seven ~

“What do you mean, compromised?” I asked, my voice rippling with nerves.

“I mean… th-the pack they went to… Roger took it down and there’s no sign of any of them. Not Heidi, not even Jason.” Gina paused to let me take in this information. “I know you worked closely with them, so I thought you should know.”

My elbows dropped onto the porch railing just for something to support me, and I rubbed my eyes with my index finger and thumb. “Do you think they’re dead?”

“I can only hope not.”

I bit my lip so hard I instantly felt my teeth break through my skin. Cursing, I stood up straight to wipe a slow droplet away before it could fall onto the wood beneath me. In the process, I finally noticed that the warriors closest to the porch had stopped - having heard someone might be dead - and watched me curiously. Just over their shoulders, I could see Dimitri staring at me whilst holding Taylor in his grip. He could no doubt feel how distraught I was and wanted to know what was wrong, but we were so close to a fight… would he pretend none of it was happening so he could comfort me?

“How do you know any of this? I thought you were still on vacation?” I whispered as I walked inside, out of view of the warriors. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted them to hear.

I passed Xanthe, who was cheerfully helping Bree to make her mother’s breakfast in the kitchen. Neither of them noticed me slip away up the stairs to go to my room.

“After that woman from your pack - Valerie and her children - visited the village, some of my employees got in touch with me and told me now really isn’t the time to be gone. They had no idea what to do about it while I was away, and I suppose I kind of missed being in charge of something, anyway.

“I’m back at the village with Clayton. There are so many messes and this is just one of them, Erika.”

My heart felt heavy as I took a seat at the foot of my bed. I clutched the sheets beneath my hand.

“If I could put my focus on finding the teens, I would, but as I said, there are so many other issues that… a few missing teens really can’t be my priority. I’m sorry, Erika.”

“No… I, uh, I understand.”

The door opened to reveal my mate hovering in the hall, his eyes locked on my face. I bravely drew in a breath for his scent, allowing it to ease my nerves. He caught onto what I was doing and instantly moved forward to my side.

“You should focus on what’s most important,” I told Gina, as Dimitri pulled me back on the bed. He curled himself around me. “I need to know something, though.”

Gina rushed to speak. “Of course, anything.”

“If… if there’s no sign of them, does that mean there were no body parts? Nothing suggesting they might be dead?”

Gina hesitated. “Come to think of it, no. At least, the bodies we did find didn’t appear to be any of them. I specifically had Kelsey take a look to make sure she could identify them as she spent as much time around them as you did, but she didn’t see anything.”

I sighed in relief.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I have to leave now. I have many more phone calls to make just like this. It seems the rogue world has been completely destroyed all while I was gone. Typical, right?”

I forced a laugh, but it was obviously insincere. Dimitri hugged me tighter in response.

“Make sure to vitalise your mate right now, I know this has got to be hard for you. I will talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Gina,” I whispered. I put my phone on the nightstand without a second thought, and Dimitri pulled my head directly into his chest. I curled into his embrace, grateful for the mate bond that settled every part of my body because of him. I knew this would hit me harder once he was gone but I could still appreciate his presence now.

As we lay there, I couldn’t help but look up at him through half-closed eyes, which refused to open completely to see this disgusting world we lived in. “Are we hitting a pause button on that brewing fight?”

He pursed his lips as he met my gaze, then nodded, a solemn look on his face. “I’ve been trying to find an excuse to avoid it anyway.”

“What a difficult task…”

“Are you ready to talk about that phone call?” he asked carefully quietly, and I hid in his chest.

“No.”

“Would you like to lie here some more?”

I hesitated. “No.”

“Then what do you want, Erika?”

A thought crossed my mind that I instantly chastised myself for. I looked at my hands, which were pressed against Dimitri’s chest as I lay between his arms, crunched against his body. He was shirtless from training and smelt a little, but that was only spreading his scent around the room even more. I felt comforted just being in his embrace, so much that I wondered what it would be like if we were doing more than just cuddling.

