Chapter 25

Earl placed one hand on his injury and held his sword with the other. The look of surprise on Charlie's face was not fading, Earl ignored Charlie and motioned for Oliver who still stood rooted to the spot in awe to take his sword up.

"Why the fuck did you allow the sword to cut you?" Charlie's voice was harsh.

"What do you mean?" Earl blinked innocently "It was a duel and you succeeded in wounding me, what's the big deal?" He shrugged.

"You and I know there is no way I could have cut you if you didn't want to be cut!"

"Well that will do for now, Nellie and Ma'am Dodda are coming and I believe I'll get enough scolding. You are the last person I want to scold me" Earl glared at Charlie.

Charlie gave him a stern look and stepped away, Ma'am Dodda and Nellie rushed down the hall in panic, Earl was particularly very satisfied with the proud look on Nellie's face. Just how he wanted it!

"Son, what happened?. How deep is your cut?" Ma'am Dodda touched and examined the wound.

"Why did you let him cut you?" Earl ignored the harshness in her voice.

"It was a duel and anything was bound to happen, someone had to be wounded" Was all he said.

"Come, let me treat your cut" Ma'am Dodda led him towards the house.

"It's not that deep, it will heal in no time"

Of Course it will. Earl glanced at Nellie who was standing there with a raised eyebrow, hands akimbo. She looked like a mother who was about to wipe her stubborn child, for some strange reason it warmed his heart. He had allowed Charlie to cut him when he saw Nellie and Ma'am Dodda at the window. He needed to think of something to keep Nellie in his bed, at least for a longer period of time.

The question kept ringing at the back of his head, why? He told himself it was just to help him sleep well, since he had no nightmares each time she was close. Earl tried to convince himself that it was not really because he wanted her to be there, he felt it was only natural for her to be in his bed but he pushed the thought to the back of his head.

"Let's go in already, you are bleeding" Nellie said impatiently.

Earl moved first, he gave Charlie a look as if telling him to keep his mouth shut and stay away which he returned with a knowing glare. Once they were inside, as if reading her mind, Ma'am Dodda ushered Nellie towards Earl's room and pushed Earl in the same direction.

"Nellie, you both should go ahead. I believe you can treat his cut while I go into the kitchen to inspect the food" Turning to Earl, she added "You let her treat your wounds, and rest"

"Come on Ma'am Dodda, it will heal in no time. It's just a minor cut, there's no need to treat me like a child" Earl sighed but secretly he was smiling.

"You go into that room and allow her to treat that cut!"

The tone of Ma'am Dodda's voice showed there was no more room for argument, it was finality. Earl raised his hands in surrender and started down the hall. He still found it funny that Ma'am Dodda treated him like a child at his age, but it made him happy.

He could hear Nellie's footsteps as she trailed behind him, the smile curved his lips before he could stop himself. What in God's name was wrong with him? He was getting too comfortable with this woman. Maybe Ina was right, he had no time to mourn her absence.
•••••••••••••••••

Nellie walked quietly behind Earl, the stubborn and arrogant Alpha of the blood pack. She tried not to get angry but the anger was there, try as she could to ignore it, ever since Ariel had informed her about Earl's Luna, the anger she felt was not going away.

She felt betrayed, why hadn't Earl told her about his Luna? Was it because his Luna was rebellious or the fact that she had left him for a Rogue? Or maybe he did not trust her enough to tell her about important things in his life? He probably felt she was of no use to him since she was his captive, and somehow, he knew keeping her was doing her a favor at the moment.

Nellie groaned inwardly, and she had kissed him! Her mind was still taking her back to that damn! kiss they had shared in the afternoon. She couldn't deny that no kiss had ever tasted better than the spicy taste of Earl's lips, who was she kidding? He had seduced her, he had urged her to kiss him so there was no need to feel guilty, but he was a married man, her captor who didn't see her as anything more than a captive.

How in hell did Ma'am Dodda think she was going to make Earl's heart warm? Nellie shook her head as if to shake off the thought. This arrogant man walking in front of her certainly needed no one to make his life warm, his life was already as warm as it could get.

They got into Earl's room soon and the guards opened the door for them, their eyes widened upon seeing Earl's bleeding hands, he raised his hands to let them know he was fine and they nodded, the worried look never leaving their face.

"Get me a bowl of water and towel so I can clean the Alpha's wounds" Nellie told a maid who came in to welcome them.

"You look troubled," Earl said immediately as they got into the room.

Nellie contemplated ignoring him for a while before deciding against it.

"Oh I am fine, just thinking about my pack" She lied.

Well it was not entirely a lie, she did wonder how they were faring without her. She wondered if Bella was a good leader, it still hurt that they had to believe she was a witch.

"I am sorry about that, is there anything you would like for me to do?" His voice was calm and soothing.

"No, it's not like there's anything I can do for now" Nellie gave him her fakest smile.

The maid arrived with the bowl of water before Earl could say another thing. She attempted to clean the wound but Earl took the bowl from the maid and nodded towards the door, she understood and left immediately.

When Nellie made no move to take the bowl from Earl he asked, "Aren't you going to clean it?"

"I thought you said you were fine, it's just a little cut and it will heal in no time" Nellie gave him an accusing look

"But I am losing blood and Ma'am Dodda said you should clean it" Earl drawled.

Was that desperation in his voice? No. He probably just wanted his wound cleaned so he doesn't lose too much blood. Nellie moved to where he stood close to the bed, she took the bowl from him and placed it on a table beside the bed, Earl on the bed in front of her and waited for her to start.

