When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Emris.

“Coffee. Black. No sugar.”

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I tell the assistant…the one with the wide eyes who looks like she seen a ghost. Poor thing probably isn’t used to seeing an Alpha this size in s pretty little office. I settle into the sitting area and let my gaze wander over everything Demetra has built.

The high rise building itself is impressive. I’ll give her that. Clean lines, intentional design at every corner. You can tell she didn’t cut corners… the architecture is quality and has thought behind it. Very, very impressive to see what she’s built.

I caught myself going “wow” at the structures and the way it screams money well spent. I would know….I’ve spent enough of it. And that’s saying something, considering when she was my secret mate, she couldn’t be moved by money. Now she has all this, plus the luck of being an Alpha’s daughter behind her.

For the longest time, I’ve wanted to know who the Metra artist really was. And this isn’t even me invading her workplace… this is legit. There was a six–month notice that Metra would finally reveal her face and, for the first time in history, take commercial commissions. As someone who bought one piece in Paris and continued to buy every single creation after that, I knew I had to be her first client.

So this is win–win. Imagine how I felt when I found out she’s Demetra.

I knew she used to draw, but I didn’t know she had talent like this. Then again, that’s on me. She knew everything about who I am, but I never asked about her greatest joys. Never cared enough to dig deeper.

“Thank you, Lolly.” Demetra finally gets her face under control. The moment the door clicks shut, she turns to me.

I smile again. She’s wearing a top that’s meant to hide the bites all over her neck. But I can tell she’s not wearing a bra. Her tits stand perfectly on their own with a natural curve and flush. I look long enough, I can see the shape of her nipples through the fabric. Are they still sore from my mouth last night

And that skirt. That slit gives me a milky view of her legs….specifically those perfect thighs that rode me to soreness last night. Delicious sore.

She looks at the file in her hand and swallows. I think she’s finally realizing the surname. The pack name. Don’t tell me she was so busy building her empire that she didn’t even read which pack she signed a contract with.

“Your pack house?” Her voice is careful.

“Yes.” I cross my legs. “And before you say anything and make me out to be some kind of stalker…I didn’t even know you were Metra a month ago. I simply loved your art.”

The assistant returns with my coffee and places it on the table. I raise an eyebrow in thanks.

“Um…” Demetra’s fingers shake slightly as she sits across from me crossing her legs like she’s trying to figure out what this is.

“You look confused.”

“Can you shut your mouth for a second?” She hisses.

I grin. “Oh… so that’s how you talk to your clients?”

“No, that’s how I talk to you.”

“Except I’m a client who paid good money for your services.” I lean back, enjoying this. “You charged me half a million. Read that contract over and over again. You know what a breach of contract means? The penalty costs? You know what you stand to lose if you even think about backing out now?”

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Chapter 37

Demetra scoffs and rolls her eyes.

Well. Big money contracts command big money lawsuits. And big money penalties for failing to deliver.

“I take my work very seriously,” she grits out.

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“I expect that.” I chuckle, loving how fate keeps aligning us, making it harder for her to stay away. “How are you?”

“I’m trying to read this file, if you don’t mind.”

“The Demetra I know never rode me. You were such a pillow princess and last night you made me your pillow prince.”

“Emris, can you-”

“What? Your office walls have ears?”

“All walls have ears. And we’re here to talk about a job, not anything else.” She shuts the file and reaches for my coffee like she thinks it’s hers. The moment she tastes it, she sets it back down with a disgusted face.

“Ew.”

“Yeah. My coffee.”

She looks at the actual coffee on the table meant for her, rolls her eyes again, and pushes forward. “Whatever. Ten designs will be drawn in your house.”

“And I get to watch you draw.” I can’t help but chuckle again.

“You should know that under the contract, if I’m unsafe in any of the working environments I’m meant to work in, it will be voided and you will never receive your money back. You signed that.” She tilts her head, a challenge in her eyes. “So… I guess the question is…is your mentally mad mother aware?”

“Demetra.” I scowl now.

