Five
Desmond walked over and placed a hand on the small of my back, pushing me out of the room. “Good. Go out to the dance floor. I’ll be out in a second. When I get there, you’re going to be helplessly in love with me. Got it?” He winked at me.
I glared. “I hate you.”
“No, we’re passionately in love, remember? I’ll be out soon.”
Reluctantly, I went out to the dance floor, clenching and unclenching my hands. I saw Nina out on the dance floor, spinning around with Damien. Even I had to admit, the two of them looked gorgeous together. They were one step away from happiness…. only me and Nina’s ex-boyfriend were going to ruin all of that. “I’m a horrible sister; I’m a horrible sister…. fuck!”
I had to do what was needed to keep my family’s place in Moon City. I was at the whim of immortals, like all humans here were.
“Honey!” My Mom, Jenna Westmore, smiled when she saw me. She waved me over. “Where have you been? I hope you haven’t been hiding this whole time. You know how important The Choosing Ceremony is for young women like you.”
I had a sudden memory of my mom cooking dinner for Desmond when he first started to court my sister. She’d been so excited to have the Alpha dating her daughter. It had been such an honor for her. When he died, she’d been almost as at a loss as Nina had been. If she knew Desmond were alive, she’d be so thrilled. Still, I had to carry everything out the way Calix and Demsond wanted. “No. I—-I had to take a call, about work. Calix had a question about my schedule.”
My mom frowned. “I wish you would find a job working for the DuPont family. Loyalty is prized in Moon City. Working for a vampire clan doesn’t look good when we are humans who are loyal to werewolves. You know how important being protected in Moon City is.”
I sighed. “Calix takes care of me. Anyway, I don’t want to work for a DuPont family business. I don’t want to be bothered by desperate werewolves looking for a mate.”
“Why not?” Mom pursed her lips together. “That’s the best way to get ahead in Moon City. You know that. Don’t even think about telling me it’s because you’re in love with that vampire boss of yours. That’s never going to happen. Not as long as I’m alive.”
I took a deep breath. Mom always believed that marrying an immortal was the best way to get ahead. As long as it wasn’t a vampire. She didn’t really see them as immortals. To her, vampires were monsters.
Mom hadn’t had the chance to marry an immortal because she’d gotten pregnant when she was young. Our father, who was a human, had been banished from Moon City for being part of some organization that wanted to get rid of the secret cities Immortals inhabited. We had never seen him since, but that meant our loyalty to the DuPont pack, as well as the city, was always in question by others. They only ever saw us as being connected to a traitor. Because of this, Mom wanted us secure with mates.
It made life complicated sometimes. I had to act like my father didn’t exist. Moon City was my home. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. But sometimes, it made things hard and I did think about what it would be like to have a father….
Not enough to make me want to leave, though. So, I would do whatever it took with to make that happen. Even dealing with my sister’s ex-boyfriend coming back from the dead.
I forced a smile on my face. “I know you think that’s the answer to everything, Mom. But I want something a little more.”
I wasn’t about to tell her about Calix. She’d never been comfortable with me working for vampires. She thought it questioned our loyalty to the DuPont pack. I couldn’t imagine what she would do if she found out that Calix had all but admitted that he was in love with me.
Everyone was having a good time, but then the room stilled. I heard whispers going through the crowd. The hair on the back of my neck went up. I knew exactly who had come in the room.
“Oh, my gods!” the cry of shock came from my mother.
I followed her gaze, my eyes landing on Desmond. He walked through the crowd, directly to me, right where I stood. “Iris,” his voice was deep when he spoke. His golden eyes roamed over me, smoldering like molten hot lava. There was something about the way he looked at me that went right to my core, even though it shouldn’t have. Calix, Calix, Calix….
I had to think of him. He was the one I wanted to be with, not Desmond. When this was all over, I would be. We would get to have a happy ending. I could play the role that Desmond needed me to. But nothing would happen beyond that.
“Iris. The gods have told me that you are my mate. Will you accept my hand?” he held his out to me.
I stared at his hand. I could feel everyone watching, including my sister, whose eyes were so wide that I thought they were going to pop out of her head. She was trembling with rage too, her fists clenched. I suspected the only reason she wasn’t lunging at me was because Damien was keeping her from doing it.
“DESMOND?” Nina shouted.
The crowd parted. Nina angrily wrenched away from Damien, then pushed her way through to where we were standing. Nina wore a tight, red, off the shoulder dress with a slit up her thigh. Her blond hair was in an updo, and at that moment, she looked every bit the angry luna she aspired to be.
Desmond held my hand tightly while turning to Nina. “Ah, Nina. I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you had died with me.”
Nina’s blue eyes glared at him. “You’re not dead! They pulled me out from the lake, and they told me that you were dead! I mourned you. W-w-why are you alive? W-w-why are you proposing to my sister?”
Desmond smiled. “She is my mate. The gods have shown me that. This whole time, I thought they were pointing to you. But my time away made it clear to me that it was always Iris that I was supposed to be with. That’s why the gods took me away from you.”
Nina turned her gaze on me. “Were you fucking him?”
My eyes widened. “What are you talking about? I’m your sister, Nina! Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Nina glared. “I know that the Alpha that was going to choose me to be his Luna disappeared is back, suddenly saying that you’re his mate. What did you do, you little slut?” There was so much hate in her eyes. The last person I had seen her look at like that had been her cheerleading rival for co-captain in high school.
“Nina!” my mom gasped. “You know your sister. She would never do anything like that.”
“Desmond?!” Another voice called through the crowd. This time, it was a man I recognized him as being the one that had been in the garden talking to Alice. He was tall, with grey hair. Now that he was closer, I thought I knew him but couldn’t remember his name. He was part of the DuPont pack, though.
“Mother?” Desmond stared at her. Then turned to look at the man she was with. “Uncle? Your—”
“You’re ALIVE?” this came from Alice, who looked at him with complete shock. “I thought you were dead!”
“What do you mean you’ve chosen this random nobody to be your luna?” the man next to her, that must have been Desmond’s uncle, demanded.
The room filled with growls. I was in a room full of immortal werewolves. A dead man had come back. Now, the position of the DuPont Wolf Pack Alpha hung more in the balance than ever. Which made the man I stood next to everyone’s worst enemy. He had also declared me, a human, his mate.
I was so, so, fucked.
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