Probably feeling what I was, Dimitri loosened his grip on me, and I trailed my fingertips over the hard planes of his torso. His muscles were tight from training, harder than usual.

“Erika…” he murmured lazily.

I looked innocently up at him.

“We… we can’t do this while we’re on pause from a fight, and you’re so vulnerable right now… I don’t know what has upset you but-”

“Dima,” I interrupted, “you have wanted a lot more with me than I have since the beginning.”

“But I will remember this day forever as the day I took advantage of you,” he argued. His hand ran up my back to my hair, and he tugged my thick curls from their tight training bun. “I can’t have this be the way we do this.”

I hesitated. “Then let’s have that fight. Let me distract myself and get it out of the way at the same time, and after, we’ll makeup with sex.”

Dimitri started at my words.

“I think that’s the only way around this, so what the hell were you thinking, trying to force me to train only with you out there?” The volume of my voice increased with every word until I had brought myself up onto my elbow and started glaring at his face.

“Erika…” he started, but when he saw the look in my eye, he switched into the very same mood I was in. “Well, what the fuck were you thinking, going to fight Maeve? She’s the only person I asked you to keep away from.”

“Because you’re too protective of me!”

“Because I don’t want you to get hurt when there is no reason for it. Maeve is too rough when she trains,” he snarled at me.

“She’s the best training partner I’ve ever had. Even better than you after that show out there today.”

He didn’t like that but he tried not to let it show on his face as he rolled off of the bed and stood towering over me. “From my point of view, it looked like she was kicking your ass.”

I rolled my eyes. “Does it matter? Just tell me what the hell got into you today. I didn’t like your attitude the moment you saw me. I haven’t done anything.”

“No, all you did was become my mate when it seems everything we do pulls us apart.”

My heart dropped as I realised what had Dimitri so hot-headed earlier.

“I was fucking angry because the Moon Goddess seemed to think it would be funny to pair me with someone who opposes me on everything - and not only that, but to keep our bond even after we tried to get rid of it. I honestly don’t know what she’s playing at and - I admit it - I was angry that I couldn’t get out of it.”

“You were pissed because you’re stuck with me…” I muttered in shock.

“Yeah.” His eyes were ablaze, but there was no getting around the soft side of him that clearly regretted saying anything about his feelings right now. This fight was so beyond anything I’d expected, I didn’t know if we could continue our plan after it. This could actually be the thing that once again drew us away from each other even more.

So I came up with an idea. If he always had to oppose me, then I had to agree with him to turn this around.

“Well, then, I can’t believe I got stuck with someone as controlling and overprotective as you!” I launched off of the bed. “It feels like I can’t ever do anything and there’s no reason for it. You’re there at every turn, waiting to fuck up my plans.”

He growled. “You’re acting like I do it on purpose. I act out of instinct for my mate.”

“Your instinct is all wrong because you don’t know me well enough. I’m not some little weak she-wolf. I was born in an abusive pack and fucking escaped just to find out I’m supposed to settle down just because I’m free and meant to be happy?

*”Fuck that shit*, I want a life where I am seen as an equal instead of put down like a child.”

Dimitri stared at me for a moment, his eyes glazed over in thought. I stood opposing him as I waited for his next reply, as I waited for what would either make or break us. I couldn’t tell which way we would go.

Until he stormed forward to stand directly in front of me. From so close, our height difference was a little clearer as I had to look up and he had to look down.

He leaned closer and whispered, just loud enough for me to hear, “Your spirit is the reason I am so keen to look after you. You’re the first person I’d expect to go running head-first into danger just because of the excitement of it all and I hate it.

“I think you’re selfish for not helping the pack with your medical abilities, even if you’ve had a bad experience in the past. The fact that you even considered we’d be nearly as bad as Roger offends me, and every injury my warriors suffer that you don’t help with is another mark by your name.

“I think if I admit to you the way I feel, you are either going to walk out that door and never look back, or give me exactly what I’ve wanted since I laid eyes on you.”

He paused, his chest heaving with the intensity of our argument, and I waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

His lips pressed together before he stood up straight. “Erika Keller, *I love you*.”

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