Code of Conduct |18+ (Ménage)✔

Bonus Scene -1-

-Dante's POV-

What am I waiting for?

After all these years...confronting Laisha is the one thing I shouldn't hesitate about, yet if I ask her and she thinks I'm throwing accusations like party favors, then I may never get the answers I seek.

She stands near Aohdan, silent like a statue, yet her eyes only shift away and avert when they meet with mine. I wasn't who she was expecting. Maybe my very presence reminds her of Richard, maybe that's why she's thrown up this cold and callus wall to deflect anyone from hurting her further at the loss of her mate.

A sigh surpasses my lips once Aohdan narrows his eyes on Taft, seeing him out rather hurriedly.

The only reason I believe Laisha plays a larger role...or knows more than she's ever told me about Richard's death...

...she blatantly plays the part of another's beloved.

The thought alone disgusts me...

Cormac catches my gaze before he also leaves from the entryway, making his way out to the vehicle he holds the prize he's won...

...for so long it's been easy to select the genes I wish to portray, to be whoever I want to, yet around this dormant hybrid...I can hardly keep everything in check.

Aohdan's talking with Arthur becomes white noise in my background, my heart skipping a beat as I recall the moment I knew that Cormac was the beloved of a hybrid. So many years ago and if the moron hadn't tried to fool me with the games he plays...

...he would have known much sooner as to who he truly belonged to...that's what I wanted to share with him...

...I just didn't expect us to share the same mate...

I let the dark urges taking root under my skin surface for a brief moment, my wolf violating our terms of agreement. He wants to know her, but I hold the reigns, for even though a hybrid is drawn to another, a chosen mate...I can't indulge him until I am one hundred percent sure...

It appears Arthur is ushering Aohdan away further into Aohdan's own estate, wanting to speak with him about something I hardly understand. Then again, the reason I didn't pay much attention, is because my eyes are drawn to Cormac's vehicle.

Rose sits in the passenger seat, her cobalt eyes shifting from Taft who stands with his back to the window, engaging in words with Cormac. I see Taft briefly glance over his shoulder at Rose, her cheeks coloring at something one of the two had just said.

I didn't catch that either, but I do hear Taft mention, "I'm surprised Aohdan never used her in that way. So feisty..."

No Taft...there are larger games being played then the childish version of Candyland before your eyes.

"Well then," Cormac is quick to stop any further conversation about her and shakes Taft's hand with more politeness than I have ever seen. Cormac adds, "Until next year, where we may have the most spectacular winter festival ever!"

What's gotten into you?

I tilt my head to the side, hearing footsteps moving around behind me while Taft and Cormac continue to talk with one another. I'm forced to turn on my heels, my hand wrapping around Laisha's wrist. A gasp leaves her lips, her eyes locking with my own when my grip tightens ever so slightly.

She eyes me up and down, a look of confusion lingering in her eyes as she asks, "What is it?"

"You know why I'm here," my voice lowers the second one of Aohdan's coven members bypasses us to the staircase.