#Chapter 4
Kaida's POV
When Dimitri returned to the pack, it was almost evening the next dau. And he was alone. For a moment, I held my breath, unfriendly thoughts rolling out of my head.
What if something had happened to her?
"Where's she?" I asked Dimitri as he brushed past me.
He didn't even notice I had bandages over my head and hands.
Seeing the man I'd invested many years of my life loving and caring for, being obsessed with another woman, made me want to tear out my hair.
"She's where you can't reach her yet, Kaida," he said in a low, accusing voice.
"And what do you mean by that, alpha?"
"Did you make dinner? I'd be disappointed if you spent all your free time roaming the town."
He reached the window and turned around. It was then that his eyes fell on the bandages.
He tilted his head to the side, his eyes squeezed.
"Is this some ploy to get pity from me?" he said, and I felt like I'd been slapped.
He was still speaking. "Kaida, a lot of things don't look good on you. Pretense is one of them. This is so stupid."
"You heard me fall from the stairs, didn't you?" I interrupted him, my voice rising immediately. "You saw me crash into the table full of plates of foods and drinks."
"I didn't." His tone was flat, and I knew he probably wasn't lying. He'd been so overwhelmed by Vanessa's "plight" that he didn't see me fall.
But that was stupid.
I decided not to push. Talking to Dimitri these days wore me out. His voice reminded me of my incapabilities. His eyes reflected how he was only putting up with me.
"You didn't make the soup I told you to, did you?" he asked again.
I ignored him and walked to the kitchen to tend to the pot of broth I was cooking. Even with the wounds, I'd forced myself to make dinner.
As I stirred the pot, I felt him behind me. His groin pressed into my ass and he held my waist. His nose brushed my neck. I tightened the muscles of my body.
"My mark's still here, Kaida," he whispered, slowly rubbing himself behind me.
I remembered that glorious night years ago when Alpha Dimitri was all I could think of. When he'd pinned me to the wall and kissed me like crazy. Then he'd gently dug his teeth into the skin of my neck, marking me his mate. I'd gasped for air as his hands roamed around me, causing sparks to travel through my body.
But now, I resisted feeling that way again.
He ran a finger across the scar. "No one shall have you," he said. "Your inability to bear a child has hampered your beauty to a great extent."
I pushed myself away from him, my face set in warning.
No one can have me?
I then remembered Axel's response. About being called by me. How could the Alpha of another pack, miles away, have heard me?
I saw Dimitri's eyes on me and knew he was trying to split through to get to my thoughts.
I pushed a glass cup to the floor, so that the crash would infuriate and dismiss Dimitri.
But he caught it before it left the counter.
"Stop acting stupidly, Kaida," he snapped. "A proper Luna is known by nobility."
I still didn't say a word. “A proper Luna” was a really suggestive phrase to use.
"Be at the Orchid Restaurant by seven," he said. "Dress in your best."
"I can't come. I'm wounded from the fall. One you claimed not to have seen."
He responded quickly. "A Luna who values her comfort more than her Alpha's command. That says a lot."
He left without another word.
I stared at the door and gripped the edge of the counter. Was this how low-key ruthless Dimitri was going to be to me? All because of a Breeder? A Breeder whose identity was vague!
Then a question came creeping into my head: Where was she? Why hadn't he returned with Dimitri?
The fact that I'd unwittingly connected her face with the murder of my father made me want to know where she was all the time.
It was all still speculation, but the gut feeling was stronger than my doubts.
Vanessa might be a Breeder out to take my place as Luna, but that seemed to be just the first layer of her mission fold. Vanessa, the sweet voiced girl with large tits, could be a terror waiting to unfold in the pack. It was terrifying that no one else was seeing it.
I had to watch her. But this would mean I'd surrender my heart on a butcher's table, to take anything Dimitri and his Breeder threw at me. I was going to be battered emotionally and drained to my limit.
But if this was the price I'd pay for the pack, I'd do it.
With this fierce thought, I decided to prepare for the dinner.
***
When it was some minutes before the scheduled time, I called Dimitri's phone.
"I'm ready," I said, expecting a ride or him assigning a chauffeur to bring me.
"Then come,” he said as though amused. Then the call went dead in my ear.
Was this some kind of cruel joke?
He called back again and I was relieved.
“Dimitri,” I said.
"Yeah, Kaida, don't take any of my cars,” he said. “No car should leave the compound because of you. Take a cab instead."
Beep.
