11 - I'm A Criminal

For Goddess's sake, why didn’t I think about the obvious touching factor of the mate bond? Either Leon was in denial or the fact that he couldn’t scent me was really throwing him off. I needed to get out of here.

“This will only take a moment Lucy. Go, now!” Leon slipped his Alpha aura out as he spoke to me. Normally this would cause a wolf to submit.

Either the fact that I was his mate or that I had Alpha blood caused little to no reaction on my part. He looked at me bewildered before growling at me.

Geez, what has gotten into this guy today?

He was far grumpier than yesterday. Why would the Goddess mate me with such an asshole? One thing was for certain, I was about to see my father for the first time in four years.

Bile rose to my throat as we walked toward the small group of Alphas and Betas. My stomach felt like it was tearing into pieces, and my short-lived freedom was slowly coming to an end as I got closer.

Leander smiled at me as I approached, Leon walking next to me at a distance. He was now acting like I was a disease that couldn’t be touched.

“Alpha Kragen, Alpha Talon, this is my assistant in training,” Leander said gesturing toward me as I neared their circle. My dad's fists were balled up at his side and he whipped his head in my direction, growling as he stared at me.

Leon pushed me behind him and growled back at my dad causing Leander to shift his attention from Kragen back to his son who was now shielding me for some unknown reason. “Lucy,” my father said in a maniacal tone.

Leon was still growling at him and Leander was now moving toward the back of Leon to look at me. “Do you know Alpha Kragen, Lucy?” Leander asked. He looked hurt. All my lies were finally catching up to me. My hands were now shaking with fear, and my eyes were burning from the tears I was holding back.

Before I could respond to Leander, my father spoke up. “I thought she died when I felt our pack bond break. She ran away from our pack four years ago and we have been looking for her ever since. She will need to come back with us to face trial for her crimes. She can be placed in your dungeon until we leave, she tends to run.”

CRIMES?

What the hell was he saying right now?

He was making things up, just to get me back. He wanted me dead.

I looked away from Leander, shame seeping through every fiber in my body. This man had trusted me and given me a fresh start. He gave me opportunities to tell him the truth, but my cowardice had always won.

Leon was still guarding me. Leander looked at his son in confusion before turning back to me again. “Lucy, we will have to take you to the dungeon cells. If this is true, Alpha Kragen is correct, you will have to go with him. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on” Leander was whispering, not that it mattered, with wolf hearing anyone in the room could hear him if they focused on his voice hard enough.

I looked up at Leon's back. My mate who was unknowingly protecting me because of the mate bond he hadn’t even recognized but was still working its way through him.

I knew that airing out my past in this very moment wasn’t going to stop whatever was going to happen nor did I want my father to hear me. I looked back at Leander and shook my head 'no' silently praying that he understood my inability to speak in this moment.

He frowned and looked back at my dad. “Based on your accusations Alpha Kragen, I am required to place Lucy under arrest and take her to the dungeon cells. However, I will not be letting her leave my pack grounds until official evidence is provided. I pledged loyalty to her when I swore her into my pack, and it is my duty to protect her if and when needed. You understand, yes?”

I closed my eyes as Leander spoke to my father. A whole mix of emotions swirled around inside me. Regret, shame, longing, but most of all, fear. The entire ballroom was now pin-drop silent.

"We will figure this out Lucy but you're going to need to start talking" Leon said looking back at me.

Nia wanted to come forward, to be close to our mate but I pushed her down. I wanted the same thing but I knew that I couldn't. Even if this whole mess with my father wasn't happening, the last mate I needed was Leon Goldvale. He didn't seem to have a sweet bone in his body. He was protecting me simply because our mate bond was reacting to the situation.

The guards came quickly afterward, escorting me to the dungeon cells. As if things couldn't possibly get worse I briefly scented the smell of roasted marshmellows nearby.

I knew that the tangled scent in the hallway was different than Leon's but it felt knotted and all wrong. I had no idea what this meant and emotionally I was too exhausted to really care.

Nia was whimpering in the back of my head earlier but I put up a wall seperating her from me the best that I could. I had less than 24 hours at the very most before this descenter spray wore off.

I'm not sure it even mattered at this point but I knew that Leon would be better off never knowing I was his mate if my fate was what I thought it would be.