Forever Mine

THIRTY SIX

A week later, Roxy wished she could be taking in the beauty of the Snowy Peaks Region flashing by the car window. They were on their way to the Alpha meeting but the excitement of finally reuniting with her older sister was now tainted by events of the past week going around and around in her mind. For the millionth time that week the conversation they'd had with the rogue after she'd cleansed his wounds played through her mind.

'A witch?' Roxy had asked after recovering from the initial shock. She'd thought of Miss Octavia's lesson. Witches had been extinct for decades. The coven of witches had been awaiting the right time for their vengeance.

The rogue had shrugged. 'We've heard whispers that the leader is working with one. Evanora is her name is or something, apparently she's supposed to be pretty powerful.'

Evanora, Ophelia, Allegra and Cordelia.

Roxy's heart had been hammering in her chest when she'd looked over to Tobias and Isaac. She'd spun back to the rogue, trying to get moisture in her suddenly dry mouth. 'Werewolves and witches hate each other though. Why would they work together?'

'We don't know,' muttered the rogue. He hesitated and shuffled in his seat. 'Like I said, the disposables are kept in the dark about the grand plan. We get told where to be and what to do with no questions asked. There is one thing I'll tell you though.' His eyes had been desperate as he'd looked to Roxy, surprising all three of them. 'On one condition.'

She'd looked to Isaac who given a nod. 'Name it.'

'You have to kill me before they take me back.'

It was the slowing down of the car as it approached a set of iron gates that dragged Roxy back to the present. A nearby camera moved to face them, its red light blinking, and soon the gates swung open to allow the convoy in. Cobblestone driveways snaked around the estate of manicured lawns and impeccable gardens. The buildings – or palaces more like – were made of stone and timber with their impressive steeples piercing the twilight sky. Lights glowed from inside the windows where Roxy could see silhouettes of people move past.

'Here I am thinking those Alpha meetings are hard work,' said Roxy to Isaac.

He gave a grunt. 'With everyone sticking their big wet noses in to your business needing the latest gossip, they are.'

The humour quickly left her when, like a freight truck, familiarity smacked into her. In her upset state the night had become a blur but now every sight and smell was bringing her back to that night.

The White Moon Ball. The night Isaac had rejected her.

The car felt like it'd slowed to an agonising pace as they passed the palace. Before her eyes she could see herself holding up the skirts of her dress on the front stairs, looking around wildly for the soulmate who'd fled her. Roxy's eyes moved along the lawn as she watched herself run towards the secret garden before disappearing inside where she'd continued running the hedge maze until she reached him. Standing in the gazebo, without a trace of empathy, he'd uttered the words which had shattered her world.

I don't need someone else. I don't want someone else.

Was being back here causing him as much pain as her?

The car came to a stop at a valet and Isaac clambered out like a cat on a hot tin roof. Maybe being back here wasbringing painful memories back for him.

While Isaac helped the driver retrieve their bags from the boot, Roxy looked at the impressive building with a gulp. Doubt rattled her. This was Isaac's world; he'd been a part of it since he was sixteen. For years he'd wined and dined with the werewolf community hierarchy. This was an entirely new world for her and before she was even fully submerged in it, she was beginning to feel she was drowning. What was Isaac's plan when the rogue threat ceased and she'd return to Saltwater Woods? What story would he spin to the gossip vampires when they asked why she wasn't at future meetings? Her heart did a stupid flip. Did her being here mean he wasn't thinking of a future where she returned to Saltwater Woods?

'We're going to have to play along for the next couple of days,' murmured Isaac into her ear.

Roxy shuddered with pleasure at the way his hot breath blew against her neck and her entire body went hot when his arm snaked around her waist. Her legs were like jelly and she leant into Isaac's study frame heavily as they walked through glass doors. A doorman nodded at them with a warm smile from inside a polished foyer. Roxy sniffed the air. They were all werewolves. Not a single trace of a human.

The self-consciousness inside of her rose its ugly head as they walked across the foyer of immaculately polished floors, high ceilings with exposed beams and potted plants so extravagant Roxy almost mistook them for plastic if their fragrances hadn't wafted into her nose. An older couple sat with a younger couple sipping from cups of tea in the foyer wearing neatly pressed suits. They were clearly generations. At the sight of Roxy wearing skinny jeans and a puff jacket with her cowgirl boots, the pinched noses of the women turned up and their eyes rolled away as if they never saw her. She tugged at her jacket tighter in an action of vulnerability, allowing a bit of hurt to chip at her heart.

Whilst Isaac spoke to the clerk behind the desk, Roxy stood awkwardly in the centre of the foyer, scuffing her boot against the shiny floor. All she'd ever wanted was to be with Isaac, to share a life with him. But she was beginning to doubt if she could survive the spotlight which came with being hierarchy. Of course she'd been exposed to small amounts of it through Trent and Cleo. But Cleo was made for this life; she was naturally elegant. Roxy was far from perfect, and in this job you had to be perfect unless you wanted to be constantly criticised.

'Ready to go to our room?' Isaac walked over to her, wearing a tight-fitting shirt, jeans and his boots. He didn't fit into the polished environment either but he looked good. His voice dropped an octave. 'I got us separate beds.'

'They didn't deem that as suspicious?' Roxy noticed the snobbish tea drinkers were eyeing her over the rims of their cups again.

'I told them that we're waiting until our bonding ceremony to be mated.' Isaac shrugged like it was nothing.

Roxy's cheeks, however, had burst into flames. 'Oh, um, yes... good idea.' She chewed at her lip. 'Who are they over there?'

Isaac wasn't shy about turning around and staring at the four. When he looked at them though the two women gave polite smiles, the younger of them giving a flirtatious wave. Roxy's jaw dropped. Could she not see Isaac's soulmate standing right next to him? Yes, they weren't together, but she didn't know that.

Isaac's jaw was ticking when he turned back around 'That's Regent pack's Alpha and his protégé. Just because they have a regal name they feel the need to play the part.'

His arm wrapped around her waist and the dizzying feeling of the contact almost made her miss the way he hurried her away to the lift.

Almost.