Page 60 of A Luna's Dynasty
Chapter 36
Asher clenched his fists as he stormed outside. His silver eyes, usually calm and commanding, now blazed with the tempestuous fury of a storm over the Black Ice Pack. His heartthundered in his chest, each beat a reverberating echo of Lita’s name, the woman who had become his soul’s singular obsession. He should have been there, should have been the one to shield her. His clenched fists were not only an expression of anger but a desperate attempt to hold onto something … anything. He didn’t protect his mate … he failed her. He failed himself.
How long did he have to wait? He didn’t want to risk spilling unnecessary blood, but every minute was pure agony. Each night he spent without her was torture.
“Alpha Asher?” The voice was like a drop of honey laced with poison, and he knew without turning who it belonged to. Felicia approached, her tone dripping with concern. She’d left his mate out there! He felt his blood boil in anger, knowing she abandoned Lita to save herself.What pack member would do that?!
With a sharp turn, he faced her, his irritation at her presence etching lines of disdain upon his features. “Not now, Felicia,” he growled, the words slipping out between gritted teeth.
“Asher,” she whispered, moving closer. She reached out her hand to offer comfort to him, but he recoiled from her touch.
“Leave me,” he commanded, the alpha authority resonating in his deep timbre, a warning that brooked no argument. If looks could ignite fires, the blaze in Asher’s gaze would have reduced her to ashes.
Her sweet mask faltered for a moment to reveal a flash of indignation, but she wore her resilience like a cloak, stepping back with a practiced grace that did nothing to quell the burning frustration within Asher’s soul. He turned away from her and stared up at the sky. Maybe somewhere out there, Lita was looking up, too. Connected underneath the same canopy of clouds.
“Perhaps Lita chose to leave,” Felicia whispered, her voice a syrupy poison dripping into the open wound of his vulnerability.“The burden of being your mate might’ve been too much for her tender spirit.”
A growl rumbled deep in Asher’s chest, raw and fierce. He whipped around, his silver eyes blazing with a ferocity that could scorch the earth. “Lita was taken from me!” he snarled, his words slicing at her like daggers. “She would never have just left!”
Felicia pretended to be concerned and she softened her eyes. “But Asher, being the luna to the Black Ice Pack is a heavy burden. I think you need to consider that she might have found it all … overwhelming.”
His nostrils flared, the beast inside him pacing, ready to pounce on any threat to Lita’s honor. “NEVER!” Asher barked, cutting her off with a swipe of his hand through the air. “Lita accepted my mark willingly. She is marked by me, and she is marked and bound to me. She would never have abandoned that.”
“But what if she did leave willingly?”
Asher let out a dark chuckle. His eyes darkened with Bo as he glared at Felicia. “It doesn’t matter. She accepted my mark willingly, and she doesn’t get to quit. If she left on her own, then I will drag her back, take her to our room, and prove to her why she should never leave my side.”
“Asher, I’m here! I would never abandon my duties as your luna. I would never leave you, and—”
“Felicia,” his voice was low and laced with a finality that chilled the space between them. “I apologize for ever giving you hope where there was none,” he continued, the edge of regret slicing through his tone. “I never loved you. It was obligation, guilt ... nothing more. I’ve been more than patient with you, but you need to understand it will never be you. Even if Lita were not in this world, you could never be my luna. My heart, my soul, they belong to her alone. Lita is the only one for me. Stopthinking there is a chance. There isn’t. There never should have been a ‘we’, and there never will be. You’re a pack member … nothing more. Remember that, and be ready to welcome your luna when she returns!” He growled and turned on his heel, his broad shoulders set against any further discussion. The door to the house slammed with his fury, and the windows next to it shuddered.
Felicia’s eyes narrowed, the sweetness of her voice curdled by the bitterness twisting her features. She stood motionless, the shadows from the trees painting her face with lines of contempt.
“Blinded,” she whispered to herself, the word slipping out like a serpent’s hiss. “He can’t see past that foolish mate bond.” Of course, that was it. He did love her, but the mate bond made him forget. It was all Lita’s fault! That weak woman could never be a good luna for the Black Ice Pack. She was a healer and a fairy … what did she know about strength?! Unlike her, who had been trained since her brother’s death to be strong. In comparison, Lita was fragile … easily breakable.
The idea began as a flicker, a mere spark in the dark recesses of her thoughts, but it caught fire swiftly. A challenge, open and impossible to ignore, before the entire pack. “That’s it,” she whispered out loud as her eyes flickered. With every pack member as witness, she would expose Lita’s incompetence to everyone. They would see how inadequate Lita was to be their luna.
She envisioned it, the moment of triumph when Asher’s eyes would finally open, when he would see her, Felicia, as the only one capable of standing beside him, strong and undaunted. A smirk crept across her lips, as wicked as the scheme itself. She would be Luna, no matter the cost, no matter the deceit required to be next to Asher.
“Lita … you probably shouldn’t return, because I will humiliate you if you do.” She turned and began to walk down the path.In the end, only the strongest would prevail. She knew what it would take to rule the Black Ice Pack, and there was no way Lita was prepared for it.
She’d been so close to getting rid of Lita for good. Everything was perfect. There was a barrier that blocked mindlinks, so Lita couldn’t call for help. The rogues had been eager pawns to her plan. She promised, if she was the luna, they would be accepted into the pack. It was perfect. She would have wounds of her own and pretend she risked her life trying to protect Lita. Everything was perfect … but then the damn centaurs showed up.
“Curse them,” Felicia muttered under her breath. They saved Lita, but at least they took her away. With any luck, Asher would never find her again. The longer he was away from her influence, the more likely he was to remember that he loved her.
She just had to make him remember again. She could see the vision in her mind clearly.
Lita, with her timid soul and healer’s hands, was no match for the storm that Felicia would unleash. Felicia would smash her into submission, revealing how weak she was to the entire pack. Then Asher’s gaze would shift from Lita to her. The mate bond that clouded his vision would see the truth. His silver eyes would brighten, and he would remember that he loved her. He would smile and rush to her, holding her in his arms and whispering how sorry he was. He would beg her for forgiveness and then banish Lita from the pack. Lita, with her head down in defeat, would slink away, retreating to her weak fairy kind. To make sure she never tried to bewitch Asher again with the bond, she would have her killed, permanently severing her connection to Asher.
Asher would mark her as his luna that night. He would make love to her every night over and over. He wouldn’t be able to get enough of her. And he would see she was much better than Lita was at everything. The entire pack would regret that theydidn’t back her before and would bow at her feet in forgiveness. She would become pregnant with twin alpha pups, carrying on the Chain line. Asher would dote on her and tell her how lucky he was to have her. Life would be perfect, and they would live happily ever after.
An impish giggle bubbled up from within her, spilling into the air as she envisioned it all. It would all be perfect! She hopped down the path a bit, with a devilish smile. This wasn’t just a dream … she was going to make it a reality. Everything would fall into its rightful place, and the Black Ice Pack would get the luna it truly deserved.
Chapter 37
Lita sat by the shimmering pool, the hem of her dress grazing the surface as she dipped her toes into the cool water. It had been days since she was taken, and although she was trying tomake the best of her situation, she was getting a bit impatient. Asher still hadn’t come for her. She talked with Brad, and he assured her that they wouldn’t harm Asher, but they wouldn’t allow her to leave with him. She was a bit apprehensive that he still hadn’t come for her, though.
“Mind if I sit with you?” A gentle tenor voice sounded from behind her. She whipped her head around to see a MAN!
