Her revengeful Bastard

Pearls and under the weather

*Kai*

Some hours later, after everyone has left, all the lights have been turned down low and silence weaves itself through all the rooms. I stand at the window in my office and gaze out at the night sky, slowly pulling the pearls on a serpentine path through my fingers. I can almost imagine I feel the warmth from her neck still pulsating through the white beads.

I have never had much respect for the Alphas and betas of the packs. Bloody bastards who are given so much, don’t appreciate it and tend to lose it with such ease, as though it is of no consequence and more is to be found with the snap of fingers. In my desk drawer are half a dozen markers attesting to that attitude. Also in that desk drawer now rests a gold pocket watch that had an intricate engraving of a stag, similar to the one that occupies a corner of my fathers pack crest. Perhaps one day I will attach the chain that accompanies it to a button of my waistcoat and tuck the watch into the small pocket where I can easily reach it, gaze down on it and mark the time.

Tonight my focus is on the pearls. I knew the moment she realized they were lost to her. She was devastated. I had seen the shattering in her eyes, then gone, with little more than a blink. If I wasn’t watching so closely, I would have missed it. But I had been watching, studying her all night, searching for weaknesses … and all I found were strengths.

I wanted to applaud when she reached up and unlatched the pearls from about her neck. Spud didn’t realize how lucky he was that she took the initiative. If he had touched her, I would have broken his fingers or at the very least punched the man. He wouldn’t have been deserving of either treatment. Spud was following the bricklayer’s orders to gather the winnings, but I recognize that where Miss Anna is concerned, I seem to lack the ability to think rationally.

When she walked from the room with her head held high, her shoulders back, her spine straight … in spite of the mortification that the drunkard I had been dragging along caused her … I think I have never seen anyone with more regal bearing. And then she, like a true future Luna, despite everything, took the time to say a few words of farewell to my sister.

Kyle is undeserving of her. I wonder if she may realize it before it is too late. Or if it will be left to him to prove it to her.

I had once thought her crucial to my scheme of bringing about my fathers downfall. Now I fear that she may very well lead to mine.

*Anna*

I awake to sunshine pouring in through my bedchamber window. I didn’t expect that. With such a heavy heart, I should be greeted with rain, an abundance of it gushing down in sheets that hamper visibility. Heaving a deep sigh, I shove myself up and settle against the pillows. Last night, I instructed Nan to bring me breakfast. I can’t face the Alpha across the dining table.

Fortunately neither he nor his Luna had been waiting for me when I returned home, so they have been spared wondering why their son didn’t escort me inside. After his bout of retching, he clambered back into the car, curled up on the seat and began to snore loudly as though my threat of calling things off mattered little. For all of a heartbeat, I considered waking him so we could finish our conversation and come to some sort of terms or an understanding, but I had been unable to rely on any rational discourse in his current state. I will have to wait for him to sober up.

Upon arriving at the residence, I had made a hasty retreat from the car, leaving him to see his own self home, where I assumed his servants would either assist in getting him inside or simply leave him to sleep it off in his car. I rather hoped for the latter. He betrayed my trust and proved himself unworthy of my affections.

Where he is concerned, how can I have been such a fool ? While I have been brought up to expect marriage, to see becoming someone's mate and a mother as my duty, presently I am not convinced I want it. Never before have Kyle shown such blatant disregard for my feelings.

With a deep sigh, I rub my hands over my face. Melancholy doesn’t suit me. I am weary of being so passive, of waiting for life to happen to me. I am as dependent on Kyle for my happiness as he is on his damned cards and wagering for his own. When he described what it was to win, all I was able to think was that the same thing happens to me when I am near Kai Tempest. I am not exactly sure precisely what that means. The man confuses me in ways I have never even known existed.

And with whom can I discuss all these confounding feelings, the ones about Kyle, whom I have once admired and whose actions I now detest, and Kai, whom society insisted I shun because of his birth, and yet I have grown to admire ?

I can’t seek advice from the Luna, can’t tell her about her son’s abhorrent behavior nor can I reveal what a gentleman I find Kai Tempest to be. So who is there for me to talk to ? I have been raised in near isolation at the pack estate until it was time to have a season. I have met other young she-wolves, but I haven’t become close to them; we do not share intimacies, only gossip. Kyle is the one to whom I have always spoken before, have shared my doubts and fears, my hopes and dreams. I feel as though he has squashed them, torn them up, cast them aside and in so doing has cast me aside as well, with little thought, and anger, and words that can never be unheard.

Tossing back the covers, I scramble out of bed, unable to abide this moping about. I am going to join the Alpha for breakfast. I am going to find a purpose to my life that doesn’t involve marriage. I am going to determine how best to help Kyle realize he needs to leave the gambling tables before they destroy him. I won’t abandon him, but neither can I embrace him, not as he had been last night, not as he may have been many nights before.

A soft rap sounds on my door just before Nan opens it and walks inside carrying a tray. “I thought you wanted breakfast in bed”.

Oh dear. I can’t very well not eat in my room after putting my servant to such a bother. “I’ll have it in the sitting area”.

Nan sets it on the low table before turning to face me, looking rather guilty as she does. “Another package arrived for you … same as before. Well, not quite. It wasn’t the same man who delivered it but a scruffy little lad who was told to give it only to me and I was to give it only to you.” She holds out a leather box, similar in shape to the other, but much larger.

I take it, open it. On a small card is written: A lady should never be separated from her pearls.

I lift out the note. Beneath it rests my necklace and comb. There is a pain in the center of my chest, a tight knot as though my heart is being squeezed tighter and tighter. My eyes burn more than they had when I walked into the smoke hazed card room. More than they had when I realized Kyle didn’t keep his promise to me, that he did in fact lose the wager.

Kai Tempest is showing me a kindness that my own betrothed failed to do. A second man is stepping into my life while the first is stepping out of it. Confusion rocks me. I feel as though I am perched on the deck of a ship in the midst of a tempest. I have no business whatsoever thinking about Kai, but the horrible realization strikes me that I have no desire to think about Kyle.

Still, two hours later I find myself standing in the front hall of Kyle’s town house.

“I’m sorry, Miss Anna”. His butler says, true sorrow reflected in his tone. “But mister Kyle is quite under the weather today”.

Glancing up the stairs, I wonder if I look hard enough if I may see him suffering. I need to speak with him; we need to get things sorted out. Too much has been said, too much left unsaid. “Let him know I came by, and that I expect him to call on me as soon as he is able”.

“Yes, miss Anna”. He mumbles.

I turn to go, stop, swing back around. “Is he often under the weather like this ?”

Clearing his throat, the butler looks down as though needing to check the polish on his shoes. His silence reveals his loyalty as well as providing the answer.

“My apologies. I’ve put you on the spot. I’ll be certain to let him know you hold his trust”. I tell him.

“Thank you, Miss Anna”. He says with a small smile.

I walk out with my two maids following. All my life I have listened and followed the Luna’s warnings and rules, been told that dangers loom everywhere, and that I must never stray far from the familiar. Yet it is the familiar causing me heartache. I need to help Kyle, but I don’t know how. Although I think I may have a good idea regarding where to begin.