Chapter 5

LUCAS

As I pace through the stairs of the barely lit derelict manor, my heart thumps against its walls. Wondering if I made the right decision to meet a powerful witch here, my pulse rises. My heart is pacing with an added influx of anxiety, and I feel overwhelmed by the choices I had to make to get here. If the question hadn't been about maintaining the peace around our settlements, I wouldn't have been caught meeting her again in this life, let come alone, especially not after what she did to me. At least I wouldn't have made that decision willingly.

Who would have thought they could sequester me here, away from all of my pack members?

Dumbass Pete isn't even responding to my text messages.

And Eli has to be banging some lax young woman somewhere, lying to her that he'll choose her as his mate.

Why did I even have to come here?

Why didn't I ignore those messages when I got them?

What good has ever come out of meeting Cherise Spiropoulous in deserted locations?

I hear a screech coming from somewhere behind me, and it makes me jump, but when I pivot on my feet to face the creature, thinking it's another setup and a werewolf from a rival pack is here to attack me, I come eye to eye with a giant beast of a bird. Sucking air through my teeth, I wait another tedious minute and watch Cherise transform into her ordinary self. When she dusts herself, she picks herself up to disappear behind another unlit corridor without sparing me any words.

Thinning my lips, I wonder if she's casting another spell to clothe her lustrous honey skin. Shaking my head, I focus on the images of my great-aunt to get rid of the image I saw just now. I don't think I'm attracted to her, but I can't help my body being what it is in heat.

The minute she appears in sight from the dark corridor, I bite my lip and can't help saying what I mean.

"Aren't you still a fan of putting on shows for other people? Nothing has changed, has it, Cherise?"

"Why should it when it comes to the likes of you?"   

"I'm hearing condescension in your tone. I don't think I'm a fan of it."

"It hardly matters what you think, Luke." She eyes me, and her olive-green eyes still get a reaction out of me like they used to when we were in high school. "Don't you think we should discuss what we are here for? Or keeping the peace between our families is the least of your priorities?" Her royal blue chiton-like dress sways blithely in the wind like her demeanour in this conversation. "Since I keep hearing you have become a ruthless businessman, let's get to business."

"Yeah, you are right." Crossing my arms against my chest, I face her. "What are you willing to do to maintain the peace between our settlements?"

"Don't tell me you're here after all these years of detachment to propose marriage to me in the name of 'upholding peace' between our families. Especially after you took that oath of never seeing me again."

Scoffing, I make a face.

"Why would I ever marry you, Cherise?"

"Because you've always wanted to do just that, Luke." She walks towards me and stands close to me. Her eyes turn hazel green as she smirks at me. While staring me down, her frame bends slightly and with a flick of her wrist, she grabs me by the balls. "You've always managed to get hard for me just by hearing my name." She strokes me with her long fingers, angling her fingers around my manhood in the same manner as she used to give me the friction I liked in our better days. "You knew you would never have it better than me, but why would you let me go?"

Her touch makes me feel repulsed, and I feel uncomfortable, wanting her to let me go straight away.

Slowly, I pry her fingers off my manhood while staring into her eyes and not backing down.

"Things have changed."

Cherise laughs.

"It explains why you didn't get hard immediately. You've found someone else to replace me." Then she paces around the long corridor. "Have you met your mate? Or are you sleeping with whores you aren't going to marry?"

"Who I am sleeping with is none of your business."

"Hmm. You have changed for sure, Luke. If you were anything like the man you were in the past, you would have had me bent on your knee and had your way with me without exchanging many words." Then she offers me a side glance. "I sometimes wish you had me like that one more time."

"Can we get back to business?" Clearing my throat, I try to gauge where her mind is really at because I know her, and for her, our sleeping together is simply a distraction to get what she wants. "What will you be willing to do to keep the peace between our families?"

