Desire for you- ALPHA RYAN Book 1
Chapter 24

MAYA

I was in the kitchen, grinning broadly at the cake I had baked.

"Come to mom, you juicy piece of chocolate cake! Just the thing to sweeten my day!" I licked my lips, continued to stare at the oven and watched the dough rise. The whole kitchen smelled of chocolate.

I suddenly heard laughter behind me.

Michael grinned wryly at me "Come to mom? Are you serious Maya?" He laughed again as he almost couldn't breathe and Tristan slapped him on the shoulders.

"The way she was licking her lips, you'd have thought your sword was in there..." he snorted again.

I stood up and rolled my eyes as he and Tristan laughed themselves to death.

Michael had a perverse sense of humor...

"Listen you pussies, there's no cake for you. I only baked it for me and Catherine. You can get lost again." I gestured with my hand towards the door.

"What? Man Maya, this is the best cake in the world and we don't get any of it?" Michael asked desperately, giving me the puppy dog eyes.

I rolled my eyes again and took the cake out of the oven.

"Especially as Catherine leaves three quarters of her food anyway... that would be a waste..." Tristan winked at me.

I shook my head. "Nope, and for you, Michael, that means wife."

I turned up the radio to drown them out.

Just the right song!

"You don't own me... Don't try to change me in any way...

You don't own me...Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay

I don't tell you what to say, I don't tell you what to do

So just let me be myself, That's all I ask of you

I'm young and I love to be young, I'm free and I love to be free

To live my life the way I want... To say and do whatever I please"

I sang along to the song from 'Grace-You don't own me' and comfortably cut the cake into the right pieces after I had tipped it from the tin onto the plate. My voice was hard to miss, I was gifted at singing and hit every note with ease.

Michael whistled and gave me a round of applause. "YES baby, that's our Star!" He shouted across the kitchen and everyone else gave us a dirty look.

I laughed and shook my head.

I handed them each a piece on two plates and sat down on the bar stool.

"Tell me, what was going on earlier? I didn't quite understand what they were talking about? Your family also left quickly..." I asked them both and took a piece of the cake with my fork.

Tristan and Michael scooped up the cake.

"I thounk its about tho morkung" Michael said with his mouth full and finally managed to swallow the piece.

"Excuse me?" I asked again.

"I think it's about the marking. Ryan hasn't marked them yet." He said again and shrugged his shoulders.

"He's going to go mad tonight..." Tristan added and looked at me with a grin. He waggled his eyebrows and winked at me

"Don't even dream about it, I have to babysit tonight." I leaned back and looked down at my freshly polished nails, which were painted a nude color.

"Babysitting? Seriously?" Tristan asked me, stuffing another piece of cake into his mouth. Before Michael could grab the second piece, I hit him on the fingers with the wooden spoon. "You piglet, look at your beer belly growing there, you need to watch your line again." I said to him and frowned.

"Ouch! Mine is an eight-pack, forged to impress my companion one day." He said with a grin, holding his hand over his stomach as if he were a pregnant woman.

I sighed softly and pushed the plate with the cake away from them.

"He ordered me to protect Cate from him. Apparently Onyx is in a foul mood." I said, shrugging my shoulders. Tristan looked at me, stunned. "Are you out of your mind? You think you can take on an alpha?" He asked me in horror.

I shook my head "No, you're going to help me and that starts with not letting him in the house." I said.

Michael shook his head "No, no, no. One alpha command and we're dead... He needs to get this over with somehow before he turns into a psychopath." Michael rubbed his temples.

Tristan pondered. "What if Catherine reawakens her demon? That would at least give her a chance to run away, to defy his orders..." he said, looking at us askance.

"N O" I said loudly and slapped the table. "Is that your idea? It'll only lead to more problems and she can't even control her demon" I scowled at both of them.

"What do you mean she can't control it?" Michael asked me with raised eyebrows.

I ran my fingers through my hair. "Well, I had a little chat with Milena. The way she explained it to me, her mother was able to control Chiara, her demoness, the way we are over our wolves. The fact that Catherine came into contact with her for the first time, in an awkward situation, caused her to fall into ruin. Her demon just wanted revenge for everything that was done to her." They both listened to me and tried to follow me.

