Chapter 8

Spencer

I was sitting under the windowsill, hearing them talk. Not once did laughter fill the room. I didn't know what they were talking about, I was focused on my phone. Texting Gavin, my fiancé.

"Well, well, look who we have here."

I looked up to see Benjamin grin down at me. Shit. I was so busy texting I didn't hear him come up. I smiled up at him. "Not joining that exciting dinner?"

He snorted. "Even a funeral is more exciting. What are you doing down there?"

I shrugged. "Needed to get away from everyone trying to convince me to stay." Partially true.

"Well, at least now dinner can get interesting." He smirked.

Oh, no.

Oh, yes. He answered through the link. Or everyone will find out you're eavesdropping on your ex-boyfriend.

I'm not eavesdropping, and he is not my ex. He rolled his eyes before he heaved me from the ground. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me through the front door. I hate you.

He just chuckled. He pushed the door open to the dining room, the silence filled my ears. Idris and Andrew's eyes widened for barely a second.

"Look who I found on my way home." Benjamin smiled, tugging me closer to him. I could feel Axel's eyes on me. "I thought she could stay for dinner."

"Are you insane?" Eveline barked. "You can't just invite over a girl who hasn't had anything to do with our community for three years."

"That's where you are wrong, darling." Andrew sneered that last word. Oh, he's going to say it in front of everyone? Our best-kept secret for the past five years. "Spencer never left our community. She has been working for me for the past three years.

"What?!" Axel snapped. His voice was angry, so full of authority, that I took a small step back. I had never seen him so mad.

"It seems I'm not wanted here, so I think I'll just go."

"First smart thing I ever heard you say."

"Shut it, Eveline." Axel snapped. He looked at me, his eyes turning soft. He pushed himself up from his seat and rounded the table. He eyed the arm that was draped over my shoulder. "Don't go." He ran a hand through his wavy hair. "I - I want you here."

Words I wanted to hear for a long time, but after five years of complete silence, I didn't believe them. I made a move to turn around, but Benjamin gripped my shoulder, keeping me in place. "I want you here. So, does father and Idris. Stay for dinner."

When I looked at the table, I swear I could have seen hurt flash in Axel's eyes. Andrew patted the seat next to him. "I'll stay," I said. Benjamin squeezed my shoulder before placing me between him and his father. Axel was still standing in the same spot, frowning as he looked at the wall. He shook his head before he sat down, intertwining his fingers with Marianne's.

Andrew cleared his throat. "So, Spencer has been in my service before she finished college. She was the one who put the security on our systems, computers and cameras."

"You told me that was a freelancer. I saw the man who came by to install everything."

It wasn't easy but I looked him in the eye. "He was my old business partner. He did the set-up while I worked remotely on the security."

"You did everything from London?"

"No, I was staying in LA for a few weeks."

His eyes blazed. "You were in LA and didn't come by?"

"Don't pretend to care about me, Alpha" I snapped. He blinked at me. I stood up, hating the tears that gathered in my eyes. "I called you!" I screamed. "I called you on my eighteenth birthday! I called you a few times after that, but you never picked up, you never called me back. So, don't pretend you ever cared about me. All you wanted was a nice shag before you found your Mate. I fucking hate you!"

I turned into Kai, and we leapt out of the house. I needed to get away as fast as possible.

Axel

So, don't pretend you ever cared about me. All you wanted was a nice shag before you found your Mate. I fucking hate you! Those words echoed in my head. The first time I had seen Kai, I didn't see the markings on her chest, but now when she changed in front of me. The lights gave her white fur a silver glow, I saw it. The exact same markings as mine. White and black - black and white. I hate you. Astrix howled in pain at those words.

"Did she really call you?" Idris asked. I tore my gaze away from the still-open door and turned to Idris. My Beta was absolutely fuming, he was trying to reel in his anger, but his claws shot out of his hands, digging into the table.

"I -" I looked down, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "Yes. She called and texted me. I wanted to answer but -"

"I told him not to," Marianne said, caressing my hand. "He needed to focus on me, not his stupid teenage little friend."

"I don't care you are his Mate, you don't speak about her like that." Benjamin snapped.

"Mate or not, you should have never treated her like that. She was your best friend."

Guilt and the scent of roses and cinnamon filled my senses. I had almost called her about a hundred times, but Marianne was the one who always convinced me not to. I glanced at our intertwined hands, then at her face. She was mind talking to Eveline that was for sure. I pulled my hand out of hers. I had missed Spencer for years for my so-called Mate, who I did not love or even care about. I had pushed her out of my life, and I don't even know why.

And now seeing her after all those years, I couldn't lose her again. She was my best friend, the first person I ever loved. The woman I was still in love with, she was my -

Mate. Astrix growled. Our Mate.

I wished she was, Astrix. I've dreamed about her being my Mate for almost a decade.

Mate.

I sighed. But even if she isn't our Mate, she will stay in our lives. I'll do anything to make that possible.

What about Marianne and Moira?

I will reject the bond if I have to. I'm sorry about Moira.

Astrix did a few turns before lying down. Want Kai and Spencer.

I looked around the table, to the disappointed faces of my family and Beta. To the furious glances of Marianne and Eveline, the former trying to grab my hand again. I stood up. "I'm going to talk to her."

"No, you're not." Came from two different voices, for two different reasons. Marianne and my father.

"Excuse me?" I straightened. "I'm the Alpha." I glared at Marianne. "I don't care what you have to say, I will do whatever I want."

"Son, you can't talk to her."

"And why the hell not?" My head snapped to my father.

