by Belle Kayce
“Paxon, you need to know that others will be affected if you wage a war,” Lance says in a low voice.
“They killed my mate.”
“Innocents will die.”
“They killed my mate.” Paxon slams the desk with both of his fists, then he points to me, his voice going higher. “You’re saying that if she gets murdered by some alpha, you will not want to destroy that alpha’s entire pack?”
I swallow hard, not wanting to think about that situation ever, but I can totally see his point. His anger is not unwarranted. I’m just glad he didn’t shift and run already like we all thought he might do.
Lance stiffens at this question, but he answers anyways. “I would. You’re right.”
His answer kind of shocks me, but it feels good to know that my death would be avenged.
Paxon scoffs. “Well then—“
“However, I’m asking you to think about your own pack right now,” Lance cuts Paxon off. “Trent and Steven will attack your pack. They will kill your members. I’m not saying not to do anything. Instead, I’m asking you to think about a duel with the alphas.”
Paxon barks out a laugh. “I’m not you, Lance. I can’t take on two alphas.”
“Then for it to be fair, I’ll help you.”
Paxon shakes his head and laughs again even though nothing is funny. “Now that’s hardly fair . . . for them.”
“If you make this decision, I will help you,” Lance says.
I don’t like this at all though. Lance fighting and risking his life? I never knew he had this plan in his pocket. The thought of him getting hurt . . .
“What do you have in any of this?” Paxon asks curiously, crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair. He looks calm but his jaw is ticking.
“The same as you. They want my mate dead too.”
I stare at Lance, willing for him to look at me but he wouldn’t. This is the exact reason why I want to run away. I don’t want Lance involved in any of this. My crap. I should be the one fixing it, not him. It’s like some obligation that he has to do.
Paxon’s eyebrows rise and he looks over at me again. “Those murderers will pay. For Vanessa and you, Luna.”
“I’m sorry about Vanessa,” I say sincerely.
Paxon looks at me for a second. “You look like her.”
I’m taken aback. Lance’s chest rumbles a little, and Paxon waves it dismissively. “Relax, it’s just an observation.”
Paxon stands up again as he takes a deep breath. “Well, my beta is not here right now, but he would want to know about who killed his sister.”
I feel like Paxon’s entire pack is affected by Vanessa’s death.
Paxon straightens up a little and sighs. “Alpha Kade from Moonshine Red is here, and we’re kind of having a get-together in a bit that I forgot about, so if you guys can get dressed and join,” Paxon makes a face, “that would be lovely.”
I can tell Paxon is in no mood to have any type of fun. He looks a little like he wants to go beat someone up. Or shift.
“You should try to enjoy yourself too,” I tell him for some reason, wanting to comfort him.
Paxon looks at me and gives me a small haunting smile. “I haven’t rested since Vanessa died. I’ve been looking for the person who killed her. I was restless when I still didn’t know who killed her.” He pauses and stares at nowhere. “Now that I do, it’s even worse.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When I get to the party, held at the huge ballroom in Paxon’s own pack house, I immediately go outside after I snag a chocolate bar. I honestly tried not to be the first one to go to the chocolate fountain. The balcony overlooks a huge green field and a pool below.
I’m salty they have a pool and I don’t. It’s long overdue.
The night air is chilly. I am wearing a long-sleeved black maxi dress. Paxon had one of his female pack members let me borrow it, along with some gold sparkly heels. The dress fit a little loosely, but I like it that way.
“Vanessa used to love chocolate too,” Paxon says from behind me. “Sometimes to make her happy, I would just throw some chocolate at her so she would be satisfied.”
I laugh as Paxon stands beside me, a wine of glass in one of his hand.
I wouldn’t mind if Lance threw chocolate my way either. “She sounds great.”
“Yeah,” Paxon stares ahead, “she was. I wanted to settle down with her. She wanted to get married after we mated. I didn’t care about any human customs, but she did, so naturally I’d do anything she wanted. It’s just . . . I wish I did it sooner. I’m living with that one regret for the rest of my life.”
