When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 92

Chapter 92

Demetra.

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“Demetra.”

Teddy whispers my name as we come down the staircase. She has flowers in her hands and they are peonies. My favorite. Is that a coincidence, or did the monster tell them to get them?

“I’m so sorry,” she says but I take the flowers anyway because I don’t want her thinking any of this is her fault.

Eden might have an argument with her later about standing on this side of whatever war is coming, but I will be sure to clear it up if it gets to that point. No one’s bond should get strained just because of mine.

“You look handsome.”

I hear and look at Derisha. She’s looking at me…okay, right after Emris.

She’s looking at me like I’m not some burden or scandal or girl who got dragged through half the pack like a problem to be solved.

Then I realize we’re somewhere in the pack house with pillars everywhere. Massive ones, white and gold, reaching up to a ceiling that has stars painted on it. Oh. This is the pack’s…. I can’t remember the name of this place, but I’ve seen pictures of it in the old historical books. This is where the Alpha King usually crowns the Luna Queen.

“Demetra, you look beautiful as well.”

I frown. Did Derisha just call me beautiful? Not whore, not slut, not a curse word or any of that. Beautiful. Wow. There really isn’t anything this woman would not do if her son asks for it, is there? She hated me. She wanted me dead five years ago. And now I’m beautiful because Emris snapped his fingers? Unbelievable.

The elders of the Covenant pack are looking at me.

I also hear the shuffle of helicopters going outside. Is that Slade? After that ridiculous video Emris sent and the way he positioned himself against me, it’s possible my brother will come here barging through the doors.

“Sir,” a security guard says, and starts whispering to Silver, who excuses himself out the side door.

The elders start the moon chant. The fire is burning in the center of the chamber but all Al’m thinking about is Amira, really. I do my best not to look at Emris’s face, but I feel his ring on my finger. I don’t have a ring for him, so one is given to me…one with an eternal moon in the center, colored blue like the sky right before dawn.

I slide the metal over his knuckle, and I don’t have any of those shaky nerves that I had with Alpha Seth.

My mind slams back into the present when I hear, “You may mark your bride.”

I hear the snip of Emris’s fangs extending, but I still don’t look up at him. I stare at the fire instead. Watch it crackle and spit. The mating fire rises and burns so long that I don’t see him until he’s in front of me.

10:29 Sat, May 16

Chapter 92

93

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Emris’s cheek presses against mine. His breath is hot on my neck and the moment his canine meets my skin; it shocks me first. A different kind of personal pain. I know it’s because of his anger against me. He’s not marking me like a lover. He’s marking me like a conqueror. I gasp, feeling myself tighten…on myself, on his arms…and then Emris dips me in a bridal fall as the feel of his canine changes from something painful to something deliciously painful.

To the point that I have to physically shiver.

I shut my eyes. Not only does it feel good…and I hate that it feels good but I’m so tired. I have been crying, on my feet, shaking for hours. I don’t know if I’m fainting right now because I’m so exhausted. I just know that I cannot stand on my own two feet anymore. And I don’t care if I fall unconscious at this point, because the mating bond is already complete.

I am bonded to Emris already.

So I might as well take that nap knowing Amira is out of danger now. The doctors said she would be unconscious for the next twelve hours or so, which means I can get some sleep for the next eight. Or six. Or three. I’ll take anything.

I feel my neck fall loosely to the side. But I also feel Emris carry me, his arms tighten under my knees and around my back. He starts to walk. I am very high from the ground in his arms and I fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat under my ear.

Stupid heartbeat. Stupid bond. Stupid me for noticing.

“Hmmm.”

I let out a sleepy moan, feeling the soft pillows under my head. Softer than anything my head has ever rested on. Ugh, finally that ache in my head has left at least. I wiggle my toes under the covers and it seems my feet are no longer sore from standing too long.

I-

“Amira.”

I whisper her name and my eyes snap open.

I lift myself up from a royalty–sized bed…..seriously! The first thing I see is a different scene staring back at me. The biggest chandelier to ever exist hangs overhead with crystals catching light I don’t even see the source of.

Everything around me are colors….not from my bedroom in the Lion Pride pack. Corals. Vintage. Marble and modern textures all staring back at me from every corner.

I fell asleep.

I push the sheet aside and see my phone right next to the pillows. I grab it and push down my dress, which was all scrunched up while I slept.

I have to go see Amira.

10:29 Sat, May 16

Chapter 92

93

55 vouchers

I put on the inside fur shoes that are at the bedside even if it’s not something one should wear outside. I simply don’t have the time to look for something else.

When I turn on my phone, it’s a hundred missed calls from… everyone. My fingers tremble as I scroll through the names. Slade. Tiffany. Eden. I already sent Dad a message to tell everyone that I’m fine and safe and not to do anything. The fact that I’m still here with no noise means the Covenant pack was totally impenetrable for Slade to do anything.

My brother would have stormed these gates with an army if he could. He didn’t. That tells me Dad didn’t allow it.

You know, I also wonder how Emris does it. Him and his gammas. I wonder how they make the pack so impenetrable. It’s got to be a sacred order or maybe his gammas are just beastly monsters. One of those two. Or both.

I start walking out of this place, squeezing into my hair as I board the elevator.

The moment I’m down on the ground floor, I’m hit by voices.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Luna Demetra.”

I turn to look at everyone frantically. Morning? No. No, I was supposed to go back to the hospital at supposedly midnight. What do they mean it’s morning? Did I sleep through the whole twelve hours? The bright lights of the ground floor tell me that it’s really morning. Sunlight is pouring through the grand windows. Birds are singing somewhere outside like nothing in the world is wrong.

“Breakfast, Luna?” A butler approaches me and I recognize him.

Jones.

“Jones?” I whisper.

“Hello, Luna Demetra.” He smiles, and it’s the same warm smile he used to give me when I was young.

“Luna Demetra?” Someone else says, and I look to see the head chef.

Susan!?

And she’s not the only one I recognize. I see… Summer….who was my…my best friend!? I remember her stuffing things quick into my bag when I was sent away five years ago. A letter.

Back then, I didn’t even get to tell her goodbye.

The moment I walk towards her, she quickly rushes to give me a hug. I hug her back and shut my eyes as I hold her hair.

“Susan,” I whisper at the head chef, who looks motherlier than the last time I saw her. She’s Summer’s mom, and around the time I was born, she was breastfeeding Summer. She told me in the past that she also breastfed me along with her daughter when my own mother was nowhere to be found.

10:29 Sat, May 16

Chapter 92

I hug both of them and smile deeply.

“I can’t believe it!” I chuckle, looking at them both at the same time.

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“Wow, you look so beautiful, Demetra.” Summer says, giggling in the exact way I remember. Moons, it was us for life those years ago. We would try out alcohol together, sneak it from her Derisha’s cabinet. We would gossip about everyone together, stay up until three in the morning painting each other’s nails.

“Let me see you…” Susan cups my cheeks with her hand, and I cover her hand with mine, kissing the back of it out of instinct.

“And WHAT is going on here?”

The warmth in my cheek freezes instantly when Derisha walks in!

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