"So that means Chiara has to teach her how to control her demoness? But Chiara's gone... Schwarzenegger's jerk messed the whole thing up..." Tristan said annoyed and bit his lips.

Michael snorted, "He really looked like Schwarzenegger, like a man's army, so I certainly wouldn't want him for a father-in-law." Michael tried to regain his composure. "Ryan blew his cards with him from the first moment." He laughed again.

I tapped him on the temple with my thumb and middle finger. "OUCH! This is abuse, what you're doing here!" Michael exclaimed, rubbing his temple.

I stood up "No foolishness boys, make sure you keep Ryan away from her. A job, a beta and a gamma can do that, can't they?" I eyed them both and raised my eyebrow.

"I have to go now, see you later!" I grabbed the cake and took it upstairs to Catherine.

I knocked on the door. Nothing came from her. I entered and heard the shower running, "Catherine?" I called out and the door opened. "I'll be right there!" She called out to me. I put the cake on the table and waited for her.

She came out in a bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a towel. "Sorry... I wasn't expecting you..." she mumbled quietly to herself.

"It's all right, I've got time." I said and smiled at her. "I baked some cake and wanted to bring you something. "Thank you, that's very kind of you." She gave me a slight smile and ran to the closet. I pretended to look out of the window, but watched her reflection in the mirror.

She was so thin, you'd have thought one breath of wind and she'd be gone. How did she stand it under Ryan, who probably weighed three times as much as her? She really was a beauty, but was she up to the tasks of a Luna? How stupid of me to think so, of course she was. After all, she'd been through hell and back.

Catherine put on something simple and then came over to me and sat down on the chair. I handed her a piece of cake and looked at her.

"You know it's a full moon today, right?" I asked her cautiously. She looked up at me and nodded. "Yes, I know..." she whispered quietly and put her fork down. She seemed desperate, broken and sad at that moment. My heart ached to see her suffer in this way.

"Listen, I'm not a person of many words, but you need to finally talk to someone, pour your heart out... You can't carry this burden alone with you, it will eat you up inside..." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

She looked down at her hands and shrugged her shoulders "W-what else do I want to say Maya? That I'm no good in my father's eyes? That I can't even manage to keep a companion with me? Because of me, there was a war and two people died... I gave one of them the other's heart to eat and even tried to hurt my pack members..." A few tears fell down her cheek.

I gently wiped them away and looked at her "None of this is enough to make those pay for what they did to you. It's a misunderstanding with your father, it'll be sorted out and Ryan?" I laughed softly and shook my head

"He's so fond of you, Catherine... He ran off because he didn't want to throw himself at you. It's only 4pm and he's about to lose it.... He loves you and wants you, any blind man with a cane can see that. Please, Catherine, you mustn't let yourself be carried away by your past. Give yourself the chance to finally be happy... With him. What matters is you and him, you're meant to be together."

She listened to me attentively and played nervously with her fingers. I grabbed her hand and looked at her seriously now "This is very serious Catherine... His wolf is really close to going crazy, especially since you rejected him... That was pure torture, seeing him without you. Especially since his alpha couldn't stand being rejected... You feel it yourself in your bond with him, imagine letting it all happen... You'll be flooded with an ocean of feelings and you'll wish it would never stop. His every touch on you will be electrifying. "

I bit my lip and glared at her.

"Call him back and sort this out already." I finished my speech and glared at her. I pressed the fork back into her hand and pointed at the cake.

She said nothing to my words and stared at the cake.

"What if he hurts me again?" She whispered and looked up at me. I laughed and shook my head "Baby, he's infatuated with you, he'd never dare, let alone want to. He really lost it when you were away and that was only ten days that you were missing."

I played with my curls and looked at her.

The longer I thought about it, the clearer it became. She wasn't afraid that he would hurt her. On the contrary, she was afraid that she would hurt HIM.

"Damn it Catherine..." I whispered quietly and looked at her. As if she had read my thoughts, she looked guiltily at the floor.

"I'm not good enough for him, Maya... I can't do any of this, let alone lead an entire pack."

She swallowed hard and put her head in her hands.

"Listen Catherine, there are solutions to that, you don't have to take on the duties of a Luna to be his mate..."

She looked at me with her ice cold blue eyes "I'm a pure disappointment, nothing more..." She said and her eyes flashed dark red.

I paused and could only hope that I hadn't woken a sleeping demon...