Vita walked out of the bathroom and was ready for bed; she was on her way when she felt a rumble in her stomach. Her shoulders slumped as she looked up at the ceiling. The young witch just wanted the day to end. She bit on her lower lip as she weighed her current situation.

On the one hand, she could go to bed without eating, but then her hunger would only grow through the night and make her hangry in the morning. Vita scrunched her nose at the option and then weighed the other option, to stay up and order room service, with the possibility that Deak would either try to talk with her and work things out; or just ignore her, pretend everything was fine, and act normal. Her chest tightened with worry that it would be the latter, which was the one thing Vita didn’t want to happen.

Vita’s phone started to ring over on the bedside table where she had left it. She walked over to check who was calling. It was Amanda. Vita closed her eyes and remembered she hadn’t let Amanda know she had found Deak.

“Hey, Amanda, I’m sorry I haven’t called you yet to give you an update,” she said in a defeated tone.

“That’s okay. But you don’t sound good; what’s going on? Did you find Deak?” Amanda asked.

Vita sighed as she turned and looked out the window and saw Deak still leaning against the balcony. “Yes, we found him,” Vita answered.

“That’s good. But you still seem sad. So, what’s really going on?”

Vita knew she needed to talk with someone about all this, and what better person to talk to than Amanda? Before Amanda had discovered she was a hybrid of wolf and witch, she used to be human. Amanda was still human when she learned she was mated to her high school bully Hudson. It hasn’t been the easiest of roads for Amanda and Hudson, but they still found a way to make it work and are now mated and happy. Vita knew things would be different for her and Deak, especially since he was a Lycan and now the Lycan King. Lycans weren’t the same as wolves, and their tempers were worse and more possessive, which could lead them to become obsessive, especially when they have yet to bond with their mate fully. Vita shook her head and remembered that Amanda was still on the line waiting to hear what was wrong with her.

“It’s Deak; he’s acting different and keeping things from me,” Vita said quietly. She walked quickly toward the bathroom and shut the door behind her, putting distance between her and Deak, hoping he couldn’t hear what she was talking about.

Vita heard Amanda sigh on the other end of the phone before she started to talk.

“Vita, I completely understand. It’s not easy being on the other end of the curse, not knowing what to do. Hudson took the time to explain to me what was happening to him during that time. The curse feeds them thoughts that they can live without their mate. It’s a constant voice pushing its influence on them until they can no longer handle the voices,” Amanda explained.

“Deak was at an underground cage fighting match; he was fighting in the match.”

“Hmm, sometimes feeding the voices with rage and fighting quiets them for a while. Hudson was getting into fights with other wolves. The longer he fights them, the harder it will get for him,” Amanda admitted.

“But why can’t he talk with me about all this? I thought we were in this together. I don’t know what to do to help him, Amanda. Maybe …. maybe, I’m not the right person for him,” Vita said with a whimper. Her lip started to quiver and her chest began to shake; the tears were burning at the rim of her eyes, just waiting for one more thing to tip the scales and make her cry.

“Vitaline LeMarquee, you stop talking like that right now!” Amanda yelled at her. “I don’t want to hear you say things like that. You’re wrong. Deak was going crazy looking for you when you disappeared; he was blaming himself when he thought you had run away because of him. And then he found out that you had been kidnapped; he was furious. He didn’t rest until he rescued you and knew you were safe. Vita, I’ve seen how he acts around you; that tall Hungarian would rather die than live without you.”

There it was, the final straw, and Vita started to cry.

“Oh, Vita, don’t cry. I’m not there to hug you and tell you everything will be okay,” Amanda whined.

Vita laughed, but the pain and the tears were still there.

Deak swung open the door and walked into the bathroom to find Vita sitting on the floor with her face red from crying. Deak stalked over, picked Vita up in his arms, and carried her out of the bathroom and into the living room. He took the phone away from Vita and held it to his ear.

“Small girl, I’ve got her. We’ll call you back after we’ve had long talk,” he growled.

Amanda was quiet momentarily and then softly suggested, “Be gentle with her, please.”

Deak closed his eyes as he swallowed his anger and concern for his mate and reined in his temper. “Igen (yes)” was all Deak said before he ended the call. He placed the phone down and sat next to Vita, brushing her hair away from her face to look into her beautiful eyes and figure out what was wrong.

“Szerelmem (my love), why are you crying?” Deak asked, his voice filled with concern.

Vita looked at Deak, his beautiful light blue eyes staring intently at her. Her chest tightened, and she started to hiccup because she couldn’t control her breathing and crying simultaneously. “I (hiccup) don’t think I’m (hiccup) the right (hiccup) mate for you,” Vita cried. She covered her face and continued to cry while she hid herself from seeing the reaction on Deak’s face.

Malakai, his wolf, howled in anguish. Deak was dumbfounded; how could Vita think she wasn’t his right mate? Deak stayed quiet, letting Vita cry out all her emotions until she had nothing left.

There was a knock on their hotel door; Deak got up and answered it. Vita peeked out from behind her hands and saw Deak pushing a food cart toward where she was sitting.

“What’s this?” she asked as she sniffled.

Deak smirked at his adorable mate. Yes, he was still upset that she could think for one moment that she wasn’t good enough to be his mate. But his first and most important duty right now was taking care of her, and feeding her was a main ingredient to making her happy.

“I ordered dinner since we were staying in and not going out,” he told her.

Vita inhaled the delicious smell of hot food, and her stomach rumbled louder than before. She cupped her mouth and giggled with embarrassment. “I guess I am a little hungry,” she admitted.

“Yes, let’s get you fed, and then we can talk about the conversation you were having with small girl,” Deak said to her sternly.