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Veronica's gorgeous blue eyes left mine and quickly darted back to Jasper who was finally picking himself up from off of the floor and dusting off his jeans.
"This might be your land Sebastian, but it is also where one of my Healers resides. As we both know, if something like this was to ever happen, it would make our treaty null and void. We are not these vicious creatures you may think we are and once upon a time, we were friends." Jasper stated matter of factly.
At this moment in time, I didn't care about any treaty. All I cared about was Veronica and the fact that she called Jasper instead of me to help her.
"None of that matters right now. We need to figure out who did all of this and I suggest we work together to do it. You have many resources that I don't have access to and visa versa." I explained, trying to keep myself as calm as possible. 461Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXA2tKQ4b0e
Veronica put her hand gently on my back and stood alongside me. I had forgotten how good it felt to have her hands on my body. How arousing the electric shocks felt as they permeated through my very soul. I missed this woman as much as I missed my own memories.
"Please." She begged Jasper as her eyes softened the longer she stared at him.
"Alpha, should we tell them that we already knew someone was here?" Erik asked through mind link, redirecting my attention toward him.
"No," I demanded. "That information will be kept between the two of us. Veronica doesn't need to know either."
Erik nodded his head casually, informing me he understood my orders.
"Fine." Jasper exhaled. "But I'm not doing it because he asked. I'm doing it for you." He directed at Veronica.
I could see how her face lit up when he agreed to help. It was amazing how her perfectly shaped lips smiled and so did her eyes. You could tell every emotion she was feeling by staring into her endless blue orbs.
"Why is my bedroom the worst?" She asked while picking up a piece of burnt cloth and tossing it into the hole in the bed.
"I have a theory," Erik spoke up. "With the phrase "werewolf lover" written on the walls, my assumption is that someone knew you marked her here, in that bed."
We all turned to Erik who stood near the bed looking into the hole. "And you know that how?" Veronica squeaked.
Pretending to cough, all eyes shot to me. "Oh come on man, are you serious? I thought only girls bragged about that shit." Jasper added.
Veronica's cheeks started turning a crimson red as embarrassment started to take over. Not only did Erik know where we did our dirty deed but now so does Jasper. I hope he has a hard time erasing the image of my hands all over her body out of his head.
"Sebastian didn't have to tell me where it happened. You left the pack house with no mark. Then when you both returned, she was marked. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure that out. Unless you did it in the woods. Did you do it in the woods?" Erik joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere for Veronica.
"No, we didn't do it in the woods and I had the same thought as you. This is the room that our memories started in. The room I became the Black Lace Luna in and the same room that we sealed our bond in."
She was still hurting, it was apparent in her voice and there was not a damn thing I could do to stop it. Where would I even begin to start taking the pain away from her? Did all of her pain start at the farmer's market? The grocery store?
Wrapping my arms around her I held her close to my chest. I could feel the stray tears that left her eyes and settled on my skin. The warm breath that escaped her lungs spread over my skin like a layer of fog over the ground after a rainstorm.
"Are you okay?" I asked gently, not wanting to upset her more.
Her hands quickly found her face and erased away every indication that she was crying. Nothing but bloodshot eyes and red under circles revealed her secret. 461Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89R3EwpJkH
"I'm fine." She mumbled. "I'm going to go to the bathroom and clean myself up."
Everyone watched as she sauntered her way toward the bathroom and eventually close the door behind her. She was even a sight for sore eyes from the back.
Turning my attention back to the destruction that was centralized to this one room, I couldn't fathom who would want to do this.
Walking around over and around the dead birds and burnt items, I made my way into her sitting area. I noticed a part of the room was completely unscathed by whoever did this. A small table and chair that sat in the corner were never even touched. There was something very strange about this whole thing. None of it made any sense.
Walking back out into the main bedroom, I eagerly waited for Veronica to reemerge from the bathroom. 461Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPogXzrZv02
"Something's not right," Erik whispered into my ear. "They need to leave-."
"Uh, Sebastian," Veronica called through the closed door, interrupting Erik. "Come here."
I carefully opened the door and slid my body inside, closing it quickly behind me. In what appeared to be red lipstick was a message written on the mirror.
"It is you who will be left wanting," I said out loud. "What the hell does that mean?"
A small rap on the door startled us both. "I'm guessing you found the message?" Jasper yelled through the door.
I opened the door and crossed my arms over my chest, blocking him from entering the room.
With a smug smile, he wrapped his hands around the door frame and leaned forward. "I think it is a message for the two of us." He said quietly. "Whoever did this knows a little too much about us."
Looking at him I rolled my eyes. "Why would you be left wanting? She is already one of your Healers."
"I could ask you the same. She is already your mate." He snapped back.
I shook my head, irritated by the sound of his voice and his mere presence. Out of all of the Healers that they could have made Commander it just had to be him?
"When all of this is over you can explain to me why you think you play such an important role in my mates life." I growled, but before he could answer back Veronica stepped between us.
"Feeling any better, Kitten?" Jasper smiled.
I could feel my blood beginning to boil. Why doesn't she have a problem with him calling her that?
"I feel a lot better now that you are both here." She admitted, looking directly at me. "But can you two please stop your arguing?"
I could see the sides of Jasper's eyes starting to twitch and his face turning a light red.
"Anyway, I didn't see this when I was in here before."
Jasper let out with a chuckle before placing his hand on the back of her neck. "You were a little too busy getting sick." He explained. "I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed it either. You were in pretty bad shape when you ran in here."
Another low growl escaped my lips. I couldn't stand hearing the way he talked to her and how he comforted her when I wasn't here. How his eyes dove deep into hers making him look lost in love.
