CHAPTER 63

Asher saw red when he got the pictures of Shana with Mark. His men had informed him about everything that was said between the two and from the look of things, Mark was not on his side like he was beginning to think. He had gone ahead to apologize to Shana and that was suspicious. As if that was not enough, Shana had been smiling at him before they parted in the pictures. They looked to be best of friends already and for some reason, it irked him.
And without a second thought to what he was doing, he picked up his phone and called her.
When he heard her tired 'Hello' on the line, his insides did a massive flip jump and he wanted to confess how much he missed her.
Missed her?
No, he did not.
That was just his wolf thinking.
"Not me!," his wolf growled at him. "You should admit you can't stop thinking about her even though her betrayal still cut deep," he added.
"Tell me, what were you plotting with my Beta?" The words were out of his mouth before he thought better of saying them. He was getting defensive about the way he still felt about her, despite all she had done. His heart was still racing at the mere whisper of her breath over the phone, even with his senses trying to call him to order.
For the millionth time, he had to recite in his head why he had to hate her, why he could no longer love or trust the woman he once knew. And like the previous times, it made no difference and it annoyed the hell out of him.
"Are you planning on taking him as your new lover? I don't think your present lover would love that." She gave no reply to that and he became angrier. "Cat got your tongue Crier? What did I tell you would happen if I caught you even talking to another man?"
Shana gave a dramatic sigh to that. "It's just Mark. He's your friend and your Beta. Besides, he came to me and not the other way round. He only paid me one innocent visit to apologize," she said testily.
"Nothing about you is innocent Crier, and it's a pity I found out too late," he retorted.
Shana's encounter with Adam had left her with a pounding headache. Getting his call, she had hoped all was forgiven and that he was calling to alleviate all her pains and fears. But it pained her to know he had only called her to play more of the victim card.
Then all of a sudden, she was tired of letting him walk all over her. He was supposed to be different from everyone else who did that all her life, like Debby, Eve, Nicolette, Adele and even her own grandmother. He turned out to be like the rest, making her suffer for a life that chose her.
She was hurting and suffering as much as he was but he had advertently turned a blind eye to that to focus on his own pain. She felt the tears swimming in her eyes but she tried to hold them back. Like she already told herself several times, she was going to cry no more.
Instead, she was going to fight Asher head on. "I don't get why we are having this conversation. If you have a problem with his visit, then take it up with him. Goodnight Alpha." Then she hung up on him, and proceeded to switch off her phone.
And she had to admit, it felt really, really good picturing him livid with anger wherever he was.
But her head did not feel that way. Neither did her stomach. All at once, everything seemed to be wrong with her.
Her pounding head became secondary when her throat started burning. It felt like a thousand tiny insects were trying to scratch their way through her neck.
She made it just in time to the bathroom on weak legs to lose her dinner. She retched and retched till she felt like her guts were going to start coming out with the vomit. Then she sat on the cold floor weakly.
Her whole body felt hot and the cooling effect of the floor was what she needed. Her hand went up to her forehead and she discovered she was not only feeling hot, she was burning up.
"Crap," Shana muttered to herself. Being sick was not what she needed at that point in time. It was a time she needed to be strong.
She dozed off lightly and later got up to take a cold shower. It helped her burning body a little bit. After that, she forced herself to swallow two aspirins and went back to bed, all the while praying she would be back to her normal, healthy self in the morning. She soon fell back into a disturbed sleep.
Meanwhile, Asher was pacing and muttering angrily to himself in his room in Turkey. He was furious and he wanted to punch something, or someone.
Nobody had ever hung up on him.
He had tried calling her back but her phone had gone off miraculously. But then again, he thanked he goddess minutes later when he calmed down a bit.
If the second call had gone through, he would have come across as a jealous husband, which was not the image he wanted to project.
He was supposed to be nonchalant about whatever she was doing in her free time but he just couldn't help the rage in him whenever he glanced at the pictures on the coffee table and he saw her sad smile. It made him feel awful and he wished he had the power to teleport back to New York.
Asher regretted making his trip at a time when a lot was going on within his home and the pack but then again, his reason for the journey was for the whole pack.
He had reasoned that with him gone, Thomas might be confident enough to make a move with Collins, maybe a meeting or a call. Armando was ready, tracking and lying in wait for any action from the former Beta. Anything would have come in handy to apprehend the traitor.
And he had not chosen Turkey on a whim. It was the place Collins had grown up, away from his pack. Asher had travelled that far to know more about the man and maybe find a weakness but so far, no one in the little packs the bastard had ravaged were ready to talk to him.
The journey was fruitless after all and Armando was yet to find anything.
He touched the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket lightly, his blood boiling that he had come there in vain. If only the message was proof enough, he would have been able to drag Thomas to justice. But it was just a piece of paper that didn't even mention his name. Doing anything stupid would only make him a fool before the whole pack.
He was leaving Turkey as soon as possible. Whether he liked it or not, the pull of his mate was stronger than he expected, especially knowing she was talking and smiling with a man he was not so sure about at the moment.
And like it or not, she was his weakness and an easy target for his enemies. And he was blood bond to protect her.
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Collins watched from his perch, unseen as a young wolf looked around nervously before entering the log house and a wicked grin spread across his face.
His guess had been right after all.
The log house had been Cole and Ethan's sacred place while growing up. They had both singlehandedly built the place and they never let anyone in, except him. But that was because the bastards pitied him and wanted to make him feel like he belonged. Collins had hated them for it because, truth be told, he was aware he never belonged no matter how hard he tried.
He had always thirsted for more of everything and he never cared about how he got it or who suffered for it. And in his early teens, he had decided his pack was no place for him and had gone off on his own. But he had returned home when his father passed away, only for the stupid Moon goddess to mark Cole as the next Alpha. He had been enraged but he had waited calmly for the perfect opportunity to take what truly belonged to him and had taken even more after that. And no one was going to stop him now. He was on his way to becoming a god himself.
His eyes gleamed as the wolf came out and checked around the house nervously. It was evident he was waiting for someone with the way he kept looking towards the path he had appeared from.
Collins did not know him personally but he recognised his face. His guess was that the wolf was the messenger he and his minions had been looking for.
He had to give it to Ethan. He was smarter than he appeared and he had almost done a fine job of getting away with everything if not for the foolish, sentimental side of him. Knowing that about him, Collins had finally gotten the answer he was looking for.
If Ethan was planning something with other wolves, there was only one place he would use and his answer had been the log house. The man's misplaced sense of duty probably made it reasonable for him to plan avenging his friend in the only place both of them had treasured. Collins could not be happier.
The fact that the wolf he watched had a key to the place was enough proof for him and with a happy grin, he shifted and moved down the slope slowly, closing in stealthily on the unaware wolf who went back to wait in the log house.
When he was close enough, Collins barged in through the door, the force of his body breaking the logs with some digging and tearing into him. But he didn't care.
His whole attention was on his unsuspecting prey, who had gone motionless when he realized what was going on. He snarled at him dangerously, waiting for him to make his first move and run in fear before he gave chase.
That was the time he moved in for the kill, it was the time the prey's blood was the sweetest and made him heady with pleasure.