Darian's POV
We arrived back to Draxen Manor, my palace, approximately an hour after we left the wedding, all through the while, we stayed in the car, and for the two days she had stayed here, my one thought had been about touching her, feel her skin beneath mine, how soft and smooth it were, feel her tremble beneath me, shake beneath me.
But I couldn't. I couldn't do any of that without hurting her. I had waited years for hers, searched, longed, and toiled for my mate, and yet when I finally found her, I couldn't even touch her. I just had to watch her stroll forward before me. Her slim body was packed in a tight lady boss suit, her long legs hurrying ahead of me to her room.
I ground my teeth so hard that my jaw and temple ached terribly. My fingers curled tight with murder in my pocket. Damn that witch for putting this stupid curse on me. When I find her, I will rip her hideous neck off her body without a second thought.
I turned around, crossing into the corridor for the pack's conference room, where I knew I would find Rynel. He and Mara, my cousin, looked up from the tablet they were jointly staring at when they saw me.
Rynel's brows tightened with a stroke of tension, but Mara smiled, as sheepishly as always. Sometimes I feared she was secretly happy about something private, something like my current misfortune. I would have believed that, though, if she hadn't been like that since I'd known her.
I eased into my seat at the start of the large, round conference table, escorted duly by their gazes. "Tell me you have found where that bloody witch is hiding," I said.
Rynel sighed, relaxing into his seat while pushing his tablet forward. That gave me an answer even before he shook his head. He was my second in command, my beta, and he was very good at his job, well, until the witch happened. Now, a man who had always helped me find the locations of my bounties couldn't find one damn witch.
The last location he'd pointed me to has ended in a wild goose chase. For the first time since I have been working with him, irritation flared uncontrolled in my stomach, and I nearly snapped at him, saved for the last moment, control on my temper.
Of course, he wasn't to blame. If anyone deserved to be blamed, it was me. How could I fail to kill the witch properly the first time? How could I have even let the bitch have enough time to be able to cast her useless spell on me?
"So you can't find her, or you couldn't find her," I demanded.
He shook his head, appearing crossed as he sat up straight. "Of course I can find her," Rynel affirmed. "But you have to know we are dealing with a strong witch, a goddess-level witch. Magic is a part of her, not an extension."
"But that had never proved to be a challenging factor, at least for your previous finds."
"And none of my previous finds has ever been a goddess-level witch who personally hates your guts, Alpha Darian." Rynel sighed with boredom, throwing both hands onto the table wearily.
"Everyone hates my guts," I replied.
"Well," he made an awkward tilt of his head sideways. "I can attest to that."
"That she hates my guts doesn't make a difference," I said. "Just find her and find her fast."
Rynel snatched his tablet to his chest and began to tap fast on it, though he and I knew he was just pretending to be busy. I let the fact go. I knew he would do his work as he should, and if I had any chance of finding the witch, it was with his hounds, specially trained by him, with super senses of smell.
I turned to Mara, and I shed most of the tightness and boss-like attitude, stringing my face tight for a smile, despite the level of murder and rage budding in my veins, waiting to be unleashed onto the world.
"How did your morning go, love?" I teased.
She let out a tired exhale, taking off the headset from her ears. "Not so much." She said. Then her eyes brightened, not with a smile, but with mischief. She heaved her tablet up as if in reference to something. "At least not as fun as yours went." Her smile brightened more, powering up so bright that it could light the whole room. "I saw all the fun you guys had at that wedding. You should have brought me along."
I threw my arms away in a gesture of helplessness. "Unfortunately, I wasn't the one calling the shots on that operation."
Rynel grunted, sneaking a peek at me above his tablet. "Watched the whole thing. Why did you let a female boss you around like that?" He hissed, rather quietly under his breath. But still enough for me to catch.
I said nothing, and I pretended I didn't catch that. I would decide the bastard's punishment later. Now, he was useful to help me find the witch.
I looked to Mara. "No, give me some real news and updates, what's been happening and what needs my attention immediately," I said, emphasis on the word 'immediately'. As much as I wanted to work, I also needed to be somewhere else. Beside her, my mate.
If I couldn't touch her, at least I could talk to her, and glimpse into that beautiful face and those green eyes, the colour of precious jade. Even the thought of her sent desire like fine liquid down my veins. Hell! I just wish I could touch her already, that I could have her. I wished…
It was when my gaze lifted back to Mara that I realized that my mind had strayed.
Mara squinted her brows at me. "Where was your mind all for a moment now, brother?"
I faked a smile. "It's always been here, love."
She wanted to speak, instead, her brow lifted high as if in understanding of something I didn't know, mischief sparking in her eyes like a quiet gleam. "I think I know where it went."
"Just tell me what I need to know, damn it," I almost snapped at her. I realized early, and I quickly let my tone quieten to a more polite one. "Tell me what I need to know, Mara."
One would have expected her to seem flustered that I almost yelled at her. She just grinned, a slow, mocking grin that irritated me again.
I grunted under my breath. She had this cute way of getting on my nerves, and it was all my fault. I had overindulged her.
I waited a torturous moment as she glanced and swiped at her tablet screen, then she raised that chubby face that just wouldn't try to escape teenagecy to me. "Except for the repeated calls by the Lycan council requesting your immediate presence concerning what happened today, you are free for the day."
"I am completely free for the day then," I said, standing up slowly and heading for the door. "You can help mail my response to the council on how I feel about their demands for presence, make it as cute as you," I said, and I left the room.
I pushed the door to her quarters some minutes later, and she glanced back, over her shoulder, at me from the mirror she was looking at. She tried for a smile, but not even that was what froze me cold for a moment at the door; it was those green eyes of hers looking back at me and the entrancing curves of her petite body now highlighted by the tight green dress she now wears.
The sight of her made me sucked in a deep breath like my lungs were suddenly starved of oxygen.