When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Contd.

Demetra Pride Covenant.

Elena turns the moment she spots me like she knew I was coming and positioned herself exactly here for maximum impact. And when she does turn, she does it with this wide, radiant smile that has absolutely no business being that bright.

She’s wearing a deep purple robe.

And her hair is curled and styled for someone who’s supposed to be comfy in a robe which makes me confirm all together that she is living here.

Why and how in the actual hell is she HERE?

Emris couldn’t have no. No, he knows I don’t trust this woman. He’s seen what she is. So why is she walking around freely and smiling at me!? It makes zero sense. I’m cycling through every possible reason and coming up completely empty….

“Luna Demetraaaaa.”

She sings my name while she glides toward me, closing the distance between us like we’re old friends reuniting. I’m barely two steps inside the entrance of the pack house and she’s already in my space.

“That sour look on your face tells me our baby daddy didn’t warn you I was back.”

I blink.

“Our… what?”

“Our baby Zaddy?” She tilts her head like I’m the slow one here. “That’s Emris for you, honey. He’s the Alpha and he does whatever he wants. What did you think, that being Luna meant he’d run his decisions through you first?”

She lets that land. She wants it to sting. I can see it in the title I carry down to something meaningless.

way she watches m

my

face, hunting for a flinch, trying to shrink this

“Is that the kind of Luna you were?” I ask evenly. “A no–say

Luna?”

Elena laughs or is that a cackle. As if I’ve just said the most embarrassing thing she’s ever heard in her life. Her head tips back, her shoulders shake. I’m already pissed from the fact that I’m looking at her, and now she’s adding to it.

“Why are you here?”

“Ugh, honey.” She pouts. “Are you a no–say Luna too? If you had any real say in what happens in this pack house, you’d already know why I’m here.” She glances around like she’s surveying property, then waves a hand dismissively. “They put me in the north wing….which, honestly? Can’t compare to what I’m used to. But I suppose it’ll have to do for now.”

She pouts again on those last two words. For now. Like this is temporary and she’s already planning an upgrade.

I breathe through my nose and actually force myself to think about it. To work through it logically instead of just reacting.

Why would she be here?

One answer surfaces immediately.

Milo. But that still doesn’t explain why she has to physically live in this house. That doesn’t explain why Emris said nothing about this to me. After everything that happened this morning, after all of it he didn’t think this was worth mentioning? I need to find him.

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10:10 am

Chapter 104

ppp.

I need to find him right now, because this is the kind of thing that doesn’t sit.

“Aww. You really don’t know, do you, poor thing?” Elena claps her hands together softly. “Fine. I’ll fill you in, since you’re a little behind. I’m here because I am the mother of his son. Milo, the next heir to the pack and we cannot have our heir growing up wondering where his mother is. I also refuse to be kept from my child. Emris may be cold–hearted in many ways, but even he understands that the mother of his heir deserves a certain level of respect.”

I look at her to reply.

“Mmh, mother of the heir huh? The same one he divorced because I asked him to?”

I hear gasps behind me and it’s from the Deltas around, some peeking, some idling by and hearing exactly what I just said. I didn’t mean to let it spill out like that but Elena… just has this particular talent for dragging the unfiltered version of me to the surface. She’s already on my list, but I thought we were done.

I thought the consequences I handed her over what she did to Amira were the end of it. I didn’t expect a round two.

Until now, apparently.

“I told Emris to end his relationship with you and he did regardless of your “mother hen” crown so let’s not play ‘who’s the better Luna‘. I won’t argue with you over a wolf who does my bidding anyway.” I add and see Arieth rush forward.

Her rushing like that means she knew Elena was in the pack house.

“Also, Elena…let me make one thing very clear before we move on. Amira was born before Milo so she is… the heiress.”

I watch Elena’s eyes flame.

“But she is not a boy-”

“She is the daughter of the Alpha’s true mate. Her mother is the Luna! I love Milo and for as long as I am his stepmother, I will never treat those two children differently. But I need that to be understood between us like adults.”

“Shut the FUCK up, you fucking WHORE!”

The scream tears out of her. Elena’s eyes go bloodshot. She looks rabid. Her face is twisted. She might actually be rabid. Which cycles me straight back to my original question: who let her back in here? Could it be Derisha?

“Do you hear me?!” She’s still going. “You are a fucking whore and that’s all you’ll ever be. Alpha’s daughter, my ass. You think Regan will let any of that happen?! Regan will die before he lets you and your daughter take the Alpha seat!”

Regan?

I squint at her. She says it like Regan has a stake in this that goes beyond his nephew not being next in line.

Why is she saying Regan? Does Regan have a reason to be more upset that his nephew would not be next for the throne. My brain snags on the words, turns them over, tries to find the hidden meaning underneath all that screaming.

