Unexpected: Forever His (Book 1)

Chapter 51: Returning to a Land of Chaos

I gasped for air and sat up. My hair fell wet around my face and I pushed it away from my eyes as I stood and coughed up the rest of the water that had gotten into my lungs. I turned and looked out into the water and blinked. I remembered feeling so much pain that I wanted it to end, but I couldn't remember how I had ended up in the water.

I turned back around and started up the path towards the villa. It was so strange. It seemed as if I had not been here for some time. It was so quiet. Normally, the village would have been bustling with children laughing and people visiting different shops and stores in the village. I shook my head as I walked past the villa that Alexander and Kathiana lived in. It was eerily quiet and I felt a chill. I pushed the gate to the villa open and the metal squeaked as if it had not been opened in some time. I stepped through and closed it behind me and as soon as I took a step towards the villa, I was grabbed from behind and I gasped as I felt the tingles explode across my body from where he touched me. He immediately let me go and I turned around slowly to face him.

The man before me was Dante, and yet he was so much different from the one I knew before. His hair was longer and he seemed so rugged and worn. But still so much power and authority radiated off him that I immediately bowed my head. "Forgive me, Lord Alpha. I did not mean to alarm you."

He looked at me up and down as if he was trying to figure something out. When he opened his mouth, it wasn't anger that he showed, but disbelief. "Kayla?"

I looked back up at him and smiled. "Yes, Lord Alpha. It is me."

A dance of emotions seemed to pass through his eyes before he held his head higher and looked down at me. "They'll be glad you have returned."

I couldn't hide the frown that made its way onto my face. "They?"

He nodded briskly before he looked behind me and stepped past me towards the door. I turned and started to follow him. My heart cried out for him to acknowledge me. "And you?"

He glanced back at me, but didn't stop. He opened the door to the villa and stepped inside. He waited for me to enter before he pulled the door shut behind me. I looked longingly up at him as he stepped past me once more and stopped. "Xavon! Noveah!"

After a moment, I heard a door open and shut and after another moment, Xavon and Noveah both came into view. As soon as he saw me, Xavon stopped in his tracks. His shock of seeing me spread across his face before it was replaced with a huge smile. He glanced up at Dante and he crossed the distance of the floor in a brisk pace and engulfed me in a huge hug, his laughter radiated throughout the room. I giggled as he set me back down and I smiled back at Noveah. Dante watched for a moment longer before he turned and headed toward the room that he slept in. I breathed in and stepped past Xavon. "Lord Alpha, can I request a moment of your time?"

He responded with a curt "no" before he went beyond his door and shut it sharply behind him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I turned back around to face Xavon and Noveah who were clearly irritated by Dante's show of disregard for me. Xavon looked the most disgusted. "He doesn't deserve you, Kayla." He smiled as Noveah pulled me into a side hug. "Maybe he doesn't, but he is my bonded. And even after everything, he is the greatest love I have known. I love Alexander. I love you. I am desperately, irrevocably, devotionally, crazily in love with Dante Knight and I will prove my worth to him again."

I felt the sparkle in my eyes as I spoke my words. Eleric had given me breath of life again and I was going to use it to my advantage. "Eleric opened my access to the Ancients again." Xavon nodded. "Eleric should deal with Dante."

I laughed and shook my head. "He won't. Eleric knows that I am capable of bringing the Lord Alpha to his knees." Noveah laughed and I looked at him pointedly. "You doubt, but who is the one person who can make you do just about anything she asks of you?"