"Do you want to go home or stay here?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying to stop the conversation between the two of them. 461Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6urkuHI5Rv
"I think I want to stay here." She said quietly while biting her bottom lip. "I just want to try and clean it up a little bit."
Agreeing with her, we both casually pushed by Jasper and walked back into the bedroom. Glancing behind me I noticed Jasper following close behind before he branched off to his Healers.
"Can you have everyone leave? I just want to be alone?" She asked quietly.
I knew she was having a difficult time dealing with the mess that has become her home. Honestly, it was bothering me as well.
Nodding my head to her I walked over to the group of Healers who had gathered in the corner of the room. The sound of Jasper's voice barking orders at them filled my ears. "You, get back to the training area and pull out the blueprints."
"Sorry to interrupt, but Veronica wants everyone to leave now." I informed them. "She wants to be alone."
Jasper turned his attention to me then quickly back to his men. "I'll be there soon. You all know your orders." And with that, the group was gone, nothing but a faint stream of light remaining where they once stood.
"I'm not leaving her." Jasper spat. "It has become very clear that she isn't safe on pack land. She would be safer with me, up in the training rooms."
The fire began to build inside my stomach. I wanted to rip his face off and feed it to wild animals that roamed the forest. Grabbing his arm I lead him into the sitting area.
"What is your fascination with her?" I growled. "Why do you have to always have to compete with me? What don't you understand about mates?"
He ripped his arm out of my grasp and positioned himself so he could see her.
"You're right. We can't all be as perfect as Sebastian Cross. The man who found his mate and doesn't even remember her."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Veronica's voice echoed through the room.
Confusion plastered on both of our faces, we waited to see which one of us she was going to address.
I watched as Veronica passed me and walked straight up to Jasper. "You may have said that to hurt him," she explained. "But you have no idea how much that just hurt me."
"No, Kitten, I didn't mean it like that. What I was trying to say is that he can't call you his mate if he doesn't even remember you." He breathed heavily. "Kitten, please."
Shaking her head, I could see she was disappointed in his failed attempt to hurt me. "I think you should go. I will see you tomorrow."
She didn't even bat an eyelash before walking away from him and grabbing my hand to follow her. Left all alone with nothing but his thoughts, Jasper stood quietly in the room, confused and hurt.
I followed closely to her as she led us down the steps and into the kitchen. Stopping in the doorway, she looked around, her eyes welling up with the dreaded salty liquid.
Instead of trying to comfort her I allowed her to walk around the kitchen to survey the damage. The beautiful black and white island was smashed to pieces. All that remained was the base and the stools surrounding it.
The pots and pans that were carefully hung were now scattered about the floor, decorating it with shimmering silver. Her heart continued to break the more she looked around.
"Everything is ruined." She whimpered while picking up shards of glass.
I pulled the garbage can over to where she stood and bent down to help pick up the remaining pieces of my Father's house. It was possible to recreate everything, but it wouldn't be the same.
"Can I tell you a story?"
Looking up at me from below her eyelashes she knitted her eyebrows together.
"What kind of story?"
"A very important one." I replied, smoothing out the fly-aways in her hair.
Closing her eyes for a moment she relaxed. I could feel all of the tension in her back and shoulders release under my hand. A feeling of calmness washing over her.
Snapping back into reality she rubbed her hands over her face. "Um, Sure. Can we just go check out the salon downstairs first to see if that was ruined too?" She croaked.
Without answering her I extended my hand to her hoping she would take it. To my surprise, there was no hesitation. She gently placed her soft hand in mine and followed me downstairs.
Reaching the bottom step her hands clutched tighter around mine, afraid of what she was going to see. I could almost smell the salty sweat that was forming on her brow as I slid my hand across the stuccoed wall to find the switch.
As soon as my fingers flipped up the light, she burrowed her head deep into my back. "I can't look."
I laughed to myself at how cute and vulnerable she sounded. For as tough as she liked to make herself appear to be, she was fragile, like the petals of a flower.
"I think this is something you want to see." I smiled, gently pulling her small body from behind mine.
The salon was completely untouched, not a comb or pair of scissors out of place. I was slightly baffled that this room was left alone. My only guess was they didn't know it was down here.
"Baby, open your eyes and look." I whispered into her ear. She still had her hands pressed over her eyes not daring to look.
I carefully brought her hands down to her side and watched in awe as her lashes lifted and her eyes lit up at the sight of the untouched room. How could one simple action be so beautiful?
"They didn't touch it. How? Why?" She said as she ran into the other rooms to check their condition. All I could do was smile as I watched her move around the salon.
"They didn't even touch the books or any of the money." She squealed, poking her head around the corner. "And I actually have a full couch."
Smiling, I made my way into the waiting room and sat down on the couch. I wanted to let her have her moment of happiness before the reality of a completely damaged house set in.
Sauntering into the room she flopped herself onto the couch beside me and let out a sigh. "I almost lost everything."
Raising my head, I locked my eyes onto hers. The softness of her face took me back to the very first day I met her. How her eyes glimmered and that sexy smile almost made me mark her right there.
"You didn't lose me."
A smile crept onto her face as she put her hand on mine.
"Well," She started. "I kinda did."
"You never lost me. My mind just went on a little. vacation."
"A little vacation, huh?" She giggled. "Anytime your mind would like to return would be great."
She inched closer to me and placed her head on my shoulder. "You don't know how much I've missed it." She whispered. "How much I've missed the real you."
I could hear the heartbreak in her voice and I could feel her loss. Two things I vowed I would never do to my mate.
"Did you know that you are still my beauty?" I whispered, resting my head onto hers.
A small gasp released from her lips before she spoke. "You remember that?"
"I could never forget."
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