When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 213

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Alpha Emris.

Lion Pride Pack.

“Grandpa! Aunty!”

Amira breaks from my side and tears across the Lion Pride lawn at full speed. I watch her go and then turn back to help Demetra down from the car, her hand in mine as her heels find the ground. The black sequin dress is on the evening light exactly the way it’s supposed to and I take one full look at her before she notices I’m doing it.

With all the shit that has been happening in our lives, tonight is probably going to be one of the few normal days before we get back into the matters that are bothering us.

I kiss her.

“It feels like you take a kiss for every time you help me.” She puts her hand flat on my chest.

I kiss her fingers instead of arguing with the observation.

“I’ll go find Sabrina.”

“W-wat am I supposed to do?” I ask, genuinely confused.

Demetra looks behind her where all the guests are around the evening grass, fairy lights strung between trees, the Lion Pride lawn has been transformed to something out of a dream.

“Go find Slade.” She says it loud enough that Silver, who is currently conducting his own assessment of the arriving guests, can hear the instruction too. “You and Silver.”

“I just spotted Luna Indrid. She’s still smoking hot!”

“Okay.” Demetra turns and walks away.

I watch Milo help Demetra across the lawn and I smile at what a respectful young boy he’s becoming. Mom is somewhere, coming out of the limo with Alpha Ronin helping her get out of the car. Somehow, she decided to look even better than the couple getting engaged tonight. And there’s Teddy. I let her come out tonight.

“I don’t see Robin anywhere.” I scan left and right and start mentally mapping the pack security positions. What measures has the Lion Pride put in place, where are the gaps, who’s covering the east side of the property-

“Can you

not! We are here to have fun. Not to be Alpha and Beta for one evening. Do you think I should go speak to Luna Indrid?”

“Silver, you fucking beta, her husband is standing right there-”

Silver scoffs. “He was also standing right there in that birthday party when I kissed her by the tree and asked her to divorce him.”

“What.” I look at him and swear… I have not been keeping up with my brother’s love triangles.

Then I see Eden walks across the lawn but before I can follow that thread, I see the scar on his forehead from here…jagged edged, which means whatever bloody fangs got him there must be fucking brutal.

“Alpha Emris-”

“You healed alright?”

“Yes. I wanted to apologize-”

“Save it before Demetra hears you and flays me. You’re young. You need some more practice to become a much stronger wolf. You don’t expect yourself who grew up sheltered to play nasty like the Barbarian Wolves, do you?”

Eden puts his hand up toward where his bow tie is. “But they could have really hurt Teddy and I was just… unconscious. That’s not what a mate is supposed to be.”

213

“Then get stronger. Train every day. After Slade, the only other males in this house are you and your brothers Who’s gonna protect the she-wolves? All they have is you guys so don’t look to the Gammas for what you should be building yourself. Get your own strength, understood?”

Eden nods and I put a hand on his shoulder briefly. Then I see his brothers coming toward me. Craig and Timothy. Something about those two. Demetra already told me these two have been quietly planning how to get to the barbarian pack on their own.

They both intercept me before I’ve taken ten steps.

“Both of you stop. I’m getting to Radius first so you don’t need to do anything.”

“Come on, Alpha. Let’s tag in.” Craig steps forward, he’s the one with dark hair and streaks of green in it.

I put both hands in my pockets with a fucking smirk

“Last time I checked you two play hockey. This is not dancing on ice. I’m not gonna put you two at risk and make Demetra divorce me and your uncle, the Ronin one kill me on the same weekend.”

“We’re Löwenmenschs.” Timothy says.

I pretend like that changes anything. Löwenmensch means they’re half wolf, half lion. Just like the name Lion Pride.

“You know what I said about hockey?”

“Emris-”

“The answer is no.” I start walking toward the house. “You are the future of this pack. If anything happens to Slade, one of you boys or Tiffany if she wants it… becomes Alpha of the Lion Pride. That future is worth more than one night’s revenge. I’ll handle Radius. He touched my sister so I have considerably more anger stored for him than either of you do.”

I walk into the house to find Slade.

Mom and Allison are laughing about something in the corridor with champagne flutes in hand and I nod in their direction as I pass. That’s not something I ever expected to see and I’m choosing not to examine it too closely in case it stops happening.

I know I’m going in the right direction because the boys are all howling in the hallway. When I walk in, the noise gets louder as I shake Slade’s hand.

“Nervous?”

“Never!” He grins.

I look across the room and see Seth.

“Alpha Emris. I heard about what’s happening with your pack.” Seth raises his glass slightly. “I think you’re going to come out of this stronger.”

I look at him for a moment.

“Thank you.” I say.

“Can you two just…specifically you, Emris can you put whatever this is on a shelf for one night?” Slade looks between us. “Because Seth has a girlfriend now so-”

“Wait, really?” I actually turn to look at Seth properly.

Seth takes the last of his shot and raises one finger.

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