Chapter 11
“Where are we going?”
Ali was shivering because of the cold as they went deeper underground. She hadn’t mentioned that she knew what lay ahead of them and Ali was starting to get nervous. What did he want to do down there? She had a clue and her mind was racked with uncertain ideas. She didn’t know what to think. It was that simple.
“We’re going down to the oldest part of the house. It holds significance for the clan. It’s where a lot of ceremonies take place.”
“What kind of ceremonies?”
She knew, but once again, Ali was trying to make sure that it wasn’t just her imagination. If it was, then she didn’t want to embarrass herself by freaking out for no reason.
“You’ll see. I was thinking that we would have one tonight.”
“This is the third night I’ve been here?”
He agreed, and Ali knew then what he was talking about. She remembered the old man talking about the next alignment was in three days. That meant that it was tonight, and for some reason, now Ali was shaking, but it was no longer about the cold. It was about something else altogether. It was now the worry or excitement to be with Cal. She wasn’t sure which emotion it was, just that she’d never felt anything as strongly as she did now.
“Yeah, it is, why?”
“No reason; just wondering.”
They stopped in front of the room, and she peered in. There was a light starting to come into the ceiling, but it hadn’t made it all the way down onto the bed yet. It looked like it wasn’t that far away, and the trembling of her body was finally noticed by Cal.
“Are you okay, Ali? What is it?”
“I know what this place is for. Some old man told me about it earlier.”
That threw Cal off. “You’ve talked to Michael?”
She nodded her head that she had.
“When?”
“The first day I was here, he came to me. I was down here just checking things out, and he came up behind me. We talked for a little bit, but he speaks in code and is kind of hard to really understand.”
Cal chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds about right. He doesn’t like to speak plainly for some reason, even if you want him to. It can be hard to understand him, but he has a lot of knowledge.”
“He said some things that I don’t know if they are right or not.”
Cal wanted to know what it was that he had told her, and he could have found out easily if he wanted to, but he was trying to give her a little privacy. Michael had most assuredly been in her mind, and Cal knew that he had seen it all. It wasn’t for Cal to see though. He was too involved now to use such a thing.
“So, you know what this place is for?”
She nodded her head slowly, and Cal could tell that she was very nervous. He could see it in her face and the way she was looking into the room and noticing the light. Michael had told her quite a bit from what he could see if she was looking for the light to shine through.
“Do you know what tonight is?”
Again, Ali couldn’t say it out loud, so she just agreed with a nod of her head. Cal could tell that she was anxious, and he wanted to calm her down, but there was no way if just the idea of doing it was making her freak out the way she was. How were they supposed to have a baby together when she couldn’t even look at him? The idea of him being able to change in front of her to finish the ceremony was not going to be something that he could see happening.
“What do you think about that?”
“I don’t know what to think. I feel strange when I’m around you, but I felt that way with Trenton. How do I know it’s just not the same situation as it is with him? How do I know that you’re not in my head like he was? You already told me that you could do it.”
Cal didn’t like to hear about her feeling a certain way when it came to being around the nightwalker. He wanted her to only feel that way around him, but he knew that it was one of their many tricks. They could control and make a human feel anything. He didn’t have the ability, even though he did know that he had some draw to him.
“Because what you are feeling is real. This all happened for a reason and even though it’s going to be a little complicated, I want this. But as I’ve told you before, nothing happens if you don’t want it to. I want to take you in there and make you my mate underneath the moonlight. But if that’s not what you want, I won’t touch you. It’s your decision Ali, though I think we both can feel this attraction that we have to each other. It’s real and there is never going to be another like this. That much I know. Don’t you believe in fate? This can’t all be a coincidence.”
She wanted to believe him, and the truth in his eyes made it hard not to, but then that brought on a whole new level of complications. Ali wanted to know what it all meant, but she wasn’t given an explanation. No, she was given an option under pressure with no real time to think it through.
