Page 43 of Lycan King's Captives
“I will wait for you and keep an eye out, be quick,” she says softly before leaving the room.
I stare at the handset in shock for a few seconds before finally gathering up enough courage to place it to my ear. The line crackles before someone picks up on the other end, their voice timid and unsure: “Hello?”
“Toby?” I whisper, my voice shaking slightly. The relief I feel upon hearing his voice is huge.
“Sienna? Is that you?” comes his reply.
I can hear the surprise and relief in his voice, and it makes me smile.
“Yes, sorry, I haven’t had a chance to call; Carina has been working me like a workhorse,” I tell him.
“It’s fine as long as you’re okay,”
“I’m fine, though one of the maid’s caught me on the phone, she said she won’t tell.”
“Tall, red hair and green eyes, smells like lavender?” he asks, and I furrow my brows.
“Ah, yes,” I answer.
“Tyra, the girl I was telling you about. I was wondering when she would find a way to you,” he tells me, and I let out a breath, knowing I can trust the girl if Toby does.
The day passes in a blur, the world beyond the castle walls seeming more and more like a distant dream. However, as I am cleaning the sitting quarters near Xandros room, I overhear Carina fighting with her father before he departs, their heated words echoing through the empty hallways.
“Ensure he stays away from the mutt he calls his mate. If this treaty is ruined, Carina, you’ll be the one punished,” he warns her, his voice laced with venom.
I quickly hide out of view, my heart pounding as he leaves. As I turn to walk away, a soft sound stops me in my tracks. It’s a quiet sobbing, coming from the room Carina’s father just left. I edge closer to the door, peering inside to find Carina, her face buried in her hands as she cries. It’s a sight I never expected to see, and it leaves me feeling strangely unsettled.
I hesitate for a moment, before finally gathering up enough courage to enter the room. She looks up at me in surprise before wiping away her tears and sitting up straight again.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, her voice still shaky from crying.
“I… heard you talking,” I stammer out nervously. “Are you alright?”
She takes a deep breath before responding. “It doesn’t matter,” she says softly before finally meeting my gaze again with teary eyes. “My father wants you gone because he thinks Xandros is going against the treaty between our two families.”
My heart aches at her words and I take a few steps toward her, not sure of what else to do or say.
“He seemed pretty mad?” I ask her.
“You have no idea. Xandros wasn’t the only one forced into this sham of a wedding, only I didn’t expect to fall in love with him,” she admits, plucking a tissue from the tissue box. “Not that it matters, he’ll never love me, not when he has you.”
Does she truly believe that? Because if only she saw how he treated me when she isn’t around, she would find it worse than when she is.
“So you love Xandros?” I ask. This is by far the strangest conversation, talking to the wife while I am merely his mated mistress.
“I think so, or maybe it’s just the freedom he brings, away from my father,” she whispers, then shakes her head.
“Why am I telling you this?” she mutters more to herself than me.
We sit there together for a few moments in silence until she takes another deep breath and stands up slowly. “Thank you for checking on me,” she tells me with a faint smile before excusing herself from the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. A few seconds later she returns, and it is like the woman who sat crying next to me was merely a figment of my imagination.
“When you’re done cleaning here, you can start the bathrooms,” she tells me, wandering off.
I shake off the bizarre feeling, reminding myself her problems are not mine to worry about and I never should have involved myself.
As night falls, an unfamiliar emptiness engulfs the castle. Xandros doesn’t come to me like he usually does, nor does the doctor he said that he would organize. It makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the argument I overheard, did Carina ban him from seeing me? And what about the doctor supposed to put me on birth control? Did he forget or perhaps Carina has banned him from seeing me so it’s no longer needed now.
The mate bond is a relentless torment, a gnawing pain that flares to life with every passing moment. I thought it was painful seeing him with Carina, yet it’s even more excruciating not seeing him at all.
