A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood novel Chapter 2

She stood several inches taller than my five foot four, blonde hair and soft caramel brown eyes. Thea was stunning, anyone could tell. Her long slender legs were always visible, and her clothes always accentuated her best features in whatever outfit she wore. It was easy to see why Aleric had fallen for her.

 “Aria!” she yelled out to me.

 She was at the end of the hallway towards the community living room, looking as if she were waiting for me. But I didn’t stop to talk with her. No, instead I choose to pretend I didn’t hear her at all, and left towards my room.

 “Aria, wait!” she called out again. I could hear her begin to quickly chase after me.

 Thea was easily the last person I wanted to deal with right now. Why was she trying to pour salt into the wound before I’d even had time to fully process what had happened?

 But before I could make it to the stairs, her hand grasped around my wrist, forcing me to spin around to face her. And instantly, I growled out sharply at her touch. How could she so carelessly touch me? I was still her Luna even if she was carrying the heir.

 Her brown eyes went wide in surprise over my reaction and immediately dropped my hand, now looking as if she was about to cry.

 “Aria, I’m so sorry!” she whimpered. “I didn’t want it to be like this.”

 Thea was always the same. Acting as though we were sisters instead of a Luna and her mate’s mistress.

 “He’s the Alpha, how could I deny him?” she said as tears began to fall from her eyes. “You know I never wanted things to go this far, but I love him too. And I love this pack as much as you do. Please don’t hate me or this child.” She rested a hand on her belly as if to emphasise her point.

 Suddenly, everything turned red. I could feel my pulse beating loudly, deafening my ears. Everything about her made me want to rip her to shreds. The audacity she had to say that to me as if she were the victim in this whole situation.

 Not I, who had suffered and laboured for years, since even before we had been mated.

 Not I, who had sacrificed everything to stay with him, to be treated as coldly as he treated me. Somehow, she dared to come to me now with her tears for my sympathy.

 Being the Beta’s daughter, naturally, everyone had assumed Aleric and I would be mated. I had trained for Luna duties long before we had even discovered we were mated officially. In fact, I had given up years of my life for him. Thea was nothing. She was a fling everyone said would end once I came of age to feel the mate bond… Only it never ended.

 Ordinarily, I would have ignored her. I would have given her a faux smile and uttered a few small words before leaving to keep the peace. But not today. Not today when she had crawled her way in and diminished any hope I had left to stay with Aleric.

 “Get a hold of yourself, you pathetic woman,” I snapped, my eyes narrowing. “You are carrying the heir to this pack and yet you conduct yourself like a child? Did you honestly think I would have sympathy for you? That I would console you? What did you hope to achieve by coming to me now? Did you want to rub in my face how you got pregnant by my mate?”

 I could feel the stares of people around me as members of our pack gathered to watch the exchange. They all looked on with mixed expressions ranging from sadness, anger and compassion… however, I couldn’t tell if it was for me or for Thea.

 Thea broke down into heavy sobs before me, her legs giving out, but I simply looked down at her in disgust. She was mistaken if she thought I would console her. In fact, I was determined not to move even an inch to help her.

 “Thea!” one of the onlookers shouted out, running to her aid.

 Brayden, the Gamma and third in command of the pack, rushed to Thea’s side to comfort her. His eyes looked up at me with burning hatred to which I only responded back with uncaring eyes.

 “She’s pregnant, Luna! With the Alpha heir no less. How can you say such horrible things to her when she only wanted to make amends?” Brayden said angrily.

 I had a higher status than him and yet he still felt he could talk to me in that manner. To his Luna. I wanted to lash out at him as well, but it was enough. I had done enough already.

 “I’m retiring for this evening and don’t want to be interrupted. See to it that my area of the packhouse is not disturbed,” I said, giving the order to Brayden. I decided to ignore his outburst given the circumstances and the eyes that were watching us.