32. Jordan
thirty-two
Jordan
*ROSEA*
Jordan’s expression changes instantly from shock to anger, and he doesn’t hide it. With long strides, he walks towards us, pushing some of the other guests aside. If it was his goal to create a ruckus, he is being successful, but I doubt that was his plan.
He is seething. And he has never been one to act controlled when he is like that. This is actually better than I expected it to be! I thought he would stare me down the whole evening and then try to get me at a weak moment.
But as things are, it seems he is going for a direct confrontation in front of a pretty huge audience.
Well, not only are we alive, but we’ve hurt his pride by being here with a different man, and looking hot! Alora says with a grin.
Jordan pushes aside one of the alphas who was talking to us, ignoring the latter’s angry growl, and faces Forest and me.
“What are you doing here?!” he snarls at me.
I pretend to be confused by his question, wrapping my hand around Forest’s arm. “Isn’t that obvious?” I ask, smiling at him. “I am a guest,” I state. “What a surprise to see you here, Jordan.”
“What are you doing here with this loser?!”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I say. “Alpha Forest is my date, and he is a commendable alpha. Probably one of the strongest I have seen in a while. His training regimen is insane.”
“Who even cares about him?” Jordan snarls, as if he didn’t just ask. “You are mine, Rosea!”
At that, I laugh. I can’t help it; I just laugh.
“Did you lose your fucking mind?!”
“I must have, because I just heard you claiming me as yours,” I say pointedly.
“What happened? Last time I checked, you wanted to mate with a sweet girl from your pack, someone barely legal. Don’t tell me you killed her already?
” I furrow my brows. “By the goddess, Jordan, tell me you didn’t kill that child! ”
“I didn’t,” he hisses. “She is just…“ His gaze darkens as his expression gets angrier.
“She is just ‘locked in at home and doesn’t want to attend’?” I help. “Sounds familiar. Or maybe you broke the poor kid a little too much, huh? Not everyone is as durable as I was, Jordan.”
Tristan turns his head, staring at me now. His expression is one of surprise, before realization seems to settle in. I’ll bet he is starting to put certain puzzle pieces together.
“Don’t complain,” Jordan rolls his eyes. “If you were ready to fulfill my urges, I wouldn’t have needed to hurt you at all. Had you been a better luna, I wouldn’t need a new mate, and she could be living a happy life.”
“So, now it’s my fault that you can’t keep a woman happy?” I ask, stunned. “That’s wild, even for you.”
“What about him?” Jordan gestures towards Forest. “This dunce here is doing nothing to protect you.”
Forest shrugs instead of an answer. “I don’t know, man. To me, it looks like she can hold herself against you easily. I am not even sure why I was worried.” He wrinkles his nose. “Only a pathetic loser would beat his partner.”
“She betrayed me,” he snarls. “She had it coming!”
Forest raises his brows and snorts. “Yeah, dude, somehow, I doubt that’s true. You have a vivid imagination.” He puts an arm around my side in a protective gesture.
“Funny you claim I betrayed you,” I say. “How are Linda and Maggie? Or Lucy? Tonia was with you, too, once. And Lissa, I believe?” I laugh. “Come on, you didn’t even let me leave the house. No one in this room has ever seen me anywhere. Who am I supposed to have cheated with? My imaginary friend?”
“There are warriors in the pack,” he mutters, but even he must have realized his words sound like an excuse.
“Jordan, it’s not even like it matters anymore to me.
You did what you wanted, and I don’t care.
I found my mate.” Something flashes in his eyes, the blatant lie obviously catching him off guard and majorly pissing him off.
It’s hilarious how his own lie comes back to bite him in his insufferable ass, and it spurs me on further.
I smile brightly. “Isn’t it amazing that after all the years, when I had to endure you as my chosen mate, I bump into my fated mate?
” I gaze at Forest, my heart taking a couple of tentative jumps as I scan his handsome face and look into his kind eyes.
I don’t need to fake the next words. “Fate is funny sometimes, but it led me to you.”
Forest’s eyes light up, and he kisses the back of my hand. “I am the lucky one here,” he says. “You saved my life, Rose.”
“Now you are being silly,” I chuckle. “You saved me.”
“No, no,“ he shakes his head. “You need to take credit where credit is due.”
“By the goddess,” one of Tristan’s friends sighs. “And they say I am the mushy one.”