"What do you want me to do?" She crosses her arms. "If you don't want me, you can have my half-sister, Akari." She licks her lips. "She always had a thing for you. And you know she's a hybrid, half-wolf, half-witch. Her presence has always entertained you, hasn't it?" Huffing under her breath, she chuckles. "Akari could be your mate, and the peace between our families could restore itself as it should have been if we got married." She minces her words. "You always said you would marry me when the time comes."

"As I said, things have changed, Cherise." Walking close to her, I peer directly into her eyes. "And not to mention, I'm not interested in your sister either, so you can stop pimping her out."

She shrugs her shoulders.

"What about the beta of your pack?"

"He has more than enough women than what he needs."

"Then what do you want me to do, Luke?"

"Get your family to sign the string of successful liquor lounge businesses an hour away from the Fairmont Line to us, and we will pay handsomely for it."

"So, you are trying to cut a deal with me." She wipes her hands against the linen. "Didn't think you were after one of my family businesses."

"Aren't you the head of the family now?" I huff. "Isn't this why you called me here in the first place? You wanted to settle business, so here it is. That's what we are doing. And I'm settling it for you."

"I am the head of the family, and my decisions are 'unbreakable and set in stone,' something my sweet half-sister would comment. My family doesn't double-cross me or question my decisions." She happily smirks, taking another step towards me. She comes so close that I feel her warm breath glide against my chin. "But that doesn't mean I am willing to sell."

Pulling a piece of paper from my pants pocket, I put it into her palm, and as shock registers on her face, she slowly accepts it.

"This is my offer."

Sucking in another breath, she stares at my scribbling on the paper. Biting her lower lip, she considers the deal I'm offering her, even though she has been unwilling to entertain something like this when someone from another rival pack has tried to settle a deal with her in the past. I watch her irises change colour as she paces back and forth around us.

"This is way more than any offers we have gotten thus far for the pubs. I have to give you that. But it's still not right."

Walking closer to her slim frame, I lean against her long, wavy black hair and whisper another number near her earlobe.

"Hmm. Now you're talking, aren't you?" She swallows and then licks her lips, pivoting on her feet. "I'm willing to reconsider this deal, but I want more than what you're offering me right now."

"You need to get off your high horse, Cheri. Now you're reaching. You know pretty well that this is the most anyone will offer you for those dwindling pub businesses that hardly get any visitors off-season."  

"It's not more money that I want, Luke." She whispers as our eyes meet and our lips are centimetres apart. "I want you for one night to myself."

"That will never happen."

"For the sake of olden days?"

"It's not happening, Cheri." I smile confidently. "I don't sleep with women I don't like anymore."

"You will have to if you want the business, or I'm walking." She laughs as she starts heading out the way she came. "Guess you still haven't gotten to know me after all those years together."

"Wait--"

"Are you in, or are you out, Luke?"

Why is she saying that?

What will she get out of this?

If anything at all is to be had from this situation?

I can't help but ask her.

"Why do you want to sleep with me?"

"As I said, I want to relive some old fun memories. And I want to feel you against me again. It was nice what we once had." She smiles slyly. "We can have it once again just to rekindle some of that passion, even if it's only for a night."

"But I don't think I will ever sleep with you again." I offer her a small smile. "I will never sleep with you again, and you can have me under your thumb because of this deal, but you won't get me." Smiling some more, I offer her my solemn eyes. "Will you be okay with that?"

"Hmm, yeah." She laughs. "You'll have to watch me then. Or I might as well let you watch me getting fucked by someone else." Thinning her lips, she comes closer to my lips. "If you aren't willing to do the job, someone else will."

"Okay." I nod. "I'm in."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Don't you want your dirty hands on my family business as soon as you can, Lucas?" She laughs. "Isn't your heart beating faster because of the prospect of you completing owning those businesses?"

"I sure do."

"That settles it."

Cherise walks away in her human form, her butt cheeks swaying as the linen dress hangs loosely around her skin and flows with her body.