3. THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT

Nessa was probably not thinking clearly and was acting impulsively, but the image of Leon with Abby kept replaying in her mind, filling her with disgust even at the sight of his face.

“I, Nessa Andrea Harts, reject you…”

However, before Nessa could finish her sentence to reject Leon, he had slapped her so hard it sent her to the floor.

Her ears rang from the sudden force, and for a few seconds, she didn’t even realize what just happened. Nessa stared at him while holding her burning cheek.

Leon was livid; he yelled at her.

Nessa had never seen him so furious before, and truth be told, it was very terrifying. He was the alpha, after all.

“I have had enough of your tantrum!” Leon snapped at Nessa. He towered above her; his eyes filled with annoyance. “I say we will talk about this! I have tolerated enough of your childishness! You should be the luna of this pack! This is not how we fix problems! How could you want to reject me for one mistake?!”

Nessa sat there on the floor, listening to Leon’s rambling. She didn’t know this man… He looked like an entirely different person.

“I will not tolerate this anymore! You have humiliated me and put me through an uncomfortable situation! You make me deploy all the warriors to look for you, leaving them wondering about what happened between us!”

Nessa tuned out the rest of his long rambles. He talked about how important communication was and the sacred mate bond between them, about how it was not strong enough because they had been apart for so long, and about his idea to fix it.

Nessa was so taken aback by the slap that she was unable to process the addition with a straight mind. Leon showed her the side that she had never seen before, which confused her even further.

Her ears kept ringing, and by the time Leon knelt down in front of Nessa, his expression softened; he stretched out his hand to caress her cheek, his brows furrowed.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but you should know that you are the luna of the pack. You have to be mindful of your actions and think carefully before throwing a tantrum.” His voice was gentle. “We can fix this.”

He then continued with his monologue.

“You will be the luna of the pack. I will forgive you for your outburst this time, but next time, I want you to think clearly before you run away. You are not a child. That’s not a proper example of a luna.” Leon grabbed her elbow to pull her up. “And one more, I don’t appreciate it if you threw the words of rejection very easily. This is a sacred bond that we shared.”

“Next time?” Nessa narrowed her eyes. She was sure that she heard it wrong. “What do you mean by next time? Are you planning to sleep with her again next time?”

Nessa gritted her teeth, her anger flaring once more. She glared at Leon, and the alpha could feel it.

“That was a mistake. It will never happen again.” He shook his head. “We will talk about this tomorrow. I will give you the space that you need. I will not return tonight, but don’t overthink it. I have an important meeting with my beta and gamma.”

There were a lot of things to talk about after the long battle against the Golden Creek pack, after all. 

“You are my mate. Someone with whom I will spend the rest of my life. Don’t throw it away for your ridiculous outburst.”

In his eyes, it was a ridiculous outburst…

“We will talk about this tomorrow when you calm down and stop being a child.” Leon kissed her forehead as he always did. “Go and get some rest. There are a few things I need to take care of.”

Nessa sat there, watching Leon walk away from her. She was still astonished at how he turned things around and made them sound like they were her fault.

He emphasized the fact that she ran away, not the reason behind it.

Her head ached, and if Leon was right about anything, it was that she was in dire need of rest.

Nessa couldn’t even feel her body when she went to her bedroom and lay down there. She felt like she could sleep for a whole day or even more. 

Soon enough, Nessa fell asleep, only to wake up an hour later to a loud noise from her bedroom door. Someone knocked crazily. From the sound of it, Nessa wouldn’t be surprised if they tore it down.

“Nessa! Come out, I need to talk to you!”

Nessa recognized her voice; it must be the former luna, Luna Kylie. She was Leon’s mother; she was the one who strongly opposed Leon having an omega like Nessa to be his mate and the future luna.

She must have been joyful with tears when she learned that her son finally gave in to the temptation and slept with Abby.

Nessa wanted to ignore her, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t go; the former luna was getting obnoxious.

“Come out now, you dirty omega!”

Nessa finally pushed her exhausted body off the bed and got up; she was not ready for another confrontation, but with former Luna Kylie, it was unavoidable.

And once Nessa opened the door, a harsh slap landed on her cheek, which made her stagger back. It was not as strong as Leon’s, but still, it was a slap that was filled with hatred nonetheless.

“How dare you come to my son like that?! How dare you humiliate Abby like that?!” Kylie roared as she approached Nessa and screamed in her face so loudly.

Behind Kylie, Nessa could see Abby standing there, watching everything unfold. Her face twisted, and her eyes were red. Needless to say, she must have tattled to Kylie.

“How dare you lay your hand on Abby?!”