11

GEMMA

Leonard was pleasantly offended. He cleared his throat and adjusted his shirt. I could see the veins in his forehead throb and his face redden.

"You little bitch," he said with a low voice. "Who do you think you are?"

I was about to say something really smart when Nate appeared by my side. His left hand hovered just slightly above my lower back. I didn't step away.

"She's my mate, Leonard. And you will address her with respect." He said, his voice taking a commanding tone.

All I could think about was that power was so attractive.

Leonard narrowed his eyes at him and growled lowly. Nate just stared back at him with hard eyes. It was a literal stare-down.

"What's going on here, Leonard?" The Luna Queen asked as she came to us. She was accompanied by a few guests, as well as George.

"Oh, it's nothing, Aunt," Leonard said, replacing his scowl with a smile. "I was just trying to make our new Luna comfortable. But it seems I was misunderstood."

"Is that true, Gemma?" She asked me. I startled.

A bad habit. Madam Margaret would never ask for my side of the story. She would always just punish me instead. I'm surprised she even bothered to ask.

Almost everyone was paying attention to our conversation. They had stopped talking and were listening to the Luna Queen instead.

Still, I nodded. "Yes, misunderstood. He said some things that I'm sure he didn't mean." I gave him a pointed look to let him know I wasn't interested.

"My apologies," he said with a slight bow of his head. I nodded in return.

"Well, that settles it. Everything is fine." The Luna Queen announced. "Everyone can get back to enjoying their night. A word, Leonard?"

She began to walk away. Leonard glanced back at us before he followed after her.

I sighed. "Such an ass," I muttered.

"I second that." George agreed.

"My cousin has always been an ass. I'm surprised he didn't try to jump your bones and take you to a room with him." Nate added.

My eyes widened. "He would that?" I asked.

I tried to imagine it. I, just peacefully going about my day, and Leonard appeared out of nowhere and tried to have his way with me. That was inhuman.

He was a pig.

Nate laughed at my reaction. "I don't know. Maybe. The way he decided to throw caution to the wind and flirt with you while you were so close to me… I think he was desperate for anything."

"But, why?" I asked. "Why be so disgusting? What is it with men and sex? And why is he trying to take me? He just met me."

"Leonard would want you even if you weren't mated to me. Now that you are, it makes you all the more attractive to him. Like a shiny price." Nate replied.

"He's doing that because of what I told you," George explained.

Nate lifted a brow at him.

I remembered. George had told me that the Alpha King's position was being challenged because he did not have a Luna to rule with. Finding me was very important to him.

It sort of explained Leonard's behavior. If Nate loses me, he loses his position as the Alpha King. And maybe Leonard wanted the position as well.

"I don't know what that is but I'm sure I'll find out in due time," Nate replied. He turned away from us and cleared his throat.

"My mate is tired." He announced. My jaw dropped. "We're going to retire early. Enjoy the rest of your night." A few people wished us a goodnight.

And I didn't even have dinner.

"I'm going to take Gemma to her room. Whenever you're ready to leave the party, you know where to find me." Nate told George.

We headed for the staircase and took it, Nate guiding me to the top. When we were out of sight, I stepped away from him like he had the plague.

I didn't want to be so close to him for so long. The mate bond was doing weird things to me. I didn't want to rely on him or feel attached to him.

If we spend too much time together, it would make my plans for revenge harder. And I couldn't have that.

"Why are you always so on guard?" Nate asked as we walked back to my room.

"Tell me, if you were in my shoes, how would you act?" I asked him back. I caught the night sky and turned instead there.

Nate followed me into the open balcony. The wind blew in my face and my hair, and I took a deep breath.

"I don't have a good reputation and I'm not the nicest guy you'll ever meet but, I want you to know that you're safe here," Nate told me.

I stared at him. Little did he know that this was the last place I would consider safe. After what he had done to my family, he could do the same thing to me.

"I'm not safe anymore. Neither am I free." I replied. "I learned that a long time ago."

He regarded me for a moment before looking at the sky. It's almost the night of the full moon. But the moon already looked so pretty.

"Tell me about yourself. Tell me why you're so guarded. Tell me what happened." Nate said.

"You saw where I came from. You know who Madam Margaret is. She was about to use me to entertain a guest— You." I said. He waited for me to keep talking.

But, I wanted to ask something else. "I wonder, if I wasn't the one there, would you have had your way with her?"

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I don't sleep with women. But I told you this before, I wouldn't touch a woman without her permission." He said.

"So, if she agreed?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Well, we won't know now, would we?"

"Madam Margaret is ruthless, cruel… calculating. I tried escaping once." I said, staring at the moon. I turned my back to him and pushed the shoulder of my dress a little lower than my armpit.

"She did this?" He asked.

I nodded and covered it up. "She burned her initial into my skin and locked me up for five days without food. I almost died."

I wasn't telling him this because of his pity. I was distracting myself from telling him my true story. The cause of my true pain.

"There will be no mercy for the ones who have hurt you, little wolf." He said, coldly as he turned and left.

I hope he knew that was him.