The Artist

Chapter 16

An adrenaline-fueled mania had taken over my body, filling my body with an urgency that told me to keep moving. I don’t remember most of the past ten hours. The automated response to survive had taken me from captivity to freedom in a heavy mist of confusion. When my view started to clear, I was sitting alone in my cabin. Hours away from everyone — wrapped in a musty smelling sleeping bag, shivering in a dark room. It had been more than a year since I had been here. The small remote cabin sat high in the mountains outside an old logging town. A rustic retreat that I had bought three years ago. I had planned to update the space without destroying its history. Sadly, the time had gotten away from me. Like so many other things. Uncertainty started to sink in. Whatever cosmic energy had helped me get here fizzled out, snuffing the light of reason with it — surrounding me with cold and sable.

Freedom was not what I envisioned. Where was the relief, where was the happiness? Not here, and not in me. All that filled my heart was pain, discontent, and misery. These feelings always throbbed there. Like the sensation of a deep paper cut. The injured flesh exposed by trauma. Kita’s claim had been this dull ache. The bond had never been solidified with mating. The claim he’d made was in my heart, not in my body. Believing my love for Kita could endure without sleeping with him. It was there, but it was nowhere near as powerful as Alexander’s. My first love’s devotion had been forced to take a back seat to the devil’s. Alexander’s claim pushed past my pain barrier. Resentful that I had to feel this from him. I had not wanted him. I had not wanted his claim. But we would be forced to suffer from his greed. Bitterness joined misery, making time move in agony. Waking minutes were terrible; sleeping minutes were hell. Alexander’s claim had taken my entire being prisoner. He could not process the fact that I had left. He saturated the bond, drenching it with his sorrow and heartache. He called to my Omega, he called to his lost mate. I thought the distance between us would weaken the power he had over her. Keeping him out of her reach had not mattered. The Alpha had infected her; he had infected me. Filling the day with mindlessness tasks was easy. Rearranging the cabin and all its contents, again. That’s how I passed the day, working until dark. Trying to work myself to exhaustion in the hope that I could sleep dreamlessly. It never happened; Alexander would find me. He would remind me of the connection. Day three started the descent into an emotional pit. Pulling myself out of bed, feeling like stomped shit. Last night had been the worst. My eyes still burning like they had been charred by the sun. I hadn’t slept at all. My mind stumbled through thoughts that were more hallucination then fact. So far from reality, but very vivid. I don’t remember a time in my life when I had ever felt this lost. It was a cold morning, and heavy snow had fallen during the night. I had no energy to go and fill up the generator. It would be a struggle for me to keep the fire going. Tossing another log on, wrapping myself in a quilt. I slumped into the nearest chair. Day time hallucinations were just as miserable. The muted daylight didn’t help one damn bit. The hours moved by in confused increments of time, pulling and tugging on my sanity. Turbulent and powerful emotions that told me to leave. Begging me to return to the Alpha that called me back. Not caring that my heart was twisted and bleeding for another. Kita, my soul died a little more as I relapsed into my memories of him. Wrapping my entire being his, I fall apart. Unsure if it was exhaustion or insanity that found me finally, I slept. The gift was short-lived. The block of time had not been enough to be healing. My body jerked awake with a powerful sense of apprehension. Unsure if I was really hearing what sounded like footsteps trudging through heavy snow. I panicked. No one knew I was here. The strangling fear was the first rational emotion that I had felt in days. It was not comforting; I bolted for the nearest window. My mind was not stable enough for what I saw. Nothing, there was nothing on this earth that would have stopped me from opening the door. I stood on the small porch shaking with hope and relief. If this were madness, I would gladly embrace it. It didn’t matter that there were inches of freezing snow on the ground. It didn’t matter that I was bare-footed, cold, and emotionally unwell. I ran, I ran to the mirage of Kita that moved frantically towards me. Not caring that Alexander followed him. Whatever was left of me after my psychosis, he could have it.

Cass-

Henley had already slipped from my hands. She was determined to defy me, using death to do it. No matter how I tended and loved her body. I could not breach the walls around her heart. This tiny woman could easily crush me. Henley had cried herself to sleep. Still clinging to the bastard’s neck, a sight that hurt more than any physical pain I’d ever received. She’d never held me like that. I wanted to pull her off of him and rip his fucking throat out. The only thing stopping me was the fact that Henley was content. For the first time in weeks, my mate was truly happy. In the arms of another Alpha. I paced, muscles aching to take my Omega from him. To tear her clothes off and knot her in front of him. Rage was rapidly poisoning reason.

