20. Luna
Luna
I ’m in Kane’s library, on the seat that’s quickly become mine, when I hear something strange coming from downstairs. My body is still a bit sore from playing in the snow a couple of days ago with Chase and Madden, so I’ve been taking it easy recently.
We called it a day when I accidentally tripped in the snow and fell flat on my face. Even though the fall knocked the wind out of me and made my ribs start aching again, it was still the best day ever.
I set my book down when the strange noises from downstairs continue. It almost sounds like someone’s really upset.
The skirt of the sundress with lilacs on it swirls around my legs as I open the door to the study. That’s when I hear, very clearly, that the sound is coming from a woman.
I freeze.
There’s never been a woman in the pack house, at least not since I’ve been here.
I’m too far away to tell what she’s saying, so I still have no clue who she could possibly be .
I know I should probably just go back into the study or into my room and not snoop, but I can’t help it. My feet, which still have a couple of bandages on them, are silent as I creep down the stairs and through the kitchen, towards the front of the house.
I hear the deep timbre of Archer’s voice, but I can’t hear what he’s saying, even though I’m in the hallway near the foyer. It’s like he’s trying his best to keep his voice down.
When I peek around the corner to try and see what’s happening, I’m hit by the sharp scent of vanilla extract, but the kind of vanilla extract that’s still mostly alcohol. The anger she’s feeling is obvious in the spicy notes of her scent.
This visitor is an omega.
And she’s stunning.
She’s wearing clothes that aren’t at all fit for the weather, including sky-high stilettos and a shirt that shows off her ample cleavage.
The only thing she’s wearing that gives some indication of the snow on the ground outside is the cropped puffer jacket she’s wearing, but even then, it’s tailored in a way that doesn’t swallow her shapely form.
I see her face and even with her expression twisted in irritation, it’s obvious her makeup is on point.
She takes a step closer to Archer, reaching out and touching the collar of his black, button-up shirt. Archer doesn’t give any indication that he’s entertaining her advances—his body is stiff and his hands are fisted by his sides—but I still don’t see any of that.
All I see is another omega touching my alpha in my home.
I don’t even have the brain power to process that I thought of Archer as my alpha or the pack house as my home.
A soft whine escapes from the back of my throat before I can stop it.
The angry omega’s head jerks in my direction, and even though I try and hide, I still know she’s seen me .
“Who the fuck is that, Archer?”
“I told you, Brandy, if you don’t have anything urgent, then you have to leave,” Archer growls.
My chest tightens as my heart beats out of my chest.
Brandy.
He knows her name.
God, I think I’ve forgotten how to breathe.
“No, I don’t think I will,” she says. “Whoever you are, stop hiding behind the corner like a little bitch, and let me see you.”
“That’s it, get the fuck out of my house!”
“Get your fucking hand off of me or I’m telling my father.”
I peek out again to see Archer gripping Brandy’s upper arm. The anger in his expression and the dominance that’s thick in the air has my knees growing weak. Even though I know Archer would never do anything to hurt me, alpha anger has never meant good things for me, in the past.
But still, I don’t want Archer to get in trouble, so I step out from where I’m hiding. I clasp my hands in front of me to keep them from trembling.
“You—you can let her go,” I stutter, making my way towards them. The tile of the foyer is cold beneath my feet.
It’s no surprise that Archer only lets her go when she stops trying to get further into the house and not when I told him he could let her go.
“Go back upstairs, Luna,” Archer says, his voice deep with the restraint of trying to keep himself calm.
“Oh, so your name is Luna,” Brandy says, eyeing me up and down. Her gaze seems to snag on the dress I’m wearing.
“Y—yes. It—it’s nice to meet you,” I say, barely able to meet her gaze.
It’s not.
She seems incredibly mean. I hate the way she looked at Archer. She touched him, too. I hate that more .
I like Charlotte a lot more than I like this omega.
“I don’t recognize you,” she says, crossing her arms across her chest.
I don’t know what to say to that, so I just stay silent.
“Brandy,” Archer growls.
“Don’t ‘Brandy,’ me, Archer. I make it my business to know of all registered omegas that run in our circles.” She narrows her eyes at me. “And I don’t know this omega. Which means she must be unregistered.”
Archer noticeably stiffens, his jaw clenched shut. Brandy notices his silence, her eyes widening. Maybe part of her wanted him to deny where I’m from or that I’m unregistered.
“You’re from the Southside!” she yells, pointing at me accusingly as if she’s saying that I have some contagious disease.
I stupidly nod.
She whirls around to point at Archer. “You’re keeping a fucking unregistered Southside omega in your home? This is the kind of omega you want? When you could have someone like me?”
I purse my lips, my fingernails digging into the flesh of my palm. Half of me is terrified she’s right. That I’m not the kind of omega that alphas like the Ward pack should be with. They should be with someone beautiful and confident and who knows about the world they live in.
The other half of me is furious. Who is this woman to come in here and yell at Archer like that when she claims that she wants to be with him?
How dare she?
While it seems like this omega may have known Archer and the pack longer than I’ve known them, I clearly know that these guys wouldn’t be interested in someone so horribly mean, and if I’m being completely honest, bitchy.
