Unexpected: Forever His (Book 1)

Chapter 50: Between the Lines of Prophecy

*****Dante's POV*****Flashback to Syros*****

I strummed my fingers against the desk. It made sense what Xavon had told me, but I just couldn't figure out why or how things had escalated to the point we were at. I had reached her. She was just in my grasp. And then she was just gone. As if she never existed at all. If my body hadn't already been battered and abused by the torment I had put it through to hurt her, I probably would have been barely able to stand.

"Lord Alpha?" Noveah called to me from his place on the couch in my office and I looked at him first and then Xavon. It was on him that my attention lingered. "So, she's in a limbo of sorts. A place where her soul took her to escape the pain?"

Xavon cleared his throat and stood, his dislike of me still clear. "Yes. The pain that you caused her."

I growled low in my chest and rose to my feet. "Xavon, my patience is wearing thin right now. It would not be wise to speak in a manner that I find disrespectful."

He laughed. "Frankly, I don't care. You were so stuck up your all-powerful ass to even pay attention to the fact that when Eleric closed her off from the Ancients, he took a part of her away too. Maybe he doesn't even realize it! The point is you were hurt because she thought about a stupid pup's reckless behavior in challenging you and were too selfish to pay attention to the fact that she named you as her champion!"

His disregard of my warning made me growl louder. "Well maybe she should not have waivered in her resolve after naming me as her champion!" I stepped closer and glared down at my once closest friend. "I'm growing weary of fighting this battle with you. If you believe I am unworthy..." I saw him draw back slightly. "Prove me so." I stepped over to the window and glanced up at the dark clouds that had covered the sky since she had disappeared.

"Lord Alpha, I mean no disrespect, but shouldn't the focus be on figuring out how to get Kayla back?" Noveah interrupted the tension in the air. "She is our Queen and..." He paused as I turned back around to face him and Xavon looked at him. "Everyone here knows it is ridiculous for you to even keep this charade up. Your disregard of her has caused your health to deteriorate as well."

I glanced across the room into the mirror, but I didn't really have to. "Clearly it is important to you, Noveah, so I would love to hear any ideas you might have as to how we might do that. Shall we just walk into the limbo where she is and tell her to come back?" My amusement in his words made the expression on his face turn into one of hurt and anger. I saw Xavon cross his arms and smirk as Noveah stood and left the room and slammed the door behind him. "It seems you are not the same either, Dante. Of course, I wondered how long it would take you to show your true colors. Tell me, to what lengths did you have to go to in order for Kayla to forge a blood bond with you? Did she want it? Or did you take the time to notice?" His demeanor was one of ridicule now. "Don't try to make the rest of this pack feel like it is our responsibility to get her back, because if you had never come back and claimed something that was no longer yours, then she would be here. She would be here and I would..." His voice trailed off. "You would what, Xavon?"

He stared at me for a moment longer before he shook his head. "You know, the sad thing is, no matter how much hell you put her through, she will never stop being yours. That cut on your hand ensured that. So, if you didn't want it, then you shouldn't have forced her into it." He turned around and headed for the door. "I think I know how to get her back from the limbo. But if she is there to get away from the pain of your rejection of her, then I'm inclined to let her stay there and suffer without her presence here for however long it takes for her to figure out a way back herself."

I stared after the door for a while after he left. I wouldn't let them know. I couldn't let them see. But I felt miserable about what had happened to Kayla. I lifted my hand and looked at the healed cut. It wasn't red. It never got infected. All my anger seemed miniscule and redundant because she hadn't waivered in her choice. The scar on my hand was proof of that. I groaned and squeezed my hand into a fist. "If everything had been perfect it would not have been me and you. You must return to me so that I can spend the rest of my existence making things right again."