MALIA’S POV
“As soon as you want to,” he replied and I bounced excitedly.
“Let’s go now then,” I said, tugging on his hand.
He chuckled. “I didn’t mean this soon. I still have to go through these files and see how much I can bequeath to my sister as an inheritance.”
My heart melted at his thoughtfulness and I smiled fondly at him. I knew my kids were going to be really lucky to have him as their father.
“We can go see her together by tomorrow, then. That’s if you aren’t busy.”
“Don’t worry, love. I won’t be,” he replied.
I watched as he went through file after file and I just thought that it was best if I asked him rather than just wondering.
“What if she asks about Ronan?” I blurted out.
His movements stilled and he turned his head to look at me. His eyes had hardened a little but I wasn’t going to back down.
“Your aunt must have told her she has two brothers. I’m sure she’s going to be wondering what happened to the second one.”
He returned his attention to the files in front of him. “You do not have to worry yourself about that. I’ll know exactly what to tell her if she asks,” he replied in a tone that forbade further conversation about that topic.
I wisely kept my mouth shut and scrolled through my phone until I fell asleep.
It was dark outside when I woke up and the Alpha was nowhere to be found.
My wolf was feeling restless and I remembered that Ryder had promised that I could go for a run in the evening.
I waited a little bit more for him to arrive and left his chambers when he didn’t show up after thirty minutes.
To my utmost annoyance, my bodyguard was outside and he greeted me with a smile. There was just something about him that irked me. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was.
I took a deep breath. “You are going to follow me to the forest right?” I asked, a tad bit hopeful that he would say no.
He smiled sweetly. “Of course. It’s my duty,” he replied.
I sighed resignedly. I was forever stuck with him. “Can I at least know your name?”
“My name’s Zade,” he replied and I nearly gasped in surprise. My wolf immediately whined at being away from our mate for so long and an unreasonable part of me became mad that my bodyguard just had to bear the same name as my mate.
I reminded myself of why I had to leave so that the ache in my heart would lessen.
He cheated on us. He chose her over us. Don’t you dare forget that.
I realised that my bodyguard was looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked softly.
I scowled at him. “Why shouldn’t I be?” I retorted.
He looked like he was about to say something but wisely thought better of it. At least he was smart. I had to give that to him.
I brushed past him without saying another word and I heard his footsteps as he followed closely behind me.
I would have stopped by Damien’s room so that Penelope and I could go together but I felt that she had to spend some time with her mate. In my opinion, she had not been spending enough time as she ought to with him and it was mostly my fault.
We got to the forest and I started to undress without giving him a warning. It served him right. I ignored the part of me that told me I was just being childish.
To my irritation, his only reaction was an arched eyebrow before he slowly turned to give me some privacy.
The anger I was feeling made it easier for me to shift into my wolf this time. I took off without alerting him and for the first time since I left the palace, I felt good.
This time, I did run into the forests of the packs nearest to us. It just felt so good to move at such an impossible speed and to be able to hear, feel and see everything. I felt really grateful for my abilities and I inwardly said a prayer of thanks to the Moon Goddess.
“Please slow down, will you?” I heard Zade, my bodyguard say.
I ignored him and ran even faster.
“You are going to get us killed if you are not careful. We could be mistaken for rogues,” he warned.
I chuckled. “It is you and not me, who could be mistaken for a rogue. I look like royalty. Your eyes must be really faulty for you not to see that,” I replied.
He scoffed and threatened to report me to Ryder once we got back to the palace.
I growled in anger but I slowed down and turned towards the direction of our Pack.
If he told Ryder about my carelessness, he wasn’t going to trust me to go on runs without him.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“There’s no need to thank someone for doing something you threatened them into doing.”
“I’m sorry that I had to do that. You left me with no other choice,” he replied.
I wondered if it was possible to block out his thoughts. I wasn’t interested in hearing anything else that he had to say.
“I’ll try to be quiet,” he replied. “I could teach you how to if you’d let me.”
“Hell no,” I said and I heard him chuckle.
“Why do you hate me? It’s like you have something against me and I can’t figure out what it is.
“I thought you said you were going to be quiet,” I reminded him.
“I said I’d try,” he replied provocatively.
I decided to run as fast as I could thinking that I could outrun his thoughts.
“You can try,” he said mockingly and I thought of all the many ways I was going to kill him.
“Oooh scary. You can do better than that though. Let me show you some examples,” he offered.
