Chapter 31

NATHANIEL 




“The moment of truth is finally here. Are you excited?” Alan teased, clasping on my cufflinks.




“Fuck off.” I yanked my wrist out of his grasp.




“He’s afraid Ayra won’t be his mate,” Aiden piped up from my balcony. “I have a simple solution for that. Don’t go,” he said, walking into my room.




“Ayra and Kimberly put in a lot of work. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her to sit it out. Also, I know she’s my mate.”




“Is that Acheron speaking or Nathaniel? It seems you’re forgetting this ceremony is for wolves,” Alan said.




“I think our demons are a deciding factor. If your demon loses interest in your mate, things won’t work out. Anyone regretting not asking Mom about this before she died?” 




The twins shook their heads.




“Just you. Why do you think we’re sitting it out? We’re going to be out of here tomorrow before the heat hits us hard and forces us to go find a female who could be our mate,” Aiden said.




I understood where they were coming from. If it weren’t for Ayra, I’d have stayed at home for the week until everything subsided. Until now, I never had the urge to find a mate or even bear a child. The latter was still up for debate, but I wanted a mate. Not just any mate. Ayra.




“I rarely stick around long enough for the moon. After the formal event, I get my ass out of there.”




“But this year is different,” Alan concluded. “You do you, big bro. I’m gonna go pass out in my room. Don’t worry, I promise not to come outside when I hear you and Ayra fucking in the kitchen or living room.”




“Or the pool. Never forget the pool.”




We all snapped our heads to the door, where Ayra stood with a huge smile on her face. 




“Don’t worry, we’ll crash in the guesthouse tonight,” Aiden said, heading for the door. “Maybe don’t drink anything tonight. You never know who’ll try to poison you next.”




“I actually spoke with the kid who had the tray of drinks. He said he left it on a table when he had to use the bathroom urgently.”




“Just be careful out there. You look stunning,” Aiden said to Ayra, breezing past her with Alan following shortly after.




“Thank you!” She called out after him. 




“What’s up with you and Aiden? You look so… “




“So what?” She asked.




“I don’t know the right word to use. I guess I just thought the air around you two would be tense after the whole Sandra thing.”




She shrugged, walking past me to sit on my bed. “We talked. Did you know he bakes and cooks?”




“I do, now.” That new information was surprising, to say the least. He never hinted that he could do such things. For the brief times they visited, I was the one who took care of the laundry.




“He’s wicked good, too. I was hungry last night, and I bumped into him while he was busy.”




“And he still has his neck intact? I heard you blew them through a wall.”




“I don’t remember doing that, but isn’t that supposed to be a Nighthowler thing?”




“We’re still figuring you out,” I said, making her smile dim. “What’s wrong?”




“Is it weird that I don’t want to know about my past?”




“Probably? Most people would want to know their roots after living with a blank memory for a while. At least, I would want to.”




She sighed, rising from my bed before moving to stand in front of a window. “I like it here. I don't want to leave.”




“What are you talking about?”




“I feel like whatever we find out about my past is going to tear me away from this place.”




I could just hear the ‘from you’ even though she didn’t say it with her mouth.




“It doesn’t have to be that way. Finding out about your past doesn’t mean you can’t have the best of both worlds.”




“That’s the problem. What if I like there better than here? What if I want to return home after learning about my past?”




“Cut the what-ifs, Ayra. I don’t know what’s putting these thoughts into your head, but they’re bullshit. Finding out about your past doesn’t mean you have to give up the things that have started to become important to you. Who you are right now might not be who you were in the past, but that changes nothing, okay? This is the Ayra we know and love.”




“Thanks. I’ve just been stressed out lately.”




“Come here.”




“That feels good,” she admitted as my fingers massaged her neck. “Did you know the mark on my collarbone has changed? That’s why I have this halter neck dress on.”




I paused with my fingers still on the back of her neck. “Yeah? What does it look like?”




“I don’t know, to be honest. The mark just kept on moving around while I got dressed. It has formed a definite shape yet.”




“I’m gonna have to look that up. Did Acheron scare you last night? You kind of blacked out after that.”




She shook her head, a pleased smile on her face. “No, he was great. A bit rough, but I loved it, nonetheless.”




“There’s plenty where that came from. We can return home after the whole formal thing is done.”




“Definitely. If Kimberly is right, I don’t want to stick around to watch a bunch of people get into an orgy or something.”




“That happens. I witnessed it myself last year. Let’s just say it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.”




“Keep talking, guys. At this rate, you’re going to miss the entire event,” Alan said as he walked past my bedroom.




