When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Contd.

Lycan’s Housewarming,

Territory, Black convenant.

The painting cost damn near put a dent in his bank account but Lake has no regrets about that. What Metra Arts does is the kind of work that doesn’t negotiate with you. It simply is what it is, and you either see it or you don’t. This one, Lake saw immediately.

A sky with stars in daylight.

And beach sand painted in midnight.

That contradiction shouldn’t work. It does. It does because Demetra made it. But the one that brings a smile to his face is the one she drew at the competition. Does she really think I’m a coward?

Lake considered this with something close to delight.

Wow. Genuinely wow.

The sound of heels on marble with that particular consistency belongs to one person in his life. Flora…his mother and she doesn’t announce herself as she stands beside him.

“Have they arrived?” Lake asks.

“Not yet. Son, remind me again why you’re so taken with this painting?”

“Because it’s beautiful.”

Lake hears her scoff but it’s really Flora’s impatience. She is dressed in bear fur and red lipstick because she wants bloodshed today. The lipstick is the color of fresh kill.

Back to why Lake left the woods that night.

When he saw that Emris could not be compelled, it was a change of plans immediately. Meaning Emris just happened to be born under a Hunter’s Moon, as fate would do it. Quite convenient, Moon Goddess. Quite generous.

Good thing his mother and the Zetas decided to trauma–bond Emris for two years as at the kidnapping. Those chains. The whistles. The barghests in the dungeons. Those are his weak points.

A Hunter’s Moon doesn’t make Emris immune completely.

Trauma bonds at that depth don’t erase with time. And when you strike them correctly, his vampyr won’t surface because little old Emris will be too busy shaking in his trauma. His serpent–eye slit defense won’t engage fast enough. His body will be too busy trying to survive.

bloodline

And in that window… Lake walks through his defenses and compels him.

In front of everyone.

Demetra will be there. She’ll be distraught, seeing her mate like that but Lycan lake has imagined how he would tell her not to cry. He isn’t trying to be a monster so maybe he’ll just compel Emris to forget who he is.

The second option is….well, to kill him.

But Lake doesn’t want to start ruling the pack with an iron fist. That’s not going to help him if he guts their favorite big dick Alpha. Emris has done favors for half the country. Wolves remember that. Wolves have long memories and longer claws.

“I want you to end him!” Flora says, and the fur on her shoulders rises with her agitation. Her jewelry shifts, gold striking gold….just the perfect sound of expensive things making themselves heard.

“End him, Lake.”

“We’ve discussed this mom-”

“Your compulsion is unbreakable unless you die or lift it yourself. Yes, I know your argument. But I want Derisha to bury her most cherished son. I want her to grieve him the way I have grieved things because of that family. So yes. I want you to end him.”

“I don’t want to be a killer.” Lake turns back to his new favourite painting. “I’m sure their elders already know that we are the ones behind the kidnapping of Emris when he was younger. As well, as the death of Alpha Kael. Now they’ll see it with their very eyes how we murder the current Alpha-”

“That’s exactly what I want! I want them to watch. I want them to remember. I want them to know who holds the power now.”

“We have some exclusive Zetas with us but the whole fucking country is loyal to Emris Covenant. He’s done many wolves and packs extreme favors. He’s got the Lion Pride as a close alliance. Let’s not talk about the Irish Pack. The Flint Pack. The Rock Pack. The Twin Alphas-”

Flora folds her arms stubbornly at the idea of the black covenant having supporters.

“If those packs hate me or us, they’re going to plan to get us out of the way. And they will be successful. After all, they have a Luna Demetra and her little heir.” Lake smiles at this point of the conversation. “But if I become Alpha and they see me with Demetra…she can calm them. She has to think of the kids so for their sake, she will calm them down until I can win the pack’s heart.”

“Did you just say Demetra? As in…Emris’s Luna?”

“Yes.”

“Wh…you want to bond a she–wolf you don’t even know? No. No, that cannot be what you’re actually suggesting-”

“Lyc knows her.” Eva says it with the flattest face.

She hates it every time Demetra comes up.

Lake can never understand how they can look at Demetra and tell him he is not allowed to have her. The she- wolf is a goddess on earth and he wants her to walk all over him. Granted, he feels guilty for kissing her under compulsion. But that’s what happens when obsession has its own logic.

Lake can still remember what her lips tasted like. How soft it was to have her part under his. She looked at him like a lover…but it was false. All compulsion.

And that night at the club, he will never forget how Emris looked for her. The panic in his eyes. The way he moved through the crowd like a wolf who had lost his scent. Emris was right to look.

Lake came to the gala to kill Emris and got distracted when he saw Demetra. That’s really how it is when he sees her. It drives him mad to see Demetra so close to her own mate like that. And she’s not even his goddess- fated. There’s no reason he should be getting bloody and possessive over her this way…but he is.

“Lake.” Flora’s voice hardens. “What the hell are you talking about? You think I’m gonna accept a Luna like that? One who has given birth for another wolf already?”

“I don’t mind. Plus, this has nothing to do with you.”

“You are a Lycan-”

“And she is beautiful. Her name is Demetra and she hits very hard. Her brother is an Alpha, so we will have the support of the Lion Pride Pack.”

“Lyc!”

Toby walks toward him and gives a single nod.

Which means the Covenants are here.

“Hmm.” Lake smooths down his shirtfront. “Get the one hundred barghests ready. Get the whistle blowers on the ground. The barghests are simply to be in the background and at no point should the whistle stop playing as Emris and I fight.”