When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 125

Chapter 125

Demetra Pride Covenant.

“Tell us, what does Emris look like?”

Tiffany punches Eden across the chest while I’m seated in the styling chair, trying not to move my head as the hairstylist works through a section near my temple.

“Um… he looks like himself.” Eden says.

“So freaking BORING!”

“What

—

you want me to say he’s handsome?”

“Uh, duh.” Teddy rolls her eyes.

“I’m leaving.” Eden gives up with a small smile aimed at me, and leaves. The door has barely closed behind hi, when it opens again, and my whole body goes rigid when I see who walks

1. in.

Derisha.

I don’t expect my very sweet mother–in–law to be standing in the doorway of my dressing room. The girls who were giggling a second ago go quiet. I flip my phone face–down, cutting off Sabrina’s text that

says she’s already arrived.

“Demetra,” Derisha says. Just my name.

“Yes.” I give her my full attention.

“I brought you the royal dress.”

I pause. “The…royal dress?”

鼍影

“Yes.” She raises one brow. “Did you think you were going to be married in anything else?”

“Um…yeah, actually-

And then it comes in.

Two Deltas carry it through the doorway and I forget whatever I was about to say. It’s a deep, bleeding red Cinderella silhouette. Red jewels catch the light all along the bodice, darker than the fabric itself, like garnets sewn into a wound. It looks like something that existed five hundred years ago and simply never left, something that no one has ever been able to recreate because the hands that made it are long gone. I stare at it and feel my argument dissolve before I can even form it.

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Chapter 125

“Can I speak with Demetra privately?” Derisha says, to the room.

“Sure.” Tiffany holds one long look at me that says I’ll be right outside and also tell me everything later then files out with Teddy. The hairstylists follow, and Derisha sits on the opposite couch from me.

I hope that’s not awe in her eyes. Because I know she hates me.

“What is that look in your eyes?” I ask, and can’t quite keep the edge out of my voice. I don’t try very hard either.

“Awe,” she says simply.

“…Awe?”

“Yes, Demetra. Awe. That my son has his true mate.”

“You sure it’s not regret? Anger? Murderous vibes?”

“If I wanted you dead, you would be dead. No offense.” She says it the way rich women say everything.

“Oh, trust me, I spent years finding creative ways to survive you. So you….failed no offense.”

She doesn’t laugh, but something in her face loosens.

“I’m actually here to apologize.”

“Hm?” I press my fingers to my lips.

“I want you to know that whatever exists between you and me….has nothing to do with Amira. She is my granddaughter. My blood and the heiress of the Black Covenant Pack. I would never harm a single hair on her head.” She pauses. “Do you know the girl hasn’t even called me ‘Grandma‘ once-”

“That’s because I told her to keep her distance from you, Derisha.”

“I know. She runs evme she sees me. But I have things I could teach her-” “Things like you taught Emris?” My voice sharpens on its own. “How to weaponize anger? How to look at someone and decide they’re too weak to matter? Because my daughter is going to be a strong Alpha one day, I’ll make sure of it but she won’t be that kind of strong.”

“No!” Derisha says fast. “That’s not what I’d teach her.”

She meets my eyes steadily. “I was the Alpha of this pack after my husband died. I held it together alone until Emris came of age. So I know one or two things about leadership.”

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Her eyes get thinner and even though I hate the very ground she walks on, she did take care of the pack until Emris was of age. And even when Emris was of age, I believe she guided his steps. For better or worse. For power or tragedy.

“What else are you here to tell me, mother–in–law?”

“I came here to let you know why… well, why I hated you.” She glances down at her hands. “Or rather…why I thought I did.”

“Well, if we’re being honest, I was riding with your son on a fairly regular basis-

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“Demetra. She gives me the eye–roll, and I stop. But only because I want to hear what she has to say.

“I hated you because you look so much like your mother. Her name was Janet, by the way.”

The name lands somewhere low in my chest and stays there. My mother’s name is Janet. I’ve never heard it before…not from my father, not from anyone.

But I don’t want Derisha to see that I care about the information. So I try to sharpen my eyes again.

“I met her when I had just become Luna. She was born in the pack. She seemed to know the way of everything around the pack house. I’m sure you’ve heard from your dad that my husband, Kael, already had someone in his heart.”

“Flora. Who ended up being Jacob’s mate.” I summarize it.

“Your mother was a low–ranking housekeeper. Technically, I had no business spending time with her. But she started giving me updates about what was happening inside the pack house. Between Kael and Flora. Between Jacob and Flora. Two men circling the same woman, and I was the Luna standing on the outside of all of it.” Derisha smiles.

“Well, I trusted her input and became dependent on her words. She was teaching me how to make Kael fall in love with me…” Derisha gets up as if that’s the worst memory of all!

“Until I realized she was just using me to get star points to see how fast she could climb the social ladder. Poor thing didn’t know that no wolf from any high family would ever marry an house keeper regardless of how much access she had. She fell pregnant, kept it a secret, gave birth and ran.”

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