CHAPTER FIFTY ONE- MARICELA

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE- MARICELA
He’s staring at me. He hasn’t taken his damned eyes off me from the moment I walked into the room.

Khloe picked my dress out, it’s tight but breathable. I felt ridiculous but now, seeing the effect I have, I’ll admit I feel beautiful. I feel attractive, worthy even. It skims down over my breasts, giving enough hint of my cleavage to be sexy without being inappropriate and the colour, the dark red, well it makes my skin glow, like I’ve spent days sunning myself on a beach and not crying every night away in heartbreak. 

Ryker murmurs something in my ear. I don’t hear it though, I’m too busy doing everything not to look at Adriel because I know if I do, I’ll crumble. So instead, I smile at his brother, smile at his sister too.

Cain gives me a warm welcome as does his other parents. 

And then we sit. Ryker was good enough to ensure there was a place setting for me ahead of time so there’s no awkwardness, and Khloe made sure that that we could sit next to each other, that under no circumstances would I be sat at the same end as them.

“Wine?” Ryker says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder in that brotherly way he seems to have adopted.

I go to nod but a growl from the other end of the table sends a jolt down my spine, puts my hair on end. 

He fucking growled? I don’t look. I don’t dare, but it takes all of my energy to not react. How dare he? How dare he act like the jealous Mate right now when she is sat next to him and I’m just supposed to act like that’s not happening?

Of course everyone else looks. Cain is looking unimpressed. Even his mother looks uncomfortable.

“Why is she here?” Lia says loudly.

And I look up then. I look right back at the woman who’s stealing my mate. She fixes me with that gaze that I guess is meant to be intimidating, only, it doesn’t have the same power anymore. It’s like I suddenly understand her, like I can see the game she’s playing. And in my head, I repeat over and over that I’m going to destroy her. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I’m going to bring this bitch down. 

“This is a private family dinner.” She says. Like she’s in charge. 

I hear the low growl from Cain, and I can see he’s pissed that she’s acting like that. 

“Maricela has every right to be here.” Khloe says.

“She is not part of this family.” Lia hisses.

“Enough.” Aeron snarls and that finally silences her. 

She looks between them, Aeron and Cain, then she stares back at my Mate. “Adriel?” She half whispers, as if she’s pleading for him to step in now and override his parents.

He gives her what feels like a death stare. “Shut up, Lia.” He says so quietly I feel like I misheard him.

I bite my lip, trying to fight the wave of something that seems to rise up at those words and I take a sip of my glass that Ryker has seen fit to fill. 

“Now that that’s cleared up.” Khloe says smirking. “Grandpa, this is Maricela.”

I look at the one Wolf I don’t recognise. There’s a lot of them, a lot of this family. With Rosalie having two mates and eight offspring between them, it’s hard to imagine any family get together isn’t tempestuous at best.

“Hello, Maricela.” The older Wolf says. “I’m Orion. Orion Sullivan.”

I gulp, my eyes darting to Rosalie and back. Her father is here too? I don’t know why that unnerves me so much, but it does.

“Hi,” I manage to stammer. 

“I’m sure your father told you a lot about me growing up.” He says delicately.

I nod quickly, even as my cheeks heat because Orion and my father all but hated each other. 

Lia scoffs, muttering, “Like you’d know.” 

I don’t rise to the bait. Somehow it feels like I really don’t need too because for once it feels like I have enough allies in this room.

“Shall we eat?” Connor says pointing to the food that is literally laid out in front of us all.

I dig in with everyone else. Ryker gives me an encouraging smile and then piles my plate up even more which makes me laugh. And makes Adriel stare at me more. 

“So, Maricela, how are you fitting in?” Orion asks.

I look across at him and shrug. “Okay, I guess.”

“It must be hard to adjust to a new Pack.” He says gently.

“It is, and this one is so different from the Aurora one.” I reply, as if that’s my only issue. 

“How?” Adriel asks cutting across the conversation Lia is clearly trying to engage him in. Her eyes react, her face shows a micro expression of fury and then she replaces it with a mask of composure.

I shift for a second in my seat, as once more all other conversations die and everyone looks between us. “We didn’t live on the ground like this.” I say, not quite looking at him. Not able to meet his eyes because I know I’ll get lost in them forever. “We had a Packhouse on ground level of course, but the majority of the Pack lived in the trees. It was easier that way, what with being in the jungle.”

Lia doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t refute it but I guess she’d be stupid to. 

“And the Pack themselves, the way we operated feels different.” I add. 

“In what way?” Adriel replies.

I shrug. I don’t want to say what I mean, that the more physically powerful the Wolves the higher their ranking, that the weaker ones got the menial tasks, and that I, being a Mutt was the lowest of the pecking order, even with my father’s blood.

Adriel opens his mouth to say something else but Cain cuts across him. “Let the poor girl eat.” 

I take a sip of my drink and mercifully the conversation starts up again.