“What do you think she would want you to do?” I ask him seriously. “I think many of us forget what the deceased would want. I’m one hundred percent sure Vanessa wouldn’t want you to wage any war on any packs and kill them in her name.”
“Would you want revenge?” Paxon asks me, looking at me with his onyx eyes. “If someone had killed you, would you want Lance to seek vengeance?”
This is a strange question, one that I have no idea what the answer is. I don’t want to give the wrong one.
“For one, I hope I never have to figure it out,” I joke but swallow a little. “I. . . .” Shaking my head, I turn to him. I can’t give him a fake answer and say no. “I’d want the person who killed me to pay for his crimes obviously. But I think that sometimes, when people are trying to get their revenge, they do it more for themselves. Avenging Vanessa is never going to get her back. Killing Steven may be satisfying or whatever, but she’s not coming back. It’s just a vicious cycle. You get revenge, then what about Steven’s mate or his cousin? Someone is going to want revenge for Steven’s death and so on.”
“It will make me feel better,” Paxon admits, “especially with how Steven killed her and just left her body.” As if still feeling the pain at that exact moment, Paxon clutches his glass even tighter. “I think she would want me to do something. I’ve never killed an alpha before, not like Lance . . .” Paxon pauses, realizing who he is talking to. “No disrespect to your mate. I’ve just never gotten into a war like he had before.”
Here I am judging Paxon when my own mate allegedly killed like six alphas in a war.
“It’s just that there is no right or wrong answer.” I finally relent.
“Thank you, Luna Ava.” Paxon raises his glass towards me, and I raise my half-eaten chocolate bar in return.
“Just saying it like I see it,” I say, hoping I don’t ruin anyone’s life.
I’m tempted to say, ‘I don’t know though‘, just in case I ruin his life.
“I see you have no mark on your neck.” Paxon points at the area with his long finger. “You’re going to let him sweat it out?”
My face blanches. I always forget that it makes us a weird pair with Lance not having marked me yet. Forget joining his pack. Mates usually mark each other within the first week of meeting each other.
“No,” I say hotly. That’s not what I’m doing really, but there’s no way I will simply just give in.
“Vanessa made me wait. Had to earn it.” Paxon chuckles.
More lunas should be like her.
“I did eventually.”
“Dang, she knew what she was doing,” I say.
Paxon gives another low chuckle.
“You’re one of the few that can actually make an alpha wait. We’re not known for our patience.”
“That’s for sure.” I smirk, giving Paxon a look. “But if you really love someone, you’d wait no matter how long.”
”Wise words.” Paxon takes a sip of his wine, his eyes wandering past me.
I turn around to see Lance in a white dress shirt with a red tie underneath a black suit jacket and black pants sauntering towards me. When he gets near me, I can tell he’s slightly uncomfortable.
He looks like he’s the hottest person alive.
“You look . . . nice.” I can’t help but notice how nicely he fills out the shirt and how handsome he looks.
“You look beautiful.”
Lance’s heated gaze sweeps over me, making my toes curl at the look. I can’t stop thinking about what he said to me. “Your beauty is not of this world.” I wish I recorded him saying all those things about me. It’s the only good thing about technology nowadays.
Lance turns to the forlorn alpha. “One of your pack members asked for you and I.”
Paxon raises his wine glass towards me. “Enjoy the party, Luna Ava.”
“I’ll be back after this situation. Try not to eat all the chocolate,” Lance tells me, mirth clear in his voice. I take another bite of chocolate as the two alphas make their way out of the party.
I still need to talk to Lance about his decision of joining Paxon in the duel.
***
I grumble to myself when I’m starting to gravitate towards the chocolate bar like Lance predicted.
Chocolate fountain.
Stay healthy.
Ugh! Screw it. If Lance thinks I look fine, then I guess that’s the only person I should lowkey try to impress. Making my way to the table, I grab a piece of strawberry—which is healthy—and stick it inside a skewer before coating it with chocolatey goodness.
