The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 29

~ATTICUS~

I wish I hadn’t made such ridiculous promises to Anya. I should have been upfront with her from the start. But she wasn’t the problem currently; getting Autumn to open this door was more important to me. I knock once, then twice.

“Autumn!” I shout loud enough for her to hear me. “Open the door. Please!”

I try again but she shouted for me to leave her alone. Hearing her say those words to me bothered me more than it should. It was almost like her feelings affected mine. Like we were connected. But that couldn’t be possible. I was connected to Anya, not to her. My mate bond was with Anya, not Autumn. So then why did this hurt me just as much as it did her?

“Why are you wasting your time with her?” Anya demands. “She doesn’t wish to speak to you. I’m the one that’s trying my best to make things better between us. I’m the one that’s fighting for you. Can’t you see that Autumn doesn’t care for you at all?”

“She’s only ignoring me because of you.” I remind her. “Are you purposefully trying to cause problems between us Anya?”

She narrows her eyes and folds her arms stubbornly.

“Are you out of your mind Atticus?” She inquired. “It’s not my fault that Autumn doesn’t trust you. I was never like that when we were together. I knew you loved me, and I didn’t have to worry about any other woman in your life. I know you still love me. That’s why I can never let go of you. It’s why I plan on fighting till the end for you.”

I was right. Anya wasn’t going to let our past go. She was determined to keep fighting for us.

I hear footsteps, and I see my brother walking up the stairs toward us. His eyes find us, and he looks surprised to see us alone together.

“What’s going on?” He asks as he joins us. “Everyone is waiting for you, Atticus. I didn’t expect to see you with Anya. Did something happen between the both of you?”

Was Damon also about to misunderstand the situation? He should know that I would never disrespect my wife like that.

“Let’s start the search,” I say without answering his question about Anya. It was useless trying to get Autumn to talk to me now, and I had already promised her to bring her friend back safely. The longer we waited, the harder it would become to keep my promise to her. Maybe if I found her friend, then she would forgive me. That is if she remembers anything from tonight when she wakes up.

Did I want her to remember this? I didn’t think so. The look on her face even though she was drunk told me that she wouldn’t forgive me easily for this incident.

It was even more useless trying to speak with Anya about her behavior. She never likes when I ignore her, but when I try to be friendly and not hurt her, she does things like this which makes it difficult for me to be there for her.

“Are there any leads so far?” I ask him as I walk past Anya towards the stairs. Damon looks at her before following after me. He knows something has to have happened; he wasn’t stupid. But lucky for me, he didn’t try to ask any other questions.

“No, none except that Griffin confessed to provoking Kane before they went missing.” He informs me.

“How did he provoke him?” I ask. Griffin was always looking for trouble. This wasn’t news to me.

“This is where it gets interesting,” Damon says. “Kane is supposed to be mates with Maya, Austin’s sister who they’ve recently been reunited with. It turns out Kane had something going on with the girl he went missing with. Griffin was trying to get him jealous by flirting with her. Apparently, Griffin promised to help her make him jealous. It worked.”

“Are you telling me that it’s possible they both ran away to be together?” I ask.

He shrugs his shoulder, “there is really no telling what happened until we find them. The way I see it, this is the least of our problems. When Austin discovers what Kane has been doing behind his sister’s back, he might kill him if he isn’t already dead.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. If they’re mates, why is he cheating on her?” I ask.

That was a question I shouldn’t be asking. Anya was my mate, but it didn’t stop me from desiring Autumn. It’s not supposed to be that way; mates didn’t desire anyone else but their partner.

Damon looks at me, and there is a guilty look on his face, almost like he understands Kane. Did he also desire someone other than Anya? We never spoke about feelings; we did in the past, but after Anya came into our lives, we’d drifted apart. It didn’t feel right to explain what we each felt about her; it was awkward since we would be talking about the same woman. Now here we are, knowing very little about each of our feelings.

Damon looks tensed as Clarissa joins us, “how does my outfit look for the search?” She asks.

Damon and I look at her as though she’d lost her damn mind. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asks her.

“To help you with the search.” She answers him. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Damon grabs her wrist and pulls her to his side, “you’re not going on this search with us. When do we ever involve you in things like this? Stay here with the guests and keep out of trouble.”

“Keep out of trouble?” She asks. “I am not a child Damon. I’m all grown up; this is not the body of a child, in case you haven’t noticed.”

What the f**k?

“Clarissa.” I hiss. “Are you feeling okay? What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden?”

I’m surprised that Damon didn’t respond to her little comment, and I’m even more shocked when I turn to him and see that his cheeks are bright red.

“I’m perfectly fine.” She assures me. “I hate that everyone treats me like I’m a kid. It’s frustrating. I want to help. Why can’t you let me?”

Was this really happening tonight? First, I had to keep Autumn from joining us, and now I also had to deal with Clarissa. We were wasting precious time.

“If it means that much to you. Fine. Join us.” I tell her.

Her face brightens with a smile, and Damon looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“She can’t come with us. We’re not sure how long we will be out there. It’s safer for her here.” He complains.

“Well, then you try and talk her out of this because I don’t have time to convince her not to come with us.” I point out.

I knew Damon was even more protective over her than I was, but I couldn’t stay here trying to convince her not to go when I had to find Autumn’s friend. I was still pissed over what had just occurred. I was desperate to find a way to get Autumn to forgive me.

Clarissa grabs a bag and walks in front of us, “what do you even have in that bag?”

“Just girl stuff!” She shouts as she runs to the jeep.

Dante joins us and quirks a brow when she opens the back door and jumps in the vehicle.

“Clarissa is joining us?” He asks.

