Chocolate Temptation

by A. C. Mason

  “Could you be holding Cathen responsible for the decisions your previous mate made?” Varor stepped onto the balcony.

  “You don’t know me.” These days she hardly knew herself anymore.

  “Perhaps not. Though from my vantage point your behavior indicated guilt for enjoying what you share with Cathen. He has a good heart. Of course I have no idea what it would be like to grow up as a human and be faced with practices that make no sense in 1940. What I do know is the restraint he demonstrates shows love on a level most of us could only hope to be touched by.” Varor placed his forearms on the metal rail of the balcony.

  Tears slid from her eyes. “You don’t know anything about us. Cathen’s interest in me has only ever been physical.”

  At the chateau in France when that man had attacked her and he’d rescued her, Cathen had been stalking her. The time he’d found her and Gabby peeking into the mated pack members’ communal loving room, his eyes had glowed golden with hunger. As they had the first night they’d met.

  “How so?” Varor frowned.

  “Every time we were near one another his eyes shone like gold, filled with lust.” Those eyes of his made her weak in the knees.

  “Did he attempt to mount you?” The sun shone off his gold locks.

  She shook her head. “God, no.” Put so plainly, it sounded so crude–like when the were had attacked her. Cathen’s touch never felt invasive, always tender and loving.

  “Sounds to me like his wolf-spirit had set eyes upon his chosen mate.” He shrugged.

  “What does that mean? His wolf-spirit had chosen his mate?” She’d never heard of this before. The one area VanWolf had neglected in their time together was to explain to her about Shunu ways. It seemed to come up time and time again, just how unversed in their practices she was.

  “Did your mate not explain to you how a wolf-spirit knows our mate on sight?”

  “He did not.” She wrapped her arms around her torso.

  “As a spiritual being our wolf connects with the soul of our mate and instantly knows they are the one we are to pair with. Once that occurs it cannot be undone. That Shunu is linked to their mate until parted by death. Even if their mate chooses someone else, they cannot change their spirit’s heart. When your previous mate gazed upon you, close enough he could reach for you, did his eyes not glow yellow or gold?”

  They had in the alley. She assumed it was a lustful reaction.

  Gabby had spoken of her pairing to Jean. Despite the fact Jean had picked another mate, she could not stop how she felt about him.

  “The only time a Shunu’s wolf can be seen while we are in human form is when we are gazing upon our mate. Our eyes glow yellow or gold.”

  Cathen’s eyes had done that the night they’d met and so had VanWolf’s, but she’d assumed it was sexual. She hadn’t been around the other males to notice a difference. “You must be mistaken.” If that were true, why hadn’t he claimed her?

  “A Shunu must seek the blessing of his Alpha before he is permitted to mark his mate. In very few cases will the Alpha refuse such a request. For instance, if the Alpha’s wolf-spirit has chosen the same mate, or the Shunu in question had harmed females.”

  VanWolf hadn’t been there to give Cathen consent, but if this were even possible, why would he have sent her to Paris? “Cathen has always enjoyed the chase.”

  “You know him better than I. If you say he has had a parade of females in and out of his bed since your arrival among the pack, you’d know best.” Veror turned his palms up.

  There hadn’t been a female to Cathen’s bed since she’d joined the pack. Not to the best of her knowledge, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t gone to females. She hadn’t picked up the scent of a female on him, either. “Cathen’s primary concern is the pack.”

  “So why hasn’t he claimed you? With your mark on him and the bond unsealed, it only makes him dangerous and increases the tension in the pack.”

  Of course and she was to blame for this. “He has an old world sense of honor. He won’t do it unless I consent. He promised to set me free once we rejoin the others and see to their escape.” The feelings inside her were all jumbled up, and the only way she would figure them out was to be on her own.

  “There is only one way for that to be possible. I don’t see how he could dishonor himself and his charges this way. In the short time I’ve known him, I wouldn’t think him capable of such a thing unless absolutely necessary.” He stroked his chin.

  Oh God, what had she asked of Cathen by forcing him to free her? “And what would that be?”

  “Through his death.”

  What? Why hadn’t he told her? He must have assumed VanWolf had explained the finer details to her. Wasn’t it evident he hadn’t? Worse, did he think she was okay with him ending his life to set her free? How horrible. Maybe he believed his life meant that little to her. He was wrong. There had to be another way. But if there weren’t, it would make sense, since he’d asked her to tolerate and relieve him until after the pack was gone. If he had a different way of letting her go, wouldn’t he have done so by now?

  “He would need to die without leaving the pack a clearly chosen new Alpha, or the new one would become your mate.”

  Why would he have agreed to her request if his death was the only way out? She turned away. The sun shimmered off the water, blinding her. She covered her eyes. Her stomach quivered.

  Cathen step behind her. “Are you ready?”

  How could she be when everything was so terribly wrong? Once they reached the pack, she would question him. Get to the bottom of this.

  They were going to put her in a travel trunk to keep her hidden from anyone who might be searching for her. Cathen and Varor could blend into the crowds, but she never could.

  “Yes.” The closer they drew to the pack, the deeper she felt their sorrow, which drove hers to further depths of sadness. She pivoted toward him.

