Page 23 of Cursed Beasts

As much as I wanted to blame her for his change in behavior, I had been expecting Lucien to do this for a while.

“He found her in the library still tied up, and ever since then he’s been acting standoffish.” Aeon adds.

“Wait, what do you mean, she was still tied up?” I asked quickly.

“She spent the entire night the way we left her,” he said, pacing in front of me.

“Every Belladonna we’ve done that to, has always gotten out. Why didn’t she escape?” My anger surfaced.

“She wanted sympathy, or this was her moment to have him under her spell,” he snapped. “She is playing with Lucien because he is innocent. She must sense that.”

“He knew better than that. He might be young, but he’s spent the same time here with us. He knows how devious they are,” I said, as I tried to figure out why he would let her get to him. “Have you seen them together?”

“No, I haven’t seen him going anywhere near her. He’s been drawing a lot. I’ve kept an eye on him thinking the same thing.”

“Has she been visiting him without you knowing?”

“No, he’s been alone.” He took a deep breath. “I was wondering if you could see if she is in her room? Maybe she is telepathic, and she can get to him from a distance.”

“I doubt that, we’ve all been trained to protect our minds,” I said, running a hand over my beard, thinking I needed to trim it.

“Then what is it?” Aeon shouted at me.

I immediately growled at him and his disrespectfulness.

“I’m going to blame that outburst on the fact that you are stressed out.”

Aeon stared at me like he wanted to push his luck, but he lowered his eyes.

“I’ll go check on her. She is probably sitting in her bed, too scared to leave.” I walked past him to climb down the stairs.

“What are you going to do if she is the one playing with him?” His voice was guttural.

“What are you going to do if she isn’t playing with him?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. “I know you’ve tried keeping him at arm’s length, but what if he’s tired of that? What if he’s acting like this because he doesn’t want to deal with the bullshit you’ve put him through?”

I didn’t wait around for his answer. Taking the stairs two at a time to the floor that she was on, I began planning on how I was going to scare her. Once I got to her door, I stopped and listened, expecting to hear her breathing or heartbeat, but I was met with silence.

Getting as close to the door as possible, I strained my ears thinking she must be in the bathroom. I was still met with nothing, wondering if Aeon was right. Is she playing with Lucien, taking advantage of his more playful disposition?

The hallway was empty, smelling just like her, but as I went further down the hall, her scent became stronger. I followed it up the stairs, but it stopped at the top of the stairs, so I went back down. My wolf perked up in my chest at the hunt. We hadn’t done this in a long time; it made me miss the chase that fed our primal urges making me miss pack life again.

It had been too long since I ran outside in the moonlight, enjoying the feel of the earth beneath my paws as I ran quickly, looking for prey and keeping up with my pack. I followed my nose down several hallways until I ended up back in the center of the house.

Her scent was very strong here, making me think she had just been here or was still in the area. A movement caught my eye on my left when I saw her trying to move down the hallway to her room. I quietly followed her slowly, since she was also trying to move as quietly as possible. A piece of the floor creaked, making her still instantly. Her breathing had become shallow, her heart was beating wildly all of which made me want to chase her even more.

I could tell the moment she realized I was close; she took off running. She got a three second head start before I ran after her, catching her right before she opened the door to her room. I pushed her up against the wall, pinning her hands above her, making her breasts look perky and mouthwatering.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I gave her a guttural growl.

“A midnight stroll,” she panted.

Her fear was intoxicating.

“A midnight stroll to see Lucien?” I snapped.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Fuck you. Why the hell would I see an asshole who left me tied up for the entire day?”

“Do you think you are fooling anyone?”

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