Damon struggled to open his eyes, and his mind was blurry. What the hell happened? Where was he? His body weighed a ton.
The place smelled strange. That was not his study and not the packhouse.
He groaned while squinting to observe a well-lit room.
Damon was on the floor of a room that had two long sofas with small circular tables on each side, a fireplace, and a long coffee table, and Damon spotted a man sitting on a sofa chair and staring at him with an arrogant expression.
Gregory.
Damon never met the man, but he knew him because Talia shared mental images from the time she went into heat.
Damon shook his head to get out of the mental haze.
'Old guy?' Damon called to his wolf.
'There is numbing poison in your system.'
Damon was alerted. 'Poison?'
'It doesn't seem deadly, but it put you to sleep and is affecting me as well. Stay alert. I don't trust this guy.'
Damon agreed. He didn't trust Gregory either.
"Are you awake now?" Gregory asked. "Take your time, Alpha Damon, we are not in a rush. We didn't get introduced properly. My name is Gregory."
"I know who you are," Damon responded.
Gregory smiled. "Good. Then we can skip introductions."
"Why am I here?"
Gregory tilted his head. "As you probably know, I have a special interest in Natalia Moonrider."
Damon growled lowly, and Gregory lifted his hand, indicating to Damon to calm down. "Now, now. There is no need for excessive hostility. I mean you no harm, and I definitely don't mean any harm to Natalia."
"Is that why you drugged me and kidnapped me?"
"I didn't drug you. It was your housekeeper."
Damon felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart. Surely, Gregory was messing with him. Right? "Stephanie?"
"You should be more cautious about who serves you food, Alpha Damon. There are more things than wolfsbane and silver that can take out an Alpha."
Damon snorted as he pushed himself up. The room started spinning, and Damon stumbled to fall on the sofa. How undignifying. Damon gripped the edge of the sofa to maintain a seated position because everything was spinning.
"Don't rush. It will take a while for your body to recover. You are lucky your wolf is so strong, or you might be out for days. Or longer."
Damon was alerted. "How long am I here?"
Gregory shrugged. "A few hours?"
Damon could see it was dark outside. Oh, no. Talia! She will be worried sick. Damon tried mind-linking her, but it didn't work. He put his hand over his chest. Why did it feel like their mate bond was weak?
'Sapa?' Damon called. 'What's going on with our mate bond? Is Talia in danger?'
'I'm not sure,' Sapa responded. 'The bond is there, but I believe something is obstructing it.'
Damon narrowed his eyes at Gregory. "Why am I here?" He thought that the Guardians might imprison him or maybe even kill him, but he was not restrained in any way, and Damon could feel his energy returning by the minute as the poison was cleared from his body.
"As I said, I have a special interest in Natalia Moonrider," Gregory said.
Damon's jaw tightened. "You showed that in the Blue River pack."
Gregory shook his head. "That was unfortunate. I meant no harm. At that time, I was surprised to find out how special she was. In the end, didn't you benefit from your mate going into heat? Is she pregnant now?"
Damon had no intention of answering any of those. "Is that why you brought me here? To discuss my mating ritual?"
"Of course, not."
"Why am I here?"
"Alpha Natalia is a special existence, and she deserves the best. Don't you agree?" Gregory asked and continued without waiting for Damon's response, "I want to make sure you are the right man for her."
Damon was sure that his ears malfunctioned. "Talia is my mate. Our bond is proof that I am the ONLY man for her!"
Gregory was not phased by Damon's rising hostility. "That's just a bond that a Moon Goddess decided on before you were even born. Think of it like an arranged marriage. Sure, it can work, but it can also be a horrible match if let's say…" Gregory narrowed his eyes at Damon. "One of the two is sleeping around."
Damon paused. "What?"
"Are you going to deny your debauchery, Alpha Damon? Everyone knows about your endless conquests. The only thing people don't know is the exact number of women who you had sex with. Is it two hundred? Three hundred? More?"
Damon thought how this was ridiculous. "Since I've met Talia, she is the only one for me."
Gregory smirked. "Are you sure about it?"
Damon found himself unable to lie as he remembered… "That was one time. I didn't understand the bond and how important…"
"Don't you think you are too old for excuses?" Gregory interrupted Damon. "No one will deny all the good things you did, but you can't ignore how much you hurt Natalia. Over and over again. You say it's one time, but I'm not sure if that includes only you sleeping with the daughter of Beta from the Red Moon pack. Will you deny that you had Cassie and Marcy in your packhouse together with Natalia? I can't imagine what the poor girl went through. You organized a pack run to announce your Luna, but it seems that until the last moment, you were not sure if that would be Marcy or Natalia."
"I was under the effect of..."
"Yes, yes," Gregory interrupted him. "I'm sure you have excuses ready but none that could erase the fact you hurt Natalia. You can slip once and say it was an accident, maybe twice. However, your behavior is showing a pattern where you are acting on your own selfish impulses without regard for your mate."
Damon's nostrils flared, and he wanted to punch Gregory's smirk away, but there was the point of Damon's strength recovering, and Gregory was technically not wrong, and… how did he know that much?
Gregory cocked an eyebrow at Damon. "Did I miss any?"
"It is not on you to decide if I am the right man for Talia or not," Damon said grimly.
"Let's agree to disagree on that one. You can think of me like a concerned parent."
"Why don't you cut the bullshit and tell me what you really want?"
Gregory nodded in approval. "I heard you are a man who prefers acting compared to talking. Prove that you will do whatever you can to cherish Natalia, and I will step aside."
"That easy?"
"That easy."
Damon was not in the mood to play games, but did he have a choice? "Alright. Tell me what your test is."
Damon followed Gregory outside into the forest.
The crunching of the undisturbed snow under their feet made Damon unsettled as he realized he was far from home.
"Where are we going?" Damon asked.
"You will see," Gregory responded mysteriously. "I'm sure you noticed that your senses are off."
Damon thought it was due to the poison, but now that he checked again, his body was feeling fine, yet everything else was off. It was like he was in a drunken stupor, with everything feeling distant and dull, even though it was right within his reach.
Damon turned to see the building they had just left, but the only thing he could see were trees and darkness. Did they conceal it with enchantment?
"The environment provides us with a natural defense against intruders," Gregory said. "Your task will be to save Natalia and take her out of her safely."
Damon was alerted. "What did you say? Talia is here?"
Gregory turned to Damon and gave him a meaningful look before gesturing toward the clearing ahead.
Damon blinked a few times to verify if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Without waiting for Gregory to say anything, Damon moved toward the female who was tied to the tree.
Damon would run to Talia and untie her, but his instincts told him something was off.
Damon couldn't feel the bond pulling him toward her, but his bond was not pulling anywhere.
She didn't carry the scent of citrusy sweet freesia. He didn't pick up any scent at all.
Things didn't seem right, but that was Talia looking at him pitifully.
"Kitten?" Damon called when he was only one step away from her. How did she get here? Did the Guardians kidnap her? Bastards tied her to a tree!
Damon extended his hand and put it on her cheek. "It's OK. I'm here now."
She leaned into his touch. "Save me, Damon. Let's get out of here."
Damon's insides tightened. That was Talia's voice.
