Chapter 22
RILEY.
We were about to exit the forest line just behind the packhouse, and Nadia was clinging to my wolf’s back.
Arrow gave up and didn’t want to run any further, so I let Nadia hop on Hunter.
‘Are you at the packhouse? I need a shorts and a blanket. Meet me at the back entrance.’ I sent my Beta a mindlink before we crossed the line separating the forest line and the packhouse ground.
‘Baby, we’re here. Can you sit up straight so if there’s anyone around, nobody can see your ass.’ I sent the message to Nadia as I slowed down so she could move freely behind me. She had my shirt on, but it wasn’t enough to cover her bottom.
She didn’t answer, but I felt her move her chest away from my back to sit nicely, at that exact moment the door to the backside opened, revealing my Beta with shorts and a blanket in his hands.
He approached us, a smug grin playing on his lips as he wrapped the blanket around Nadia before my mate hopped off of my back. I shifted at once and grabbed the shorts in his hand and put them on.
“So… the Alpha was really marked this morning?”
I chuckled as I wrapped an arm around Nadia, pulling her to my side. She scooted her body closer with her hands clutching the sheets covering her.
Dominic was not around this morning when Nadia decided she wanted to mark me while joining my pack, and only Sebastian and Jenny were here and were able to see the mark after we left the office.
“Some little bird told you?” I asked him as we walked all together inside the packhouse.
“Yep, a little bird named Sebastian. Plus, an open pack line for a split second let me hear my Alpha grunt and groan in pleasure.”
“What?” Nadia asked, confusion written on her face as I glared at my Beta.
We both ignored Nadia’s question. I would tell her about it later.
Beta Dominic then stopped in his tracks, and placed a hand on my shoulder, making me halt in my steps. “Show me?”
“What do you want to see?”
“Your mark.”
I chuckled as I tilted my neck while pulling Nadia into my chest. She looked tired, and I should put her in bed.
“Atta boy! Finally, huh?” He teased as he patted my shoulder again. “Congratulations, man.”
He was smiling, but I saw the pain crossing his eyes. I almost forgot that he was the only one now without a mate. And the female he desired lived thirteen hours away from here.
“So, should we plan a Luna Ceremony soon?” My Beta snapped me from my own thoughts as we continued walking.
I chuckled, remembering that months ago, he and Gamma Sebastian were doing their best to delay the Luna ceremony I planned for Andrea as much as they could. And now, he was too excited to have one.
I was about to answer him and tell him that Nadia and I needed to talk about the date first when my mate beat me from talking.
“No! No Luna Ceremony, please.” She said in a firm voice, her forehead creasing.
I couldn’t stop the pain that hit my chest as a low rumbling growl vibrated in my chest. I tilted my head to look at the female in my arms. A scowl formed on my face as her rejection sunk in. “Why?”
NADIA.
“No! No Luna Ceremony, please.” I blurted out, as my heart hammered in my chest.
Not that I didn’t want to. There was nothing in the world I would rather be than claimed and owned by my Alpha, but I wanted to do it the right way.
Although Riley told me he wanted me here, I wasn’t sure for how long.
I wasn’t even sure if what he wanted right now was enough to make him fall in love with me.
I didn’t want the Luna title if it meant giving it up someday for someone else. I didn’t think I had the heart for it.
And there was also Andrea looting in the air.
His people knew Andrea was supposed to be his Luna.
I didn’t want to just come and be given the title without knowing who I was.
I have to let his people know that I existed in his life before claiming the title.
And if the ceremony ever happened, I wanted them to know that it would be Nadia who would be named Luna and not Andrea.
It might come off as petty, but I didn’t want any memories of Andrea clouding my existence in this pack.
“Why?” Riley’s growl made me jerk away from his body.
I tilted my head up to see his scowling face. His eyes were dilating, but instead of being afraid, it just made my blood boil.
This man didn’t know how to ask nicely.
I inched away from him, clutching the blanket over my body tightly as I glared at him. “Why are you growling?”
“Why the fuck are you deciding things without consulting me?” He snapped back.