"Because she needs time." He said in his Alpha voice. "And you will give it to her." He glanced at Marianne for a second. "And you will take the time to decide what you want to do." He stood up. "I will go see her."

He walked out with Benjamin and Idris following him. My own Beta walked out on me. Marianne was trying to get my attention, but I walked out. Once in the garden, I turned into Astrix, and we ran!

I knew she was still in the community, but I hadn't seen her in a week. But tomorrow would be different since it would be her twenty-third birthday and Idris and the others were planning a surprise party. And I was going to crash that party since I wasn't even invited.

My father had been at Idris and Deacon's place almost every day. And I was going to ask him what he was doing when he came striding up to me. Before I could open my mouth, he dragged me into the office and shut the door.

"I'm going to ask you a very personal question, son. But I want you to answer me honestly without asking any questions. Not until I got things sorted." I leaned against the wall. My father looked like this wasn't up for discussion, so I nodded my head. "I need to know... what is Marianne's scent like? What does she smell like?"

I wanted to ask what the hell this was about but remembered his unofficial demand. "Roses and Cinnamon."

"Roses and Cinnamon." He muttered to himself, his eyes going wide.

"How is Spencer?" I asked. My hand slid into my pocket and twirled the opal between my fingers. "I don't want to lose her again."

My father tilted his head. "What would you do to keep her in your life?"

"Anything. Everything." I looked down, taking the necklace out of my pocket. "I never stopped loving her, Dad." My father came over and pulled me in a tight hug.

"I know, Axel. I know."

"I won't let Marianne come between us again. I would rather reject her than lose Spencer again."

My father stiffened against me before he pulled back slowly. "I want you out of the house. Stay with Lore and Miles. And don't come near Eveline and Marianne."

"What? Dad?"

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"Alright." He rested his head against mine. "I love you, son. Now go to your friends."

Spencer

I had spotted their phones on the dresser during that horrible dinner. The good news was that were just the basic smartphones. Idris went into the town to buy two duplicates. And when he came back, I gave him a device that would make everything copy from one phone to another in a few minutes. They just needed to get close enough. Andrew took one of the phones to do the switch with Eveline's. While Idris, much to his chagrin, was going to try and get close to Marianne. It was three days after the dinner when Andrew came back triumphant, holding the phone in his hand. I started working on decoding the phone. I've known Eveline for a long time, and I knew she didn't have the brains to put up such security measures on her phone. They must have had help. Two days later, when I was close to cracking Eveline's phone, Idris came charging in after breakfast.

"I've got it." He sighed, dropping on the couch next to me.

"Great. How did you get it?" I asked, connecting the phone to my laptop.

"The old bump and switch. Andrew helped me out." He leaned his head against the couch, his eyes closed. "I still feel her against me." He shivered excessively. I chuckled.

"Is it hard keeping it from Deacon?"

"It is. But he'll understand once everything is sorted out. He hasn't seen much of Marianne, so he doesn't know what she's like."

"You don't all hang out anymore?"

"We do but we don't invite her. We all know he's unhappy with her, but none of them know how bad she really is."

"If he's unhappy, he should do something about it."

I gasped as several messages and pictures popped up and I finally broke through the security.

"What is it?" I didn't answer and quickly sent a text to Andrew. We needed to find out the scent that matched Marianne. My fingers trembled as I typed in the words. "Spence." Idris grasped my hands in his.

"Andrew was right. Marianne isn't his Mate." My voice was shaking. "They are using a rare type of Belladonna to make him suggestible to certain scents. If you mix the Belladonna with the scent you want, you could trick a wolf into thinking they are his or her Mate."

"SHIT!" He jumped up and started pacing.

"They need to keep the scent in the air to keep it in his system, alongside with a potion every month."

"They have been poisoning him for years."

"Yes!" I bared my teeth. I was ready to find them both and tear them into pieces. I changed into Kai in a blink of an eye.

"Spencer, Kai - stay calm," I growled at him. My phone chimed and Idris went to check the message while keeping an eye on me. "It's Andrew. He wants us to come over to the house now."

I ran out of the house without another thought. Kai was quiet but I could feel fury coming from her. When I came close to the house, I knew Andrew was the only one there. The scents of the others had been fading away. Andrew was waiting outside the house, he didn't even blink when Idris and I arrived in our wolf form. Once in the dining room, we changed back.

"The scent..." Andrew started, not waiting for me to explain what I found out. "It's roses and cinnamon." Roses and cinnamon. We all looked at each other wide-eyed. The whole house was filled with incense and candles of that scent. "I sent Axel to Lore and Miles after he told me. Did you -"

"Yes, and you were right," I explained what I found on their phones. The Belladonna, the years of poisoning. Their hunger for power. "We need to get everything out of the house. It's going to take a while before it leaves his blood. They gave him the potion two weeks ago."

"Getting rid of those stupid incense and candles will be a start." Idris glanced at me. "We all know you are his Mate, Spence."

"You don't know that. Even if he is poisoned, I should have felt something, right?"

"Don't you?"

Mate. Kai purred. "Sometimes it feels like something is there, but it isn't what it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just lingering hope."

"Or something is blocking you from him too."

"That's not important right now," I said. "We need to get the poison out of him, that's our priority."

"You're right. We can sort out the rest later." Andrew said. "Idris you take the second floor, Spencer, you take the first. I'll take the ground floor. Open every window and put every incense and candle out and put them in an airtight bag."

"Check for scented bags too. They usually put them in dressers and closets." I said. They nodded and Andrew went to get the bags.

He pushed them into our hands. "Check everything!"