Alpha Luke and His Unwilling Mate
Chapter 34

~Nyla~

I took a long bath after Luke left. This past week had been the hardest to get through, and I needed to mull everything over.

I wasn’t aware it was possible to be this torn between the feelings of love and revenge. While I believe at times that Luke was one of the best things that happened to me, guilt was eating me away. Moving on so quickly seemed unnatural enough, and moving on with the bringer of my misfortunes felt unacceptable.

I thought no one was silently judging me except for my subconscious, which was constantly spewing Wyatt’s memories to the front, reminding me what a horrible person I was. Then I found another silent judge when Luke said Maya was watching us.

It must be Maya. She was probably waiting for Luke to move his pack to Golden Dells so she could get her revenge. She didn’t know he had no plans to relocate or if I was even alive. Neither did she know he lived in the Western Cascades, which was quite far from home.

If she really felt things for Vance as Ryder and Lorraine had said, she would obviously nurse vengeful intentions, and watching her best friend make out with the murderer must be quite a blow. She might have been counting me along with Vance as the loved ones she needed her revenge for.

Putting aside feelings of guilt and shame was hard enough. Not to mention the struggles with the stone that the evil goddess gave me. I wore it occasionally to prolong the time before withdrawal symptoms would kick in again. The stone was enchanted to manipulate the wearer; it was flooding my mind with negative thoughts, seeking only revenge and destruction.

Every time I wore it, I was convinced to kill Luke and everyone he cared about. Even the thought of wanting to harm people like Rachel was heartbreaking for me. But my ability to empathize or think straight vanished when the stone was on me.

At times, I had considered telling Luke the truth and asking him for b***d instead of resorting to wearing something so evil. The thought of my mate pushing me away and hating me was unimaginable. It was one thing to hide my identity and another to betray his trust and kill his people.

Knowing him more at a physical and emotional level was making it more and more difficult for me. He was a real sweetheart who loved me deeply. It would be easier to take these feelings of love with me and disappear for good than be hated and banished.

I was so wrong about him when I thought he would use Ari against me. He loved my baby a lot and made sure I got everything she and I needed. It’s not easy for possessive alphas to tolerate another man even looking the wrong way at their mate. He accepted Wyatt as someone I still loved, and Ari as his own baby.

My time here was coming to an end. I will say goodbye when he returns from the meeting later tonight and will leave with some good memories. There was no way I was going to confess what I did to Ryder and the others.

He will sure be heartbroken when I tell him about leaving, especially now that he worked out a way to be with me officially. If only he hadn’t kept me away from him during the first two months. We lost a lot of precious time we could have been together.

Ari’s cries drew my attention back to her as I walked out of the shower.

“I’m right here, my darling. Today is a big day for you.”

I took her tank top with a cute bunny off and put on a beautiful yellow dress. She was going to attend the wine and dine event with me at the pack gathering. But before that, I was going to sneak her out to the ocean.

“Let’s go take a dip.” I kissed her, and she returned a toothless smile, throwing her arms and legs at me. I walked out quickly while Eric was talking to another guard about something very serious.

“Oh my God, you two!! My heart is melting.” Rachel squeezed Ari and me into a hug as I walked past the garden towards the beach.

“Where are you going? We are leaving in under thirty minutes to the venue. I need to run and change first.”

“Just catching some fresh air by the beach. We both are ready, so just call me when you are.” I waved the large handbag with diapers and stuff. I needed it to carry towels and to keep my clothes dry. “And let Eric know I’m right here, and there’s no need to go crazy.”

“Great. I’ll wear something coral or purple to go well with your turquoise dress. Let’s take a lot of pictures because my brother needs to know how gorgeous you look today.”

My heart fluttered at the mention of Luke. He had barely left, and I missed him pretty bad. Don’t know how I was going to survive without him. I took a picture of me and Ari by the setting sun and sent it to him. He must be still driving.

Walking far enough on the beach to avoid anyone from spotting us, I set my bag on the sand and undressed my baby. The moon was already out and its light was shining brighter now.

I grabbed the evil pendant out of the bag and put it on. I needed it to change back into the human form. Its powers are going to wear off by 3 AM when the moon sets, and that’s how much time I have on land before experiencing withdrawal symptoms severe enough to kill me if I don’t get b***d from my mate or swim back to the ocean.

Ari gripped my shoulders in fear as I carried her into the water, with waves lapping at my waist as my legs joined together to form a long, muscular tail. It beat powerfully against the strong currents as I swam farther into the water.

My baby beat her arms against the waves and cackled happily until I submerged her fully into the ocean. Her lungs seemed to be filling up with briny water as she flailed her legs, wanting to get out. My heart sank when I saw her struggle. Where was I going to go now? She was a werewolf and not a hybrid.

With tears filling my eyes, I was about to pull her up to the surface in disappointment, but suddenly, she stopped struggling. She spread her arms to open them wider, and her lower body twitched violently. Voila, her legs moved closer, and a beautiful gold and sapphire tail took shape in front of my eyes.

My beautiful little siren! She was a natural. Wiggling her tail and keeping her hands to her sides, she dived around and circled me, looking for occasional support from me when the current was too strong.

Fantastic!

I had seen many young ones swim around for the first time, but watching Ari navigate these strong ocean currents made my heart swell with pride. I would have loved to swim around with her, show her some colorful fish and reefs, but we were short on time. We returned to the shore, and I quickly dried her off.

This was so perfect! Unlike me, my hybrid baby didn’t need a pendant to walk on the land. Why didn’t the Moon goddess bless more of my kind with werewolf mates?

Ari played with my damp hair and pulled at it as I put my dress back on and removed the evil stone off me.

I was worried for nothing all these days. She won’t be able to swim after the full moon goes down, but we would have plenty of time if Luke returns by 11 PM. Sirens can manipulate water currents and create jets that propel us miles away in seconds. My baby and I were going to have a lot of fun on our way home.

If only… I tried to stop thinking about it as I walked back to the estate. Having fun just with Ari didn’t sound satisfying enough. Thinking about doing things without Luke made me sad.

With the full moon night and my siren senses stronger, my withdrawal on land also grew, and I was forced to wear the pendant back when my back and cheeks seemed to go on fire suddenly. My dress had a beautiful low cut on the back and couldn’t afford red necrotic skin to show through it.

Strong resentments surfaced immediately as I watched people walk out with smiling faces towards their cars. Lorraine had been trying to play with my mind, convincing me that this was the most perfect occasion to kill everyone that mattered to Luke, to plan a mass luring to drown everyone from the oceanside venue, and wipe out the entire pack effortlessly.

Eric darted towards me with a crazed look on his face.

“There you are! Please, don’t leave without telling me. The Alpha will have my head if anything happens to you.”

He looked extra worried for some reason, but I didn’t think much of it. I had bigger things on my mind right now. Fighting the urge to kill everyone, for one.

Few more hours to go.