Ruby
“What’s going on between you and him?” Liam demanded, confusion etched across his face.
“Go and play with your friends, okay?” I smiled sadly at the little girl, who nodded her head eagerly. Sensing the tension in the room, she ran off to meet her friends.
I met Liam’s gaze, a storm of emotions brewing within me. I knew he didn’t deserve any explanation, but there were fragments of our tangled history that could become exposed if I didn’t find a way to shut him up.
“It is none of your business, Liam,” I retorted, my voice holding a firm resolve as I faced him. Liam’s expression hardened with frustration evident in his eyes.
Why does he always like acting like the victim?
“It is my business, Ruby. You’re my mate. We have a bond between us, and I deserve to know what’s going on.” He snapped, escalating the tension in the room, and I let out a mocking laughter at the absurdity of the situation.
Oh, now I am his mate.
“Your mate has died, Liam; isn’t that what you told everyone? Stop acting delusional and foolish. You must really be sick in the head and stupid to assume that I am your mate.” I growled at him, standing my ground, refusing to yield to his demands. The best I could do to escape this conversation was deny having anything to do with Liam’s existence.
I couldn’t ignore the storm that brewed within, knowing that anything I said concerning my relationship with Liam at this moment would ruin any possible future I might likely have with Damian.
I wouldn’t give Liam the opportunity to ruin my happiness.
Damian’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at me. “Ruby, what’s going on here? Are you also Liam’s mate?” He questioned me, stumbling closer to hold my hands, but I stepped back.
The revelation hung in the air, thick with the weight of untold secrets. I felt the intensity of their gazes upon me as they waited for my answer, which was a tangled web that threatened to ensnare me once again.
This was exactly why I never wanted Daiman to find out Liam was my ex. I knew he would react this way; it was embarrassing to say Liam was my ex-mate who rejected me.
Liam shouldn’t know Damian is my second chance mate either, as it was none of his business.
I tried to stand strong despite the hard gaze I was getting between the two men, and I could sense the impending storm, uncertain of how the revelation of me being Liam’s ex-mate would reshape the dynamics of the complicated relationship I had with Damian.
“Yes, she is my ma-” Liam began, but his words were abruptly cut off by the sharp, clicking sound of heels approaching, and I found myself feeling thankful for the interruption.
We all turned our heads towards the door to witness Madam Nelly entering the room. Her arrival sent a cold breeze through the already tense atmosphere, and her glaring eyes focused on me, seemingly oblivious to the presence of both Damian and Liam.
“You witch! Using dark magic to heal these children, meddling with forces beyond your understanding,” Madam Nelly spat, her words dripping with venom.
“You must be so desperate to work here, going to the extent of using dark powers. You disgust me.” She roared while I gazed confusedly at her, feeling lost.
The air thickened with accusation as she launched into a barrage of insults.
As her accusations unfurled, I found myself caught in the crossfire, torn between defending against false allegations or explaining myself to Damian about my past history with Liam, which seemed determined to unravel in the most unexpected ways.
“You have some nerve, woman, to storm in here like that and run that dirty mouth,” Damian snarled, his attention shifting towards Madam Nelly. Her eyes widened in shock as she finally acknowledged Damian’s presence.
“Alp-alpha Da-damian,” she stammered, stepping backward towards the door. In a burst of anger, Damian’s eyes switched to red, indicating his wolf was at the surface. At an inhuman speed, he was in front of Madam Nelly, seizing her by the throat.
The room echoed with the sound of choking and gasps as the unexpected confrontation unfolded weirdly, giving me a satisfying feeling.
“You should be on your knees, grateful that Ruby saved their lives with or without what you call ‘dark magic’ after charging a large amount of money from their parents as hospital bills. You dared disobey me.” Damian declared, his eyes glinting with ferocious intensity as he delivered a stern message, and the tension in the room reached a boiling point.
“Stop, Damian; you are hurting my aunt.” The voice of Lilith interrupted, much to my disappointment, as she rushed in dressed in her favourite red clothes. Her presence added another layer of complexity to the already charged atmosphere.
Madam Nelly, was Lilith’s aunt? I should have seen this coming.
