96

SIN POV

As soon as morning came, I sprinted out of the room to the room Julie was in.

"What is going on?" Julie asked, rubbing her eyes. "It better be good you dragged me out of the room this morning. Or else, Alpha or not, I won't let you get away with it."

"Ditto." Alison groaned as she did some stretching.

Laurent rolled his eyes but said nothing to me. He was the only one who remained calm and he kept watching me.

I wonder if he knew what was going on, but then I didn't care. I believed as soon as I said whatever I wanted, he'd be the first to goad me.

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

It had given me a sleepless night and I believed I truly deserved it.

"You look as though you did not sleep all through the night. Did Artemisia keep you busy?" Alisson did a suggestive wink and I shook my head.

"Did you fight again? What did you do, Sinclair?" Julie folded her arms in front of her.

I was always at fault, anyway. Artemisia had never done any wrong since she came to Merene.

She only wanted to find her place in the world and for someone to love her.

I believed I had heard her say that too many times with tears in her eyes.

She wanted to be happy but each time, I had made sure to make it futile.

I had crushed her heart over again and made her seem like a nobody.

It wasn't my intention, I just found myself in some situation I couldn't avoid.

"What did you do, Sinclair Stone? You better spill now or so help me God, because Artemisia has been the best thing to ever happen to you." Alisson scowled.

"She was," I mumbled with a sigh. I shoved my hands through my hair and tugged.

For a few seconds, my eyes stayed on Alisson. She was the easiest to look at.

Julie looked as though she would pounce on me if I didn't tell her what was going on soon and Laurent, just as he was, he was curious as well.

But then, he kept his expression emotionless. And Alisson, the worry in her eyes, couldn't be ignored.

"Now, tell us what happened? You can't keep staring at us forever." Laurent grunted and for some few seconds, I let my eyes wander away from Alisson's to his.

"Artemisia and I fought."

"Because of that witch?" Julie and Alisson asked. And both gazed at themselves before shaking their heads with a smile.

"Because of her," I mumbled.

"Goodness, I am going to kill her for real this time." Julie clenched her fists and prepared to stalk towards the room but I halted her.

"You might want to listen to whatever I have to say at first. Perhaps, I might be the one at fault."

"Then speak and stop f**king stalling." Alisson cursed and I glared at her.

Sighing, I shut my eyes and opened them before looking at the windows.

"Emma came to me and Artemisia caught us in a compromising position. Before I could send her out. She got mad and now I can't find her."

"How many minutes was it?" Julie asked, tilting her head.

"Since last night."

"Jesus, Sinclair!" Alisson exclaimed. "Your wife had been missing since last night and you just deemed it fit to let us know?"

She groaned, shaking her head, "If it was Laurent, I wouldn't have been surprised as he doesn't have an Iota of emotion in him, but you!"

"Alisson…" Laurent growled.

"Please," Julie snapped. "Fighting is the last thing we need. What did Emma come to meet you for?"

"For the pregnancy, I don't even know if I am the father and just to come to seduce me! I am freaking confused and I don't know what is happening. Artemisia is gone, I searched everywhere and I couldn't find her. She is f**king gone!"

I rambled and sat on the couch heavily.

My shoulder drooped and I sighed. I blinked my eyes several times to clear the tears in them but it only got worse as they began to pour out of my eyes.

"Artemisia is gone and it's all my fault." I cried.

"It's okay, Sinclair," Alisson said, rubbing my back.

"How is it okay?" I growled, slapping her hand away. "Don't you get it? My mate is f**king gone!"

"And it's all your fault. I knew this would happen!" Laurent yelled at me.

He gritted his teeth and fisted his hands, "You don't deserve her Sinclair, you don't!"

"I hope she is safe and happy wherever she is." He added.

"Stop it, Laurent." Alisson chided. "Put yourself in his shoes. And stop acting like a jerk."

"I can't put myself in his shoes because my mate won't run away from me. I won't be insensitive to her needs!"

"You think so?" Alisson sneered. "How about we make a bet to see if your mate would run away or not?!"

"This isn't the time for that." Julie chided. "We need to find Artemisia. But, first, I need to kill that witch."

She stormed out of the room and Alisson did the same, leaving me with Laurent.

"Berate me all you want, Laurent, I won't give in to your riling. I wish you knew how it hurts to want to do something so bad and not be able to. I wish you knew how awful I feel right now."

"You say that all the time, Sinclair." Laurent said and got into my face, "How dare you make your mate suffer? How dare you let her be in pain?!"

I yanked his hand off the shirt I donned and staggered away from him.

"You are such a weak ass idiot. You don't even fit to be called an Alpha!" He spat and stepped out of the room.

****************

I followed the search party to look around for Artemisia.

But so far we hadn't gotten any good news and the thought of going back to the palace tonight made me worried.

Mother had gotten to know about her disappearance and she had threatened to disown me if I didn't find her.

It wasn't like I wouldn't be able to do it if I knew her whereabouts, I didn't think she was making it easy for me.

"Stay away from me, pervert."

I turned as Julie yelled at Laurent. He smirked and winked at her before shaking his head.

"Ugh, how can you be so different from your brother? You irk me so much!"

"Just say you want me." Laurent taunted. "I know you have been watching me lately and I wouldn't say no to a pretty face."

"Just so you know, your charm is useless to me, and don't think you can lure me into your stupid bed as you do to others."

"I didn't mention a bed, were you thinking about sleeping with me?" Laurent asked innocently.

"Stay away from me!" Julie screeched.

"Ignore him, Julie. He enjoys it when people get mad." Alisson said.

I tuned out their voices and sighed. I didn't know when Laurent was this close to Julie, much less speaking with her.

I could remember he despised her the first time she arrived but now, I wouldn't say they were friends.

They were more like frenemies and again, I didn't even want them to be anything.

Laurent was such a mess and Julie was too good for him.

The only thing he enjoyed doing was sleeping with women and discarding them like some piece of trash.

But, then I wasn't different. I was that way until I encountered Artemisia.

"Artemisia," I mumbled. Goodness, if only I could pinpoint where she was.

The day before her disappearance would have been the best in our life as she said she was ready to forgive me.

Now, I doubted she would with what had happened and that was if I managed to get hold of her.

**************

"Did you find her yet?"

Mother asked, standing in the doorway to my room. "I said, you shouldn't be in here if you can't. An Alpha should not relent when the mate is in the wild, who knows what she might be going through?"

I stepped toward my mother as she broke down.

I wrapped my arms around her and she sobbed into my shoulder.

"I trusted you'd be good to her, I trusted you'd protect her and you promised to do so. But why didn't you, Sinclair? I didn't train you to be this way."

"I'll find her, mother," I promised.

She raised her head to look into my eyes, "You need to, Sinclair. You need to."