~Brielle
It feels shameless, doing this.
I’m not going there to do anything with him, simply let him think I want him. Yet it feels dirty, walking to his room with a robe covering my half naked body. This lingerie isn’t too sexy, but it’s sexy enough for me to feel shy, my confidence seeping out past the lace and ribbons of the stupid outfit hidden beneath this silk gown.
Ren tried to hurt me. All because I disagreed with him. Now, I’m having to manipulate him into believing me. All so he won’t hurt me again.
Will I tell Chase about this? That’s the question. I’m not sure how he would react, but something tells me he would understand. He wouldn’t lash out and hurt me like Ren would. Just because they are in the same body doesn’t mean they have the same reactions.
All of this, I know.
When I reach his room, I don’t bother knocking. I simply click the door handle open, and slide inside the room cloaked in darkness. From the bed, I can see his shadowed outline lying in the bed. Just seeing him makes me want to turn on my heels and walk right back out of here. I shouldn’t be doing this.
Pushing my shoulders back, I approach the bed, my gait sensual. Under my breath, I lowly call his name out to get his attention. His voice drifts room the bed.
“Should I be concerned?
The confidence I had just managed to muster up suddenly deflates. That voice doesn’t belong to Ren. It’s deeper, gruffer. Of course, the one time I needed it to be Ren in the room, it had to be Chase. He leans over onto the nightstand to flick on the lamp.
“Is this what you do when I’m not around?” Chase asks, raising an eyebrow at me. Sighing deeply, I wander over to the bed. This probably looks terrible on his end. Here I am, walking into who I assumed was Ren’s room, in the middle of the night, dressed the way I am. From his perspective, I can’t imagine this looks very innocent.
Clambering onto the bed, I lie beside him. He is distractedly undressed, his shirt missing. I wonder when he took back control of his body.
“Believe it or not, I was doing this to gain his trust,” I tell him, hoping I sound reasonable. Chase still doesn’t trust me, and I don’t think this is going to get me any closer to finding out the truth. “I wasn’t going to do anything with him, I swear.”
“I believe you.”
For a moment I think he is joking, simply messing with me. Oddly enough, he seems sincere, looking at my half smile as if I’m crazy.
“Wait, you actually believe me?”
“Shouldn’t I? I know you wouldn’t go running back to Ren after he tried to hurt you. You’re not a foolish girl, and I know that. I trust you, Brielle,” he tells me smoothly. Hearing him say that almost makes me gape at him in utter surprise. This entire time he hasn’t trusted me, and now he does. This is progress I didn’t think would come.
“You trust me? So does this mean you’re finally going to be honest with me?” I question. Once I know why Chase is here, we can concentrate on what to do next. It’s a thought I’ve been putting off. Ren is the Alpha...We can’t just, get rid of him, right?
Chase settles close to me, taking a moment to answer. He can’t just turn back on me now, we we have made more progress than ever in the last five minutes.
He trusts me. Finally.
“I suppose I can tell you a few things. What would you like to know?” he asks, tilting his head at me. Sitting up, I sift through my mind, looking for the best question to begin with. I don’t want to scare him off right away.
“Where did you come from. People in the Devotion Pack talk about a fabled demon who was placed into Ren’s mind for evil reasons. Something about you having a crazed mother who wanted to take down Ren’s family,” I say, practically all in one breath. I hope bringing up his mother like this isn’t offensive to him at all.
Chase leans on his side, looking at me. “The story is half true, but the motives you’ve been told are skewed.”
I raise an eyebrow questioningly.
“See, I come from a very poor family. My mother refused to work because she had abilities she thought would bring her great money. One day, when Ren and his family visited, my mother decided she had to do something. She spoke of their great greed, putting themselves on an island to hide their wealth.”
My eyes widen. I’ve never heard that story before. We were always told by teachers at school that their family was great. We were offered free school because of them. We were told our lives would be easy because of their family.
“So you’re here to take Ren’s money?” I question. I’m hoping that’s not the case. Chase never struck me as a materialistic guy.
He immediately shakes his head.
“My mother was a witch, and I’m assuming that’s where people’s rumours came from that I’m a demon. When they came to visit, my mother had an idea to replace my mind with Ren’s, so I could expose the wealth they have hidden from other, poorer Packs, like the Devotion Pack and Passion Pack, for example,” he tells me.
“Ren never told me anything about this wealth. I mean, I knew we are a well off Pack, but I didn’t know other Pack’s had it so bad,” I say, suddenly feeling stupid and uneducated. This is why other Pack’s say we need to travel more.
“The spell wasn’t perfected, and in her rush she killed my old body, and when I was put into Ren’s body, we mixed instead of Ren’s mind going quiet forever,” Chase explains, making me flinch.
His old body is dead.
“I felt a lot of guilt, until I found out what Ren was truly like, and then I came to a conclusion that I needed to stop him,” Chase tells me.
Tilting my head, I wait for him to tell me what he means by that. Ren was always so kind in the beginning, so gracious and ready to make me feel better when all was going wrong in my life. The more I uncover about him, though, the less he appears like the man in the beginning. It only makes me wonder what he was like when he didn’t have Chase in his head.
“Ren was always so nice to me,” I mutter. “What did he do?”
Chase looks pained for a moment, as if he can’t bare to say it. “If I told you that, you might not be able to do what I need you to do. I need you to get as close to him as you can to get a key off of him. That key unlocks the room in which they keep some of the most expensive items in the world, which they have stolen off of past Alphas.”
“You have to tell me what he has done. I need to know why I shouldn’t trust him,” I say. If I don’t know then he will have something against me also, which he could use against me. It doesn’t seem as though Chase is willing to tell me, though.
Reaching up, Chase brushes my cheek gently, making me lean into his touch. “I don’t want to make this any harder on you. At any time you can leave, you don’t have to be apart of this. But if you do, then Ren’s secrets will remain until you have the key.”
Sighing deeply, I nod. He knows what is right. Clearly this secret is enough to scare me from Ren.
So I’ll trust him.
“After all this is over, we’ll both be free. Whether you want to stay with me or not, I don’t mind. As long as you’re safe,” Chase says gently. I smile softly, leaning down to lay on his chest. There is something comforting about hearing his heartbeat. It makes all my concerns wash away, as if they ceased to exist in the first place.
“You know I’ll stay with you,” I breathe. And it’s true. My plans for life were to leave this Pack, but maybe I will end up staying. Maybe I’ll be able to find a home here, on this island with Chase.
Suddenly, Chase rolls me over onto my back, leaning over me. I look into that blue eye of his, knowing it is him who truly belongs there.
“I knew the moment I saw you, you would be my weakness. And that makes me very happy,” he murmurs.
I can’t help but smile.
When it was first revealed who Chase was, I was curious, but frightened. Even know, all his own secrets have not been revealed, and I can’t wait to uncover them. First, I need to uncover Ren’s and whatever is hidden with this secret room. Where would a mastermind like him hide a key?
“Now, for the rest of the night, I can have you all to myself,” Chase murmurs in my ear, sending shivers throughout my body.
Nothing would make me happier.