I saw the Beta raise his hands in the air and move back before murmuring, “I’m out of here unless you both want me to stay.”
“Fuck off!”
“Stay!”
We blurted it out at the same time, and the Beta froze in his spot.
I dropped my shoulders in desperation but did not take my gaze off my mate, who was still glaring at me.
‘Go. I’m sorry. I’ll take care of this.’ I mindlinked Beta Dominic and he immediately turned around, leaving us alone.
‘No harm done. Actually, I’m happy to see that my Luna can stand up to the Alpha. Just mindlink me if you need help to tie up the Alpha.’
I restrained myself from smiling at his words, so instead, I turned around and stepped on the first step of the staircase, so my height would be slightly higher and I didn’t need to tilt my head up to look at Riley.
“I didn’t make any decisions. I just thought my voice needed to be heard. I don’t want a Luna Ceremony. Not yet.”
Riley let out a sigh of desperation before he brushed his hands over his face and his features softened. “I thought you wanted to be my Luna. Did you change your mind? What did I do wrong this time?”
I smiled as a red tint crept up my cheeks. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Just that… Can we talk about it privately? Not here.”
“Are you changing your mind?” And his expression changed again.
Gone was the moody and brave Alpha. His eyes were full of uncertainty, and if I was not mistaken, I could see fear in them. Was he scared of something?
I shook my head as I clutched the sheets with one hand and raised my free hand to his cheek, caressing it gently against his skin.
“I’m not changing my mind, Riley. But we need to talk about it.”
He clasped a hand over mine on his cheek before he took it to his mouth, kissing every part of my hand. “Okay. Can it wait a little while? Go rest first, and I will just talk to my Beta. I’ll follow you upstairs.”
“Okay… But are you not going to put some clothes on?”
“I have shorts. It’s enough. I feel comfortable without a shirt.” He chuckled and started flexing the muscles in his chest.
Despite my heart doing a somersault and my panties dropping, oops I forgot I didn’t have one, I rolled my eyes at him and faked a scoff.
“It doesn’t look good. Put a shirt on.”
He laughed and wrapped his arms around me before lifting me off the ground, my body hanging on his hold. “There are no other females here unless my Beta is gay, but I don’t think he is. Jenny is mated. She will never swoon on me. So you are safe.”
“Who said I’m bothered when females see you naked?” I asked him, my voice muffled by the way my face slammed against his hard torso. “You look ugly without a shirt on. Trust me.”
He let go of me, a teasing grin etched on his lips. “Seriously? I had no idea. I better ask that unmated female who helps in the kitchen if she doesn’t find my body attractive.”
I smiled sarcastically at him before turning my back on him and walking in a calm manner up the stairs, even if what he said was annoying me. “Yeah, right. Go ask her, and maybe ask her too if she wants to be your Luna.”
I heard him laughing, but I didn’t turn around because he might see the annoyance in my eyes.
“I have clothes in my office. I’ll put one in. And I swear, I’m not going to ask anyone about my body, just you!”
My eyes widened at the way he said those words. He was almost shouting, and his voice was booming around the house.
I wondered how many were inside the packhouse and heard that.
This man didn’t have a single bone of shame on his body.
RILEY.
Although my heart warmed at the jealousy I saw flaring in Nadia’s eyes when I told her I would ask another female’s opinion about my body, I was still not at ease.
Why didn’t she want to have a Luna Ceremony? Was she having cold feet? Or didn’t she want to be tied up with me, knowing that the Luna Ceremony would also hold a union between us?
I watched her form disappear from the stairs before I headed to my office. My Beta was already sitting on the chair in front of my desk, waiting for me.
I closed the door and went directly to the small closet in the corner and grabbed a shirt, pulling it over my head before sitting in my chair.
“Anything new for today?”
“Nope. But these are the proposals I received a few weeks back about a renewed alliance from all these packs. Despite what you did, they still want to be with us, which I think is fantastic. What do you think? Should we go over it and decide which one we will renew alliances with?”
“Leave it for now. Give me a day or two, or a week. I don’t want to hole up here in the office reading all those shitty things they wanted. We have things to do.”
