#Chapter 4 Had he been trying to play games?

 

 

I was well within range. His thoughts should have seeped into my mind unbidden. But there was such turmoil in them that I couldn't tell them apart, and the dark veil that covered all of them didn't help either. So much... grief, and loss, and hatred. And above all, such anger.

 

Was he going to attack me? Why were there so many terrible thoughts in his head as I approached? I wanted to flee, but he was a strong Alpha -- he could leap and catch me without breaking a sweat. All running away would do was make him even angrier.

 

But... maybe it wasn't directed at me after all. Now that I came closer, I could see the gleam of his eyes, and he was looking downward, not at my face.

 

"... Alpha Evan?"

 

He looked up, gaze unfocused. Was he drunk? The way he had ordered me to come closer had sounded a little slurred too, now that I thought about it --

 

"You are my mate."

 

His words cut through the silence. I shook my head, unable to respond any other way. My heart pounded so hard I thought he might able to hear it. He probably could.

 

He stood. "Why?" he demanded. "Why aren't you?"

 

What? What kind of question was that? Was he asking why I wasn't his mate? Maybe this was a test. I steadied myself.

 

"Because... Alpha Evan, the Moon Goddess pairs mates together. We're not mates, Alpha."

 

"Maybe she's wrong."

 

Was there a proper response to that? Was he waiting for me to deny it? I wasn't a believer in the Moon Goddess myself, and maybe he'd guessed as much since I was a hybrid. But one thing was for certain. Every werewolf had a fated mate, and an Alpha in particular needed to find theirs. That was the source of their true power.

 

But that raised more questions. Most werewolves found their mates by the time they were eighteen. Evan was older than that, wasn't he?

 

"You should rest," I said carefully. "You look tired."

 

Maybe that was overstepping, but he didn't reprimand me. He allowed me to take his elbow and guide him to the massive bed. It took some effort to get him under the covers since he seemed to forget what he was supposed to do halfway there, but I finally managed it and tucked him in. Heavy. Moving his large frame even that much was exhausting.

 

When I bent over him to straighten the other side of the covers, his eyes focused on my face again, but there was a flash of recognition in his gaze that hadn't been there before. Was he sobering up?

 

"My little maid," he said, voice guttural. "It's been a long time."

 

"Yes, you haven't seen me since this morning."

 

"No. I'm talking about when I first saw you. It's been nine years."

 

That again. Nine years this, nine years that. But it was useless to argue with a drunk. I finished straightening the plush covers and rearranged the pillows. Now I could leave before he rambled more nonsense at me. If I didn't answer him, he might have nothing more to say, and I could make my escape before things got hairy.

 

But before I could slip away, his hand shot out of the blankets with a speed a drunk man shouldn't possess, startling me. His grip wrapped around my hand, grasping it tight.

 

"Claudia. Don't leave me."

 

"Alpha--"

 

"Don't," he insisted.

 

I swallowed. His hand was so warm, and so large. No one had ever held my hand like that even when I was a child. But even more jarring than how he held my hand was the way he called me by name. He'd remembered it? And he was calling me by it instead of just addressing me as the 'maid'?

 

I took a deep breath. Calm down, I thought. He was drunk, and as long as I was careful, I could extricate myself from--

 

"I don't want to sleep alone," he said, and my eyes gravitated to the other side of the bed. The empty half. He couldn't possibly mean...?

 

His eyes bored into me, and I swallowed again.

 

He did mean it. Heaven help me.

 

***

 

Something was wrong with me. I shouldn't have been able to sleep a wink. But seconds after my head dropped onto the pillow, I was out like a light -- I couldn't even remember falling asleep.

 

And I had slept so deeply that when I woke up with the sun on my face, my first thought was that a storm had punched a makeshift skylight through the roof of the dank hut where I used to sleep. That place -- it would be with me forever. It had only been a couple of years since Maria and Elly got tired of me not being constantly on hand and forced me to move out of the slave quarters, that musty place.

 

But this was neither the hut nor my bedroom.

 

This was Alpha Evan's suite.

 

This was Alpha Evan's bed.

 

I glanced to my left, heart pounding, and sure enough, a pair of gleaming blue eyes stared at me.

 

Oh, no.

 

"G-good morning," I stammered, still struggling to understand how I'd gotten into this situation. Me. A half-breed slave. I had just woken up in bed with the Alpha of the Scarlet pack.

 

I still had my clothes on, right? Thank heavens. But I hadn't washed up and I had just woken to the sight of a man staring at me for who knew how long.

 

"I'll help prepare breakfast," I said, desperate for an excuse to run off, wash up, and find my senses. "I think I know the way to the kitchens."

 

"You don't need to take on the chefs' responsibilities."

 

"Then... what duties do I need to take on? Is there something you require of me this morning?"

 

Amusement rippled through his thoughts. (I slept well), he mused. (I haven't done that in a long time. I'm in a good mood.)

 

I'd never been more grateful I could read minds. Relief swelled inside me and soothed my worries. For now, he wasn't going to do anything to hurt me.

 

"What I require of you is simple," he said. "This goes for every day, not only this morning. But your duties are to take care of yourself, to never leave my sight without my permission, and to sleep by my side so I can rest as well as I did last night."

 

... To take care of myself? Was he saying he wanted me healthy so I could always be of service? But there was a faint dusting of concern in his mind, as if he was worried about me.

 

"Does that mean I will be staying by your side at all times?" I asked.

 

"No. You have other things to do. Did you attend high school when you were in Dark Moon?"

 

Caught off-guard by the non-sequitur, I could only nod, though uncertainly. "Not regularly, sir, but some days." I wasn't even sure if I'd actually qualified for graduation. Not that it mattered. I would never have been allowed to attend.

 

"Then Peelle will take to Scarlet University today to continue your education."

 

Continue my education?

 

He was telling me, a half-breed, to enroll at a university? Why would he do that? Of course it was up to him whether I was accepted -- Scarlet University was a venerated institution firmly nestled in Scarlet pack territory. But this was unbelievable.

 

And he was only doing this because he had the crazy notion that I was some kind of savior.

 

I had to at least say my piece. He had called me his mate last night -- I prayed he remembered what I was talking about so I wouldn't have to say it out loud.

 

"Alpha Evan... I truly believe you have the wrong person," I said. "I'm not who you think I am. Or what you think I am."

 

"And why is that?"

 

I was about to answer when the thought rolled through his mind, crystal-clear.

 

(I know you're not my mate.)

 

I paused.

 

He knew?

 

So what was that nonsense he had said last night?

 

Had he been trying to play games with me while drunk?