Chapter 17

CALEB

Really, I shouldn’t be so surprised that Ruby knows as much about Lucas as she does. They were mates after all, and even though now she seems to have turned against him, she has been following him around like a love-sick puppy for as long as I could remember.

I sighed, the dilemma beginning to frustrate me. “You and your mate really can’t stop causing me problems, can you?”

Ruby crossed her arms over her chest, “Don’t call him my mate, I hate hearing that.”

I looked at her, at the fiery expression in her eyes. It almost made me want to smile seeing how worked up she could get just by my words. “Sorry, I hadn’t realized you’d really rejected him.”

The power in her stare instantly deflated and she leaned against the wall, her head in her hands. “I tried. But I don’t have my wolf, Willow. I haven’t been able to contact her, and without her I can’t cleanly reject the mate bond.”

The information stopped me in my tracks. She’s still mated to Lucas? But…

Serves you right for assuming, my wolf Thor commented.

Shut up, you mangy beast! I shouted back.

She looked torn up, her face was downcast and her lower lip trembled like she really was in pain. She had told me he had done terrible things to her, but what was that really except a bunch of words?

Lucas is an ass, sure, but she turned on him so quickly after never being able to see it before. Was I really going to blindly believe this woman who claimed to want to take him down?

My heart hammered in my chest, my anxiety rising. I hated being out of control, but I hated liars and deceivers even more.

“How can I really know you won’t just go back to Lucas when all of this is over?” I asked, watching her expression closely.

“What?” She said, looking up at me like I had made her eat something disgusting.

“You heard me, how can I be sure that you will never fall back into the comfort of the mate bond?” My voice kept rising.

“Comfort?” She hissed through her teeth. “Lucas—“

”Yes, I know, he cheated on you. And what else? You keep saying you want revenge, but I just can’t believe that a woman as deeply in love as you were would be willing to throw away her mate over a mistake like that.”

Ruby’s head hung over her chest so I couldn’t see her eyes. She didn’t respond, and the silence felt like a physical sting.

I thought of her again, the woman in my past who taught me this fear... just like I did on nights I was lonely and scared.

I looked at her, lost and confused. She was beautiful even now, as all of her betrayal was revealed.

“But Avery,” I started, and she laughed in my face. The noise pierced my ears like knives, and it felt for a moment like I was going to die.

“Oh Caleb, you really thought I loved you, didn’t you?”

“But you said… your mate was dead…” I trailed off, searching through my thousands of memories of her saying those words. Her lips were always soft, and pink, and plush like ripe peaches.

Had it all been a lie? The nights under the stars, the warmth of her skin, the smell of her hair.

She leaned in close to me, pulling my ear to her heart where it was beating agonizingly slowly. “This is the sound of a liar’s heart,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. “No rush of blood, no heightened pulse. It pumps along slowly and surely, because it is so easy. Oh Caleb, you were too easy to deceive.”

I pulled away from her, pushing her chest away with my hands. I could feel the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. I could feel the insane thrashing of my heart in my chest. I felt like I was going to go mad.

And here she stood before me, hideously beautiful, and as calm as the Prenian breeze.

I clawed my way out of the memory. I refused to ever be put in that same position again.

“I can’t trust you completely while it’s still true you are tied to my brother.” I paused, she still hadn’t looked up or acknowledged my words. “But, I’m willing to let you be in charge of the food for the Alpha ball. If you screw up, I will know it’s you. And I will know you’re trying to sabotage me.”

“Okay.” She said, her voice tiny. The dust particles in the air barely parted as she exhaled.

You were too mean. Thor said immediately, and I could feel the psychic pressure of his frustration with me. What the hell was that even, you went off on her after she tried to help you?

I’m only going to marry her because she saved me as a child. It’s a debt, and I’ve considered it paid. That doesn’t mean I trust her, it means I have a sense of honor. I responded, my anger flaring.

Oh come on, Thor said. You don’t even really know if it was her. You just think she’s cute.

My nostrils flared, but Thor had a point.

“Ruby?”

“What?”

She finally lifted her head, meeting my gaze.

“Do you remember saving a little boy in Prenia when you were a child? In the eastern forest?”

She looked at me with wide eyes, shocked by the question. “I never, never did that.”

My pupils quake at her response, and suddenly I feel loss and confusion surge forward. Was I mistaken? Had I gotten everything wrong? I needed to think, and I needed to do that away from Ruby.

I brushed my hair out of my face, and without a word of goodbye, I left Ruby alone in the room.

RUBY

I couldn’t shake the hurt from my interaction with Caleb, especially after I had thought we were finally coming to understand each other.

But really, what did we know about each other? Barely anything, and I kept finding new stories and features of him everyday. We needed more time, I said to myself. It wasn’t comforting, but at least I could hold onto that.

We were former nemeses, we used to hate each other. Sometimes I thought I still hated him when he made a particularly rude comment. It was natural that finding out our rhythm of working together would take some time.

I wandered towards the curtains, looking out in the parking lot out of the back of the building. I was surprised to see Caleb’s car parked just below me, the golden glow of the tire lights illuminating the space around him. The rest of the lot was empty except for a single, navy blue car parked in the spot next to Caleb’s.

After a few moments, I saw him walk out of the back exit, his hair shining in the afternoon sunshine. Just before he opened the door to his car, a long-legged woman emerged out of the one next to it, and slips her hands around his arm.

My jaw dropped, I could see her fingers squeezing the muscles there. She looked up at him through a pair of heavy, supermodel sunglasses which obscured most of her face. Her pitch black hair was slicked back into an elegant bun, and her skin was like translucent glass.

Caleb looked at her passively, and I realized he must know her somehow. I stared at them for a moment too long, and he glanced up into the window.

Locking eyes with me.