“Oh, but your mother is mad. And Elena?” She gets up, leaving the file on the table, her hand on her waist like she’s ready for war. “Let’s just end this. You don’t see a problem with me in your house after what happened between us? You have a son. A Luna. It’s disrespectful to do that to them.”

“I am a good father to my son.”

“A good father is loyal to his son’s mother.” She glares at me, fire in those eyes.

“I could say the same for you-”

“Exactly. Because of Amira, I want nothing to do with you. But you won’t reject me. What do you want me to do?!” Her voice rises and the playful banter we had moments ago is dead. Now we’re digging up old wounds.

I twitch my lips, forcing control. “Let’s calm down.”

“Calm down? Of course you’re stubborn. There’s no way you’re ending the contract.” She storms back to her seat, grabbing a pen and refusing to look at me. “What part of your house would you want the designs in, sir?”

Sir. Hmm.

“My Alpha wing.”

Demetra looks up at me.

The Alpha wing is private mansion belonging to every Alpha of the Black Covenant Pack. Since I became Alpha, I inherited

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Chapter 37

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1. it. It’s an ancestral thing, my designated working palace. Where I work late hours. It has bedrooms…several, actually. It’s a real mansion cut off from the main pack house, standing separate on its own grounds.

“An Alpha wing-”

“I have a nice garden in front of it. I can build you a shade for the sun so you can paint comfortably. There’s a lake nearby, a good kilometre away from the main house. No one is allowed there except with my explicit instruction.” I hold her gaze. “So you don’t have to worry about my mother. Or Elena. Or anyone else. You can paint there in peace.”

The anger on her face softens slightly. I think she’s also realizing that the contract explicitly states that clients can watch the artist work. And moons know I can’t wait. It gives me access to her. Time with her. A chance to know her again, to see her, to speak to her, to get the answers I’ve been starving for.

“What would be the best time for you?”

“One week from now. Milo’s birthday is coming up.” I watch her bite her lip. “When is Amira’s birthday?”

“Close to that date, actually. Strange.” Demetra says and I lean forward, pieces clicking together and calculations running through my mind at that information.

Elena gave birth to Milo premature… he came two months early but was strong for someone born that early. I guess Demetra fell pregnant shortly after she left my pack. It was exactly two months after I slept with Elena that she conceived Milo, carrying him seven months.

Amira should have been older than Milo by two months, but their birthdays the same age.

Did she have a one–night stand? Or-

“Got it. In one week, I’ll begin the project. The project will take at least a month. That’s all, Mr. Covenant.”

“I bonded with Elena because she found out she was pregnant.” I say, hopefully trying to plant seeds that will make her question this rejection she wants so badly. The fucking Council of Bonds will send me a message soon and then the rest of my family will know. I can only keep them in the dark for so long. I don’t want to reject Demetra. I want her back. I watch Demetra’s face for something that tells me she wants to know more but she gives me nothing.

“I thought she was you…I was drunk and mourning the loss of you.” My voice drops “I thought you came back to me that tonight-”

I search her face for something…anything…that tells me she wants to know more. She gives me nothing.

She smiles, tries not to chuckle. “Poor Emris. Why would I come back after you threatened to leave a claw on the back of your own mate-”

“I was angry.”

“You already rejected me. I’m only asking for the finalized part of it. I’m ending what you started. The moment you called me a whore, watched your mother hurt me…what we had was already over. I want to marry. Start my own family.” Her eyes light up when she says that, like she’s thinking of him… the man she wants to do that with.

Right after I fucked her, after we looked into each other’s eyes and reached a peak no other man could give her, she’s thinking of another man.

“Demetra-”

“Right. Well. I have to prepare for my next meeting. You can take your leave, sir.”

She closes the file like I don’t exist anymore.

I get up slowly and my shadow falls over her. I don’t say anything There’s no need. We’ll see each other again in a week. And

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Chapter 37

in a month, I’ll chase you back and make you mine again–the way you were when you were my mate.

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