Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

- Cleo ~

Josie keeps trying to call me and for the first time since forever, I'm not answering.

I need time to think, time to put a plan in place.

Jaxon knows, my attempts to persuade him that the baby is human may have worked on my parents, but he could sense the child was related to him.

Which means...I haven't got a lot of time. His out-of-the-blue arrival yesterday means I need to speed things up.

I haven't got the luxury of time like I thought I would. I wanted time to adjust, time to let my body get used to be pregnant.

But now I need to act...before I am truly ready.

Time to think how I can stop Jace finding out...that's if Jaxon hasn't already said something.

Hence, why I can't bring myself to answer Josie's call...what if she also knows.

She doesn't, he wouldn't have done that...I made it very clear I would leave.

As my phone starts ringing again, I cast my eye down...surprised to find that it is no longer Josie but Maya calling.

"Maya?" I answer it without hesitation.

"Have you heard the news?" Her excited voice greets me.

"What news?" I ask cautiously.

"Jace is back..back at Dark Phantom."

I'm silent as she waits for my response, only for a sigh to escape her.

"That's not all, the hotel we stayed in for your 18th...that was his hotel. That's where he had been all this time." Her voice is gentler this time. She's thinking she's the one breaking the news, she's trying to ease me into it. Until she realises...there is a reason for my silence.

"Did you know? Shitting hell...you did didn't you...was he the guy?"

""What guy?"noveldrama

"You know...the waiter. I assumed you stayed away with the waiter, but..."

"Maya." I need to stop her mind from running away with her because she was too close to the truth.

"Was it him?" Her voice is so low, almost like a whisper on the other end of the line.

"Vault?" I groan out, I shouldn't be telling anyone but she's already found out too much.

"Locked in, I swear."

"I mean it Maya. You cannot tell a soul, not even Josie."

She's silent, because her and Josie are best friends. I wouldn't ever want to put her in a position that would ruin her friendship with Josie.

But she already knows too much. I need to see her, I need to press the point of how important it is that she doesn't say anything.

If I don't, she'll mention the bartender to Josie, and when it comes out that I am pregnant...and was at Jace's hotel, it will be too coincidental for Jace not to be involved. Especially to Josie.

She knows how much I have loved him and for how long. She'll know that between him and a human bartender, it would have been Jace. Without a doubt.

"I won't tell a soul." She promises me down the phone line, but I still need to see her. A promise is better made face to face. "Yes, it was Jace."

I close my eyes as I confirm her suspicions.

Jaxon's face, when I told him that I

had known for the past two months of Jace's location, painfully flashes back in my mind. Josie will be even more hurt, she will hate me, that I know for certain.

"He took your V card...not the bartender?" She gasps, not able to hide her shock.

"Yes."

"Cleo, he hasn't come back alone." I can hear the hesitation in her voice, hear that she doesn't want to tell me this but has no choice. She's trying to protect me, to prepare me

"I know, he has his mate...his Luna." Why do I keep doing that, keeping seething those words out. Even my own wol whimpers at the thought of Jace having found his Luna But surety I had prepared for this day, surely I knew this day would come.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"Can we meet? Off pack grounds?"

"Why off pack grounds?"

"The services, half way point."

"Yes, but why can't I just come to you?"

"I'll explain when I see you."

I'm careful in where I agree to meet Maya. Most of the restaurants and coffee shops in the city near her have direct links to either Hector or Jude.