Chapter 28
Trisha’s P.O.V
“You reek of that mutt.”
The voice came from right behind me, as soon as I had entered my room and shut the door.
I whipped around to face Damien, my heart in my throat as I stared wide eyed at his beautiful face. “Damien?”
He only narrowed his eyes at me, looking disgusted as his eyes examined me from head to toe; like he hadn’t just given me a heart attack.
“What the hell!” I threw up my arms in exasperation, pushing past him as I went further into my room so we were no longer at a risk of being overheard. “I call you a thousand times and you don’t answer and now you show up with your judgmental little attitude, telling me that I reek of that mutt!”
“You’ve always had poor choice in lovers, but sleeping with the enemy?” He raised an eyebrow, following me inside with his hands in his pockets. “That is going against your rules.”
“Seriously?” I whipped around to face him. “What right do you think you have to even say that to me? My own race, my King, wants me dead! Lucas has been the one to offer me protection when it was your job!” I jabbed a finger at his chest, letting my anger get the better of me. “And you think you can suddenly show up and tell me who I can and can’t sleep with?”
“Lucas is a werewolf who has feelings for you,” Damien reminded. “Wolves have a habit of getting territorial really fast. I hope that your sake, you know what you’re getting into.”
“Yes, I know perfectly well what I’m getting myself into.” I shook my head to get my head back on track. “Lucas is a nice man. He takes care of me and he knows how to treat a woman. I slept with him because I like him. This has nothing to do with you. And you need to tell me exactly what is going on!”
“What do you mean?” He frowned, freighting innocence.
“Damien, I’ve known you for nearly two centuries.” I reminded him. “You’ve always believed in my proofs because you knew I’m efficient at what I do. Then why don’t you believe me when I showed you all these proofs against Vandal? Why are you protecting him?”
“I’m not.” Damien sighed and took a seat at the foot of my bed. “Things are…complicated.”
“Complicated? How?” I sat down on the bed beside him; feeling tired both mentally and physically. “You need to tell me what’s going on Damien. I can’t do anything if I don’t know what to look out for. And Neema needs protection. He needs justice.”
“It’s better if-”
“Trisha, Neema just wo-”
Everything happened so fast that it took me a minute to realize exactly what was going on.
Lucas had entered my room and spotted Damien on the bed beside me. And even though Damien had visited me three times already inside Lucas’s den…Lucas had had no idea about it, until now.
At first his eyes widened in shock and fear as he pushed Neema behind him to keep him safe…and then he came towards Damien with lightning speed and pinned him to the bed with his hands around his neck.
“Lucas!” I immediately tried to push him off Damien but he had a dead grip around Damien’s neck. “Lucas, stop!”
“Get Neema and get out of here, Trisha!” Lucas roared; his voice a growl and his eyes molten amber. “Go get help!”
“No! Let go of him!” I protested. But I knew exactly how dire the situation was and that Lucas won’t stop until he knows Damien isn’t a threat. “I called him here, Lucas. He’s here because of me.”
“He’s what?” Lucas let go of Damien and moved back, looking at me and then at Damien with wide eyes.
“It’s not what it looks like…I called him here to talk about Vandal.” I tried to cover up. “Damien teleported here since we couldn’t talk over the phone.”
“Damien…teleported?” Lucas looked helplessly from me to Damien and then repeated the process over and over again.
“Lucas,” Damien rose from the bed, the angry fingerprints on his neck already fading. “I meant what I told you this morning, when I left. Your secret is safe with me. I will not harm your pack.”
“How…how can I trust you after this?” He snapped at Damien. “The rumors were true! You really can teleport!”
“Yes,” Damien confirmed. “And I could have come after Trisha a long time ago and brought my men to take over the den…but I haven’t. I have no intention of harming you or your den. All I ask is that you keep Trisha and her charge safe. I’ll contact you later.”
Before Lucas could ask anything else, Damien had disappeared into thin air, leaving a bewildered Lucas staring at the spot where he had just been.
“Lucas…” I tried but he shook his head.
When he looked back at me, a few minutes later, his eyes were topaz gold and he looked betrayed.
“Lucas, it’s not like that-”
“Save it.” He cut me off and then left the room in a hurry, leaving me feeling guilty and frustrated. How could things have gotten so wrong? Why had I forgotten to lock the door?
Neema came inside the room a second later and ran straight into my arms. It gave me comfort that I still had one person that cared about me…and I had only one person to protect, to fight for.
And that was the main reason I came to the den, why I left my entire race behind…to save Neema.