I was still wondering how he was going to do that when my head was suddenly filled with gory and indeed, creative images of how I could kill him. It was as though he had opened whatever selective block he had in his mind and given me full access.
I don’t know how I did it but on my own, I was able to access a memory and I stopped in shock as I saw a young woman get brutally murdered by an unfamiliar man.
Then, like a television going off, his mind suddenly closed and all was quiet.
“Zade,” I tried reaching out to him with my mind but it was as though I was hitting a brick wall.
I felt a little bit guilty but I wasn’t about to admit that to him. I didn’t even know if he still had access to my thoughts since it seemed as though he had totally closed himself off.
I reached the spot where I had stripped off my clothes and saw that his were also there but I couldn’t see him anywhere.
I shifted back into my human form and put my clothes back on.
I then sat at the foot of the tree and waited for him. I could have decided to return to the palace without him just to spite him, but I knew he was going to be in trouble with Ryder if I did that. I didn’t know why I even cared. I disliked the guy.
I saw the raven-coloured wolf slowly approach me after a few minutes and I knew he was the one through his eyes.
He began to shift back into his human form without giving me any warning and I quickly averted my gaze.
“You should have said something or given me a sign,” I complained with my gaze still averted.
He ignored me.
“We should head back to the palace now, Your Majesty,” he said.
I winced at the detachment and coldness in his tone. It wasn’t like I gave a fuck anyway.
I turned to face him and tried to act unbothered by the expressionless mask on his face.
“Let’s leave,” I said unnecessarily and made my way out of the forest.
The walk back to the palace was painfully silent and I felt grateful when we eventually arrived there and I hurried upstairs to meet Ryder.
He was at the dining room and the table had already been set.
“Right on time,” he said with a smile.
“Don’t tell me you were planning to eat without me,” I replied with a frown.
“I wouldn’t dare do that. I knew you were on your way already.”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. “And how could you have known that?” I queried.
He gave me a mischievous grin. “What can I say? We are just super connected in our spirits.
I snorted and pulled a chair out. There was no way that that was the explanation but I didn’t care that much anyway, so I didn’t press any further.
While we ate, I told him about my run through the forest and in excitement, I overshared.
“You did what?” he asked, carefully placing his spoon back on the plate.
My wolf laughed hard at me and I made sure she knew I was displeased. She was supposed to be helping me out here.
“Malia, what were you thinking? What if you had encountered those guards who killed first before asking questions?” he queried.
I tried to put on my best contrite face. I wasn’t sorry at all but I had to act as though I was.
“I’m so sorry Ryder. I was just filled with so much excitement that it didn’t occur to me how dangerous my actions were until my bodyguard called me to order. I promise it’s not going to happen again.”
He was silent for a moment, regarding me intently. I tried not to allow the mask of contrition to slip off.
He sighed. “It’s okay, Love. Just don’t get so carried away like that next time.”
I nodded and continued with my meal.
I headed straight for the shower when we were done and was already feeling sleepy by the time I was done taking my bath.
To my displeasure, Ryder couldn’t cuddle me because he still had to work on those files.
“I had ignored the issue of inheritance for so long and now there are so many things to sort out. Some rules have changed over the years and this has affected some terms and conditions of ownership,” he explained.
I tried to be understanding and bade him goodnight. After turning and tossing for a few minutes, I finally fell asleep.
The next day, I woke up with body aches and didn’t bother trying to get out of bed.
Ryder was still fast asleep beside me so there was even no need to rush.
I ended up falling asleep again but when I woke up, the Alpha was awake and sipping on a cup of coffee.
Unfortunately, my body still ached.
“Good morning, love. How did you sleep?” he asked.
“I slept good I guess. What about you?” I queried and winced as my muscles protested when I tried to get into a sitting position.
He set down his cup and hurried to my side. “You don’t look fine. Do you need me to call the doctor?” he asked with his brows furrowed in concern.
I shook my head. “It’s just body ache. There is no need to call a doctor,” I replied.
“Then I suggest you stay in bed all day. I think you pushed yourself too hard last night. You’re not supposed to start running so hard so soon after you just got your wolf.”
“I guess,” I said and rested my back on the bed.
“But don’t worry, you’re going to be able to run as much as you want without having vengeful body aches very soon. Just go easy for now.”
Breakfast was brought in and my stomach did its happy dance.
Ryder chuckled and asked that the food be brought to the bed instead.
Even body aches had nothing on me when it came to food. To the Alpha’s amusement, I even requested more.