No wonder she was hell-bent on making me lose my chances of working at the werewolf academy by giving me an impossible task. I bet Lilith had lied to her about me using dark magic.
At this point, the room had turned into a battleground of conflicting emotions, the air heavy with tension as Damian’s grip on Madam Nelly’s throat tightened with each passing second.
“You are going to kill her,”
Lilith, wide-eyed and panicked, held Damian by the hand, attempting to restrain him but failing to tame the beast in him.
“Lilith, step back or else you would take her place,” Damian growled warningly, his eyes ablaze with a fierce determination that hinted at the depths of his anger. Lilith, however, stood her ground, her hands reaching out to hold Damian back.
“Release her, or you’ll regret it. She’s my aunt, and if you harm her, there will be war,” she threatened, her voice carrying a dangerous edge.
“I don’t regret anything.” Damian snapped.
“Are you sure? Because Madam Nelly is the wife of the council vice president,” Lilith shot back, a veiled threat hanging in the air.
The wife of the vice council president? Oh no.
“And you think I care? We both know I can end the lives of every counsel member in a minute if I want to,” Damian retorted, his words dripping with disdain.
“Damian.” I called, approaching him with fear. I was scared of his wolf but desperate to make him stop before he killed Madam Nelly.
Fighting against the council would be like setting yourself up to die. Even though I knew Damian was strong enough to go against them, I knew it wouldn’t be good for the lives of his pack members, and if anything happened, it would be my fault.
“Damian, please,” I implored, my eyes reflecting a mixture of fear and fervent pleading. The air crackled with tension as I stood between Damian and Madam Nelly, the outcome hanging in the balance of Damian’s decision.
“There’s no need for violence. Madam Nelly knows I have completed my tasks and earned this position through merit. Let her go,” I pleaded, my voice wavering with a sincerity that sought to diffuse the brewing storm.
Damian’s stern expression softened for a moment as he observed the genuine concern in my eyes. With a silent nod, Damian released Madam Nelly, who crumpled to the floor. Lilith hurried to her side, helping her up with a mix of concern and irritation.
I was grateful that he and his wolf had surprisingly listened to me, so I took his hands in mine. Together, we stepped out of the tension-laden room, leaving behind the echoes of conflict that had threatened to shatter the fragile peace.
As we walked side by side, the warmth of Damian’s hand in mine felt oddly comforting, and I wouldn’t mind holding it forever.
It was rough against my soft ones and seemed to fit perfectly with mine. The feel of his hands held many hidden secrets, which I would love to uncover. For instance, how many people had he killed before with his bare hands? How did he settle scores with his enemies or people who went against him? Most importantly, how did he become the feared alpha he is today?
As Damian and I walked through the corridor of the academy away from listening ears, the lines of questioning on his face deepened.
“Ruby, why didn’t you acknowledge me as your mate back there?” He asked with a mix of curiosity and frustration in his eyes. I could tell he was hurt, and it was all my fault. He has been nothing but good to me, yet I chose to repay him by openly and unintentionally rejecting him.
Before I could speak to offer an explanation, a man with a black rope around his waist, adorned with a moon symbol, hurriedly approached us, his face marked with anxiety. I suspected him to be a warrior from the Pearl Moon Pack.
“Alpha Damian, there’s trouble.”
“What’s the problem, John?”
“A boy has hurt your daughter,” he reported urgently, his words hanging in the air like an ominous cloud.
Instantly, Damian’s expression transformed from questioning to one of sheer concern, and then his face contorted with a fierce rage as he processed the news about his daughter being injured. I watched his jaw clench, and his eyes blazed with a protective fire for his daughter.
“Which little brat dares hurt my precious daughter?” Damian’s voice growled as he walked away, leaving me standing there, my heart pounding like an idiot, but I understood the urgency of his situation, as I would have done the same if I were in his shoes.
The air changed with the intensity of his anger as he practically stormed through the hallway. His pack warrior John hurriedly followed behind, his face marked with a mix of dread and urgency as they sought the source of harm to Damian’s beloved daughter.
And I could only pity the boy who dared hurt his daughter because he wouldn’t be strong enough to face Damian’s wrath.