Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond novel Chapter 224

Kaia POV

I almost jump out of my skin from a voice coming behind us. I thought we were being watched and part of me is glad it was her and not what I thought…the trees.

She had long silvery hair that was thinning slightly on top. Her eyes were a grey blue that seemed to be covered with something, almost like she was currently in a mind-link and they were glazed over…like a white shadow.

Her lips were more purple than a soft red and she hold aging spots on her face, neck and arms but rather than be a translucent brown…they were purple.

She pays Hector no mind, he was the biggest thing in this woods but she seems unbothered by him. Her eyes only for me.

“We were sent…” I try to cover the awkwardness that had settled between us.

“I know who you are. You should come in…never can be careful of who is watching.” Her eyes turn behind her, her level of paranoia was unsettling.

It had me feeling at unease but I wasn’t sure if it was to where she was looking behind her or from actually not wanting to enter the small hut with her.

She picks up some kind of wooden bucket off the ground before moving past us and towards her hut. She opens the door, leaving Hector and I both watching from a distance.

A soft glow of a fire provides a source of light in the otherwise dark wooded area.

I take a step forward, Hector’s arm coming out to stop me.

“Maybe we should head back.” His voice is a low growl.

“It would look rude.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t give a fuck about pleasantries…” He barks back at me, my eyes closing to calm the rising unsettling feeling within me.

Of course I wanted to head back but she had seen us now and we may not get another chance to meet her.

“It’s fine, she might have answers.” I place the palm of my hand on his chest before I follow her path and take my first step inside the hut, Hector breathing down my neck as his hands wrap around my waist. His touch was addictive, and I wanted more.

“Put her down, I won’t hurt her!” The woman clicks her tongue as she places water from the bucket into a pot on her fireplace.

“I can hold my mate all I like.” Hector growls out, tactfully moving ahead of me. He was on edge…but I don’t think she will harm us. She seems…sad to me.

I watch her as she moves to a counter, grabs a bottle of something and walks back to the fireplace.

She adds a few drops of liquid from the small bottle into the water before stirring it with a large wooden spoon.

The best way to describe her was as some kind of hermit witch that had been banished to the woods from her coven, but I know she wasn’t a witch but the woods outside still left me spooked.

She plunges a cup into the boiling water, places it to her lips and drinks it down in one go.

A painful gasp leaves her lips as they part. Her body starts to shake as her hands clasp at her throat before a muffled pain escapes her. Whatever she just took, caused her severe pain.

“Are you alright?” I call out to her, her eyes reopening as they turn a spectre white.

“What did you just take?” Hector growls, pulling me into his lap as he perches against a dusty armchair where the fabric had all but worn away.

“Wolfsbane.” She responds as if we just witnessed a normal thing and we were the crazy ones.

“What?” Hector roars, standing up and pulling me behind him in one swift movement.

“I knew this was a bad idea..” He growls.

“Why did you take it?” I ask out as Hector backs me towards the door.

“It’s the only way to keep them out.”

“To keep them out?”

“The pack.”

“Pack? Aren’t you rogue?” I push against Hector as he almost has me out of the door.

“I’m a fate worse than rogue, I’m in my own never-ending purgatory. A product of my own creation.” She sighs out before sitting on a small chair by the fire.

It was clear she wasn’t willing to chase after us. I don’t think she physically could.

She was no risk to us.

“How so?”

“I rejected my mate and the pack, but he did not accept my rejection.” Her eyes close, her hands clenching by her side.

“Pack?”

“The White Moon.” She mutters as she starts to sway on her seat.

“The White Moon? That was your pack?” I was keen to get as much information as possible before she passed out on us.

Samson mentioned a pack called the White Moon when he had been roped to the bed.