  He smiled, his eyes shining like gold leaf in the sunlight. There was no denying he was a beautiful male. Strong and gallant. But he could have lied to her so that she would do what he wanted.

  Cathen led her inside, picked her up and set her into the trunk, then kissed her forehead.

  “Goodnight, coquette.”

  The lid shut overhead. Sleep swallowed her into darkness.

  Chapter 14

  Cathen lifted the front end as Varor picked up the back of the trunk with Alexia inside. They climbed onto the stairwell of the old stone building. He knew she’d be mad at him for putting her to sleep. The added stress he would have endured if she suffered would have caught the attention of the authorities.

  Each step up to the floor the pack occupied increased the weight of their grief on his chest. Cathen warned them off, even persistent Griselda who felt she had the right to see Alexia. He opened the door and the hall was vacant but for the sorrow around them. His room was across from the mated pack members. They too lay huddled, mourning. All of the things were set up to his preferences. The covers were turned down and two towels rested at the foot on the bed. He entered, and with Varor’s help, they carefully put down the trunk with sleeping beauty.

  “Thank you. The others are expecting you in the common area at the far end of the hall.” Cathen pointed in the direction of his charge.

  “It is I who is grateful to you for saving my life and trusting me. I’m honored you allowed me to help. For saving my life I shall repay the favor.” Varor bowed.

  Given what had happened between them, Cathen was uncomfortable with the connection they shared.

  Varor spun to leave and paused at the door. “I know it’s none of my business, but I hope for all of our sakes you don’t keep your promise to her.”

  Cathen wished Alexia had kept his pledge between them. “You’re right. It isn’t your business.” The last thing he wanted was for others to find out what he planned to do. They would try and stop him. There was no life for him worth living if his mate rejected him. Not because of the mark on his
chest, but the love in his heart that dwelled there long before.

  “Understood.” Varor exited the room and closed the door. Though he trusted Varor more than before, he still wasn’t sure where the Shunu’s loyalties lay.

  As instructed by him, Serafin and Franko took up a post outside his bedroom.

  Cathen kneeled next to the trunk and opened the lid. Alexia lay peacefully at the bottom, unhaunted by the loss of VanWolf. He picked her up, carried her over to the bed and laid her on it. He wished he could kiss her plump mouth to wake her. And that when her eyes opened, they wouldn’t be filled with disappointment, but rather joy at the sight of him. He reached into her mind, moved away from the bed and put his back to her.

  Alexia stirred. “Why?”

  “Your fear of small tight spaces. I didn’t have the strength to box you in, knowing how much it would pain you and that I could not comfort you.”

  She sighed. “I can’t decide if I want to slap or thank you.”

  It was evident she didn’t trust her growing attachment to him. She feared it was because of the mark. There was no magic that could change someone’s heart, or he would have tried it on his own when she’d paired with VanWolf.

  “Is what Varor said to me true?” She did not want to cause his death, nor did she want to be his mate. But those two things were mutually exclusive now. No amount of wanting could change that. “That to release me you must die?”

  “No,” he lied. Varor had left him no choice. He refused to have her agree only to save his life and honor. She had to want to be his.

  “Then why did he say that to me?” She rustled on the bed.

  “I can’t predict another male’s motives. My gift is to speak to animals, not understand other Shunus.” If it were his ability, he’d know why VanWolf had betrayed him by telling him she was his mate and then taking her as his own. “Maybe the uneasy feeling was too much for him to bear and he knew it would be simpler if we had sealed our bond. Could be, that he was told those were the consequences by his pack before they died. There is no way for me to know.” By the time she figured out the truth that Varor was indeed correct, Cathen’s life would have ended. His promise would be kept.

  “I’m struggling to figure out what you are feeling. There is such darkness inside you I’m unable to read you.” She stood, and her footsteps tapped the wood flooring. “Am I your chosen mate?”

  “Not mine. But my wolf’s.” He could not control that part of him.

  “So you didn’t want me as your mate, but your wolf did–does?” Her voice quavered with hurt.

  It didn’t matter what he’d said, somehow his words wounded her. “The moment I laid eyes on you I wanted you. But I have no power over the wolf, and he knew you were what we needed as a mate.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” she shouted.

  Why was she angry with him when it seemed she lacked basic information about being a Shunu? “Did VanWolf not explain to you how these matters work?”

  “He might not have given me enough information for me to understand everything. Why didn’t you mark me before I was sent to Paris?”

  “What did he tell you?” he said, unable to keep his voice from rising.

  “That a Shunu will pick his mate, and once he has the Alpha’s permission he will mark her… He will not ask, just take.”

  “Exactly. I neither had the right, nor the blessing of the Alpha. As the Epsilon-Beta I gave up the right to a mate unless the Alpha relieved me of my post and picked a new Epsilon-Beta. Despite knowing all that, I could not keep away from you. That was why Griselda watched me around you.” Did she not get how hard it had been at the castle with her so close yet so far away?

  “Then I came back to the pack, engulfed in all that was him.” She stepped closer.

