When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 15

Emris.

BAM!

THWACK!

My fist sinks into the heavy leather of the punching bag. I’ve been at it for the past six hours in the private gym. The thing is, I don’t even feel the fatigue. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been able to punch away the wicked things she said to me this morning. They’re stuck in my skull, replaying on a loop I can’t shut off.

An Alpha impregnated her? Which Alpha?

Since she’s the artist “Metra,” that means she’s been in Paris. So which Alpha in that faction was she describing? I know them all, and I don’t know a single one who’s as powerful as me. None of them hold a candle to me. Not in power, not in rank, certainly not in the way they could possibly command her.

I throw another punch. What Alpha? What Alpha?!

The bag shudders on its chain. Every time I close my eyes, I’m forced to imagine a scene of a faceless male claiming her and biting that spot on her neck where her pulse beats.

I imagine him pumping his seed so deep into her womb. I imagine her belly swelling with a pup that has his DNA…evidence to the fact that she opened her legs for someone else and let another man breed her!”

ARGH!

My fist plows through the leather and this time, the sand–filled bag sags before the chain above snaps with a sharp ping. The whole heavy mass crashes to the mat!

“For moon’s sake, what are you training for? The apocalypse?”

Silver’s voice cuts through the ringing in my ears. I snatch a water bottle and squeeze until the plastic cracks. Instead of drinking, I upend it over my head so the water sluices through my hair.

“The Alpha Fest!” I tear my boxing gloves with my teeth.

“Do you have a specific Alpha in mind, or are you just mad at the world? Don’t tell me this is about that Alpha Slade ‘wrist‘ thing you’ve been muttering about-”

“What Alpha Slade thing?”

Derisha, my mom comes into the training room and sees the destroyed bag, the snapped chain, me shirtless and heaving like a bull. She can read a sour mood on me from a mile away.

“Did that stupid Alpha Slade do something? Is it about the eastern territory-”

“It’s everything!” I yell but no, it’s really…just Demetra.

“Emris, if you attack him outright in front of everyone, the Council of Wolves will penalize you. Yes, we are a powerful pack, but we cannot keep solving problems by simply crushing others.” Silver says.

“He attacked Elena!”

“Elena probably did something to deserve it.” Silver says and it’s the wrong thing to say. In three long strides, I cross the gym to loom over him. He’s my brother and Beta. I don’t ever want to put my hands on him in anger, but right now, anger is the only thing I am.

“Are you taking the side of those idiots in the Lion Pride Pack?” Mom stands in the middle of us and asks him.

“No, Mom, I’m trying to speak sense to Emris. It seems I’m the only person in this pack with any.” Silver meets my glare with a calm one of his own, then simply rolls his eyes and walks away. He’s the family mediator. Sometimes I listen. Today is not one of those days.

As for my mom, she can never bring herself to truly tell me ‘no.‘ I think it all goes back to when I was five years old, abducted from my family by my father’s enemies. I was locked in in a lightless dungeon for over two years while my family searched for me. When they finally found me, my wolf was… different. Fucked. Complicated. Stubborn.

And my mom who was in so much guilt decided to give me anything I ever wanted. She has never told me “no” since. “Go,” her voice softens. “Go have some dinner before it gets cold. And stop worrying about the Lion Pride. At the Alpha Fest, you will teach Slade a lesson he will never forget.” A haughty sneer twists her lips. “Oh, I also heard Ronin has a daughter now? Can you imagine?”

She tsks her tongue.

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15

I’ve been wondering to ask if she knows whether Demetra’s long–gone mother ever had a… relationship with Ronin.

My mom has stressed for years about how much she hates Demetra’s mother. I think I only remember the woman once, but I knew she was a housekeeper in the pack house. I was… seven years old when the head chef brought a new born Demetra to my mom.

She told us the mother had left the baby and vanished.

At the time of Demetra’s birth, I had just been found. Fresh out of the dungeon where I’d been locked as a child. The first sound I didn’t hate…was her crying.

Mom hated it. She told the head chef to get the baby away from her house. I remember following, watching them stand around, not knowing what to do with her. She was so little. So hungry. Out of all the things my mother tried to placate me with in those early days, the only thing I ever asked for was Demi.

I asked them to keep Demetra in the pack house.

That was our first history.

“My son…” Mom holds my hand to try to know more.

“I’m fine.” I wipe my forehead and walk away.

I head to my bedroom, tear off my sweaty shirt, and leave it on the bathroom floor. I slam my hand on the shower control and step under the spray naked. I raise my neck and let the water hammer down on my upturned face.

After that, I grab a cigarette. But I don’t want to smoke it in the house. Milo copies everything I do, and he’s still awake…. can hear his voice somewhere causing havoc. I go out the back door of the pack house with the cigarette between my lips and the lighter ready.

That’s when I see something someone moving like a shadow. My younger sister, Teddy.

She’s rushing out, looking furtive. I watch her hurry toward the fountain in the gardens, glancing back and forth before going into the garage and driving out. I take the cigarette from my lips and start to follow. She just turned eighteen…right on the time mate bonds are supposed to appear.

She hasn’t told me if she’s found her mate, but she’s been sneaky lately.

I get to the garage and into my own car, waiting a few minutes after she passes before I pull out. What was the name of her friend from college she’s always talking about? Allison? Little liar. She’s probably found her mate already and is afraid to tell us who he is.

I stay well behind her with my headlights off. After following her for over forty five minutes, I watch her drive across the bridge that literally cuts off our territory. Could her mate be from another pack? I ease onto the bridge, which leads to the main highway. Below us is the river separates the territory of the Black Covenant Pack and the Lion Pride Pack.

I shake my head, refusing to jump to conclusions. But then I see….after pushing along the highway, I slow down and watch her take the second curve. And on that curve, there’s an obvious, glowing sign:

ENTRANCE TO THE LION PRIDE TERRITORY.

My body goes rigid. I take the same swerve, following the long road into their territory. Houses sprawl out across millions of plots, the lights of their pack members‘ homes dotting the landscape in the distance.

I keep my distance, but I see it clearly: the moment she reaches their main pack house. The heavy gates swing open for her as if someone inside is expecting her. As if this isn’t the first time she’s been here.

I wait in the shadows of the road with my engine idling. How do I get in? I grind my teeth while a burning fire tightens in my chest. Who the fuck is her mate? Just as I’m thinking it through, I hear an engine approaching from behind.

I check my rearview mirror. It looks like a delivery van…some kind of mailing vehicle. Perfect.

Without hesitation, I swerve my car sideways and block him. The van screeches to a halt just inches from my bumper.

I step out of my car.

“Hey! Are you insane? I could’ve crashed into you, you fool!” the driver yells, sticking his head out the window.

He keeps shouting until I walk closer, stepping into the glow of his headlights. He sees me then…really sees me. The build

of an Alpha. The kind of wolf you feel in your gut before your brain even registers the threat. His words die in his mouth. And apart from his eyes, he has a nose. I’m sure he can smell the hybrid off me.

“Uh… sir…. what…?”

“I need your car.”

“My… car?”

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I don’t wait for permission. I reach through the window, snatch the faded cap off his head, and drag him out by his collar onto the road.

“Sir…I have a family. Who… who… who are you?”

I lay a quick strike to his chest to knock the air from his lungs and send him sleeping. He slumps onto the asphalt.

The keys are still in the ignition. I pull the cap low over my eyes, get into the van, and manoeuvre it through the narrow space I’d left when I blocked him.

As I approach the Lion Pride gates, it swing open again before I even reach… they’re trusting that it’s just another routine delivery.

Hmm. The Lion Pride pack.

I’m inside.

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