When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Emris.

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Exactly one week after both our kids‘ birthdays. This is the day I’m expecting Demetra to walk into my home and start the commercial project.

For the past three days, I’ve made sure everything is perfect. The shed I built for her outside the Alpha’s wing is custom- made, positioned to catch the morning light exactly how she likes it. After all these years, I still remember how she used to complain about that harsh afternoon sun in my room. How she’d chase the light around a room like it was a lover.

To watch her work is a dream I’ve had since I first bought one of her pieces in Paris. To realize Demetra is that artist is a sensation no one else on this earth could understand.

But guilt follows me like a shadow.

That day in the woods, after I left her pressed against that tree….ve been thinking back and I know it was selfish. When I want something, I become selfish. I’m unable to see anything except my own need.

Granted, getting caught was my fault but the moment Demetra sat on me in that movie theatre and proceeded to kiss me like she needed air, it became a done deal. How would it not be after we brought each other to our knees and I knotted inside her…the possibility of letting her go has become impossible.

Her scent lives in my nostrils even when she’s not here. I feel her body in my hands, the give of her thighs. I taste her mouth on my lips. The passive trait of my wolf, hardened over years of isolation, has awakened. The possessiveness of her being my mate has come back with a vengeance. And this time, because I’ve lost her once.

I’ve seen what her absence can do to me. Keeping her secret is the last thing I want but now I’m being selfish again.

“Emris… what’s going on at the Alpha Wing?” Elena asks as I join the breakfast table.

I haven’t told the family yet. I’m waiting for the moment when they’re all together so I don’t have to repeat myself.

“I’m expecting someone. Where’s Mom?”

Teddy shakes her head at me when I ask. She hasn’t let go of what she saw in those woods. And it’s giving me absolutely no leverage to argue about her and Eden being together.

Stupid prize of the Alpha Fest even though Slade cheated. It’s only because of Demetra and her sweet kisses that I’ve not taken revenge.

“Here. Not that my own son cares.” Mom walks in. “The whole country is making memes of that bitch who hit me. And somehow, you take my grandson to her kid’s birthday? Is there something I don’t understand, Emris?”

Silver and Regan comes in behind her.

“No one understands your damn son.” Regan grits.

–”

“Hold on-

“No, let’s hold on to the fact that Slade used your trauma against you. How did he know?”

I stop. Walk

away

from Mom who I was about to talk to.

“How could Slade have known those facts? Only way is if that little maid you convinced Mom to keep told him.” His eyes narrow. “You were banging that little sheep, weren’t you? She was always in your room-”

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15:54 Mon, May 11 D

Chapter 44

“Is that true!?” Mom’s voice shatters the air. “You were sleeping with that whore’s daughter!?”

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“Okay, let’s calm down.” Silver raises his hands. “Demetra is Alpha Ronin’s daughter now. Can we stop calling her the whore’s daughter?”

“She is a whore’s daughter!” Mom’s face is crimson. “Even if she washes her body with hyssop, she will forever remain the seed of that bitch-”

“Mom, why do you hate her mother so much!?” Teddy’s frustration boils over.

Instead of answering, Mom walks toward me. Takes my face in her hands. Looks at me like I’m still her precious son, and it’s that specific look…the one where she’s begging to know I haven’t touched the girl she’s declared a curse. She wants to believe it’s not true. Her irises are shaking.

What would she do if she knew Demetra was my mate?

“Tell me. Tell me you were not sleeping with her-”

“What do you think?” Regan’s laugh is ugly. “Her bra in his room wasn’t there because she was trying to seduce him. It was because they were together.”

Teddy rises from her chair so fast it scrapes the floor. I watch her face shift as she connects the dots.

“So you were both together!? And you made everyone look at her like she was some desperate whore trying to seduce you? You watched Mom do that to her. No wonder she wants nothing to do with you-”

“Excuse me!?” Elena asks, expressively glaring at me.