“Such as?”
“I want to be visible around the territory. Make my people see me again.”
“About fucking time!”
“And I want people to know Nadia. We were at the center today and someone called her Andrea.”
“Holy shit!” He hissed. “Did she get pissed off?”
“No. She actually handled it really well, better than me.”
“Looks like you got lucky with this one, don’t you dare let this female go.”
“Who said I would? Can’t you see I’m trying?”
“Trying? Man, you growled at your mate just because she said no. Can you act like a human when you’re around people? Let out your animal side when it’s just the two of you in bed.”
“Fuck you!”
“Fuck her, not me! But you need to watch your temper. I won’t be surprised if you don’t get laid because of your temper.”
“Yeah, nice advice from someone who hasn’t gotten laid in a long time.”
“Fuck you!”
“Find someone to fuck! And stop minding my business.”
“You’re my business. I was born and raised to serve you. And knock some sense on you.”
“Just do what I want you to do. Make sure people know Nadia is my fated mate and my Luna, and not Andrea.”
“What do you want me to do, sing in the middle of the crowd to get their attention and tell them Nadia is their Luna? You need to do that yourself. If you want to be visible in the pack, take her with you. You did that with Andrea, that’s why everybody found out about her.”
I leaned my back against my chair, placing my hands at the nape of my neck as I stared at the ceiling above my head. “I want that, but I need to ask Nadia. I don’t want to force her if she doesn’t want to go around with me. So we need to have another option in case she doesn’t want to.”
“Can you see the difference between how you’re treating Nadia and Andrea? You’re fucking scared of losing Nadia, am I right? It seems like if she asks you to cut your throat, you’ll do it.”
“In the blink of an eye.”
“Do you love her?”
“I think I do.”
“More than Andrea?”
I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes before answering.
“I am actually doubting now if I really did love Andrea or just the idea of having her. I forced her into everything I wanted, but I don’t have the heart to do it to Nadia.
And I’m fucking scared that with just one wrong move, she’s going to run away. ”
“Calm down, it’s only the second day today. And I don’t think she’s running away. That female needs shelter and protection. Give her that.”
“What about if she found out about Andrea, and what I did to her?”
My Beta couldn’t answer. I really fucked up.
I told him what I knew about Nadia this morning and how her and Andrea’s fates were similar, being pushed into marriage with someone they didn’t even like at all.
“I don’t know. I’m talking here as a friend, but what happened with Andrea, confining her here and emotionally torturing her with all those Luna ceremony preparations and the marking, was an evil move.”
“Why didn’t you fucking help me that time?” I snarled at him.
“Fuck you, man! How many times did you threaten to fire Sebastian and I every time we tried to reason out and go against you? If we weren’t thinking about Andrea being left alone here with you, we’d have fucked off already!”
“Shit! Shit!” I punched the side of my desk in front of me in anger, denting it in the process. I was so fucking pissed off with myself and all the shit I’ve done. “I really fucked up this time!”
I saw blood trickling down from my knuckles, but I didn’t care. I rested my elbows on my desk and covered my face with my hands. “How the fuck could I come out clean from this?”
“You need to tell her everything.”
“No! And you too, not a word about Andrea. Whenever she asks, direct her to me.” I told him, and I knew he would try to defy that, so I rolled off an Alpha command.
My Beta gritted his teeth. “You could have just asked me. You know, I will never betray you as an Alpha, even if I want to smack your head as a friend.”
“I’m not taking a risk here. If there’s anyone who needs to explain this to her, that would be me. I just need time.”
“Hopefully, you won’t make her wait forever. Sooner or later, she’s bound to find out.”
“If nobody talks about it, then it won’t. It’s enough that she knows Andrea is an ex-girlfriend and she chose another Alpha and not me. No need to tell her the in-between.”
My Beta just shook his head, but I ignored the look of disappointment he was giving me.
I knew my mate. I knew what she went through and what she was running away from. She would leave if she found out that the same male who she thought could protect her turned out to be the same monster she was running from.
“Where are Sebastian and Jenny? I need a word with them too.”