I turn around to see some people dancing and observe the other werewolves.
There is another alpha there, Alpha Kade. He’s a neighboring alpha to Paxon. His pack is Moonshine Rise. He’s tall, tan, and has green eyes. He dons a full beard too. He’s attractive in a way that makes me wonder what kind of personality he has. Usually, alphas that look like that have horrible personalities. You can tell this guy is really something else because he’s full in his suit, and he has two other hulking wolves behind him acting like bodyguards.
Speaking of bodyguards, I don’t see Cole anywhere. I’m kind of thankful, but I’m nervous at the same time in case someone tries to kill me out of the blue. I’m hoping Cole is at least enjoying his time here. I know how annoying it must be to follow someone at all times, although it would be nice to have Cole so I don’t have to continue to look like a lonely loser.
I watch something happen in front of me. Kade looks around as if trying to find something. Then he stops turning as he stares at this petite blonde girl. It’s like . . .
“Mine,” he growls loudly at the poor girl that’s in the middle of the dance floor. He grabs her roughly, crushing her to him.
Gross. Vomit.
That isn’t even cute. I would have slapped my mate if he had said that when he first saw me. Thankfully, Lance isn’t really the type to shout “mine“. I’m really grateful for dodging that bullet. Huge, huge, big, gigantic bullet. Okay, so maybe his first words to me weren’t that romantic, but still, I would have taken anything other than “mine”.
The girl looks a little shyly at him, and he grabs her again. I’m expecting her arms to come off her body at any moment.
“You’re coming with me or else I’d wipe your pack.” He growls at her.
She doesn’t even have a choice. How is this even romantic?
“You won’t be wiping any packs,” I hear myself say.
This is how I get killed, guys.
Opening my mouth and having no filter is a blessing and a curse. Kade and his now-mate are right in front of me, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else has any common sense, so here I am.
I go on. “Plus, she belongs in Paxon’s pack. Don’t you think it’s rude to say you’d wipe out the pack of the alpha that invited you to this party?”
Kade’s gaze snaps to me, and I see his eyes darken considerably. He’s that angry. Is he ready to shift? This guy needs some help.
“You are not going to take what’s mine.”
I roll my eyes. “No one is going to take anything from you.” Pig head. “It’s just those aren’t really words to woo your mate with. Wiping her pack and forcing her to come with you? What makes you think she would even like to be with you after you did that? You could easily just ask her nicely if she would like to come with you. You know, making her drop her family and her entire life for you is not fair. Her whole life is going to be changed, and you’re being kind of, a lot actually, inconsiderate.”
Alpha Kade’s eyes widen in anger, and his mate looks over at me. I think she’s silently telling me thank you. Or maybe she’s like “shut up because he might kill you”.
Probably the latter.
“If you disrespect me like that again, I will kill you without any hesitation even if you are a supposed luna,” Kade snarls.
Geez Louis.
If I roll my eyes for the second time, they’ll just roll off my sockets at this point. I’m not even scared of him. I know I should be but I’m just pissed.
“Literally,” I start, “I’m just telling your oversized muscles how to properly act with a mate since it seems like no one taught you manners.”
His mate’s face looks panicked as he growls loudly.
“And what makes you so sure you can kill me?” I’m still going on and on. I should shut up, but maybe at this point, I do want to die. I’m one hundred percent sure he can kill me right now. I’m all talk. Hopefully, he doesn’t see that.
“Which pack are you from? So I can challenge your mate to teach you a lesson on respect,” Alpha Kade snarls, then he lets out a huge growl.
Can he stop growling and talk normal?
“Go ahead. He’s right there. You’re in luck.” I shrug, nodding to where Lance is. Kade turns back and sees Lance coming towards us. My heart lurches a little at the sight of him coming to me in this situation. Will he protect me even if I kind of have a death wish going on?