“You are single, Connor!” Tristan grunts. “How can you be mushy?”
“In my mind I am the biggest romantic ever,” he says.
I listen to their exchange, my amusement growing when I notice how pissed off Jordan is looking.
Of course, he doesn’t like it; he hates all of it.
Me being with Forest for whatever reason, and Forest showing his adoration of me so openly.
Or Forest’s friends showing their support.
The latter comes as a surprise as well. I did not expect them to say anything, let alone help us, but the way they are reacting to us makes Forest’s and my story so much more believable.
“The thing is,” Forest says. “A strong luna can truly make a difference. I am not saying that every luna needs to be a businesswoman or a strategist, but I honestly was sent the exact luna my pack needs. I should be thanking the goddess every day. Or rather every hour.”
I laugh. “Don’t overdo it. Besides, I was lucky, too. So, we do even each other out.”
“Well, I think I got—”
A low growl leaves Jordan’s lips. It’s dark and dangerous, and I know it just too well.
It works on many who are stood around us.
I can see them wince. However, Forest doesn’t even budge a little.
He seems to be completely unfazed, and it strikes me once again how much of an alpha he truly is.
He stands tall and strong. With his boosted confidence and the new respect he’s gained in his pack, he has started to realize how strong he is.
And to my surprise, Jordan’s anger doesn’t affect me much either. When Forest puts his arm protectively around me, everything is well. I am safe. I don’t feel safe with a lot of people, and I know realistically that it’s not just a feeling—I am not safe with many, but I am safe with Forest.
“I don’t believe you two are a thing,” Jordan huffs. “You are not rich enough or good enough for her.”
“Is that so?” Forest asks. He looks at me briefly, his hand moving to the back of my head, tilting it backward, and he claims my lips. He is not ashamed to show me how much I mean to him or how much he wants me.
The realization makes my stomach do a little backflip, and then another, until I feel like there is a whirlwind of butterflies in it.
When he draws back, I reach out my hand to touch his cheek. For a moment, we just look at each other. I am not sure what he sees in my eyes, but it must make him happy because there is a sudden spark in his.
“I am not sure what you are on about, Alpha Jordan. They look very much like a thing to me,” one of the alphas says.
Now that’s interesting. He is neither in Tristan’s corner nor in Jordan’s, which makes his words weigh even more to me.
“I talked to them last week, too. They were very into each other.”
“Of course they are a thing,” Nico huffs. “Besides, why would I believe anything coming from the guy who wants my luna?”
“We all know you are a womanizer, Jordan,” Tristan says. “Literally everyone here knows. We have all seen you with several women while you kept your luna at home. Maybe those around you—your friends—don’t give a fuck, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that we all know.”
“He is right,” another one of the alphas says. “When you told us you kicked her out, I called bullshit.”
“It was bullshit,” Forest says, anger in his voice, “because I found her dying when we met.”
“Is that true?” Tristan exclaims, turning to me now.
“Forest literally saved my life. I jumped into a river to escape, but was weakened by whatever substance he had me take to break our mating bond.”
There is an eerie silence around us, and for the first time, it seems that Jordan realizes there is an actual audience, and not everything he just said was for them to hear.
An older man steps forward—Leonard, I know him from pictures of my father.
He was one of his friends, or at least one of his close acquaintances.
When my parents died, it was clear to me that friendship didn’t mean much to many of these people.
Even more important it being that Forest has true friends in Martin and Griffin.
“Even if she was just your chosen mate,” the man says.
“It was not right what you did.” He walks over to me now, nodding at Forest, before gently touching my shoulder.
“Had I known my old friend’s daughter was suffering like that, I would have stepped in.
I knew he was keeping you away, but…” he pauses. “No, there is no excuse.”
I need to hold back a laugh at how angry Jordan looks. He dug his own grave both by claiming I was his chosen mate and by breaking our bond.
I smile at the small group who have gathered around Forest and me, trying to filter out the others. I spot some men who are standing behind Jordan now, clearly on his side. No matter what they hear or what I say, nothing will change their mind, for whatever reason.
And there is also a group of attendees who are very obviously trying to remain in the background, not saying or doing anything. Although, what Jordan just revealed about himself should be outrageous to them.
It makes me wonder what kind of power he has over them.
