When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Alpha Emris.

I’ve run out of people to hit.

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The training area is empty except for Silver leaning against the railing with his phone to his ear, and I know exactly what that call is. He is telling every Delta and Zeta currently off–site to stay off–site, giving them some version of the Alpha is in a mood, do not come in, I repeat, do not come in.

I wipe the sweat off my forehead and look around…can’t smell Demetra anywhere in the building.

I let words roll out of my mouth without choosing it…something about her stopping me from fighting was doing numbers on my brain, so there’s that.

I said what I said and watched her face do what it did then I let her walk out. Now, I’m left standing here with split knuckles and a slit in my eye that won’t go.

If I say I’m not worried, I’m lying.

You know what fucks me up? What screws me, dissects me, and kills me? What literally brought the slits to be permanent in my eyes-

It’s…its what Demetra confessed. About the compulsion. About what the Lycan did to her…kissed her!? Kissed my mate!?

That was the thing that found the seam and split my eyes open. I had to tell Demetra to leave cause I didn’t want watching the slits creep into my eyes.

After she left the Alpha Groove, I sat quieter than I’ve ever sat in my life. Through the whole night, I listened to her heartbeat until she finally fell asleep. Then I went back into the woods with no shirt.

Just hands and fury at every tree I could find in the dark. I used them as punching bags until my knuckles split and bled and split again. Until my wrists bent at angles that would have made a normal wolf scream.

I waited for my knuckle and wrist bones to connect back…healing wrong and then healing right. Then I got on my feet again.

Because every time I closed my eyes, I see Demetra’s face, scared. Being kissed by that bastard. She was so afraid to even tell me because she didn’t even know why she accepted it. Because compulsion isn’t consent, but her brain didn’t know the difference, and she’s been carrying that shame alone for weeks.

Why. WHY. WHY.

Why my mate!? Why couldn’t that bastard just come for me like a real enemy instead of hiding behind compulsion and manipulation and cheap fucking tricks?

What Lake wants is the Alpha seat…bloody revenge for his father!

And if he can collect it from anyone, it should be me!

15:53 Tue, May 19

Chapter 138

ร

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Hell, I’ll give him a fight! I’ll give him a chance. I’ll make it as fair as anything can be between a Lycan and a Trybrid. I’ll meet him in whatever arena he chooses, with whatever weapons he wants, on whatever terms make him feel like a big bad wolf.

But my mate is not up for negotiation.

Demetra is not a battlefield nor a game.

“Emris.”

I look left and see Slade is walking across the training floor toward the ring.

I understand immediately where he came from and who sent him here.

“Oh good!” Silver says. “Another person.”

“He still fighting?” Slade refers to me like I’m not standing right here.

“He’s run out of people, thanks to me.”

I roll my eyes at Silver.

“Where is she?” I ask, and Slade knows exactly who I’m talking about.

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he ducks under the ropes and steps into the ring.

“What the fuck were you thinking, telling her about Riley? Really? After all that damn beating you endured, you just said it?”

I still don’t answer.

“You’ve got slits in that eye. Make it clear to me right now… are you unsafe for my sister to be around? Because if you are, I pull her out today. We may be standing on better ground than we were before but hurting Demetra is something you will not do. I don’t care if you’re the Alpha. I don’t care if you’re a Trybrid. I don’t care if you’re the Goddamn Moon herself.”

“Okay.” Silver steps in from the side with his hands up. “Let’s not do this right now. Emris, you beat the Lycan so badly he ran. You won. We’re good. There’s no reason for the slits to still be sitting in your eyes twitching like that. We need your head clear for the next round, we need your strength—”

“He compelled Demetra to kiss him.” I let them know why i’m fucked up.

Silver and Slade look at each other. The easy expression Silver walked in with dissolves. I watch it go. Watch the first vein surface on his forehead.

“Demetra didn’t tell me that-”

“Of course, she didn’t.” I turn away, then back, because I can’t stand still inside this.

