Chapter 12 Her day
Auren's pov
“You know you’re the first girl that has captured my brother's interest in almost three years now,” Hope says as she cuts the chicken on her plate.
I look up too fast as my eyes widen.
We sat at the long dining table having lunch. Hope had decided to babysit me after Dravik left for errands. I wanted to walk around on my own earlier, but the looks I got from the pack members made my stomach twist. Their eyes followed me like I was something strange in a place I don’t belong so I ran back to Dravik’s room and stayed there until Hope came.
“Three years?” I ask, keeping my voice small.
“Yes. Before Lyra. Which is weird because I have tried setting him up with lots of my friends…..lots”
That name again. Cassy mentioned earlier now Hope says it so softly it almost sounds sacred.
“Who is Lyra?” I ask.
“My brother’s mate and love of his life,” she grabs the salad bowl. “She died three years ago, and he has not looked at another woman since.”
So Alpha Dravik loved someone once. Hard to imagine him being soft with anyone. Hard to even imagine him touched by any feeling at all.
She studies me a little too long. “You remind me so much of her. Your eyes, I think.”
I drop my gaze to my food. Nothing good about being told you remind someone of a ghost.
The door opens and Cassy walks in with her phone pressed to her ear wearing the shortest dress I have ever seen. She stops the moment she sees me and ends the call.
Hope gives her a polite nod. “Cassy.”
She nods back like she is granting mercy. “Hope.”
Then she looks at me. Her eyes sweep over me in a slow, cold way.
“Seems the stray is making herself at home. How are you enjoying your room?”
My throat tightens. I push food down even though my stomach doesn’t want it.
“I’m talking to you,” she snaps. “When I talk you reply.”
Hope sighs. “Cassy, stop it.”
“Why should I?” Cassy lifts her chin. “We all know what she is. A pretty little project he wants to fix or break. Hard to tell with him. Maybe he just needed someone easy.”
Heat crawls up my neck. I want to leave, but I stay still. Running only makes people chase you and inflict more pain.
“Enough.” Hope's voice tightens.
Cassy turns on her. “You don’t like her either so stop with your holy act. You seriously want this—this nothing to be the Luna of this pack? You’re only tolerating her because Dravik dropped her in your lap.”
Hope glances at me and didn’t argue. That silence cuts deeper than any insult. She doesn’t trust me much. Maybe she doesn’t know what to make of me either.
One of Cassy’s maids walks by carrying luggage. “Going somewhere?” Hope asks, her brow lifting.
She tosses her hair with dramatic grace.
“Mother-in-law drama. I have to go settle a few things back home.” She glances back at me. “I hope you drop dead before I come back, stray. Tataaa, bitches.”
She strides out, her curvy back side swinging, her head held high like she owns the very ground she is walking on..
Hope lets out a long breath. “You’ll get used to her eventually.”
I doubt that. Cassy is too beautiful, too confident, too perfect. The kind of girl who looks like a Luna without trying. I wonder why Dravik didn’t go for her. Instead he came to my pack and dragged home a useless wolfless girl as a wife.
“You said Alpha Dravik hasn’t looked at a woman since Lyra,” I say quietly. “Then why me?”
Hope shrugs. “I don’t know. You shouldn’t worry about that, he is an honorable man. The only thing you should fear is if the moon goddess gives him a fated mate because that’s what he told me he was waiting for.”
My breath hitch as my mind drifts to Eron, my own mate, the way he abandoned me without blinking. I hope he is living miserably.
“You have a mate, don’t you?” She asks, eyeing me. “I can tell by the way your eyes flickered.”
“I did,” I whisper. “He rejected me.”
Her face softens. “I know how that feels. Mine rejected me too once he found out who my brother was. You know Dravik’s reputation.”
I nod. She sets her dishes aside.
“Anyway, as I was saying earlier, my brother seems to like you.”
I don’t know if that should make me happy. I can be cast aside any moment, sent back to my old pack when he finally realizes I'm useless to him or when he finds his fated mate.
I know how people treasure the fated mate bond, one of the reasons I thought Eron will do the same.
My own father had been engaged to another when he found out my mum is his fated mate. He stopped the engagement without even blinking and married my mum. He told me that was the best decision he had ever made.
Hope decides to head to the hospital and pulls me along. The hospital is empty all day and she keeps busy stocking shelves and arranging medication.
Why have a huge hospital when your people can heal fast?
I help her sort some herbs and supplies. She finds a dirty magazine tucked between boxes and hands it to me with a grin.
“You can read this while I clean.”
My heart pounded as I stared at the paper, trying to concentrate as the words blur. I look up at her smiling and back to the magazine again. She watches me.
“You can’t read, can you?.”
I shake my head.
She pulls up a chair taking the magazine from my hands.
“Let’s see what we have here then.”
Learning words is harder than I expected. My head hurts a bit from all the pronunciations. Hope laughs when I mix up words and I feel embarrassed, yet a part of me warms at someone trying for me without shouting.
Hours pass, then she pauses suddenly, her face going blank.
“My brother is back.”
“How do you know?”
“Pack link.”
She stands as the door swings open. Alpha Dravik fills the space like a storm. His jaw is tight, his eyes more silver than usual.
Something has gone terribly wrong.
“I need a word with my mate,” he growls.
“Of course.”
She slips out and closes the door behind her.
I stare at the floor. My heart is beating too fast. What have I done wrong?
“Where has your uncle gone to?”
I look up, unsure if I heard right. “Huh?”
He steps closer. “Do I need to repeat myself?”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I have no idea what he means.
He towers over me. “We went back to your pack. There was no one there. No one.”
Confusion and fear swirls in my chest as he grabs me by the neck. The pressure is firm, not enough to crush, yet enough to hold my breath still.
“Has all this been a lie?” His voice shakes with rage. “A set up? A trap? Did you think you could get close and gather something on me?”
I claw at his wrist, not to fight him, only to breathe. I can feel the anger radiating from him and his eyes looks murderous.
“Tell me where the fuck they are or I will break your neck right here.”