“You had every opportunity to claim her. Fucking years, and you wasted them.” I glared at the viable threat that held my mate. “Explain that to me?” I demanded to know. The imposter stilled, a worried look of fear and shame clouded his eyes. “You are threatening my life with my Omega. I want answers.” I was not backing down. I would know the reason, even if I had to beat it out of him. Kita pulled Henley closer to his chest, squeezing her as he soothed her hair. The act was intimate and offended me greatly. A low growl was all the warning he was going to get. Kita’s eyes shot to mine. The look he gave me was troubling. Clearly telling me, he was content to die right where he sat, with my Omega. My pride had taken days and days of Henley’s relentless abuse. I, too, was prepared to see this to its violent end. I postured up, making it very clear of my intention. He glared back, knowing that we could easily end this war. But the cost would be death and pain. Tense minutes passed as we weighed the options. Looking down at Henley, Akita struck me again.

“My mother was an addict,” Kita said, his voice was unsteady. “She loved anything that got her high.” He looked away. “It’s rough, the junkie life-cycle. Rehab, hope, and the inevitable fall.” He paused. “Dad had finally had enough. They divorced. But he wasn’t good at being alone. He met a woman, an Alpha.” Kita hesitated, nervously he looked away. “Dad had two kids; she didn’t want any of her own. She said all the right things, made him believe she was the one.” Kita grew more tense, clearing his throat, stalling for time. His body was rigid as I watched him struggle. “My father traveled for work; he’d be gone for weeks at a time.” He looked away again. I watched him as a nervous sweat bloomed on his upper lip. “I was 13.” He swallowed hard. “The first time she crawled into my bed.” Kita’s voice was low, troubled, and uncertain. I could feel his shame. I could smell it. I tried to keep the emotional shock from shuddering through me. The strangled pause led me to my own conclusion. “It took me years to realize my physical response was normal.” Kita became restless, moving his hands up and down Henley’s shoulder and leg. Trying to calm his nerves. “I couldn’t stop the reaction she took from me.” Kita’s eyes lowered; he swallowed hard again. I felt a wave of shock tear through me. I was appalled. Not able to understand the avalanche of feelings his words released in me. I froze where I stood. “She wasn’t content with just fucking my body. She preferred my mind more.” He wrapped his arms tighter around Henley. He was taking comfort from my mate. “I hated myself, hated my life, hated everyone. I wanted to die.” He confessed.

“What happened?” I asked, dumbfounded by his admission. These were words I was not prepared to hear.

“I’m the son of a junkie.” He said bitterly. “Dad got sick of trying to save me. But he had help.” Kita said, finding strength enough to face me again. “She told him I’d raped her.” Kita’s story made me emotional ill.

“And he believed her?” I couldn’t fathom this.

“Explained my behavior, or so he said. The bitch couldn’t prove it, though. She agreed not to press charges if I left. My father disowned me and turned me over to the state.” Bitter shame and betrayal billowed off of Kita. The years that had passed made no difference. The rawness of the pain still burned in his eyes.

“How old were you?”

“16,” Kita said. He’d spent three years being raped by a woman who dared to be called a mother. My heart quivered in my chest. I was stunned and appalled to hear his story. It was one I could never have imagined. I didn’t know how to offer this man comfort.

“What pulled you from the needle?” The Alpha’s painful smile was a point-blank shot to my heart. Looking down at my mate with love.

“She did,” Kita confessed my secret fear. “She’s the only reason I’m alive and successful at it. Henley’s the only one who knows the truth.”

“You never claimed her.” I reminded Kita harshly. His past was hell, but it did not change the feelings I had for Henley. I was her Alpha.

“I didn’t know if I could,” Kita said, more than ashamed to confess the truth. “Henley is so good and pure. I wasn’t sure I could make her happy, physically?” He admitted. Hearing another talking about mating Henley was brutal. My muscles ached to attack him. To violently and repeatedly beat the imposter. Henley may be right. Only a sadist would want to know the reason.

“What changed?” I asked Kita, hating the loving look he was bathing Henley’s sleeping face in. He paused to stroke her cheek, forcing me to bite mine.

“You,” Kita said, meeting my eyes with purpose. “You kissed her in her studio. It sent her into immediately estrous. It changed Henley’s scent.” He’s confession rocked me hard. A bolt of hope ripped through my core. I felt my heart wake from the dead, reborn, and alive. I dammed and praised the feeling, knowing better than to trust it. How many times had Henley done this to me? I’d lost count, but I loved her.

“I’d never struggled to stay away from her before.” Kita looked right at me as he held my mate. “I stood outside that locked door for days fighting to stay out,” Kita said.

“You believe you could’ve knotted her?” I asked the Alpha, who was challenging my claim.

“For days.” He said firmly. Conviction filled his entire body. His scent, his posture, he was making his intentions known. Again, forcing me between violence and compromise. I was going to have to make a decision right now. Henley was the only thing I had ever truly wanted.

“And what about now?” My pride died as I asked the question.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” The Alpha asked me. I stepped forward, trying incredibly hard to be as reasonable as humanly possible.

“My mate is dying in front of my eyes. All of my money, all of my power. All of my… feelings for her, and I can’t reach her.” It hurt to confess this, but I would not lose her. “I cannot make a life or family without her. Do you understand what I’m saying?” I glared at the man who held my mate’s heart in his hands.