“You can thank f*****g Atticus for that,” Damon growls as he joins her in the backseat.

“You’re welcome!” I respond sarcastically.

“Do we have everything?” I ask as I start the jeep.

Dante nods, “should we have asked Anya to join us as well? She’s probably going to be pissed that I told her no, but allowed Clarissa to join us.”

My hands tighten on the steering wheel, and before they can agree on bringing her, I’m already moving the jeep into the pathway to the front of us. I wasn’t giving them a chance to get her involved in this search. I was already in deep s**t with Autumn; I didn’t want to worsen things. Besides, I couldn’t trust myself around Anya; she would find some way to get us alone.

“Honestly, Atticus, I’ve never been more proud of you.” Clarissa cheers in the back. “Not having Anya with us is the best thing that has happened to me all day. It’s tiring being around her. I’m honestly not sure how you can stand being around her for more than a minute.”

“No, the best thing would have been if you had stayed your butt home.” Dante retorts. “How did you convince Damon to let you come with us?”

the boss of me.”

a dry tone. “You’re speaking about me like I’m the one

would be like for the entire search?

“And where is Griffin? He should be in the center of the

me. “And Griffin, he’s leading one of the searches, but it’s in a completely different direction. We’re trying to spread out as far as possible since we don’t know where

would make sense; we wouldn’t stop until we covered the entire island.

loves to cause trouble,” Damon says, “name one event we’ve ever had that he didn’t

it, I realized that he was speaking the truth. I couldn’t find a single event

abruptly stops. “We’re going to have to walk from this

asks her. “You can still take the jeep back; we can

all this way to be of no help.” She

vehicle, she attempts to grab her bag, but Damon takes it from her. “I’ll carry

up at him, and this is the relationship I’m accustomed to seeing between them—Clarissa in complete awe

this. It wasn’t anything new for

still can’t get over the fact that Kane is cheating on Maya. I’ve heard their story. Didn’t he go insane trying to find her when she went missing? How could he betray her like

him than Anya, and she isn’t his mate. She agrees with him, and he’s so

“Just another reminder why

opinion Dante.” She snaps at

smell that?” I

me, and his body

witches on this

Dante answers me. “It’s not something I

ritual or whatever the f**k this

spell

studied witches and their spells at the

says as she goes closer. “Someone

stare at her,

and quirks her brow, “what? Have none of you ever paid attention in

looks like there was

Kane

not witches,” Damon points out. “If it was them, a witch must

gets weirder

inform the others of what we’ve just found out. I don’t know how

witches are involved in their disappearance?” Dante asks. “Is that the conclusion we’ve come up

I respond as I scan the area. “We can’t jump to any conclusions, but what we could do is keep looking and hope to find some

benefit in whatever way they could. Their spells always freaked me out. Knowing that there were people out there that could make you fall in love with them through magic alone didn’t sit right with me. They had the power to control and make you do things you wouldn’t normally do, and there wasn’t much you could do about it. If you didn’t know that you were

keep looking,”

Clarissa almost walks straight into the fire. Damon grabs her by her waist and

as she hides her face

is why I didn’t want you here with us,” Damon growls. “You could have seriously burnt yourself, and that’s

be more careful

it’s time I take you back to the jeep,” Damon

could do this.” She complains. Damon looks frustrated, but

searched the area more than once, hoping to find other clues, but we didn’t

we

to the vehicle. Even though I wanted to find Autumn’s friend, I was still distracted because of what had happened earlier. She was constantly on my mind. I couldn’t get over the look on her face when she thought

His words broke me out of my thoughts just before I could

is your

you can’t be so f*****g careless,”

apologize. “I have a

with Anya.” Damon reminds me. “It looked like you were in an argument when I

was the last person I

that her behavior has drastically changed?”

just watched her mate marry her best friend. I think she’s allowed to react the way that she’s behaving. You’re the one that doesn’t have any sympathy toward her pain.” Dante

why I couldn’t discuss anything with my brothers; they would instantly take

finally able to see her for what she

from what we came here to do,” Damon says. “Let’s continue

“You’re right.” I agree.

think I’ll stay here,” Clarissa

change your mind?” I ask her. “You were confident that you could

has given me an instant

I laugh, “You’re exaggerating.”

no witches turn up and try to kidnap her. We’re still unsure of

search. I hope we find more clues that could

. . .

been searching for hours, and still, there was no sign of anything or anyone. I was beginning to believe that Kane and the girl were indeed kidnapped by witches. It’s the best way to explain their disappearance. We’ve been in contact with

“I want to make sure that I’m

on our feet for a long time without

a tree and a knife at the top holding

will leave a note in the middle of the forest? How were they so sure that someone

fair, we practically did find it. Whoever left it knew that there would

it off the tree. Dante takes the letter and reads through it thoroughly. The

a look at this yourself.” He says as he hands it over

dumbstruck. What kind of sick joke was

letter, Austin’s baby

happen? Witches were definitely behind

to find Austin and the others! A baby is involved; it’s just gotten more serious.”

people? How did they even get the baby from Austin and Lucy? And if this was true, why hadn’t there been an

door shut as soon as we got to

She’d fallen asleep

get some rest,” Damon says, annoyed

I tell him. “You’ll understand why

seconds, and we hear his sharp breath intake the moment it sinks

baby?” He shouts. “Who the f**k

Clarissa gasps.

They’ll freak out when they read this

I command. “He needs to inform the others for

another jeep pulls up behind us. It

they are.” He informs us. “But we need to hurry. Things are getting crazy out there between Austin and

know all this?” I

everything through one of the drones Arthur’s family sold us.

problem,” I warn. “We just