“It is true. Demetra and I were sleeping together. No, correcting that… I was actually banging her morning, noon and night. In my bed. In her room. Against the wall in the hallway when everyone was asleep. In the back of my car like we were teenagers. However I wanted, whenever I wanted.” I say it, and there’s no shame in my voice.

Why would there be? She’s my mate. I was supposed to be inside her.

I don’t raise my head to see the expressions on Mom’s face, or Regan’s, or Silver’s. I definitely don’t look at Elena. I don’t need to. I can feel them all staring at me like I’ve just grown a second head.

I have one more thing to say, and they’re going to hear it.

“You all know those art pieces I used to fly to Paris to acquire?” I ask but no one answers me, they are still shocked–either at my confession or the choice of my words. Probably both. Elena probably never thought I’d admit it so bluntly. Mom probably never thought her son was capable of… what? Claiming someone?

“I signed a contract with the artist months before she arrived in Georgia. That artist is Demetra. She’ll be coming to the Alpha wing to paint-”

“She’s coming to our pack!?–”

“For work, Mom.” I keep my voice level because if I don’t I’ll lose it. “It’s not in the main pack house, so there’s no reason to get aggravated.”

“I don’t want her anywhere around!”

“Demetra once lived here.” I give a reminder she clearly needs.

“And so!?” Elena seethes, pushing past Regan to get in my space. You were fucking her!? Emris, you…were sleeping with her? She was a damn maid! She scrubbed floors, she cleaned bathrooms, she–what could possibly be attractive about her? What did she have that made you-”

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15:54 Mon, May 11 >

Chapter 44

“Are you kidding me, Demetra was beautiful even as a maid.” Teddy scoffs. “she was curvy-”

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“Shut the hell up!” Elena whirls on her, then snaps back to me, eyes blazing. “You call that curvy? It’s just cheap hips and boobs. She was dumpy and plain! She walked around with her head down like she was ashamed to exist because she knew she didn’t belong here–”

I’m on my feet before she finishes the sentence.

“I’m not asking for permission.” My voice hardens. “Is that clear to all of you? I’m letting you know in advance not to bother her. Let her do her job. No one is allowed to come to the Alpha wing.”

“Are you being serious right now?” Mom grabs my hand and furious tears spills down her cheeks.

“Emris, tell me…did they do something to you!? Why are you going close to the Lion Pride pack? Have you forgotten what they did to your father!? Have you forgotten that they didn’t give us an explanation about what happened to him? Just his dead, limp body dumped on our land like garbage?”

Her fingers dig into my shirt. “You saw it, Emris. You were there. You saw him!”

Mom buries her face in my chest and cries hysterically. I wrap my arms around her, holding her up because her knees are giving out.

I can never forget.

I can never forget the grudge I hold toward the Lion Pride Pack. I’ve been carrying that for years now, wrapped around my chest like barbed wire. But that has nothing to do with Demetra. She’s separate. She’s mine. These two things don’t touch.

I’m handling the matter of the grudge with Alpha Ronin separately. Th

territories.

Three hundred thousand acres.

why I’m working on getting the land between our

Three hundred thousand acres of the richest, blackest soil in the entire region. Land that’s been farmed for generations and produces enough to feed their entire population of three million wolves. Those crops are transported to every supermarket and farmer’s market in a fifty–mile radius.

It’s the biggest agricultural territory in the country and its been in their family for over a century.

That’s the territory I’m fighting for and I’m this close to getting it

See, the Black Covenant Pack isn’t just any pack. We’re the original. The ones who started everything in this country. When the first rogues crossed over, they crossed into our land. When the first treaties were signed, they were signed with us.

The judge in charge of the case knows this and they also know what happens when they rule against me. Plus, I make their pockets heavy enough that they remember.

So yeah. I’ll win the case and use it to punish Alpha Ronin.

Let him watch his people go hungry. Let him explain to three million wolves why there’s no food in the supermarkets. I’m not a patient wolf. Never have been. But for this grudge, I can walt a little longer.

“Sir?” An omega housekeeper appears in the doorway clearly nervous about interrupting.

“Miss Demetra Pride has arrived at the pack house.”

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