I had spent a week away from Alexander. Days my Omega had mourned. She’d come to need the physical attention; Alexander had changed her forever. That was the only reason I let her take my mind. I found my body burning hot in this X-rated dream. One that felt so real, I didn’t stop the hungry moan that left my lips. My eyes closed tightly; I was fucking with my other senses. Skin that was very Alpha rubbed against mine. The scent of excitement filled the air with a compelling need to rut. My Omega had gone too long without the constant presence of Alexander. But it wasn’t him that stroked my libido at this moment. Was it my defiance that tried to hurt Alexander? My motive was unclear to me. Then again, I was mentally in an unhealthy place. That is how I justified my actions. I reached for Kita. Everything felt like an Alpha I’d never laid with. This dream meant to torture, so real, I swear I could taste his scent on my tongue. If this was the complete mental break-down of sanity, so be it. I would wander this madness with my love. My body hummed with energy. Hips rising up to meet the long fingers that slid into my slick center. I grabbed for Kita’s ghost.

“Henley, love, open your eyes for me.” Never had Kita spoken to me with the husky lust that burned my ears with desire. Rippling with the sensation, I shook my head.

“This is my dream; Kita don’t tell me what to do.” It wasn’t a threat. It was a plea for mercy, the hand that manipulated my sex left to grab my chin. I whimpered, disappointed to have it taken from me. My eyes fluttered open in protest. Finding Kita’s smoldering brown eyes burning into my mine was unreal. Kita shook me as his fingers held my chin tightly.

“This is not a dream Henley; it is real. I am real. And you will look me in the eyes when I take you.” Kita ground out the words. Words that pierced my heart and ricocheted through my loins. He didn’t have to pin me with his massive body. I was not interested in escaping. But he kept me firmly anchored to the bed. Holding my chin with one hand as he used the other to open his jeans. Kita’s ghost was frantic to join us. I feed off his urgency. Twins, my excited breathing matched his. Kita thrust forward, and my world exploded. It was too powerful for us to hold. The sensation we created shook us violently. Kita rose above me, unable to move, he shivered as he fought for a sliver of control. Mumbling to me to be still, he begged me not to move. Kita didn’t know he was not the only being on this planet driven by instinct. I lunged for his neck, taking his tender skin with my teeth. I would not leave his flesh unmarked. One bite, a nanosecond of time, and we were one.

Cass-

Walking out of that room was the hardest decision I’d ever made.

Twelve fucking hours, I watched the clock. Knowing, hearing, and feeling the pleasure that the Alpha was giving my mate. Why the fuck was there no alcohol in this cabin? I had rummaged through every cupboard several times. No sounds had left the room for the past three hours. My mind had no trouble imagining the sight of Henley curled up and content, sleeping on that bastard’s chest. The smell of their mating had been fouling up the air for more hours than I cared to count. The maddening fragrance finally drove me outside to split wood. I managed to cut enough to last a small village until spring, envisioning Kita’s head every time I brought the ax down. It helped move a small amount of my anger. Physically purging my emotions had me sweaty. I had to shed my coat hours ago. I could see steam leaving my super-heated skin in the freezing air. I’d be damned if I catch pneumonia. That bastard would not be rid of me that easy. Arms loaded with split logs, I marched back into hell. Overwhelmed by Henley’s distinct scent, the moment I entered the cabin.

Fuck, I piled the logs in the rack, adding a few to the fire, only for Henley’s sake. I stiffened instantly, knowing my little Omega had entered the room. I realized I was not ready to face her. For once, I was afraid of what she might see in me. My back to her, I stood still waiting for her to cut me down as only she could. But the silence was almost worse.

“Alexander?”

"This changes nothing, Henley. You are my Omega.” The anger in my voice would have shaken lesser beings. “You will give me everything I demand of you. My sacrifice will be repaid.” If she doubted me, she didn’t dare speak it. She said nothing, not even thanking me for ending my life to save hers.

Before we left this fucking cabin, I was setting the house rules. The only thing that stopped me was the sudden noise at the door.

“Cass, open the door.” Heavy hands beat aggressively on the front door of the cabin. I jerked it open, finding a very distraught Jaime standing there.

“What the hell are you doing here?“. The worry that stained my second’s face was troubling.

“We’ve got a big problem.” He said, looking genuinely worried.

Epilogue

Jaime-

I tried not to stare. But how could I not? Henley clinging to Kita’s arm had been expected. Seeing his neck claimed by her delicate marks was… devastating. If she meant to make Cass pay for every sin known to man, she’d done it with this. Hell, I felt bad for us both. The little redhaired hellion had been nothing but trouble since Cass laid eyes on her. I had to focus on why I was here.

“A woman’s body was found yesterday outside of the city,” I told them.

“So?” Cass demanded, obviously still dealing with his trouble.

“So, the police have identified the body as Henley Allred’s,” I said, watching the confused looks that raced between them, seconds past but that was time we simply did not have.

“Henley, you need to know why they think the victim is you,” I said. Not knowing how to tell her. “It’s your twin sister.”