“Demetra told me last night and I’ve been sitting with it since and I…I wish I hadn’t let the Lycan leave those woods breathing! I should have reached into the cavity of his chest and pull it out slow so he feels every inch

15:53 Tue, May 19

Chapter 138

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of it leaving his body. Should have held it up in front of his fading eyes and squeeze until the ventricles burst between my fingers!”

I scoff cause I’m not done.

“That bastard came here for the Alpha seat, he came for a contest, he came to stand in front of my pack and announce himself as Jacob’s son and stake his claim. And somewhere between that dog shit plan, he took Demetra! I let my mate be alone with a bastard like him. I need to find him-”

“What are you going to use to find him?” Slade asks really quiet.

“Piece of his clothing caught under my fingers when I hit him last night.” I walk the length of the ring. “Sent it to the Snif Pack this morning. I’m still waiting on a location.”

I’m not only looking for the Lycan.

I’m looking for Regan too.

I already have Elena arrested for the crimes I forgave her for last time. Plus this new one.

The Pack Laws are clear. Article Seven, Clause Three: Any wolf who knowingly deceives the Alpha regarding the lineage of an heir shall be guilty of Treason. Punishment shall include indefinite imprisonment, loss of pack status, and forfeiture of all rights to the child in question.

Deceiving an Alpha about the lineage of a child presented as his heir is a crime against succession. It corrupts the bloodline record. It compromises the integrity of the Alpha seat itself and the charge is Fraudulent Succession Deception.

But Elena didn’t just deceive me.

She let me raise that boy. Let me love him. Let me pour my entire fucking soul into a child she knew wasn’t mine while she was sleeping with my brother.

That’s something worse that laws don’t have a name for. She’s in a cell right now, listening to the rats scratch, wondering if I’m coming for her next.

Regan is a different matter. We shared a womb. We shared a childhood and now I’m going to share his bones with the dirt.

First, I’m going to give him a lesson in broken bones… I’ll hunt him for as long as I live, I’ll make him run even when I know where’s he’s going. I’ll meet him there and when I’m done playing hide and seek.

Then I’ll send him to the most notorious prison in the world.

The one they don’t write about in newspapers…where wolves go to disappear. I have the contacts to get him there. I have the power to keep him there. I have the leverage to keep him there for a very long time.

Maybe somewhere under the slits and the rage and the list there’s a version of me that will eventually grieve the brother I thought I had. But that version is not currently present. That version can take a number.

“I’m sorry about the news. About your son.”

15:53 Tue, May 19

Chapter 138

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I hear Slade say it. His pity just floats somewhere above my head like smoke I can’t be bothered to inhale.

And I have to think about the first time I held my son with his eyes looking up at me like I was the whole world.

“Regan said Lake Covenant bought an estate in our territory. The Myers estate. Why do you think that bastard did that?”

“Doesn’t matter. A coward like that won’t dare to step into my territory after running away with his tail between his legs-”

“Alpha! We got something!” Jupiter comes running into the training room and throws a cream–colored envelope toward Silver who turns it over in his hands.

“Where did you see this?” Silver eyes narrow.

“The mail run.” Jupiter catches his breath. “We check every envelope before it gets distributed into the pack house. Standard procedure. This one came from the Myers estate.”

The Myers estate-

I cross to Silver and take the envelope out of his hand before he can open it himself. I break the wax and take the…invitation out where it reads: The Alpha and Luna of the Black Covenant Pack are cordially invited to attend a housewarming celebration at the Myers Estate.

I read it twice.

“Emris!”

Teddy yells….this time, coming through the same door Jupiter came through, and behind her is Demetra. I track her the moment she’s in the training room, the way I always do and my wolf warms up.

“Turn on the TV” She says.

Jupiter turns on the screen and its breaking news.

“Lake Covenant. Son of the late Jacob Covenant challenges the current Alpha of the Black Covenant Pack, Emris Covenant…to open contest. Invitations have been sent to every Alpha and Luna of standing in the region. An Alpha contest, open audience, date to be announced.”

So, Lake sent the invitations and called the press in the same move, which means by the time I received this envelope, every significant pack in this territory already knew about it.

“He is inviting you to a contest.” Demetra says from my left.

15:53 Tue, May 19

Chapter 139