CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
After a brief moment of hesitation, she received the call. "What do you want?" She asked, almost sternly.
Ericson spoke with a nervous smile, "Can't I call my ..."
"What do you want?" She cut him off before he could begin his fruitless attempts to sweet-talk her.
"I just want to know how my lady is doing?" He spoke softly, afraid that he was going to aggravate her in another land he had no control over.
"Your lady? Isn't she out of the hospital already? Or am I missing something?" Avyanna mocked subtly, "Last I remember you were accusing me of hurting her."
Baron, who was eavesdropping on the call, smirked casually almost letting out a small giggle.
"No... I meant... Please Avyanna, let's just talk calmly." Ericson heaved.
"I am calm, what about the tone of my voice makes you think I'm not calm?" She was indeed calm, besides she couldn't even make a scene with Baron in the room with her. She couldn't afford to show immense disrespect to her husband, but subtly do so; just the way she did when Baron and Ericson were physically present earlier that day.
"Alright." He said in defeat, "I just want to know how you're doing. I just had a ..." He paused, not sure if he wanted to say what he intended to say.
When Ericson and Avyanna were bonded together during the rites of their arranged marriage, they were marked. This mark that they possessed made it possible for either of them to sense the way they felt from miles away. No matter the corner of the world they were in, they could telepathically feel what their significant other felt. If Avyanna felt pain, then Ericson would feel it too but in a much smaller proportion. The feeling wouldn't be as great as the other person is feeling it, but the mate would be able to tell that their other mate is in pain. The same thing also applied to the feeling of happiness, and any other feeling. This quirk made it possible for them to save themselves from danger in her past life, several times.
Ericson had sensed Avyanna happy for a moment and it disturbed him greatly. He had wondered what could make her so happy that he would feel it and he grew jealous. His jealousy held him by his neck until he decided to call her, even though he knew damn well that she wouldn't be really interested in talking with him.
Avyanna had not even considered the ability nor possibility of her mark to let Ericson have an idea about what she was doing with Baron in the Lycan territory, until she received a phone call from him. She knew that her jealous to-be ex-husband wouldn't be able to shake off the feeling of happiness he sensed from her. On her part, she felt a little guilty about what she did but she didn't care because she had just watched him have sex with another lady, right under her nose. She felt his feeling of euphoria then and she didn't say a word, so why would he try to guilt trip her on a call, she thought to herself.
"Had a what?" She asked with a slight smile of anger.
"Nevermind," he couldn't bring himself to say it so he just said, "I miss you. How is the Lycan territory? Are you alright there?"
"Yes, everything is groovy. Anything else?" Avyanna was bored already.
"I wish you were here with me right now. I hate the way I was with you earlier today." Ericson sounded innocent and very loving and that made Baron's jealousy grow.
Baron couldn't wait for the call to end already. He squeezed his fist very tightly to appease his anger, until his claws nearly made his palms bleed. He clenched his jaw but that didn't stop him from letting out a low growl.
"Are you not gonna say anything?" Ericson asked when she replied his boring, lifeless words with silence.
"What am I supposed to say to you? You call me up in the middle of the night to say you wish I was with you. When I was with you, were you not screaming at me?" She lost herself, gradually raising her voice in anger, until she realized that Baron was still in the room. She then reduced her voice, breathed, and dashed a feigned smile at Baron, who maintained composure.
"I feel really terrible about that. I just want you here and I can't wait for your days at that dreaded place to be over so you can come home to me." Ericson rambled.
"This 'dreaded' place does not accuse of a crime I didn't commit. This 'dreaded' place feels more home than you have been these past few days." Avyanna scoffed respectfully.
Baron was satisfied at her response but he still wanted to rip Eric's head off. His primal instinct to protect his mate, Avyanna, was still residing in him and he couldn't shake it off easily, especially as he listened to him try to sweet-talk Avy. He was even angrier when he fully realized that he interrupted his steamy moment with Avyanna. He let out another growl.
"What do you mean it's more home than I am? Did you just growl?" He asked in restricted fear
"This call is over." Avyanna was pissed, at the same time she didn't also want Eric to suspect Baron's presence in the room.
"No wait, I ... Did I annoy you? I ..." He mumbled before he said stiffly, "Be safe Avyanna, my ..."
She ended the call before he could say the last word, then she turned to look at a boiling Baron.
"Why the face?" She asked Baron, who immediately realized that he was doing a terrible job at controlling his anger.
He was about to conceal the look on his countenance, before he decided that he was done with controlling it and hiding it, it was high time Avyanna knew how he felt, even though he didn't say it out loud.
"He pisses me off too!" He growled silently.
"Yeah, that is kind if his thing now. He wasn't always this way." Avyanna looked downcasted for a moment. She briefly recalled the way he was loving and caring when their love was still new and saccharine.
"You're making excuses for him." Baron said, but making it sound like a question. He dashed an icy stare at Avyanna as he waited for her to speak.
"No, I am not." She replied almost instantly in repulsion. She thought to herself, "Why would I make excuses for someone that just humiliated me?"
"Do you still love him?" He asked in a way that seemed guilty-trippy to her.
"Gosh no! Why are you so concerned anyways?" She asked, slightly annoyed by the way he asked.
"I am concerned because, I want to see you happy. At the feast, I showed you what he was supposed to do and I still want to." Baron sounded casual. It was his way of not sounding too emotional about the way he felt about Avy, and keeping the conversation not too deep. "What was that before the call? About your wolf?"
Avy remembered Katie and everything that began to make sense. The few times that Katie resurfaced was either when she was close to Baron, or when she was intensely angry.
"Katie." She whispered.
"That's her name?"
"Yeah."
"You haven't really told me about your wolf. All I think is that for some reason you're not connected with your wolf. Why is that?" Baron asked in genuine concern. She compared it to the concern that Ericson, supposedly, showed and immediately felt more comfortable talking with Baron. She was okay with letting him know that Katie was actually disconnected but she wasn't comfortable with saying the reason why.
"I don't think I have told you this but, I haven't been able to speak to my wolf. Katie has been disconnected and she only surfaces ..." The realization hit her, "is when you are around or when I am very angry." She wondered why Baron's presence would greatly influence the presence of her wolf, then she searched his piercing eyes for answers.
He was the variable in her past life. She never came in contact with him in her first life, but she heard his name and knew of his deeds and royal influence. In this present life that she had gotten to know him, her feelings had changed and now her wolf, she was conflicted.
'Who exactly is Baron?' Avyanna asked herself.
Baron just held her palms and maintained his gaze, then he said in a soothing voice, "If I have such an impact on your wolf, I will do whatever I can to get her back. We will get back your Wolf." He emphasized on the 'We' when he spoke.
"Thank you." She said, a billion emotions coursing through her nerves, veins, and mind.
She looked up at him and he assured, "no matter the cost." She maintained his look at him, and she didn't even realize when her face started moving closer to his.
His yearning for her grew immensely and he too moved his face closer to hers.
Her eyes closed slowly as she parted her lips to receive his, and he felt a fire burn in him; a fire that only a kiss from Avyanna could quench.
Their lips were so close to meeting and locking in a steamy kiss, before it was interrupted by a knock on the door.

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