CHAPTER 42

What Shana did not expect as part of the mating rites was the fact that she was literally kidnapped out of her bed.
Well, not her own bed precisely.
She had moved all her things to Asher's the day before the rites with the help of Armando. There had been nothing much to move because most of the things in her little apartment had belonged to her grandmother. She had just left them there and packed mostly her clothes.
Asher had been so excited about her move and he had gone and outdone himself to welcome her.
He had moved from the room she slept in on the night of their mating to a bigger room to accommodate them both. And she had to confess, the room was beautiful and at the same time classy.
The cream and beige walls with the marbled floor looked so dreamy with the huge fourposter bed complete with the curtains. It was big and imposing but at the same time, it felt like home. There were no excessive decorations, just the tasteful furniture.
"I hope you like it. Rose helped me out a bit. We could make changes if you don't like it," he rambled on.
"Are you kidding me? I love it. It's the perfect honeymoon suite. I should be asking you if you like it. Doesn't look like anything like your style," she had said smiling.
"Not really," he said wrinkling his face. "But I could deal with it, as long as I'll always have you here with me my mate. And it makes sense because it's going to be a really lengthy honeymoon," he had said looking into her eyes. "This is the room we are going to spend the rest of our forever and I must warn you we are never going to be having separate rooms."
"Fine by me, Mr Anderson."
She had soon discovered the walk-in closet was her own personal boutique. She had all the clothes and shoes she was certain she could not go through in this lifetime. And they were all things she liked.
She had turned to him and whispered "Thank you" and he had just smiled at her.
Now she was forced out of that beautiful bed and she was blindfolded, being transported to God knows where. No one warned her about that parts of the rite and at first, she had struggled but easily subdued by the women that stood over her. She had recognized one of them from her dinner with Rose and she had relaxed so there had been no need to gag her like she knew they were going to.
It was not even needed because Asher had not returned home from work. She had been worried and had stayed up waiting for him till midnight when she decided to go to bed and had been kidnapped right after.
When her blindfold finally came off, she found herself in a big beautiful room, tastefully furnished and spoke volumes of money well spent. The four poster bed she had been guided to sit upon was draped in dark silk that beckoned her to just take a break, from all the anxiety and cold feet she had been getting before the mating rite was finally upon her and just lay down. But Shana did not succumb to that urge.
She breathed a sigh of relief the moment she saw Rose rolled into the room. She even managed that act in an elegant way that left Shana with the realization that she could never be that elegant, Luna or not.
"Rose," she cried in relief as she stood and went to hug her. "Thank God you are here. I was scared for a moment there."
She chuckled softly as she replied. "You've nothing to be scared of. It's just a part of the rite. Besides, this is nothing compared to what it used to be."
"What it used to be?" Shana could not help her curiosity.
"Your mate has been detained from coming to you while we put all these together so he can come find you later and he'll know just where to find you. But it was not like that centuries ago," she said smiling. "Then, a man was put to a far greater test of truly finding his mate in unexpected places and he had to find her just in time for the mating rites. The telepathy between mates helps a lot."
"Sounds like fun," Shana said.
Rose shook her head and said, " Not so much fun when a man can't find his mate before the rites."
"That happens?," she asked.
"Oh yes, even with the telepathy."
"What happens then?" This was a juicy story she wanted to know all about, just in case her mate did not think of finding her in his grandmother's in time for their mating rites.
"That, I'm not going to say," she replied in a dire tone, making Shana scared. " Who knows? You might just find out when the night runs out."
The she gave Shana a secret smile.
Now, she really wished Asher would come get her soon. She discovered she did not want to find out for herself what was going to happen if he did not. Her thoughts were going into overdrive s she imagined series of scenarios where he did not find her.
She needed a distraction. She looked around around the room at the six other occupants, her gaze zeroing in on the woman from Anderson Group.
The one who had played a nasty game with her, the one she had wished she had a chance to rip her gorgeous eyes out in the past week. The one who had obviously been an old flame of Asher's from the tantrum she had thrown in his office.
The one who was currently giving her a nasty look over her outrageously long eyelashes.
She wondered how she never noticed the woman's eyelashes were longer than was fashionably normal. To think she had seen her as perfection.
She definitely could see a lot more faults and imperfections the closer she looked, like the irregular, cynical upturning of her lips at the corner and the crinkly lines beside her eyes and the...
Now, do not do that Shana Johnson. You got the man already and you've no reason to be so mean about a perfectly beautiful face, she scolded herself. Asher had chosen her and that was that.
She looked closely at the other women in the room and her gaze clashed with a few others who were not happy to see her. Nothing she could do about that, she thought.
Then her eyes met with grey soft ones that were quickly averted but the moment had been there.
That was all she needed and Shana knew that like it or not, she just found a friend.
"Now we wait," the proclamation came from Rose as she wheeled out of the room..
"Wait for what?," Shana asked in a high pitched voice.
"Why? Your mate of course," the two faced bitch replied in a condescending tone and gave her a look that said she was stupid for asking such an obvious question.
Shana disliked her already.
★★★★★★★★★★
Adele hated Shana beyond anything. She hated the sight of her when she had been led in there with her blindfold on and he had been smelling so intimately of Asher. She had hated seeing the mating mark on her neck. It was the evidence of her own failure. Adele had hated her more and more when she had hugged Rose and the stupid old crone had welcomed her into her arms with smiles like an old friend.
She hated both of them for their deceit and she was having a hard time holding back what she knew from everyone else. Her father wanted her to keep the information to herself till the time was right but she felt like there was no better time than now. What she was never going to understand was the old woman's part in it all.
Maybe she did not love Asher like she wanted others to believe and who could blame her? He was not really her grandchild and his mother had ruined her own son. That was the only reasonable explanation for it.
To think she had also been deceived by the innocent image she presented. The woman was an awful Crier, everything she knew Asher detested but it served him right he was getting caught in the woman's trap. It was a price he was going to pay and regret for passing her off for the nobody before her.
Like every other woman in the room, she had been picked by Rose for reasons she did not know about. There were many women in the pack willing to partake in their stupid rite but obviously, the old woman had felt a need to rub it in her face that her grandson was mated.
We'll see how long that smile is going to remain on your face old woman, she thought to herself.
Adele recognized the women, save for a little Omega hunched over in a corner. She did not know the Omega's reason for being there and she did not care.
She hated being in the same room with her and having to play along in the little charade. She wanted to kill the woman and end her joy right there then but she had to keep it all in. The only thing stopping her from really killing her were the eye witnesses. If she had Shana Johnson alone, she was going to teach her the lesson of her life for stealing her man but she just had to be calm for now.
She was going to have her chance soon enough.