Lunar Temptations

Ch 26

I gulped slowly as her words echoed off the scratched walls. Her back was to me, yet somehow she knew I was in there, but that wasn't the disturbing part. The fact that she thought I was going to be her son's demise was terrifying.

"W-what are you saying?" A shiver ran down my spine. Her tone was dreadfully dull, opposite of how she had been talking all this time. It was as if her facade had finally fallen now that Nicole wasn't here, and I knew this was coming all along. However, what I hadn't expected were her words. Why would I want to end her son? I mean, how could she even say that knowing I was his mate, or maybe they held another meaning to it? Whatever it was, it had certainly taken me by surprise.

"Oh, don't be so pretentious," she replied, scoffing. I could imagine her disgusted and taunting expressions without even having to look at her. My anger began to flare up at the thought that she thought I was going to harm Zayden when it was her son who had caused me losses in the past, and even after that, I never wanted to harm him.

I stepped towards her, "One minute you were all nice and humble, and the next-" I inhaled deeply. "You are accusing me of something so absurd."

Esther turned around and looked at me like I was the one being delusional. Her face was void of any emotion, and her gaze was as deep as her son's would be when he was trying to stare right into my soul. "We all need to keep up appearances, don't we?" she replied. My fists curled into a ball, and I wanted to tell her that I knew it was all a facade, but that would only fuel this argument, something I wanted to avoid.

"You showed up at Zayden's engagement ceremony pretending to be a guest and ended up taking Audrey's place," she said, taking a step towards me, "You kept your appearance pretty well, fooling us all."

"It wasn't an appearance," I gritted through my teeth.

Everything about this room or this scene was disturbing. The claw marks shouted back at me as if they would become real any moment and engulf me, while this woman would do nothing but watch amusingly.

"Don't we all say that?" she taunted me. I chose not to reply to her. "I didn't stop you then because I wanted to see Zayden happy, but-" Her footsteps echoed in the room as she carefully took her time to examine each of the walls. Her hands would occasionally trace over them, and a wince would resound from her as if she could feel the pain of those marks.

Something was not right here, and even I could feel it.

"The marks here are still fresh. His wolf is just as angry as before," her words were low as if she was lost in thought. My brows furrowed, "I don't know what you mean."

That woman had some audacity to walk into the house and wander around on her own before walking into a room without asking, only to accuse me later. What irritated me more was the fact that I had no idea about what had happened in this place or what she was referring to. Why would Zayden's wolf be angry? Aren't Alphas supposed to be the wisest wolves in the entire pack? It was oddly weird to think of Zayden as angry; I had barely ever seen him angry.

"You're either too naive to understand or you have ulterior motives," she turned around to shoot me a glare. I was speechless when she accused me of being the villain once again. Yes, I was distant from her son, and yes, we might not be the happiest of couples, but I would never have any ulterior motives regarding him. With one last look in my direction, she stormed out of the room while I stood there, shaken.

Her words were sinking in, but I couldn't connect the dots. The fresh claw marks and his wolf being angry, it was all too new and confusing for me. I closed the door shut because I felt like the marks would eat me alive any moment. By the time I walked back to the lounge, Esther was gone, and Danna had a worried look on her face.

"Is she gone?" I asked. "Yes, is everything okay?" she asked.

I nodded. This feud was between me and Esther Castillo; I didn't want to bother Danna with it. Although there was one thing I was sure she would know something about, and this was my chance to ask her.

"What's that room down the right hall used for?" I asked, c*****g my head to the side. She simply shrugged, "The Alpha usually visits that room at night. He never lets me clean it; mostly does it himself." Danna seemed satisfied with whatever was going on, or she never saw anything suspicious in there before, which would explain why Zayden cleaned that room himself and trusted Danna to not go in there. The rest of the servants were, however, under her supervision, which would keep them away as well. Nobody here knew about the inside of the room, and even Danna was unaware of whatever went on there.

The rest of the day was a blur to me. I couldn't shake the afternoon events off my head. I might have expected Esther to pull a facade, but she had crossed many lines by blaming me for things I had no clue about, and instead of accepting it, she further indicated that I had ulterior motives. A part of me was scared that she might taint my reputation or worse, say anything like that to Zayden. But another part of me was wholly focused on the mysteries of that room or rather what he did in there and why. That night, I didn't sleep early. I completed a report for my client and laid down, pulling the duvet up.

Zayden would always come in late at night, and I would usually not bother staying up, but today I had questions that needed to be answered. I lay in the darkness of the room, waiting for his scent to reach me so I would know he had come home. Minutes that felt like hours later, the familiar musky fresh smell hit me.

There it was, that feeling I had been missing for days. The thrill his scent sent through me was thrilling and addicting. Not having him around the whole day had helped control my urge to mate with him right then and there. Slowly, I got out of bed, my tank top didn't provide much coverage from the chilly night air. I wrapped a hand around myself. It had been 15 minutes since he had arrived home, but there was no sign of him anywhere when I took a peek outside the room.

I found myself making my way towards the dreadful room. It held emotions so strong that even I had felt them. My heart thumped fast against my chest as I neared it, and I faced what I was dreading for hours, his scent lingering there. I twisted the knob of the door and found it locked. A sense of deja vu took over me, from days ago, but this time the course of history wouldn't repeat itself.

"Zayden?" My fist banged on the door. "I know you are in there, open up!" I continued to knock. There was no reply. My heart thumped louder in my chest, the image of those claw marks crossing my vision like a nightmare, reminding me of where I stood. I gulped and raised my hand to knock again. Just when my hand was about to hit the metal, a loud bang resounded followed by a vicious growl.

I instinctively took a step back, a shiver running through me.

It was him. The Alpha wolf, Zayden, in his raw form, was behind that door, and he didn't seem very happy. I inhaled deeply, calming my nerves. I could wait here for him to transition back, but another bang against the door shook me, and then it was quiet again. I waited for a while, and when the silence carried on, I deemed it safe to knock again. He might have changed back now.

"Zayden?" I knocked.

The same loud bang, but stronger, resonated, and I almost stumbled back when a dent appeared in the door. This time it wasn't a growl but a painful screech. "Are you alright?" I balanced myself.

"Let me in." I banged again. My patience was running thin, and he sounded hurt. My thumping heart sank as the sound of heavy paws against the floor neared where I stood, opposite the door. The thought of him being hurt made me fidgety as my hands trembled and grabbed the other's finger, twisting and turning it. My feet tapped against the floor, waiting for him to open up.

The noise of the bolt unlocking finally hit my ear. The door flew open, colliding against the wall as the loud noise echoed in the corridor.