Monster in My Bed

Chapter Twenty-Four | Can't Risk It

I would love to say that since the return of my brother things have been going smoothly.

I can admit that Daniella and I have been actually getting along. After the incident, my ties with a well-respected Beta and show of dominance over not only Aleksei but Matteo earned me some sort of admiration among the Luna of Apsens. Although I never actually spoke to her, being the Alpha Female of such a large, influential pack, her high opinion of me that I'd happened to gain through sheer luck managed to earn me the liking of many other Lunas. This in turn secured my invite to many gatherings that a group of respected Lunas had been having without my knowledge.

I'll admit, it hurt a little.

Daniella had accompanied me to all of the meetings and helped me to fit in. Apparently, it was pretty vital that I didn't shift their opinion of me from respect to contempt. I think Dani secretly likes my company now that we aren't at each other's throats every five seconds. She even went as far as to say she doesn't want to see me dead before we arrive back home. I do believe I am growing on her.

Aleksei and I are trying to figure things out. I really thought that after we'd resolved our issues and I had quickly accepted him back into my life, that everything would go back to how it used to be. Instead, a foreign awkwardness settled between the two of us. It was as if we didn't know how to speak to one another, and I suppose it's because we didn't. Aleksei was definitely not Kaden anymore, and I wasn't the same Kaia he left behind either. We were practically just two strangers with the same unfortunate past. Our only thing we could bond over was something we'd rather not remember nor think about. Our reunion was far from the ideal that I'd originally planned or thought it to be.

Onto another item that can be added to my list of unexpected occurrences over the past three days. Matteo has practically been avoiding me like the plague. At first, I thought it was because he and I were just so busy and I was overthinking it, but it's come to the point where he's actually finding himself more 'pressing' problems to solve just so that he has to stay in meetings longer while the Lunas are excused. In his eyes, 'pressing' issues require the absence of feminine opinions, but in my eyes, anything important enough that it needs to be labeled is a 'pressing' matter should be discussed with the Lunas of all packs. I was offended until I found out that one of the issues being discussed was just border rights. That's when it really sunk in that he was just trying to distance himself from me.

Where did I find my information? It was a pitiful move, but Barron certainly comes in handy. That man will sure as hell do anything if he finds out that Matteo won't like it. He didn't mind spilling any information of the closed meetings to me one bit. Why would he? He knew just as well as I did how irrelevant what they were talking about was. He was more than happy to meet with me after the meetings to tell me what was being said.

Even on our last night, he had managed to find an excuse to slip out of our room and leave me to pack alone. The thought crossed my mind that he could be meeting up with some girl to give him what I wasn't, but I knew Matteo. He wouldn't do that. That would require physical contact, and he could barely stand people standing too close to him let alone some girl being all over him.

I forced myself to stay up later than I have ever wanted to. I took much longer trying to make sure every article of clothing was neatly placed back into our suitcases. When doing so once wasn't a long enough time, I dumped all of the clothing back out and repeated my actions until it did last long enough for him to walk through the door.

I knew it had been hours since he had left when the door slowly creaked open. I could only hear him come in since my back was facing the door, but I knew his scent better than my own. The door's slow opening came to a halt as did Matteo's quiet steps into the room.