But I don’t focus on them right now; I look at the group that has gathered around Forest and me.
These are the people who seem to be on Forest’s side, or at least those who want to hear him out.
He is not as alone as he thought he would be.
The other alphas who look appalled now, the ones who knew my dad, and by extension me, perhaps they just hate Jordan.
As for Jordan’s goons and the silent crowd, they are smart enough to stay out of the drama here… for now. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” I say. “Because I have found the best mate possible in Forest.”
Two strong-looking alphas convince Jordan to leave with them. When I look at him one last time, I can see the murderous look in his eyes that I know too well. Forest puts a protective arm around me, again, turning his head to send Jordan an equally deadly glare.
When I am about to turn my attention back from them, my eyes meet Clemmens’ for a brief moment. He is standing in a corner with some other betas, just watching. He looks at me now, wide-eyed. I don’t acknowledge him but turn back to Forest, taking his hand into mine.
“Come sit with us,” Leonard offers. While guiding me away, he leans toward me a tad.
“Rosea, I know I did you and your father wrong by not watching out for you, and I know you have no reason to trust me. But I really liked your dad. I appreciated the good man and alpha he was, and I want to do right by him now. So, would you tell me the whole story?” He casts around, making sure no one is listening.
“Because I know that Jordan was your fated mate.”
I nod at him. We are too far now to backtrack, and having an alpha of his caliber on our side will prove valuable. Leonard was one of my father’s old allies and friends, and while he didn’t check up on me, he also didn’t get into a new alliance with Jordan.
Unlike other old ‘friends’ of my dad.
It’s not enough to trust him, but it’s enough to try to get him on our side.
Major parts of my story are out in the open anyway.
We make sure we are far away from anyone who can listen in before I tell Leonard my story.
We don’t mention much of Forest’s story for safety measures, in case something goes wrong and Leonard does betray us.
For now, he looks horrified. “I knew something was wrong,” he mutters. “Jordan is…”
“Insane,” Forest offers. “A sociopath. Completely sick in his mind?”
“Yes, yes, and yes,” Leonard says. “But there are rumors flying around that are unsettling.”
“Like him trying to have alphas sell their lunas to him?” I ask. “We have heard one of the men mention it.”
“Yes, Nico,” Leonard says. “He talked to me about it too, very upsetting. And he is right to be upset.”
“Do you think there are alphas actually doing it?” Forest asks.
“Definitely,” Leonard and I answer in unison. We exchange a look.
“Years of experience tell me there are always some bad apples,” Leonard says.
“My experience with Jordan told me the same,” I say. “Plus, when money is involved…”
“… and gambling…” Forest adds.
“… and addiction,” Leonard adds. “Then some people are ready to go far to save themselves.” He pauses. “All of this is very worrying. I have plans to investigate this with two of my close allies.”
“One of my ranked members is doing the same,” Forest says.
“Give him my number and tell him to contact me asap,” Leonard says. “It might be suspicious if I try to get too close to Jordan now, after having dismissed him for a year. But if a beta or gamma tried it… it might be believable.”
“Yes, he only needs to pretend to want to betray Forest,” I say. “Or to wish to outrank him.”
Forest nods. “Jordan’s ego is big. He might buy it.”
Leonard snorts. “He will. He is smart, but he is also arrogant, and his ego has grown into new spheres. He is not as guarded anymore as he once was, not as careful.”
I nod. “I agree. He is starting to get reckless, or rather, he thinks nothing, or no one, will be able to stop him anyway.”
“Exactly,” Leonard agrees. “We saw proof of that today. In the argument with you, he revealed much more than he should have.”
“I caught him off guard,” I say, not able to hold back a proud smile.
Forest chuckles softly and pulls me closer to kiss the side of my head.
“That’s true, you got him where it hurts, and he acted on impulse,” Leonard agrees before looking at us thoughtfully. “You know, the other alphas were right, with what they said: You do look like a couple.”
“That’s because we are,” Forest says promptly.
Leonard’s eyes widen. “You plan on staying together?”
“I won’t have anyone steal Rose away,” Forest says firmly. “She will become my pack’s luna.”
“And that’s what you want, too?” Leonard asks me. “I’d hate to fail you a second time. You have options, Rosea. But do you want to stay with Forest?”
I smile, my fingers entwining with Forest’s. “Yes.”