  “Not even that could change my wolf-spirit’s heart or my soul. When he tossed you to the side once you rejoined the pack, I was willing to wait until you’d mended to mark you. I knew then that you did not understand our ways, and could not force a union upon you by marking you.”

  “Are you blaming VanWolf?”

  “No, never. He was your mate and cared for you. You loved him, and for that I will hold his memory in high esteem.” He had loved seeing her happy, even though it had been with VanWolf. The beaming smile VanWolf had managed to elicit from her brought him joy too.

  “And beyond that?” she pressed him.

  “He was my Alpha. I served him to the best of my abilities.” He’d done as required of him in his Epsilon-Beta duties.

  “What does that mean exactly?”

  “Why do you seem in the mood to argue? I’ve done everything in my power to protect you, and as you’ve asked of me. Must we quarrel?”

  “No, of course not. I don’t want to fight. Maybe it’s just the energy from the pack setting me on edge. I’m sorry.”

  No one was sorrier than him. “I need to meet with our contact for the ship that will transport the pack. Griselda and Gabby both want to see you.”

  “I’m not ready to see Griselda just yet.” She pouted.

  “I’ll send Gabby in on my way out.” He gathered the wallet and pipe the pack had placed in the first drawer by the nightstand.

  He sensed her tension from concern over his safety. “I should come with you.”

  “That’s out of the question. You’ve been in enough danger.” He opened the door and glanced back.

  “Please be careful.”

  “I always am, coquette.” Exiting, he let Gabby know she could go to Alexia and left out the back stairwell so as not to be seen. In less than a day, he could set her free.

  Chapter 15

  Alexia stared at the lone bed in the room. The sheets had been turned down on each side. Her brush and toiletries were laid out on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. Once the pack was out of danger and headed for only God knew where she would arrange to head back to America. She had an aunt in the south somewhere, and she’d look her up.

  The door creaked open, and Gabby tiptoed in with her head down. When her gaze met Alexia’s they both cried. Gabby wrapped her arms around Alexia and whispered words of comfort to her. They sat on the bed together.

  “We’ve been on pins and needles, worried we’d lose you both too.” Gabby kept hold of her hand.

  “It was harrowing, to say the least. But Cathen was never far.” He’d saved her life again and again. Even that first time they met, he’d saved her life and brought her within the pack. When Griselda had questioned him, he hadn’t backed down.

  “The fact that he has managed not to claim you is amazing.” She squeezed Alexia’s hand.

  After everything she’d put him through, maybe he finally didn’t want her anymore. “Yeah.” She sensed from Cathen that he didn’t want her speaking of their arrangement with others. But something just didn’t sit right with her. She had no reason not to believe him, as he’d given her his word.

  “Are you all right?” Gabby rubbed her hand.

  “Under the circumstances, I am okay.” She hadn’t had a moment to figure out what she felt. They’d gone from danger to danger.

  “The mated pack females have been preparing for your cleansing. Are you nervous about joining with him?”

  “What would happen if we didn’t join? If I didn’t go through with the ceremony and become his mate?”

  “I don’t understand. What are you asking me? You are already his mate, you’ve marked him. The bond that you shared with VanWolf has been branded into Cathen. He is your mate.”

  She hated when she was told how she’d marked him. No one had explained to her she would be the marker, and not the one marked when she’d become like them.

  “I’m just curious. What would happen?” Why couldn’t she seem to get an answer that didn’t involve everyone telling her what she should know?

  “Cathen would be consumed by darkness and be lost to us.”

  “But there is a way around that right, a way that I can be set free?”
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br />   Gabby’s mouth fell open. “Has he hurt you? Hit or mistreated you?”

  “No.” None of them got what she was going through. All of them just accepted it. “I’m just wondering about these types of unions. Let’s say Cathen didn’t want me, how would he gain his freedom from his obligation to me?”

  She gasped. “Has he told you he wishes for you to set him free?”

  “No, Gabby.” Was this so complicated a question to answer?

  “You scared me for a moment. This union was created to protect you from that ever happening.”

  “What is the ‘that’?”

  Gabby tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “From the new Alpha killing the previous Alpha’s wife and offspring.”

  The room closed in around Alexia. She placed her hand on her abdomen. “So the only way for him to free himself of me is to kill me.”

  “But he could never do it.” She nodded vigorously. “He is unable to harm you.”

  “So my only way out is if he dies?” More death. She couldn’t handle all the death.

  “Hasn’t that been what I’ve said to you?” Gabby crossed her arms.

  No. If it were she wouldn’t be so frustrated. “And if he picked an Epsilon-Beta, I would become his mate.”

  “Yes. No matter what, you shall be protected. But this isn’t something you should be worried about as you have a bright future ahead of you both.”

  Her stomach cramped and the bed seemed to have disappeared beneath her. She had to verbalize what her mind didn’t want to accept. “So the only way for Cathen to free me is to die?”

  “Why would you even think such a thing? You aren’t a prisoner. You are one of the most cherished members of the pack. You’d be lost without your mate. Trust me when I tell you that it isn’t easy to have picked a mate who doesn’t want you back.” Tears pooled in her eyes.