When You Were My Mate (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Emris

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My knuckles are white around the phone. “She called herself Miss Pride. I want you to find out who she is at once!” I snarl into the receiver.

The door clicks open and Silver walks in.

Who are you telling that?” he asks.

I slam the phone down. “A fucking detective!”

Regan slinks in next. “You should have just ripped the glasses from her face.”

Silver sighs. “Moons, now why would he do that? That would bring up a war between him and Slade.”

Yet, a war already exists between our packs already.” Regan counters, but his eyes are on me, hungry for my reaction.

Wait. Emris….why are you acting upset in the first place? Is it because Alpha Ronin has a daughter? Or is it because the daughter looks like the housekeeper you used to keep around? You kicked her out, don’t you remember?”

My hand goes to my forehead, pressing against the sudden, violent ache. Idiots. They have no idea she was my mate. I buried that truth so deep and let them think Demetra was just a stray I’d tired of. They can’t comprehend the magnitude of this.

“I just want to know.” I lie.

But Regan’s eyes light up with a lewd understanding. He points a finger at me and starts chuckling.

“Wait were you sleeping with her?” He sees the truth I’m not saying and runs with it. “You n found her bra in your room. Don’t tell me—”

“Stop making shit up.” Silver hisses.

‘n, right? Mom

I tune them out. My hands find the solid edge of my desk and I grip until the wood groans. I stare into the middle distance, thinking. It cannot be Demetra. My wolf is screaming that it is, but my mind… my logic rebels. If it is Demetra, how can she be called Miss Pride? Her blood is common. Her mother was from the Black Covenant pack and my mom said she slept around.

Plus, this woman that wore glasses had a daughter. The girl looked almost Milo’s age. The harder I try to force the pieces together, the more they shatter

The phone rings again and snatch it up.

Is she really his daughter?”

“There’s not much information on her.

Alpha’s lost daughter was found

But I saw that it was nounced to the Lion Pride pack five years ago that the

Five years ago. That was the year 1 threw Demetra out of the pag

This Miss Pride appeared five years ago toon

“Are there any pictures of her?”

“No, none, sir”

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18:30 Fri, Apr

Chapter 9

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“How can there be none!?” The roar tears from my throat and I am about to shatter the phone in my hand when the door flies open.

Elena stumbles into the sitting room. Her face is a mess of streaked mascara and red, blotchy skin. The makeup she wore at the parent-teacher conference is utterly ruined. She swipes at her cheeks, but the tears are fresh. I left her there to go hunt down the truth about Miss Pride.

“What happened?” Regan goes to meet her.

But she ignores him. Her watery eyes lock onto me, and she rushes across the room and throws herself against my chest. “Honey,” she whimpers, staining my shirt with her tears.

“What happened.”

“Slade,” she chokes out, and her sleeve slips back as she lifts a trembling hand to my face. There, on her wrist, is an ugly, blossoming bruise in the shape of fingers.

Rage, immediate and volcanic, ignites in my gut. “I was having a conversation with that white-haired woman after she insulted me. She said I was senseless and hoped our son wasn’t going to be the same, for no reason! I went after her to warn her, and Slade came from nowhere. He grabbed my wrist and pushed me. Right in front of everyone, Emris!”

Five years of carefully constructed control, of leashing the bitter feral thing inside me, shatters like glass. It’s been five years since I’ve been learning to control my wolf and its bitterness. Things like this mess with me and cause slits to show in my eyes in uncountable rages.

“He just did that to you because you were speaking to his sister? Silver asks.

Elena pulls back from me. “Do you… do you think I’m lying?” He wounded gaze finds mine again. “Have I ever had a problem like this with anyone before? Emris, please.”

She buries her face back into my chest, and the decision is made. It’s already been made. Th have to wait. This is a direct challenge. An assault on the Luna of the black covenant pack.

He bruised her wrist. I’m going to take his entire arm.

ry of Miss Pride will

“Don’t worry. I will take revenge for you. And I will do it at the Alpha Fest. I will make Slade the Alpha of one wrist. He will

be too ashamed to even continue to fight for the territory with me. I will make him beg for his life.”

“The… the Alpha Fest?”

Silver knows the weight of what I’m saying.

“Yes. It’s in three days.”

I release her from where she was pressed against me. I need air at isn’t tainted by her perfume and her tears

I leave my office now thinking of Slade. His name is a poison inmy mind. We became enemies at a very young age. I don even remember the first event, the original spark. But I remember the reason. It was always about the wolt About me. When I was younger, the control wasn’t a skill I possessed; it was a beast that possessed me. My eyes would sometimes stay yellow one human, one wolf, a glaring defect my human form Andong the pack children who whispered and pomites Stade was the loudest. He didn’t just mock, he crafted the mockery in a weapon

That childish cruelty hardened into a permanent rivalry throng teenage years and into adulthood And when my father died in the presence of Alpha Ronin during a coordinated attack that his pack gave us no information about my haired fo the whole Lion Pride pack hardened

My sister, Twinkle, is coming down the staircase with a sleeping ag tucked under her arm She freezes mil-step when she sees me like a deer caught in torchlight

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Chapter 9

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“Are you not supposed to be at work? Or at the field? Or… somewhere having some Alpha meeting?” she asks, her voice a little too high.

“And are you not supposed to be in college?” I counter, arching a brow.

“Emris…” she rolls her eyes. “We just finished our finals. I’m free And I’m going to my friend’s place for a sleepover.” She reaches the foot of the stairs and peers up at me.

“Wait… you look kind of upset.”

I am upset. A storm is brewing behind my ribs. But looking at her, another kind of tension coils in my gut. She’s nineteen. No longer a child, but a young woman moving through a world all of male wolves with their own agendas. The boys in our pack, and worse, in other packs, are watching her.

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