I don’t know how strong Lance is, but he is rumored to have killed six alphas in one war. That counts for something, right? Even though I’ve never seen him fight, or even shift for that matter, I’m hoping he can take on Kade. It’s taking everything in me to not punch Kade’s ugly mug face. Forget how attractive he looks. Looks are deceiving because his personality makes him look like a troll to me.
Kade growls more times. This guy needs some anger management classes pronto. I will pay for him too.
“Is something wrong?” Lance asks as he comes a little closer. He looks at me only, ignoring Kade’s growling. He searches my face.
“I think you should teach your mate where her place is.” Kade growls out.
Lance holds my gaze for a few more moments to see if I’m good before finally giving Kade the attention he wants.
“Where do you think that is?” Lance asks calmly.
Kade shifts his gaze towards me, but Lance steps in front of me, so Kade can’t intimidate me further. “A luna isn’t equal to the alpha, don’t you agree?”
Kade just wants to be punched by me. I’m not even a violent person.
“I do,” Lance replies.
I try to open my mouth but end up just clutching my fists tightly.
Kade starts to smile. “See—“
“A luna isn’t equal to the alpha because she outranks him in every way.” Lance holds my gaze steadily, somehow inching closer to me.
I’m speechless for a second as Lance looks at Kade now, regarding him in a way I’ve never seen Lance do with anyone else. He’s making Kade feel inferior in every single way. I don’t think I’ve seen Lance openly dislike someone before.
Kade senses this disrespect from Lance. “What pack are you even from?” Kade snarls.
“Noctis Luna. I’m Lance Stryder.”
To his credit, Kade actually pales. “I must . . . if you will excuse me.”
Kade practically runs away without his mate.
“So, you are pretty infamous, I see.”
“Seems that way” Lance gives me half a shrug.
I stare at the dance floor. Some wolves are dancing and some are looking at our direction like we just interfered with someone who found their mate.
“Care to dance?” Lance nods towards the dance floor, extending his hand as an invitation.
“I’m not . . .” I trail off, hating these heels
on me. I wrap my hand around his arm. “Okay but I’m not that good.”
“My dad made Zeke and I practice ballroom dancing actually.” Lance leads me to a corner of the floor, where werewolves are now filing out. It doesn’t matter because I am just with Lance.
He wraps one arm around my waist, while holding up my arm with the other. My left hand rests on his chest. I look up at him as we are barely even a hair apart. My heartbeat speeds up at our proximity.
“Really?” I ask him, intrigued, trying to imagine the two brothers trying to dance.
“Since he’s the prince, it is mandatory for him to learn those kinds of proper etiquette. I was just there for support.”
“Yeah, him being a prince . . . is definitely is extremely cool,” I say out loud.
“Cooler than an infamous demon alpha?” Lance asks. Is this him trying to fish for a compliment? I think it is.
I pat his hard chest two times. “You take the cake because it makes people run away and cower.” I grin at him, thinking about ugly Kade.
“I’ll take it then,” Lance murmurs as I step on his foot, probably for the hundredth time in a span of a single minute.
“Sorry.” I wince. “Not used to heels.”
“You wore heels to training that day,” Lance mused.
I give a nervous chuckle. “Didn’t think you’d remember that. Not my smartest decision. That’s what I get for trying to get your attention.”
“You wore heels to get my attention?” Lance blinks down at me, confused and probably thinking about that day. “I thought you were going to stomp on some wolves that day.” His eyes train on me. “I hope you know from the first moment I met you, you’ve always had my attention.”
“Darn, if only I knew.” I purse my lips jokingly.
“It’s alright, Ava. I don’t mind carrying you again,” Lance tells me.
I consider him for a moment, wondering if he’s being one hundred percent serious. With Lance, I never know.
“You might have to after this,” I say, apologizing after I accidentally step on his shoes again.
“Hm, I think I really want some platform combat boots to stomp on these sexist alphas,” I say. “Like Kade.”
