“May I have a word with you?” Karen questioned, her eyes trained on Kai.
He was standing by the window, gazing at th skyline bathed in the morning sun. He turned to her, a spark of annoyance in his eyes. Karen could tell he still recalled her rushing home last night because of her son and he was still bitter about it.
“How’s your son?” He asked.
“He’s good. It was just a fever”
He raised a brow. “A fever huh?” He asked, his eyes scanning her. “How old is he?”
“Four.”
He grit his jaw. “What do you want to talk about?”
Karen drew in a deep breath. “It’s about Verena.”
A beat of silence passed between them. His eyes narrowed. “What about Verena?”
Karen bit her lip, unsure of how to word her next sentence. “I ran into her last night at the pharmacy and I… I wonder what’s up with her.”
“Verena?” Karen heard Nicolas voice as he walked into the office. “I think I’m in the best position to answer that question.”
Karen turned to him. “Why is that so?” She turned and looked at Kai. “What is going on here? Isn’t she supposed to be your fiance?”
Kai gestured to Nicolas. “Please explain to her. ”
“Okay.” Nicolas said and cleared his throat. He walked up to Karen, his eyes holding her gaze. “Is a little complicated, but I hope you can understand.”
Karen nodded, not liking the tone that was being set already. “Okay, please explain.”
“So, Verena and I are fated mates.”
Karen’s eyes widened. “You are what?!” She shouted. She whipped her head to look at Kai. “What in the hell is going on here?! Fated mates?! Isn’t she your Luna?!”
“I’m not done talking.” Nicolas said with a soft sigh.
“Best to let him finish.” Kai said
Karen nodded. “Okay, okay, please go on.”
“As I was saying,” Nicolas continued. “The night of the blood moon when you um… disappeared, Verena was revealed to be my mate.”
The night of the blood moon that she had no idea what happened with her. But Karen nodded, prompting him to go on.
“A lot of things happened and… here we are. Kai had to call off his engagement for some reason,” He said the last part while glancing at Kai. “She and I are together now.”
Karen scoffed a laugh. “Ah, and I wonder why she thought she could be chipper with me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I met your little girlfriend at the pharmacy yesterday. Did she really think that after all she had done to me I would just accept her with open arms?!”
Kai and Nicolas exchanged glances, unspoke conversation passing through them. Karen raised a brow, wondering what they were talking about. Kai turned to her
“Something happened, Karen” Kai said.
“It’s best for her to tell you that part of the story.”
“I don’t ever want to talk to her again!” Karen cried out. “She made my life hell! She torture me and bled me dry and put people to continue to torture me!”
“It was worse than that,” Nicolas said under his breath.
“What does that even mean?!” She exclaimed.
“Karen, I understand how you feel.” Nicolas said. “It still takes a while, and with everything that happened, things have changed a lot. Verena isn’t who she used to be before. You have to believe me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah right. I’m not buying that. People don’t ever change. Not for a bit!”
“Karen…” Nicolas said with a sigh.
“I can’t…. I’m sorry.” Karen raised her hand in surrender. “I can’t do this with you guys right now.” She turned and stormed out of the office.
Nicolas sighed and turned to Kai. “I think you should have told her the truth.”
Kai shook his head. “Tell her that your mate planned for her to be executed? How do you think she would the have taken that?”
“Not very well I suppose.”
“It’s best for the story to come from Verena herself.” Kai said, trying not to think of Verena. He still hasn’t forgotten about her betrayal, about how she nearly took Karen away from him.
His rule still stood. If she ever showed up in front of him, he would kill her on the spot. Nicolas was well aware of this and had taken precautions to make sure it never happened.
“Ate you excited for your party tomorrow?” Nicolas spoke up, diverting the topic.
“No.”
“Come on. Even a tiny little bit? Karen could be there ..”
“I don’t appreciate your playing matchmaker. ” Kai said and turned back to the view. “Don’t you have work to do or something?”
Nicolas sighed. “Thanks for nothing”
****
Karen scoffed for the second time in three seconds. Verena was a changed woman?! That was ridiculous. People like that never changed. Not for a single moment.
Karen felt a bit angry at Kai. He hadn’t even bothered to clear up the air about him and Verena, leading Karen to believe that they were in fact still together.
Verena and Nicolas. It was an odd pair. Karen recalled seeing them at the mall, they did look happy. Genuinely happy.
