Alpha Kian And His Captive Mate novel Chapter 45

I looked at the door. I remember securing the deadbolt from the inside, but it was wide open now.

"How did you get in?"

He raised his brows and glanced at the broken window. Did I really sleep like a dead person? Guess I was super exhausted. Surviving without the pendant is going to be a challenge. I blinked twice when I saw what time it was. 3 PM!

"When was Ari fed in the morning?" I felt like a terrible mother who slept through her cries.

"9 AM. Did I do this to you?"

His thumb lightly skimmed over the bruise on my cheek. He bit me last night, but that was not what gave me the bruise. It was Alpha Garrett and his Beta who were a pain to get rid of.

With fumbling fingers, I nervously touched my cheek to see if it was tender.

"Stop chewing your lips so much." He released my bottom lip from between my teeth and took my hand in his, gazing into my eyes for what felt like a long time.

What was he thinking? I couldn't read his thoughts anymore, even when he was holding my hand. What did the mage do? What was she even doing in this room? I wondered if she could smell something fishy about me. She had left the room already while I was lost in my mate's eyes.

"Why is your heart beating so fast? Ari is fine. You are fine too. The mage said you were completely all right except that you were having some bad dreams."

"I don't remember having any dreams at all."

"Well, I'll have to call her back if your heart won't stop working out so much." He stroked my bruised cheek and creased forehead. "What are you worried about?"

"Nothing. What are you so worried about?"

I couldn't tell what he was going through. His Beta was gone, and I'm sure he must have received news about the strange happenings up north, but he brought nothing up until now.

"Something weird is going on Nyla. The mage put a protection spell near our western borders today because Ryder disappeared, just like Adalyn. His phone was on the beach three miles from here. And more than half of Night Walker Pack vanished just like that... almost everyone except for a few women and omegas."

Kian gave me a sweet smile and let me go. "I'll be busy the next few days. Let Ren know if you need me."

I was surprised at how disappointed I was when he walked out of my room. Busy was an understatement. He almost went invisible over the next fifteen days. I used to get a few updates about him from Ren and Rachel, but even they didn't hear much from him, except that he got a new Beta now.

I kept myself occupied with the new trainer. While Madison was mean and relentless, Zoey was friendly but far more brutal. With platinum blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, she belonged to the White Warrior clan, a clan that doesn't have the mate concept. Their bloodline was notorious for the ruthless killers they were, not belonging to a pack or territory. Their wolves were as big as any Alpha's wolf.

Wyatt was trained by one of these folks. They purposely subject themselves to extreme conditions in the forest and cold, and only the best make it beyond the age of sixteen. The Moon Goddess spared them the complications that come with the mate bond, allowing them to fully focus on their goal of being the mean killing machines they were made to be.

Zoey believed in tough love, which wasn't a surprise at all. She left me sore and exhausted, but I perfected a lot of skills in no time. Shooting guns and crossbows, throwing knives and spears, handling clubs with ease, wrestling and tracking, and the most important, how to mask my scent.

I wasn't sure how they were going to help me in the future, but I definitely felt less anxious after a hard day's work out. It also helped me with sleep and with drawing more energy from myself, which I very much appreciated, now that I was without my pendant.

After fifteen long and hard days without Kian in sight, I finally got a break from training when it was time for a ceremony: Rachel's First Kill Ceremony.