26: Tonight We Run

I wanted to shove at Alastor's chest and tell him to get off me, but after two hours, I didn't have the energy to bother. My thighs had been forced apart for so long that they felt frozen in that position. They had burned at first, but somewhere along the way, the pain had faded into numbness.

Pain and I had become old acquaintances over the years. My father used to say I had an unusually high tolerance for it, although I doubted this was what he had in mind when he said it. I had learned how to breathe through pain, how to wait for it to pass and, most importantly, how not to give Alastor the satisfaction of knowing when something hurt.

He finally moved away from me and fixed his zipper as casually as if he'd just finished breakfast. I remained against the vanity for a moment, waiting for the feeling to return to my legs while he adjusted his clothes.

"I'm leaving in a few minutes," he said, reaching over to move a stray piece of hair from my forehead. "Alpha Roland's daughter will be staying here until we come back. I'll need you to keep her company."

For a second, I forgot about my legs.

"We?"

"Yes." He adjusted the sleeve of his shirt. "The old fart is coming on the hunting trip with me, along with his son and a few of his warriors. Since my pack is bigger and more secure, he needs his daughter under lock and key. Trenton will be watching her while I'm gone."

I stared at him.

Ashley was coming here.

Of all the things Alastor could have said to me at that moment, those were the last words I expected to hear. I had spent the morning trying to figure out how I was supposed to sneak into Sharptooth territory and leave with Alpha Roland's daughter without getting caught. Apparently, I didn't have to.

Alastor was bringing her to me.

'This is our chance,' Kennedy said, suddenly wide awake.

'Don't get excited.'

'I'm not excited. You're excited.'

She was right, but Alastor was still standing close enough to study every twitch of my face, so I pushed the relief down before it could show. I had been married to this man for thirteen years. If there was one thing I'd learned, it was how to lie to him without opening my mouth.

"When is she coming?" I asked, keeping my voice as uninterested as possible.

"Before we leave."

I looked away from him and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

Thank you, Selene.

The Moon Goddess and I hadn't exactly been on speaking terms lately, but if she had anything to do with this, I was willing to forgive her for at least one of the many things on my list.

"Her father thinks she might run away, and he can't have that since she's getting married to someone very powerful soon." Alastor sighed as though Ashley being sold to the Vampire King was nothing more than an inconvenience. "Try not to fill her head with your strong-woman bullshit while she's here. One unsubmissive woman is already too much."

I almost smiled.

If only he knew.

The woman he had spent years trying to make submissive was planning to disappear tonight, and now he was personally delivering another woman who wanted to escape directly into my hands.

Selene certainly had a strange sense of humour.

"Anything else?" I asked.

Alastor's gaze dropped from my face to my stomach.

The relief I'd been feeling disappeared.

"How long before you know if my seed has taken root?"

My fingers tightened against the edge of the vanity, but my expression remained calm. "Five days."

"Good. So I'll know if you're with pup by the time I get back."

He turned and started towards the door.

I watched him walk away, and something about the sight felt different this time. I had watched Alastor leave this bedroom thousands of times over the years. Sometimes I'd been relieved. Sometimes I'd been angry, and sometimes I'd simply been grateful for the silence that followed him.

This time, I watched every step.

The broad shoulders I had stared at when I knew he wasn't looking. The blond hair I had once thought was beautiful. The man the Moon Goddess had tied my soul to when I was nineteen years old.

For the first time, I wasn't wondering when he would return.

I was thinking about how far away I would be when he did.

His hand closed around the door handle.

"Oh, and Ava."

Something about his voice made every instinct inside me sharpen.

Alastor didn't turn around immediately. He stood there with one hand resting on the door handle as though whatever he was about to tell me had only just crossed his mind.

"I may have found a witch who can perform a spell to determine Rachel's paternity."

Everything inside me went still.

Even Kennedy.

Alastor chuckled softly before finally looking back at me. His eyes travelled over my face, and I knew he was searching for something, some tiny reaction that would give him the answer he wanted before his witch ever had the chance.

I gave him nothing.

"So now we don't have to wait an entire month to find out. Isn't that great?"

My heart pounded so violently that I could hear it in my ears, but I kept my face still.

"When?" I asked.

"I haven't decided yet."

Of course he hadn't.

Alastor enjoyed this.

He wanted me wondering. He wanted Trenton wondering. He wanted to sit back and watch us both until one of us cracked.

Then he smiled.

"See you in seven days, my mate."

The door closed behind him.

I continued staring at it.

For several seconds, the room was completely silent while his words repeated themselves inside my head. A witch who could determine Rachel's paternity meant we no longer had a month. I didn't know whether we had five days, three days or only until Alastor returned from the hunt.

Then I realised something.

It didn't matter.

Seven days didn't matter. Five days didn't matter, and neither did Rachel's birthday next month because Alastor Drexel wasn't going to find us here when he came back.

"Evil bastard," I grunted.

I pushed myself away from the vanity and carefully lowered my feet to the floor. A sharp ache travelled through my legs as the feeling slowly returned, but I breathed through it and stood anyway. I'd felt worse. I had survived worse.

And I was almost free.

I needed a soothing bath before the swelling became too uncomfortable, and then I had work to do. Rachel needed to be ready without knowing why she was getting ready. I needed to make sure nothing important was left behind while making it look as though I had no intention of going anywhere. Most importantly, I needed to get Ashley alone the moment she arrived.

This morning, I had woken up with one enormous problem and only a few hours to solve it.

Now Ashley was coming directly to me.

Roland was leaving with the hunting party. RJ was leaving with him. Alastor would be gone for seven days, and for once, every monster who could stand between us and freedom was preparing to walk out of the way on his own.

Maybe Selene hadn't abandoned me after all.

I looked towards the window. Beyond the glass, the clouds were still heavy over Drexel Forest, but for the first time since I'd lived here, they didn't make the place seem gloomy.

They looked like cover.

'Get ready, Kennedy. Tonight, we run.'