Chapter Twenty Three

Liam

“Liam, why in the f**k are you flaunting around with a traitor?” Gwen said, standing up from an armchair in the sitting area. Goddess, why can’t she just listen?

Azalea stopped and turned to her, slowly paling as the blood drained from her face. Her eyes were wide, and she began to shake a little. I stepped in front of her, blocking her from Gwen’s view.

“I told you to drop it, Gwen. This is none of your concern,” I said to her, my anger rising.

“It does concern me if you are playing around with this little bitch. Seriously Liam, just because you aren’t mated doesn’t mean you need to stoop so low,” she spat.

“Hold your tongue, now, Gwen,” I threatened.

“We are supposed to be here watching the humans, and I find you here messing around with that wolf-less piece of trash. Do you even care about how that looks as Alpha?” she questioned with nothing but venom in her voice.

“Gwen, you need to go to your room. Now. You will say nothing more about or to Azalea, and you will be going back to the Pack in the morning. Do you understand me?” I said, letting my Alpha authority out. She could not deny an Alpha command.

“Don’t think this is over. I’ll be damned if I am going to let this little charade continue,” she said as she turned and stomped to the stairs. I stayed rooted to the spot, watching her ascend the stairs. Once she was out of sight, I turned to Azalea.

My stomach dropped as I saw the fear on her face. Her eyes were glazed over like she wasn’t completely here with me. She did not move as we stood there. My phone rang in my pocket, and I silenced it without even looking at who was calling. Moments later, it began to ring again. I pulled it from my pocket, seeing it was Damien.

“Azalea, I have to take this. Just don’t move, okay? Gwen isn’t coming back here, I promise. I am just going to stand outside the door. I’ll be right back,” I told her. She made no motion that she heard me. I sighed and walked to the door. As I looked back, she was hugging her arms to her body.

I walked outside and answered my ringing phone. “This better be good,” I barked.

“Gwen just called me losing it. I had no idea Lily sent her, man.”

“Yea, well, any hope I had of getting Azalea to come to the Pack is now gone!”

“I am going to fix it; I am sending someone to replace her now,” he said quickly.

“You need to come get your bitch of a little sister! She’s lucky I didn’t rip her throat out right there!”

“Okay, I will come get her in the morning,” he said, trying to appease me.

“No, get her now! She knows exactly who Azalea is, and she isn’t far from connecting the dots to us being mates Damien! Who knows what your crazy sister will do when she finds out!” I yelled. My anger continued to rise as all the implications of Gwen finding out who Azalea was and where she was began flooding my mind. “She is determined to mate with me, and I wouldn’t put it past her to come after Azalea to get what she wants!”

“You’re right. I am leaving now. Just get Azalea out of there, so Gwen isn’t near her anymore. I’ll talk to Gwen. Or I will call my dad,” he said.

“She lays a finger on Azalea and being rejected will be a tickle compared to what I do,” I threatened.

“Liam, breathe. Lily didn’t know when she sent her. It was the middle of the night, and most of the unmated wolves were with us on the hunt. It was an honest mistake. But you gotta calm down, man. You cannot lose it in front of Azalea,” he tried to reason with me. I knew he was right. I tried to take a breath and calm myself.

“f**k, how do I fix this? She is in there, probably terrified that Gwen is going to attack her!” I vented.

“She’s your mate, man. Comfort her. Tell her we are taking Gwen away. You are going to have to tell her what is going on,” he said.

“She’s going to freak out. She’ll never agree to come to the Pack, and she won’t feel safe here,” I said, beginning to feel a little defeated.

“Well, there is somewhere you could take that would be in our territory, but far enough from the packhouse, she may feel safe,” he said.

“Where?”

“The Lake House. It hasn’t been used in a while, and your parents don’t really go out there,” he said.

“Damien, you’re brilliant! Can you send a couple of she-wolves to clean it up and stock the fridge? I think I can get her there pretty quickly,” I said with renewed hope. I didn’t have to take her back to packhouse yet. But I could take her somewhere I could protect her.

“Yea, consider it done, man. Go get Azalea; I’ll take care of Gwen,” he said.

“Thanks,” I said, hanging up the phone. I stepped back into the Inn to find Azalea gone. I began to panic a little bit. Where did she go? I quickly made my way back to the kitchen through the entrance behind the front desk.

The kitchen was dark except for a small lamp over the prep table. On the prep table sat a covered dish and a couple of plates. Scanning the room, I saw the fridge was open. After a moment, the door closed, and Azalea stepped back, holding a couple of small glasses and a jug of milk. She didn’t notice me standing there yet. She walked over to the prep table, setting the milk and glasses down. She filled each glass with milk before turning around to grab silverware. She then returned and uncovered the dish. On it was a delectable-looking cake covered in chocolate icing and some light brown decoration.

I walked over to her, softly saying, “Azalea?”

She looked up at me with her wide eyes. Her face was a little puffy, evidence of a few tears shed.

I approached her and took her face into my hands. “Baby, I am so sorry about Gwen. She is leaving tonight; Damien is coming to get her. Don’t worry about her; I promise I am going to take care of it.” She blinked her long lashes at me. “I think we need to talk. There are some things you should probably know.” She nodded her head. I looked down at the prep table.

“Is this the cake you made me?” I said as I smelled the air. The cake smelled like peanut butter and chocolate fudge.

“Yea,” she whispered. I smiled at her.

“Thank you. It looks amazing. You are amazing,” I told her. With that, I bent down and gave her a soft kiss on her pink lips.  I released her mouth and said, “Why don’t we take this back to your apartment, and we can talk and eat it there?”

She nodded her head. I let go of her. She covered the cake and handed me the plate to carry. She grabbed the glasses of milk and headed towards the door. I followed her out of the Inn and across the lawn. When we got there, she unlocked the door and walked in first. Stepping into her apartment, I immediately went on alert.

“Do you smell that?” Gavin asked in my head.

“Yes, it’s faint, but someone else has been in here,” I said back.

I walked over to the counter and set the cake down before turning to Azalea. She had set the glasses of milk down at her desk and stood with her arms hugging her stomach; I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms.

“Are you okay?” I asked, feeling guilty. I did my best not to let her know that I sensed someone had been in her apartment.

“No,” she whispered as she buried her face in my chest. We had come so far, and the thought of losing her after all this was suffocating. I did not know what to do. I held her for a minute more before she continued, “Liam, I am scared. I don’t want to lose you. I have never felt like this, and that scares me too. But when you are with me, I am okay. I feel warm inside and safe.”