Fatal Temptation: Between Two Alphas
Chapter 56

Chapter Fifty-Six

CAMERON

The flight back is somber.

With the time difference, it's barely dinner time when we land.

Mia is a shell of herself.

She's healed and I think Ashley awakening must have had some part of that. Whatever ties bound us are severed. To ensure it, I put my Alpha strength into breaking the bond with her while I was on the jet.

It caused pain, a sharp and swift slice through my body like a portion of my being was fracturing... and then it dissipated.

I connect with my father to make sure Merilee and the rest of the pack is okay. I'd hoped-gods, how I hoped-that Merilee would be healed.

But that is not the case.

I hate that Dr. Lee is right, that the affliction was caused in utero, when Ashley used witch-magic to trick me.

Whatever was done to make my wolf believe she was my mate, that had an irreversible impact on the daughter we conceived.

My dad assured me my daughter, though not improved, Merilee has not declined further, either. She's safe. Jacelyn and Aaron too. That's good. That's the most important thing, but how did my pack not notice their former Luna awakening and leaving packlands? How the fuck did Ashley do what she did!?

I was told Ashley awoke some time in the night and slipped off site.

As for the attack on us here in the Crescent City, it echoes what had been done to Eric's pack prior to Mia arriving with Jace.

Ashley and her brother Philipe are in league with vampires, and I marvel at what deal might grant dozens of wraiths at their disposal. Maybe it's just money-hundreds of millions of dollars might make for such a partnership. Or maybe it's something more...

A common enemy. Common goal.

But to even suggest such things is an anathema.

It is treason to our species.

To make it to New Orleans so quickly, she must have been able to track us or maybe there was some tie to Adriana. Or me. Or Mia.

I don't know.

I don't give a shit.

She's gone... and good riddance.

Ashley and her brother Philipe would need to be captured. Dealt with.

I really didn't want to think about what the end game would be with her. Because she is the mother of my child, but I wouldn't let that stop me from justice. I couldn't. Not after New Orleans. Her transgressions are too severe.

Mia stirs. She shivers again.

I try to cover her with a blanket but she shakes it off.

Physically, Mia is healed.

Emotionally, I'm not sure.

My mate looks...broken.

I have an urge to fill the silence but that isn't what she wants. The few times I tried to get her to talk, she closed her eyes and turned away.

From her breathing, I know she isn't sleeping now.

Her eyes are closed and she's angled her body away from me.

That hurts.

But I can't force it.

I didn't expect her to take Corinne's loss or the other women's deaths so hard. But while she did actually sleep, she cried out for those women. She wept and whimpered and when I tried to touch her, to hold her and console her, she rioted.

She needs time and space.

Such violence and loss is not processed so easily. If ever.

I think back on the damage I did to her all those years ago when I cast her out and how she lost everyone and everything.

I've hurt this woman so much.

I rub my chest.

Her pain is mine.

She is my mate.

If she lets me, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to her.

Conn makes a grumbling sound. Like my idea is stupid.

My wolf isn't wrong.

What tears me up is knowing that there is no 'making up' for anything. The hurts we inflict are always there. Perhaps the actual wounds heal.

But scars remain.

We prepare to land on the private airstrip that our pack owns. We don't normally land this particular jet here because of its size and the length of the runway, but I'm not worrying about that right now. For all I give a shit, the plane can rot here.

We have bodies to transfer and who-the-fuck-knows in a giant crate to deal with.

I hesitate to even bring that box onto packlands, seeing as how everything that Seer woman touches turns to ash. Which reminds me... Sean never shared any of this history with me.

Maybe he told my old man, but such information-especially as how it has threatened pack-should've been relayed. To me.

He may have ultimately shown me the map of New Orleans, but she should've confided in me about his past long before.

The plane lurches as it lands and I automatically thrust out my hand to help keep Mia from jostling into the wall or the table in front of her.

She tenses.

As the plane draws to a stop, she unbuckles her belt and stands. She glances around as if realizing for the first time that we'd just been on a flight.

She blinks a few times. "I can't see the kids like this." Her voice is scratchy.

I nod and move to the hatch to open the stairwell out of the plane.

"It's okay, honey. I'll take care of them."

I want to take care of her.

I want Mia and the twins and little Merilee to be in my house. Beneath my protection.

Conn growls.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I can't force it.

"Why don't you go to your dad's place and sleep for a few hours-"

"No. I'll need more time alone, Cam." She doesn't say how much more.

"Right. Okay. What can I do?"

"I just told you. Give me time and space."

It isn't said in any malicious way. She's almost in a fog. Shock, for sure.

My heart breaks for her. My mate has known so much pain and suffering. And all of it starts with me.

"Why don't I have Dr. Lee meet us..." I connect my mind with our resident physician's and he assures me he'll meet us the tarmac. "Once he looks you over, you can go out to the northeast fields. Remember the

cabin for when we're driving the

cattle in the fall? You can stay there.

Rest. When you're ready, I'll bring the kids over to visit."

She nods slowly.

"Sit down for a few minutes, honey."

Trucks are pulling up to the plane as the pilot Jeffrey kills the engines.

"Help them," I tell him. Unload the bodies first. Then the trunk.

Sean?

My beta-Mia's father-responds immediately. Is she alright?

It depends on his definition of 'alright'.

Get someone out to the Quadrant Six cabin. Clean it out. Stock it with food. Set up a patrol. I want no fewer than a dozen wolves on the grounds at any given time. They can rotate security details as needed.

She can stay with me.

I cut off the connection.

When I sense that the more macabre work of transporting the bodies is done, and that that cursed wooden chest is offloaded, I turn to Mia.

"Can you walk, Mia, or should I carry you?"

She looks at me oddly. Like I just said the most ridiculous thing.

She precedes me off the plane. Dr. Lee stands there waiting for her.

He holds the back door open to an idling SUV.

She gets in without any fuss and I climb into the front seat.

"The box comes with me," she says.

There is power in her voice. She isn't asking. She is telling me.

I have my men remove it from the other truck and load it into the trunk of this vehicle.

The doors slam and we head out.

The doctor performs a basic physical examination, checking her eyes and ears and pulse. He dons a stethoscope and really listens to her heart and respiration.

I'm less concerned about her physical condition than I am her mental well-being.

Maybe I should've called for someone else to meet us.

I think about some of the Elders on

our Council. They would've been my

first choice, but given their condemnation of Mia, I won't let them anywhere near her. That would be like bullying a victim.

I rake a hand through my hair.

We have wronged my mate-all of us-in so many ways.

Is it any wonder she wants to be left alone?

Is it surprising she wants no part of my pack, or by extension, me?

She rubs her neck, feeling my mark on her.

One that she never wanted in the first place.

It makes my heart pitch.

Mia has been a fixture in my life for as long as I can remember. I finally have her back home where she belongs. I meet her eyes in the rearview mirror and she turns away.

But for as close as we are, she's still millions of miles away from me.