CHAPTER 56

Shana listened closely for the sound of Asher's footsteps but there was nothing.
Again, he was not coming home.
It had been over a week since he walked out on her and since then, she had not set eyes on him once. He was avoiding her like the plague and that knowledge hurt more than she could ever admit. But more than that, she missed him.
She missed the disgruntled look on his face when he reluctantly got out of their bed in the mornings and the indecent smile he aimed at her whenever he came home to find her taking a shower. She missed the touch of his lips and the safety of his arms around her in sleep. Without him, her nights became colder and her nightmares were rearing up their heads again. She was almost convinced Adam now shared the room with her, with it's frigidity and emptiness.
So that night, she had crept out of their bed and gone to sleep in the one in the room across from it. It made no difference really but she did not feel as alone as she had felt in her matrimonial bed.
She curled up in the big bed and allowed her thoughts to wander to the times she was happy. It had been short but worth it. She wished things were different but her situation with Asher was well deserved.
"If only you had not kept so much from me grandmama," she said to herself, the silent tears rolling down her temple. She had thought she had no more tears to cry but the thought that things could have been different if only she had not been kept in the dark all her life by the only person she trusted.
"The heart of your kind only awakens when you find your one true love."
Rose's words rang in her ears again and again. It had been sad to find out about something that important so late but what saddened her most was the role her grandmother played in keeping that truth hidden.
"I wish you were here to tell me why you did it," she said with a silent sob. The old woman had cost her a lot by that action. She had lost the love and trust of her man in the blink of an eye. The respect he had for her was gone and she could no longer hold her head up because she was pretty sure everyone in the pack knew every sordid detail about her. Like their Alpha, she believed they had an aversion towards Criers, except Mila and Rose.
Elise seemed to have closed off from her since she found out about her. She was still courteous towards her but Shana could not help but notice the disdain she had seen in the woman's eyes a few times. She never smiled at her anymore and she avoided her as much as possible.
There was also the security guards around the house, about ten of them and they all visibly hated her. She knew they could not wait to catch her doing something she was not supposed to be doing to rat out on her. So, she avoided doing anything altogether. She could pull teeth from the boredom of just waking up to eat, then sleep. Not for the first time in her life, she realized how lonely her life was. For a moment there, she had forgotten what it was like because of Asher. But now that he no longer wanted anything to do with her, the reality of her life hit her once again.
She had a phone but she had no one to call, save for Quinn but it was not his birthday yet. And she had a feeling her phone was tapped, considering all the security around the house.
If Asher's only reason for going to all the trouble was solely because he believed her to be a whore, then she would never forgive him.
She started feeling the clawing hands of sleep and she readily welcomed it. One thing she was grateful for was that she never seemed to be able to stay awake long enough these days. That way, she could escape her troubled thoughts to a paradise of her own till the nightmares come again.
She had scarcely closed her eyes when she was crudely jolted out of her sleep.
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Asher wished he could escape into oblivion for a few hours by just drinking alcohol like humans but alas, the spirits he was pouring down his throat nonstop was no match for his metabolism.
But one thing the alcohol was doing was making him feel more awful about his life. Just days ago, his sky had been cloudless with a lot of rainbows but everything was already out of place before he could even savour the happiness.
But the happiness itself had been an illusion. He before anyone else knew there was no happiness to be found in the arms of a woman like Shana. She was the spurn of the devil herself and he felt ashamed that he had fell for her trap.
At least, the pack had pitied and hated his mother alongside the dead Alpha, because they respected him but he was sure they were all laughing with glee behind his back. Because they never wanted him and most would say he got what he deserved and it was the truth. Someone had to pay for his mother's sin and if fate had picked him to be the one to be punished, so be it. But he was not going to go down without punishing the Crier under his roof.
Merely thinking about her steered his desire dangerously. He should hate her and cringe at the mere thought of touching her but the opposite was the case. He had made himself stay away from her at all cost because he could not trust himself to go on bended knees to beg her if she refused to let him touch her. It was that bad and despite his threat and all he had said to degrade her, he would never force himself on her unless she was willing.
His phone rang and he propped himself up from his slouch behind his desk to check the caller.
It was his grandmother.
He sighed heavily and slouched back in his chair.
He had been avoiding her as much as he was avoiding his mate. He just had a feeling he would not like whatever she was going to say to him. And as much as he longed to pour out his heart to her, she would never understand the extent to which he felt betrayed.
Besides, there was more cloud in his sky than just a Crier. His pack was in much more trouble than he once thought.
"Alpha Collins of Bleeding Moon and a
member of your pack are allies."
There was no doubt about it. Collin's ally was Thomas.
He had tried to find the wolf that got the message to him but his name and contact details had been fake, like he already guessed. Armando had looked through the CCTV footages but nothing useful had turned up.
Nevertheless, all he really needed was the message. He had searched out the wolf to know why he was ratting out his Alpha but he could hazard a guess. And that was the reason for his fear.
He was aware that the only one Collins was after was him but that did not mean others would not suffer if a fight broke out between them. Considering Collins reputation, it was something he wanted to avoid at all cost. He did not want the pack to suffer for the greediness of a few men.
For now, he kept the news away from Mark. He was going to tell the wolf when he was absolutely certain he had no hand in his father's plans.
He got up all of a sudden and grabbed his jacket. Enough was enough. He was going home for the first time in days. He was tired of hiding out in his office.
He could have easily lodged in a hotel instead of camping out in his office and avoided the pointed looks his staff gave him, while he knew they all suspected there was trouble in his paradise but the option just never occurred to him until his third day of sleeping in his office. After that, there had been no point.
But not anymore. He was going home and Shana was going to open her legs for him willing or pleasurably coerced.
When he got home to find their bedroom empty, he had let out an angry growl.
The bitch!
Had she sneaked off the moment his back was turned? He could imagine she had missed the touch of a man without him there and knowing her kind, it would be no surprise she had run off with the next available one.
Asher swore vengefully as he went further into the room. He noticed the bed was not laid and it smelled so much like she had just been there. Her flowery scent tantalized his nostrils and he caught himself sniffing hungrily.
If she was not in the room, where could she be?
Then he smelled her, from the room across from theirs. Without wasting another second, he stormed across the hall and slammed open the door.