Gabriella’s POV
“Come with me,” she said, and I nodded as I stood up. “Where are we going?”
“I need to show you something and address the reason you’re worrying unnecessarily,” she replied.
“Okay, after you,” I responded with a faint smile, hoping she had a solution to my daughter’s situation.
I was surprised when she led me to her room and stood me before the mirror. “Why am I standing in front of a mirror?”
“Take a look at yourself, Gabby. You’re like a shadow of yourself because you’ve been worrying so much. You barely sleep, you have dark circles under your eyes, and do you really want to exhaust yourself?”
I glanced at my reflection and hardly recognized myself. I realized I hadn’t taken any time for myself in a very long while due to my concerns for Estella.
“Okay, I hear you, Mom. I’ll make sure I rest well and eat, especially since you’re confident that nothing is wrong with my daughter.”
“I assure you, I checked on her, and she’s perfectly fine. I made this herbal tonic especially for you. Take it, and it will help you sleep.”
“Thank you very much.”
I took the herbal tonic with me and left. I slept in my daughter’s room that night and had the same nightmare. I woke up in fear as usual. I should have taken the herbal tonic provided to me. Maybe it could have chased away these terrible nightmares. Something else caught my attention though. I saw Estella in my dream with fangs and claws, her ears resembling those of a wolf, and her eyes dark. She was destroying everything her hands touched. For a moment, I was frozen, unsure of how to help my child.
Nicklaus’s POV
I decided to visit the bar for a drink, and the same lady who had served us before was there. She inquired about Martins. “I thought he would be here with you. Why isn’t he around?”
“He’s not available for now, but I’ll let him know you asked about him.”
“Okay, thank you so much. You’re so kind. So, tell me your orders?”
“Two shots of tequila.”
“On it.” She left and I took out my phone, pondering about what to do. I knew Gabby would be upset with me for not talking to her as usual, but things weren’t going well with the pack as I had hoped. I couldn’t tell her about it now, especially since another territory had been taken by the Silver Moon Pack.
“Here you go, sir.” She placed the drinks before me.
“Thank you, miss.” I was about to retrieve money from my wallet when she stopped me. “You don’t have to.”
“Why? I should be paying. Or do you want to ruin your business by giving away free drinks?”
“My business won’t be ruined, and it’s not free. You’ll pay for it in a different way.”
Martins wasn’t here, so what did she mean by a different way? Was she trying to flirt with me or something?
“What do you mean by a different way?”
“Tell me everything about your friend. Is he married or single? Does he have a girlfriend, a baby mama, or a child? Is he responsible? Has he met his mate yet? Has…” She bombarded me with more than a hundred questions in a minute. Where would I even start? I shouldn’t have come here in the first place.
“No, he’s not in a relationship, and he has no children.”
“Wow, that’s good. At least I have a chance. So, tell me, what kind of girls does he like? Is there a beastie in his life who might be competing with me? Is there a coworker interested in him? What does he dislike? Tell me his favorite food, color…” Her questions were making me angry, and raising my voice might ruin things for my beta. What could I do to escape her questions? I wasn’t skilled at deep conversations like this.
Finally, I found a way to evade her inquiries. On my way home, I received a call from Martins. “How’s it going?”
“We managed to defend the other territories.”
“Good, Alpha.”
“And by the way, your admirer says hi.”
“I have no admirer.”
“Not yet.” I laughed before ending the call. “They were able to hold back the remaining territories. I think we should inform Gabby about us visiting the Blood Moon Pack.” Lethal initiated the conversation.
“I wanted the beta to return. Why am I so scared to tell her?”
“You don’t need to be scared.”
“What if she doesn’t want to leave here? Am I really going to choose between my pack and my mate?”
“It won’t come to that. Trust me.”
I stood in one spot and looked at the full moon, a smile forming on my face. If Gabby refused, I would use every resource at my disposal to persuade her. But I shouldn’t even entertain the idea that it might not work.
I entered my room and noticed my mate was absent. “Gabby!” I came out to find her, and we met halfway. “Why are you coming back so late?”
“I had something to attend to. What about you? Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
“Come with me, Estella needs help.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come and see for yourself.” She grabbed my hand and led me to our daughter’s room.