Chapter 57

He did not understand what she was saying. It sounded just like flimsy excuses in his ears. He just couldn't bring himself to understand her.

Queen Vicky wasn't ready to help and that's what all these what. Every word that escaped her heart-shaped lips were excuses she came up with not to help Ashley and if he was being honest, Queen Vicky Kausha made no sense to him.



He had angrily left the pack house, driving in combusting anger to his penthouse, he needed to explain to Ashley they would not get things done today. The thoughts of her reaction increased his anger. Ashley definitely would not take it easy. She wanted this, and he would get it done even if it stalls because if he's honest with himself, he needed her to go through that phase too.



He entered the room tushing up his look in readiness.



"So what's it?"



"Ashley, I need you to calmly understand this, Queen Vicky gave me a bag of words," Logan said.



"What do you mean?" She asked.



"She said a lot, Mama," he started. "She said we'd have to tie before the rituals can take place," his voice hit exhaustion as he spoke.



"Be tied? I don't understand! EXPLAIN!" She requested.



He was still standing at the open door since he entered the room. Regarding her intently, then turned, stepped in completely shutting the door behind him, and began moving about the clothes-littered room. First, he picked up her jumpsuit, then her boots and gloves. It wasn't until Logan's hand was poised above the doorknob of the bathroom that Ashley realized what he was doing.

She felt the shock to the soles of her cold, bare feet.



"Are you going to treat me like a pestering kid and ignore me?" she asked, over a faint tremor in her lower lip.



In typical Logan fashion, he didn't answer right away.



"You are not a pestering kid, sweetie!"



"Oh, please don't sweetie me right now! What do you mean tied? Do you mean we have to perform some rites to tie us together or what?!"



He nodded slowly, sending a strand of hair to his eyes, "Yes, a rite where we take blood as a tie."



He felt hurt because he should have done this before now.

He was going to propose to her, they should have performed the rites before now. He just had not thought about it properly.



Her shimmering eyes widened. "Does that mean you aren't taking me down to Queen Vicky today?"



The spear went deeper. Logan swallowed a pained sigh. "I love you, Ashley, I'll try all I can to make her do this for me. Even if it meant performing the rites with you right away."



Ashley dropped into the bed with a slight thud, every ounce of dejection sipping through her skin.



"Please try to understand." He appealed. "We will do all we can, we will get this done. Do you understand?"



She nodded furiously, but he saw doubt in her eyes.

He'd hoped, prayed, that his declaration of assurance would evoke a similar one from her, and had held on to that hope on his drive back from the kennels. But it hadn't.



Now he knew he couldn't risk telling the truth.

He just has to perform this rite.



She might flee in terror, and as much as he wanted to believe he was thinking only of her safety, he couldn't deceive himself.

He needed her to undergo metamorphosis before the full moon, if she doesn't, they'd waste the only chance for redemption they had with her. He couldn't let Queen Vicky and her rules hinder them.



A stifled sob hiccupped in Ashley's chest and broke loose. A tear rolled down her cheek.



"Don't cry, baby." Logan moved to her, reached out, and blotted off the tear. Another followed and spilled over his thumb. "Please . . . I'll take you in the morning. Soon as the sun rises. I promise." He gazed into her eyes, saw disbelief, and knew it was deserved. He has to take this seriously this time, he has to make sure they get the Kauai rite done with to move to the important rituals.



"In the morning . . . " she repeated with a hitch in her voice that sounded like a question.



"I promised, didn't I?"



Then he turned and carried her clothing into the laundry bin before moving into his bathroom. As the door fell shut behind him, he thought that no one deserved to live in darkness more than he did.



Ashley was consoling herself by indulging in what she'd come to think of as her secret vice. Twice, for a brief instant, she'd simply resigned herself to death.



This chapter ended and she turned to one entitled. "The in-depth of Man and Beast unveiled." The words immediately drew her in.