Chapter 31: Like A Drug

Astrid’s pov

House arrest didn’t look like prison at all. Not even close.

I was free. My parents gave me everything I wanted to eat. I was literally having the best time of my life from the moment I walked back through our front door.

But Draven... All he ever did was love me, and now he’d been exiled. I couldn’t bring myself to forgive what had been done to him ... what I had done to him.

"Let’s kill her."

That was what I had whispered into Draven’s ear the night Selene caught us together. Because of me, he pulled the trigger on Zane. I blamed myself for all of it.

I wasn’t just the reason he was exiled. I was the reason he became a murderer in the first place.

The punishment handed down to him was a fair one, given his offence. If anything, maybe a little lenient. It was supposed to be life for life, but Ethan must have advocated for him, because Draven was alive ... just gone. Not here anymore.

I still loved him. And I hoped, somewhere deep down, that I would see him again someday.

I couldn’t get enough of the news. The house arrest was necessary, I understood that. Some people literally wanted to stone me to death out there.

Like they hadn’t sinned. Like they hadn’t done worse behind closed doors. It’s just that they hadn’t been caught. Everybody loved to judge when they still had demons of their own.

The news had spread across all of Morvaine. As I scrolled through my phone, I found videos and content after content ... people trolling me, calling me a mate snatcher.

Then I saw something that stopped me cold.

What the hell was I looking at?

Selene ... the exiled breeder of Lucian, Alpha of Winterwood ... was pregnant.

The news hit me like a slap. My sister was pregnant. I shot up from my bed and rushed downstairs to find my parents.

"Mom, Dad, you won’t believe what I just saw," I said, breathless.

"What is it, Astrid?" my dad asked, both of them immediately anxious.

I shoved my phone in front of them, the videos playing.

"Are you serious? Selene is pregnant?" my mom asked.

"Yes, I’m just as shocked as you are."

"The Alpha took my daughter as a breeder and now he’s put a seed inside her." My dad shook his head slowly.

"Dad, at least she’s okay. Isn’t that what matters?" I said, my voice catching. My heart ached for him ... for the heaviness sitting in his eyes.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Thank the goddess she’s alive. And I hope she stays that way."

My mom rubbed his back gently.

I headed back upstairs.

"Darling, if you hear anything suspicious, just shout and I’ll come running, okay?" My dad called after me.

Nobody was coming to harm me. They wouldn’t dare.

I was now under the immunity of Ethan Allen ... and even the Alpha himself. I still didn’t fully understand what had transpired between them or how Ethan had managed to convince the Alpha to grant me freedom. It remained a mystery. But I was out, and that was what mattered.

Speaking of Ethan ... late into the night, long after my parents had gone to bed, his message lit up my screen.

"I would love to meet you tonight."

We hadn’t seen each other since my release. He had been careful about it, not wanting to stir up the wrong kind of attention, and I had understood perfectly.

"You know I can’t come out. I’m under house arrest," I replied.

"I’m close to your house, Astrid. To avoid any complications, just step outside your gate. Four steps. That’s all."

Ethan was tempting me. Under normal circumstances I’d have been too afraid to violate my conditions, but it was late, it was dark, and it was Ethan. So I did it.

Four steps from my gate, I found him leaning beside his sports car, looking every bit as sleek and untouchable as always.

He closed the distance between us before I could say a word. He grabbed my ass and kissed me deeply ... grabbed it like it already belonged to him.

"I’ve missed you so much, Astrid," he whispered against my ear, his hands squeezing tighter.

What the hell. So now he thought he owned me because he’d played a part in my freedom?

This was going to be something, I could already tell.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Draven has been exiled," I said flatly. "I’m not doing fine."

"That was fair punishment. He could have been killed ... you know that. Wherever he is, he’s safe and alive."

"But what if he isn’t?"

"He is, Astrid. He’s not a weak wolf. He can take care of himself."

Ethan looked at me again with that familiar hunger in his eyes. He pressed his lips to mine. I didn’t kiss him back. I just let his mouth take what it wanted from my lips. He was obsessed with me ... they always were. I was like a drug, and anyone who got a taste became addicted. It wasn’t all terrible. It could be useful, when I needed it to be.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, pulling back slightly.

"We’re in a dangerous spot, Ethan. We can’t be doing this out here," I said.

He caught himself. Straightened up. Adjusted his shirt like he’d only just remembered where we were.

"Once your house arrest is over, I have plans for us," he said.

Oh my goodness. What the hell kind of plans? Was I entangled with this man forever now because he saved me? Didn’t he have a wife somewhere?

I kept those questions locked behind my teeth.

"Really? What kind of plans, Ethan?"

"Dinner. A vacation. We enjoy ourselves, enjoy each other." He said it like it was already decided.

"So that’s just how it is now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You own me now because you got me out of prison ... is that it?"

Ethan laughed, low and easy. "I just want to have fun."

"And if I say no?"

"I wasn’t asking," he said, his voice dropping to something quieter, more certain. "I was telling you what we’re going to be doing once your house arrest is over."

"What about your wife? Does she know her husband plans to parade around with another woman? And I’m not ready to face any more press. After everything that’s been circulating about me, I can’t afford to..."

Ethan pressed his hand over my mouth.

"Enough," he whispered.

"You’re not a child. I told you from the beginning that everything I was doing for you came with a cost, and you agreed to pay it." He let his hand fall. "As for my wife ... I don’t concern myself with her. She does her thing, I do mine. And when you’re with me, the press is the last thing you need to worry about."

The meaning behind his words settled over me like a weight.

He owned me now. That was the reality. I was going to have to become his puppet ... doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.

That was the price of freedom.

"So we’ll see in a week’s time?" he said.

I nodded.

He kissed me on the cheek and drove off into the dark.

I dragged my feet back toward the house, turning it all over in my mind ... whether I could truly pay this price, whether I even had the right to question it.

No. I didn’t have that right anymore. I’d made my choice the moment I accepted his help.

I had no option but to give Ethan exactly what he wanted.