Nellie gently began cleaning his wound, she tried to avoid touching him in the process. The wound was somewhat deep, on his upper arm, the muscles in his arms twitched as the towel came in contact with the surface of the wound, Nellie tried to ignore the masculinity of his hand, the smoothness of his skin…

"You seem to be having a hard time" It was Earl's annoying voice.

"You think so"

Nellie paused to look at his sinfully beautiful face, she chided herself and continued with his wound, soon she was done. She reminded herself that he could hear her thoughts just to tell her to stop having wild thoughts.

A maid came in to take out the bowl of water and towel, seeing Earl sitted on the bed she just kept smiling sheepishly. Nellie rolled her eyes, she'd seen and heard a couple of them drooling over him very often that it annoyed her now.

"Thank you. We will have dinner here" Earl informed the maid who nodded shyly.

"Yes My Lord" She bowed and left.

"Why don't we go down?" Nellie asked as soon as the maid closed the door.

"I prefer eating here" Why was he smiling?

She had not seen him eat in here before, although it was completely normal for an Alpha to have his dinner in his chambers, in fact there was a dining in the room.

Soon Ma'am Dodda came in with a few maids who carried trays of food. Flashing her a smile, Ma'am Dodda directed the maids to set the table.

"How is your hand?" She asked Earl as she asked Earl who only shrugged, Ma'am Dodda inspected the place the cut had been and was not surprised to find it gone.

Nellie scoffed inwardly, she had just wasted her time treating him like it mattered.

"Thank you Nellie" Ma'am Dodda smiled and patted her on the cheeks.

Nellie only returned the smile.

"I'll leave you two to eat" With that, Ma'am Dodda left the room.

Earl was the first to move to the dinning, he sat down gracefully and waited for Nellie to join him. Nellie sluggishly went to the dinning, she sat across from him. The sweet aroma from the food was enticing, she involuntarily closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Ma'am Dodda makes the best meals"

The sound of his voice had her opening her eyes immediately, she had forgotten he was there, her cheeks flushed at the thought of the childish thing she just did.

"I bet she does"

They ate in silence for a while, with Nellie contemplating whether to apologize for kissing Earl earlier, she wondered what he thought of her, she hated to intrude into people's privacy by reading their thoughts but she was beginning to have a rethink with Earl.

He just sat there chewing on his steak like she was not there. Sometimes he would look up at her and smile, he just ate on silently, almost like he was enjoying the silence. Nellie was having a hard time eating, the food tasted so good but her appetite was fluctuating, she didn't know how to bring up the conversation about their kiss, she really had to apologize.

"You know you don't have to apologize" Earl gave her one of those devilish smiles.

"That is rude!" Earl growled, hitting the table.

"Your temper, that is more rude for a noble lady. Don't you think so?" He peaked something from his plate and chewed on it like it was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, closing his eyes and licking his lips in a way that made Nellie's stomach flutter.

"Reading my thoughts is very very rude, Mr Alpha!" Earl glared at him.

"Is it? You know you can return the favor, it would help because you will only find me thinking of one person- you" Earl smacked his lips and winked at her.

Nellie bit her lower lips to stop the anger, there he was, making those silly remarks again! How in hell was she supposed to concentrate if he was going to be giving her that look.

"It's a good thing I don't have to apologize, because now that you mentioned it, it's better I remind you that you actually seduced me into kissing you" She released her breath.

"Did I? How sad, and I was actually beginning to think a beautiful lady kissed me willingly" He feigned a sad face and shrugged.

Nellie ignored him completely and continued eating her food in silence, she didn't have much appetite but she managed to eat half the rice in her plates, she just picked on the vegetables and then waited for Earl to finish his meal.

Earl finished eating and stood up from the table, he flashed her a smile and headed into the bathroom, Nellie rolled her eyes and released her breath when he left. She had to admit the man was shameless, damn! Was he always like this?

Soon the maids came in to clear the tables, Nellie thanked them and left the table. She stood beside the window staring into the moonlight outside, it was a half moon forming in the sky, soon it would be full moon. When she was younger she draded the full moon, back then, it was difficult for her to know that she was going to turn involuntarily.

Once she had turned before a human kid, she couldn't forget the look of horror on the child's face on seeing a girl turn into a wolf right before her eyes. Nellie smiled now thinking about that, that human kid later became her maid. Her father made sure of that, according to him, the fear will make her obey and fear the little future Alpha, and it did.

Nellie still didn't understand why the humans had to live among werewolves, some of them did not even know what they were living among, well no one chose to be born as a werewolf or a human.

Her thought drifted to Ma'am Dodda, she had said she was human. How was it possible that she was Earl's nanny and almost like his mother? living in a pack of wolves. It was easy to see humans around in the outside world but it was almost impossible to have a human in a full wolf pack… she was going to ask her tomorrow.

"What are you thinking about?" She had not heard Earl come beside her.

"Soon we will have a full moon," Nellie said, nodding towards the sky.

"It looks beautiful" Just like you he thought.

"Do you have any fears?" Nellie almost whispered.

"Am I supposed to?" Earl's voice was as low as hers.

"When I was younger I did," She admitted.

"That is totally understandable," Earl smiled.

Most young werewolves grew up with the fear of what they were, unfortunately for Earl he didn't have such time and privilege, the truth was already awaiting him.

"I'll just go now, I need to have a bath too" The fresh scent of spices emanating from Earl made her heart churn.

"You can go in and bathe then" Earl turned to look at her fully, his hair was still wet from the bath and some strands were dripping on his face.

"I need to go to my room then" Nellie made to head towards the door.

"No way. You are sleeping here until I'm sure the Rogues are completely out of this pack"

Nellie's heart skipped two beats.

"Sleeping where?" She asked again as if to be sure.

"In my bed"

Nellie knew there was no changing that.