“Have you seen Dalia?” Ayra asked as I grabbed my coat.




“She probably left. She has no reason to be here.”




“You’re not very nice to her. I mean, after everything you said she did, it is to be expected.”




“But?” I asked, knowing there was something else she wasn’t saying.




“But maybe all of you can sit down and talk about it. She’s your family, after all.”




How could I tell her I didn’t give a fuck about Dalia without sounding like an ass?




“I’ll think about it,” I lied. “Come on. Let’s go join the rest.”




***




“Aiden and Alan sat the ceremony out?” Logan asked, handing me a glass of whiskey. “I promise it isn’t poisoned.”




The corners of my lips twitched up in a smile. “Sure. Aiden said not to take drinks from strangers, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”




“Wow, I’m honored, Alpha,” he drawled sarcastically. “I see they toned down the flowers this year. Kimberly was a menace last year. Speaking of Kimberly, Sandra? She’s gonna start asking questions soon.”




“She’s dead.”




“I figured.”




“Kai went with me because you were busy with your mate. A demon possessed Sandra. I think that’s why she’s been acting strangely. Sandra is crazy, but not that crazy that she’d practically plot to hurt someone.




“She killed Seth. I don’t even know where she got the dagger from, but she stabbed him to death. It was brutal.”




“What business does a fucking demon have with Sandra?”




“My thoughts are it possessed her around the time she left last year to go see her grandmother. That was when she started acting like a psychotic ex. I feel bad for her, but… “




“It is what it is. Don’t think we forgot you have some explaining to do. You promised us that.”




“And I’m regretting it now.”




“Don’t worry. We’ll go easy on you,” he said, giving me a smile that said he knew what I was going to tell them. “I figure now is the best time to break the news to Kimberly before the heat hits us hard.”




“Good luck.”




“Don’t need it, man. I didn’t kill her.”




Left alone, I went over how I’d break the news to Kai and Logan. They were my close friends, and it was high time they knew what I was.




***




AYRA




“You know, you could have stayed at home. Nathaniel’s brothers didn’t come,” I said, bumping my hip into Nikki’s. 




“Reese was having none of that, and well, she basically threatened to stop cooking if I didn’t. Now we both know the kitchen isn’t my stronghold. I call it blackmail, but she said it’s just her trying to do me some good. A mate, my ass. She seems to forget one thing; I’m a human.”




“Well, maybe she brought you here in hopes of a male wolf finding you as a mate.”




“I like my celibacy a lot, thank you very much.”




“Then you probably haven’t been with the right male. Your partner must have sucked in bed.”




Nikki frowned before she even turned around to address Ishmael. “And you know that because?”




He lowered his voice, his head dipping low so he could look her directly in the eye. “I know all your dirty little secrets. Face it, you fantasize about me every night in bed.”




Nikki burst into laughter, patting Ishmael’s shoulder. “Keep dreaming, sorcerer.”




He straightened with a smile. “So, you remember I am a sorcerer, and yet you’re not scared of me at all.”




“I would if I didn’t know Alpha Nathaniel would come down on your ass for hurting one of his pack members. I’ll go stuff my face now. Did I tell you that the place looks amazing?” She didn’t wait for me to reply before she turned on her heels, walking away from us.




“I like her. Plus, she’s right. The decorations are amazing.”




“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for us. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”




He shrugged. “I did what I could. You also helped. I don’t think Nathaniel would be alive if it weren’t for you. Even though I don’t know how you took that vicious poison in you.”




“I don’t want. I guess I just knew how?”




“Shit happens. I can tell you’re anxious about tonight. There’s no need to be. I told Nathaniel that you’re his mate. He just didn’t listen to me.”




“How would you know?”




“Because I know? Nathaniel or the moon goddess doesn’t pick his mate. You-know-who does,” he said, reminding me we were in a room full of creatures who had enhanced hearing. “And you-know-who wants you. That’s why you have that mark on you. It’s like he was telling the moon goddess this is my choice.”




“Oh.”




“Oh. Gotta go now. I have a feast to attend tonight. Relay the news to Nathaniel for me, will you?”




“Sure. Have fun.”




“You know me.”




I’d just turned when someone who didn’t look like she belonged here caught my attention. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee, deep purple lipstick coating her lips. She looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew her from.




When her eyes met mine, she smiled, waving at me before she disappeared into the wall.




Nathaniel. I had to tell Nathaniel what I just saw. That wasn’t normal. She didn’t look like a demon, but if she wasn’t a demon, who then was she?