Chapter 57
NADIA.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jenny asked me for the nth time today. Her eyes were welling with tears, and it made me tear up as well.
I nodded my head, my hand reaching for hers and squeezing it gently. “It’s for the best. I don’t want to stay in a place where I’m not wanted.”
“I still don’t understand what is happening. If you weren’t using your title to exert authority over me, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“I know. That’s why I’m telling you, as the rightful Luna of this pack, that I want to do this, and I’m absolving you of this. This is not your fault, and you’re not doing anything wrong.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait another day? Until the Alpha calms down?”
“It will just hurt more. I’ve seen his eyes. He never looked at me like that. He doesn’t want me anymore.”
“This is so wrong…” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. “Please stay, just a few more days.”
I hugged her tightly, pressing a soft kiss on her cheek before pulling my body away. “I should get going, or I will miss my train.”
“Where are you heading?”
“I told you not to ask me.”
“You can stay with my mom. At least I know where you are, and I won’t have to worry.”
“Your mom lives in Alpha Jacob’s territory. It’s not a good place for me.”
“I will never forgive myself if something happens to you. I don’t even know why I’m agreeing to this.”
I shook my head. “I’m okay. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing this my whole life. Maybe this is for the best. Perhaps we need some space to think about whether this bond is right for us.”
“Nadia…” Her shoulders shook as soft sobs escaped her throat. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.
“You’ve done more than enough.” I let the tears flow this time. “And I’m happy that you were there for me. You are the best Gamma Female any Luna will be lucky to have. And I don’t even know how to say thank you for everything.”
We were holding on to each other’s hands, just letting our tears stream down our faces.
“I have to go now. Take care of yourself, and tell Gamma Sebastian and Beta Dominic I said thank you. And if you can all look after the Alpha.”
“He did you wrong, yet you continued to care for him.”
“You have a mate, Jenny. You understand, right?” I smiled weakly at her before pulling her in for another hug as I fought the new tears from falling.
I didn’t say anything more and just stepped out of her car, looking back at her one more time just to make sure she didn’t follow me.
And when I made sure that she couldn’t see me anymore, I made a different turn and headed for the taxi lane. I would go to the next city’s train station and choose another route.
It would be safer this way.
RILEY.
The day went by slowly. I didn’t know how I was able to finish everything I needed to do for today, but somehow I did.
I spent the whole day outside the packhouse, holing up instead in the office at the old building where all the cells were. I was trying to avoid Nadia.
The pain was still too much. And even if I missed her. I didn’t want to see her yet.
I needed time to think.
I hurried my steps toward the packhouse. It was already dinnertime. I missed all the meals for the day, including last night’s dinner, and my stomach was already complaining.
And even if I wasn’t ready to talk with my mate, I couldn’t deny that my walls were already crumbling down. I missed her.
The smell of dinner wafted in the air, and my feet turned in the direction of the dining room.
The room fell silent the moment I stepped in, and I could see my Beta’s eyes throwing daggers at me.
“Where’s Nadia?” I asked, ignoring the hostility in his eyes.
Silence.
I reached for the main dish and started placing it on my plate before I asked again.
“Where’s Nadia? Did someone tell her dinner is ready?”
“She left.” Jenny’s soft voice reached my ears, and my wolf woke up from his slumber.
My brow hiked up as I rested my fork back on my plate and looked at her. “What do you mean she left?”
Jenny took something out from her side pocket and slid it on the table, almost in front of me. “She wanted me to give this to you.”
My gaze dropped to the table, and I saw the credit card I gave her for her personal use.
“She said to tell you that she just took the ten thousand that you agreed upon. And that she left the car key in your room.”
My breathing hitched as Hunter growled in my head. I was not sure if I was hearing her correctly.
“Can you fucking explain it again?” If I weren’t seeing the seriousness on their faces, I would like to believe they were pulling a joke on me.
Jenny was about to answer when Dominic intercepted her.
“The Luna left because you asked her to leave. We don’t know where she went.” His voice was too cold.
I saw him open his mouth again, but I didn’t hear the rest of his words as I pushed my chair back and hurried out of the dining room. I made my way to the stairs going to our room on the fourth floor.
I had never walked and run up these stairs as fast as I was doing.
My mind refused to accept that she left. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
I pushed the bedroom door open harshly, and her smell hit me right away.
“Nadia!” I called her name as my heart thumped loudly.
The room was too tidy, as if no one had walked here for the last few hours. I opened the bathroom door and checked.
Nothing.
My eyes found her car key and my wallet, including the vault code that I gave her, which was shredded into pieces neatly placed on the crystal bowl where she would usually drop her coins. I went to the closet and found all her clothes still there. Not an empty space.
She didn’t leave. She would tell me if she would. I was trying to console myself, but my fucking heart wasn’t calming down.
Hunter told me that he couldn’t sense Nadia or Arrow, and that Nadia’s scent around the bedroom was not a fresh one. She had been gone for hours.
My biggest fear was just presented in front of me. She left me.
“Fuck!” I screamed out my frustration.
What the fuck did I do?
I punched the wall beside our closets repeatedly. I didn’t even feel the cut on my knuckles until I felt blood splattered on my face.
‘Meet me at the office. All of you.’ I sent the mindlink to everyone at the dining table as I made my way out of the bedroom.