When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 150

Chapter 150

Lake didn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t this

Demetra coming into his house warming ball in dark blue jeans and boots. A long–sleeved red top. No sexy dress. No elaborate gown. Her white hair is loose all across her shoulders and she’s holding Emris hand.

Interlocked, actually as they look around the landscape to take stock of what they’ve walked into.

Lake’s eyes then rises to her neck where a mate bite sits against her pale skin, like it was just placed this morning.

The mate bite is fresh. This morning fresh. Which means that while Lake was here arranging every detail of this moment. Emris was in bed with his mate like any sane, bonded wolf would be before a battle.

Lake’s pulse starts hitting hard!

He watches the way she stands beside him. The wifey supportive act. Her shoulder brushing his arm like. Wolves always bond with their mates before important things… before fights, before challenges, before anything that might separate them permanently.

Lake is a wolf himself. He knows exactly what that means. If he had a woman like Demetra, he would have mated with her too. Would have marked her so deeply that the whole world would know she belonged to him. Would have spent the night before a challenge tangled in her sheets, reminding himself why he was fighting in the first place.

The crowd parts sharply as he walks fast and Lake realizes quickly that he’s already lost him cool. The other thing that grates at him is Emris isn’t alone!

Before this moment, Lake had done his homework. He knew his cousin’s reputation… the enemies he’d made, the packs he’d crossed, the Lion Pride especially. Emris does favors for powerful people, but he collects enemies just as easily. Lake had been counting on that. Had been counting on Emris walking into this challenge isolated, friendless, stripped of any emotional support.

But Demetra has brought her family.

Lake can see them in the crowd. Demetra who has filled every gap Lake worked so carefully to create. She’s made him stronger emotionally. She’s given him something to protect, something to fight for.

That’s why Lake brought up Regan’s disloyalty to light.

That’s why he made sure Emris knew Milo was not his son. To make sure that when it came time to fight, Emris would remember how alone he is. How his own blood had betrayed him. How the son he thought was his had been stripped away.

Lake depends on the emotional factor to win a fight. A man who’s grieving is a man who’s sloppy. A man who’s angry is a man who makes mistakes. Lake had planned to strip Emris down to nothing and then step into the ring with him.

But somehow, everything he hoped to tear away is now wrapped around Emris like armor.

Lake hadn’t taken Emris’s mate into account at first. He knew about Elena but he also knew they were never in love. Everyone knew it. So in Lake’s mind, the so–called “true mate” or “goddess–fated” partner that the whole world kept whispering about was probably just another Elena.

Because who the hell would put up with a wolf like Emris? With his dangerous qualities. His violent history.

Demetra, apparently.

But by the time Lake found out about Demetra, it was too late.

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Chapter 150

She’s the thing he should have taken away from Emris first. She’s the foundation and the root. Cut her loose, and the whole tree falls.

He walks forward anyway.

“I didn’t come here to party” Emris‘ voice lands in the center of the room without effort. “Let’s get into it so I can take your head back to my pack”

They are in the middle of everyone…Lunas, Alphas and Packs that Lake invited to this housewarming. Lake wants to send a message tonight.

He wants everyone to know he has returned and to carry that information back to their packs. As a Lycan, Lake commands natural fear from Alphas. It is biological and he wants to prove that he’s not someone to be challenged.

And the cherry on top? At the end of this, he’ll compel Emris to forget who he is and call it mercy. Before he can move the conversation forward, Flora finds her opening.

“Derisha… is that you?”

“Of course it’s me, Flora.”

“How does it feel knowing your son might die today?”

“Are we talking about Emris? Because that’s impossible. You already tried to break him yet he rose as Alpha.”

Flora smiles. It’s not a pleasant expression. “Hmm. “I remember how my executive Zetas ended an Alpha exactly like that-

“Kael let you have his life!” Something sharpens in Derisha’s voice. “He felt guilty every single day after what happened to Jacob. You kidnapped his son from him for two years. Made him suffer for it. He never wanted to fight Jacob. He never-

“Oh, stop acting.” Flora waves a hand like she’s swatting away a fly. “Stop acting in the presence of your sons and your daughter in law like you’re some mother of the century. You were evil in your time, Derisha. Do your sons know you were fucking Radu, too?”

Lake watches Emris’s face darken.

Radu. Fired five years ago. Right around the time Demetra left the pack house. The gossip had been a lot because some

omega

had seen Derisha and Radu together in a hallway, and to protect her sons from seeing her in a bad light. Derisha cut him loose to bury the scandal.

But if that secret is known by Flora, it means Radu is here somewhere.

“We’re not here for family affairs. We’re here to contest. Whatever family matters need addressing, we can handle those if we have ever get to family therapy.” Demetra’s voice is clean and she’s still holding Emris‘ hand.

He has closed his fingers around her wrist now, Lake sees that…is she trying to calm Emris down? Demetra heard Honey’s warning in the car, telling Emris to have oen focus. One focus only.

In the midst of Demetra speaking, Flora squints at her.

“And who is this…. pale, small thing? The more I look at you… you look like a maid whore I remember. She had white hair just like you-

“Shut the fuck up, you bitch!”

Allison shoves past Tiffany and Flora’s eyes go wide with recognition.

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10:19 am Pppp.

Chapter 150

“Allison?” Flora laughs again. “Wow, it’s a whole reunion. The fact that you just insulted me means the recognition is just about right.” She looks back at Demetra, then at Allison, then back at Demetra. “This girl don’t tell me this she wolf is the daughter of Janet? Isn’t she?” But how is her father? Ronin? Janet was always a grand whore, so really, I’m not surprised”

Demetra has been trying to calm Emris down, but now…NOW…she’s the one who looks ready to tear someone apart Flori won’t stop talking!

Demetra raises puppy eyes at Emris. “Can you deal with her son now? Please. Just so she stops talking?”

The moment his Luna asks, Emris obeys.

Everyone sees the slits happen in his eyes. The guests part away. Champagne bottles tip as everyone runs. over, tables scraping back. Ronin and Slade whisper urgently to everyone nearby, herding them away from what’s about to happen.

But Lake is confident.

He still has one last trick up his sleeve. One final move that Emris won’t see coming and he gives the signal.

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