“What the hell’re you doing here?” Chase comes down one hallway in a black tank top and his favorite gray sweats, a towel thrown across his shoulders. Madden and Kane both follow behind him and both of them are drenched in sweat from their workout.
Kane’s eyes immediately dart to my trembling hands. It’s like he can see right through my attempt at staying calm. When Kane steps between Brandy and I, I see her eyes go wide.
“So you guys actually like this Southside whore?” she hisses.
“Shut the fuck up,” Madden growls, also taking a few steps forward to defend me. “You can say shit about me and other Southsiders all you want outside, but you’re not going to insult her in her home!”
“Her home?” Brandy says, her voice going dangerously quiet. She turns towards Archer, her face growing red with anger. “ HER home!?” She screeches. “It’s not enough that you allow this Southside scum into your pack?”
Something inside me snaps when I see her point a finger at Madden while she screams her head off. I see the way Madden’s shoulders stiffen at her words. The scar on his face seems to tug awkwardly at the skin around it as he winces.
How dare she.
I don’t even have a chance to process what I’m doing before I step in between her and Madden and slap her hand down.
“Stop it.”
I didn’t know it was possible for her expression to turn even more furious than it already was, but it happened. I see the burning fire of hatred in her eyes when she looks at me.
Then I see white.
I’m stumbling to the side, my cheek stinging with the impact of her backhanded slap.
The entire room erupts into chaos. Madden practically roars with anger as he comes up behind me and holds me steady.
“You fucking bitch!” Chase yells.
“Get the fuck out of our house,” Kane adds in. He’s more angry than I’ve ever seen him.
They all are .
Archer has grabbed Brandy’s arm to keep her from hitting me again.
I lift a hand to my face, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, tasting a bit of blood from where my lip split open from the rings she’s wearing.
Her slap was far from the most painful slap I’ve ever received, but it’s definitely the most shocking. I’ve never been hit by another woman before, let alone another omega. An omega that seems to be after my alphas.
I don’t know whether it’s how thick the air is with the guys’ dominance, but I find myself pushing away from Madden. It takes a bit of effort, considering the last thing he seems to want is to let me go, but when he does, I step towards Brandy.
“Let her go, Archer,” I say, intentionally trying to keep my voice soft and placating. “Please.”
He hesitates too, but does as I ask of him.
Brandy’s expression shifts to a look of smug satisfaction. “So you aren’t as stupid as you look, you Southside?—”
I slap her across the face. I shake out the sting from my hand and nod to Archer. “Please take her out.”
“You fucking bitch!” She screeches, raising a hand to her cheek. By the way her eyes water from the pain, it’s obvious she’s never been hit before. Especially considering I don’t think I hit her very hard, since I don’t have very much muscle on me.
“You fucking hit me!” She tries to wrench away from Archer’s hold, but he manages to pull her towards the front door.
“I swear to fucking god you’re going to regret this!” Her wild-eyed gaze doesn’t leave me the entire time. “I’m going to report you to my father and you’re going to be fucking taken away and sent to the hell hole you belong in!”
With one last pull and the slam of a door, Archer pulls her out of the pack house.
When the quiet sets in, my right hand, the hand I used to slap Brandy across the face, starts trembling. I grip my right wrist with my other hand, trying to hold it steady, but it won’t stop.
That was the first time I’ve ever hit someone. Granted, she deserved it, but still. I’ve been the victim at the hands of others for so long, I’ve never fathomed actually hitting someone.
Her last words echo through my head. It’s obvious by the way she carried herself, the clothes she wore, and her familiarity with the Ward pack as a whole that she’s someone important, at least compared to me. Can she take me away from them?
“Holy shit, that was fucking insane,” Chase mutters under his breath before turning to me. His grim expression that was aimed towards the front door shifts to a grin when he looks at me. “That was crazy badass though, Moonlight. Never thought you had that in you!”
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know how she got in,” Kane says, his voice strained. “Are you okay?”
“I—I’m okay,” I say, gripping my trembling hand so hard I can feel my bones creak. “No need to apologize.”
I flinch a bit when I feel arms wrap around me from behind, but relax when I’m surrounded by Madden’s dark chocolate scent. He doesn’t even say anything, just breathes me in as he tries to calm himself.
I reach up and squeeze his arm, trying to reassure him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard anyone get as angry as his roar of anger when she slapped me.
“I’m okay, I promise,” I say.
Kane walks over with a damp paper towel, dabbing at my split lip. It comes away tinged pink with my blood.
“How are you actually doing?” Kane asks softly, his eyes darting down to my hand that’s still trembling, even while I hold onto Madden.
“I—I’m a bit shaken up.” I glance down at the floor, biting the inside of my cheek while I try and collect my thoughts. “Can—can she actually take me away from you? ”
Kane opens his mouth to say something, but he’s interrupted by the slamming of the front door.
Archer’s dominance hits me like a truck. It feels like a category five hurricane with the way it’s swirling around the room.
“Uh oh,” Chase mutters under his breath.
“I have some bad fucking news,” Archer growls.