Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 103 The Damage to Adam’s Wolf
‘I would call this running away like a frightened rabbit, instead of talking about it.’ Maeve hissed furiously. ‘You should be owning up to the part you played in that and trying to understand why he reacted that way! Boundaries do not set themselves, Ann!’
‘Enough Maeve, I don’t need to discuss this with you.’ Ann spat back dismissively.
‘No? Well, tough luck because you are going to hear what I have to say whether you like it or not. This is NOT one-sided, we are two parts here Ann, as Adam and his wolf are.’ Maeve roared furiously.
‘But…’ Ann tried to object before being unceremoniously cut off again
‘No buts and no excuses! You have no idea Ann, you don’t understand AT ALL! Adam’s wolf hasn’t seen the light of day EVER Ann. He has been confined and locked away, smothered and suffocated by darkness until YOU woke him. YOU taunted him, YOU stirred his interest and he answered!’ Maeve screamed viciously. ‘Yet now, even though he gave you what you asked for… begged for almost… you punish him and reject Adam’s attempts to make things right…’
Ann sat quietly, stunned into silence by the ferocity of emotion that Maeve was directing at her.
‘You have no f*uc*king idea the waves of emotion that poured from him when his consciousness finally broke through Ann! I don’t give a flying f*uc*k about most things on the best of days but his grief, his sadness… it tore me apart!’ Maeve yelled, her voice cracking as her own grief poured through.
‘Maeve…’ Ann tried, her own heart breaking at experiencing Maeve’s utter devastation for the first time in her life.
The emotions were so wild, raw, and completely overwhelming that they almost robbed the breath straight from her lungs.
‘You have no idea Ann….’ Maeve whispered as she spoke in a tremulous voice, ‘…how alone and desperate he must have been this whole time… that when he finally breaks free and finds the intense emotions that you and Adam share… is it any wonder that he wants to hold onto it, to own it, to possess it so entirely that no one will ever take it from him again?’
The question hung unanswered in the air as Maeve sank to the floor, a desolate figure sobbing quietly at the distress she felt for her own kind.
Ann sat staring blankly ahead of her as she gripped the steering wheel, her emotions whirling in a complicated tsunami.
As much as she hated to admit it, Maeve was right.
Ann had tempted the beast, and the beast had answered.
She had no one to blame but herself.
Ann drove in silence along the usual route that she took toward the cafe where she had agreed to meet Lexi at. She hadn’t even bothered to turn the stereo on as she brooded silently over everything that Maeve had said.
Could she really hold his wolf responsible if he had no idea how to function outside of the darkness in the real world? What was that even like for him?
She had no way of knowing how extensive the damage to Adam’s wolf was, if any, or even if it could be healed. If she was completely honest, Adam probably had no idea either.
He had lived with this curse for so long that Ann doubted he remembered how he felt before it had taken hold of him, he had only been a child back then.
Her phone buzzed on the passenger seat next to her and she glanced towards it, reaching across to accept the call and flicking it onto speaker phone.
“Hey Lexi, I’m on the way. I should only be another fifteen minutes or so until I get there.” Ann answered a little flatly, her thoughts still preoccupied with her concerns.
“No problem chick. I figured I should let you know that I’ll be a little late. Papa got back to me with an intriguing snippet of information so I figured that you would probably want as much information as possible today, right?” Lexi answered brightly.
“Sure. Although actually, I was just looking forward to spending a bit of time with you on our own. The information could have waited but I appreciate it all the same.” Ann answered with a chuckle.
“N’aaaaw you little sweetheart. Are you missing me already?” Lexi teased, “I figured that the furball would be keeping you plenty occupied in my absence. I’m surprised you even want to indulge in a little girl-on-girl time with me.”
Ann snorted loudly as she pulled to a stop at a red light. She had entered the outer edges of the city now and traffic was starting to pick up.
“I mean, you could say that, although I’m not sure girl on girl is the phrasing I would have chosen… but I’ll let you off you filthy little pervert,” Ann smirked as Lexi cackled on the other end of the phone.
“To be honest Lexi, I’m sure you’ve seen just how much has gone on recently around me and my family. Adam and I, well, we haven’t had that many chances to spend any quality time together that’s been free of drama.” Ann grimaced, choosing not to tell Lexi about today’s little incident.
“Yeah, I gathered as much.” Lexi sighed, “I’m fairly sure that I’m going to blow a gasket when you fill me in on all of the sordid little details about just what exactly that little pea-brained WH*ORE has been up to now.”
Ann chuckled as the light turned green and she pressed on the accelerator slowly, continuing forward carefully as she kept a watchful eye out for pedestrians in the road and idiotic drivers.
This particular area of the city had a bit of a reputation for being the place where the down and out shifters and other magical beings would congregate and generally speaking, the majority of people that lived in this area were more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket.
“Well, let’s try not to draw too much attention to ourselves today huh? Last time we were in the cafe we had Brad shouting the odds and Adam squaring up to him. We’re going to end up with a terrible reputation.” Ann snorted.
“Like I give a S*hi*t.” Lexi answered gleefully, “Look at it this way, there’s never a dull moment when we’re around. We should start charging them for the ple@sure of our patronage really otherwise we’re just providing free entertainment. It’s kind of a little one-sided, don’t you think?”
Ann guffawed loudly, tipping her head back slightly as she did so. Lexi never failed to put her in a good mood with her att*itude toward life, but today it would be nice if it was just a bit of normality.
“Honestly, all jokes aside, a nice quiet coffee and a huge slab of cake sounds absolutely perfect to….S*hi*t!” she swore loudly as she slammed the brakes on to avoid hitting the figure of a man that had just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the road.
Ann gripped the steering wheel tightly, her heart pounding erratically as she locked eyes with the soulless orbs staring back at her.
“Ann? What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Lexi’s panicked voice probed from the direction of the passenger seat.