How did Kai like that? The woman he was going to marry was mated to his friend and he just let her go? Karen didn’t like how it sounded. There had to be more about it. Why would Kai let Verena go so easily. What weren’t they telling her?
She wanted to storm back to the office and ask them. But instead she directed her energy to her work.
Tomorrow was the party at Kai’s house. Karen wasn’t going. That was her decision. She felt like she had to complete her work so she could go somewhere fun tomorrow and enjoy the holiday.
“Karen, easy on the poor keyboard?”
Karen paused, her hands hovering above her keyboard. She hadn’t realized that she had been typing so fast and hard. The ache in her fingertips registered as soon as she stopped assaulting the keyboard.
She turned to see Jasper. He had come up beside her, a smile on his face.
Karen sighed. “I’m sorry.” She said.
“You should apologize to the keyboard and not me.” Jasper said with amusement. “Is everything okay? You’ve been really annoyed today ”
“It’s a little something I had with the higher ups.” She said. “You wanted to see me?”
Jasper nodded. “Yes, I did. I um…. I had a really good time last time and I wonder if you’d like to go out with me. Perhaps on Saturday, are you free on Saturday?”
“Give me a minute.” Karen said. She pulled out her planner form her drawer and went through it. “My Saturday is…”
“Fully booked.” Someone completed the sentence.
Karen rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. “To what do I owe this pleasure, Mr Sylvester?”
“M-Mr Sylvester!” Jasper exclaimed, he took a step back as Kai advanced closer to her desk, dark blue eyes glaring at him. “Good day sir. I…”
“Am chatting around when I should be working?” Kai finished.
Jasper shook his head. “No, that’s not the case. I was just asking Miss Osborne for…”
Kai turned to Karen. “You haven’t completed your work for the day.”
Karen stared at him, her expression deadpan. “I’m working on it right now.” She said. “Is there any problem other than of course finding fault in every work I do?”
Jasper stared at Karen with wide eyes, his head whipping to Kai.
Kai turned to Jasper “why are you still here?”
“I’m sorry! I’ll take my leave now!” He bowed and rushed out, eager to get out of the brewing tension.
“Was that necessary?” Karen asked Kai.
He had a smirk on his face. “It was entertaining.”
Karen shook her head. She knew she didn’t like Jasper romantically, but that didn’t mean she wanted Kai scaring him away permanently.
“You know rumours are starting to spread about us?”
“Let them talk.” Kai said. “Are they lying?”
Karen rolled her eyes. He had a point. Let them talk huh, that was the statement that got her through her time at the pack.
“Don’t go out with him again.” Kai said, his eyes dark. “Or I might really break his arm or something.”
“Yes sir.” Sh said with biting sarcasm.
“You said your son had a fever right?”
Karen’s heart skipped. She looked at him. “Why are you asking?”
He shrugged. “It’s been rubbing me the wrong way.”
Karen prayed he wasn’t connecting the dots. She prayed he wouldn’t realize that it was that kind of fever.
He looked at her, curiosity in his eyes. Karen couldn’t guess what he was thinking.
“Is there a healer you have access to?” He asked at last.
Karen exhaled in relief. “No, I don’t.”
Kai nodded. “Bring him around sometime. I can call a healer for you ”
She wanted to reject the offer right there. If Kai met the boy, she couldn’t tell what could happen. Instead she smiled.
“Thank you ”
“It’s nothing.” He grumbled. “Get your work done on time. I don’t want to come down here again, is that clear?!”
“Yes sir!”
“Good.”
Karen felt lighter as she went back to work. For some reason, that had gone smoother than she expected. She noticed Jasper giving her side eye glances, appearing too afraid to talk to her.
Karen guessed it will be a while before he asked her out again.
***
Karen located her car in the parking lot. She made her way over to it, unlocking it as she did. A figure coming up ahead made her pause and stand still.
“Hello?” She called out, wondering if it was a staff.
The man walked up to her, as he got closer Karen felt her blood turn to ice in her veins. She stumbled back, falling onto her car and holding it for support. Her heart thumped in her chest, a cold sweat forming on her brow
She could recognize those golden eyes even in her night mares, they had been the subject of her night mares some nights. She didn’t know his name, she didn’t know anything about him. But he terrified her beyond words.
“Hello, the alpha’s slave.” He said, his voice rumbling. “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”