“You are speaking to the Luna, pipe it down!”

The voice comes from behind me and I’d know that voice anywhere.

It’s Summer, stepping forward through the Delta staff. I didn’t even notice she was out here but a smile pulls at my mouth regardless cause I remember Summer never liked Elena so I can tell she’s dying to put her in her place right now. Summer has always been the one with the sharper tongue who says what everyone else is thinking but too afraid to voice,

“You damn maid! You all served under me but the moment you got a new Luna, you forget the hands that once fed you!?

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Chapter 104

Now I’m sick of hearing Elena’s voice

“Summer?

“Yes, dearest Luna” She crosses past Arieth and comes to stand right beside me unt

“You all heard how she defamed me just now?

I turn slightly so I’m addressing the crowd as much as I’m addressing Elena.

“I don’t claim to know every line of the pack law by heart, but I have lived in the Pack long enough to know the ting Luna carries a serious cost. Now… a normal wolf would never do that. So I think we can all really conchy

has lost her mind completely.”

I let that sit for exactly one second.

“So. Deltas….do me a favor and remove her belongings from whichever wing she’s been staying in

“Emris gave me permission to stay here!”

“Oh, I know.” I nod agreeably. “I’m not sending you away, Elena. You’re clearly an unwell person, Elena. So I’m going to do the kind thing and invite some very caring professionals who specialize in looking after people in your condition to come and take care of you properly.”

I face Arieth.

“There’s a shack out in the woods. I’m not sure how many kilometres but it’s somewhere before the lake. That’s where Elena will be staying until I can put in a call to the nearest psychiatric facility to arrange a pickup. We obviously can’t have a person in this state of mental distress living close to the main pack house. For everyone’s safety, you understand.”

I tilt my head thoughtfully.

For a moment, there is total silence.

Then Summer bursts out laughing in one uncontrollable bark of it that she clearly did not intend to let our.

And then, like a damn breaking, the entire Delta staff goes with her.

It starts as stifled snorts, hands pressed to mouths, shoulders shaking and then someone completely gives up on professionalism and just loses it, and then they all do.

And that’s how I know Elena’s rule was pure tyranny. Because how the hell is everyone glad you’re getting punished? Because why else would an entire staff of trained pack members be this openly, this joyfully relieved to watch someone get put in their place?

“Luna,” Summer manages, pressing her lips together to collect herself, though her eyes are still bright with it just so you’re fully informed that shack in the woods hasn’t been renovated in years. And before that, a storm hit it pretty badly, so the structure isn’t exactly… stable.”

“There are jaguars in those woods too…” a male Delta adds.

“Don’t forget the snakes. They drop from trees and wrap around your neck to suffocate you.”

“The Alpha shot’a wild blood sucking hyena there last time. Do you guys remember?

“I heard whispers about something in the creek..something that glows at night. No one’s ever gotten close enough to see

what it is.”

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10:10 am

Chapter 104

ppp.

The Delta staffs are going back and forth between themselves now, painting a nice picture for Elena. I’m not even going to pretend they’re wrong. I spent years in this pack house as a maid, and those woods were always the subject of rumors none of us ever bothered to test because there was no reason to. The only person who ever went in there voluntarily was Envi early morning runs, sometimes late at night but Emris is a hybrid. He could handle whatever was living in those trees without breaking a sweat.

The rest of us had enough sense to stay on the path.

And don’t even get me started on what those woods look like during a full moon.

Or the bats that hang in the caves near the eastern ridge…thousands of them, all squeaking and flapping at dusk. I’ve heard stories of omegas who got lost out there and came back different.

“Wh… where’s Regan?” Elena looks left and right for backup. “I’m the mom of Milo. You don’t have the right to do that to me!”

“The boys just found out about something that needs their full attention right now. So naturally the duty falls to me. Am I right?”

“Of course, Luna.”

“Chop chop.” Summer steps forward like she was born for this exact moment. “Emily… go and get the Zetas who will be escorting her. I already know Elena’s going to make this difficult, and we do not want her clawing anyone in the middle of her psychotic episode.”

I smile watching her move. She is doing exactly what I’m thinking without me having to say a single word out loud. That’s Summer. That has always been Summer.

“I DARE you!” Elena’s voice rises to a shriek. “I fucking dare you to touch me. I will walk out of this pack and be back tomorrow with

RE

“No. You’re displaying clear signs of psychosis, which means we have a duty to monitor you closely. You are not permitted to leave the pack house. For your own wellbeing, obviously.”

And then I turn and walk away, because I have said everything there is to say, and I have an Alpha to find.

10:10 am

Chapter 105