Jade’s pov:
There was nothing quite as disheartening as having an argument with one’s significant other. Though if I were to be honest, I wasn’t even sure how it escalated that quickly.
The visiting alphas had left while I was on the training grounds, and for that I was glad… I felt like I could breathe more easily without being the main attraction. I could be myself around the pack, no matter if I trusted everyone or not.
I knew that my dad was on patrol duty tonight but mom wasn’t.
I mind-linked her at once, “Where are you, mom?”
“Your father’s out on patrol duty but I am in our room,” she told me without delay, almost as if sensing my urgency.
“I am coming,” I told her in a soft tone.
The moment I caught sight of her, sitting on the bed, waiting for me, tears fell down my eyes.
“Oh, Jade, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” She cooed as she rose to her feet, and hugged me at once.
I shook my head negatively and merely nuzzled her, needing the comfort only she could give me.
When I told her everything that had happened ever since Camelia came to the pack, the burden left my shoulders and my back became less stiff.
“Could you be jealous of her?” She asked tentatively.
“I am jealous of her,” I deadpanned, “But that’s not all there is to it, mom. She sounds and looks fake to me. She’s not concerned about the pack…”
“She doesn’t have to be,” mom told me in a soothing tone of voice, “You’re the luna, not her. She is but a witch whom the alpha has decided to hire for a specific task. She doesn’t need to care for the pack.”
I pondered her words for a moment and by the time I stopped sniffling, I told myself that the woman hadn’t done anything wrong per se not yet anyway and thus I needed to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“What about Alex? He’s…”
“Put yourself in his shoes, sweetheart,” she cut in at once, not allowing me to finish my sentence. “He truly has been busy, and you know it. He must be tired from all the meetings and planning, and yet you told him off-handedly that he’s been busy even though he had mind-linked you when he sensed your distress.”
I let her words sink and then nodded at her in a defeated manner.
“He’s a good alpha, and he has cared about you from day 1,” she said as she brushed a lock of my hair out of my face. “Even when we believed you might be wolfless, he cared and didn’t fail to show it to you.”
“When did he tell you that I was his mate?” I asked, a faint smile stretching my lips. “You told me you knew after I spent the night with him for the first time…”
“He told us the day after he welcomed us in the pack,” she drawled with a big smile.
“Oh?”
“Your father told him that he needed to woo you seeing as you couldn’t feel the bond at the time,” she then told me, a little bit of a giggle escaping her. “And naturally, he threatened him and told him that should you come crying to us, there would be hell to pay.”
My eyebrows shot up in my hairline.
“And what did Alex say?” I couldn’t help but wonder.
“He said that he expected no less,” she smiled at me before placing a small kiss on my forehead. “The alpha loves you, Jade. No matter if he’s busy, no matter if someone else is trying to compete against you for his attention, he only ever had eyes for you. Trust him.”
“Thanks mom. I needed this.”
And with that I shot up to my feet.
“Off you go,” she said softly.
The moment I stepped into Alex’s office, I noticed an unusual smell. No pack member smelled like this, and I briefly wondered if it was a perfume someone put on.
Alex was neck-deep in some paperwork, and didn’t even bother acknowledging my presence. The man who always only ever had eyes for me, as my mom so kindly put it, was ignoring me because I had been a little bit of a brat.
I went to his side of the desk and began to massage his shoulders gently.
He grunted, whether it be in approval or not, I wasn’t sure, but I continued nonetheless.
“I thought you were angry at me,” his tone was terse, even though there was some underlying concern.
“I was,” my simple answer had the knack to make him stiffen under me.
“Jade, I…” he began without turning still.
“It’s not Jade. It’s love to you,” I told him softly before placing a small kiss on the back of his ear.
“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” he then told me on a sigh. “I don’t know what came over me. Between my tiredness and my jealousy, it feels as though there’s no reprieve, and no room to think.”
“Look at me,” I implored him, and the chair pivoted so he woud be facing me. “I have been pushing it anyway, and I need to control my emotions better. I am too jealous for my own good. It doesn’t matter what you call her, Cami or Camelia, I just need to trust you better.”
Alex opened his arms for me, and I didn’t hesitate to get on his lap.
The moment we were about to kiss, there was an urgent knock on the door.
Alex gave me a chaste kiss before telling whoever was at the door to come in.
Luc looked worried, and that was saying something. Indeed, the man I have grown to care for as a brother always had nerves of steel.
“I am here to report an attack on the north border,” he said at once.
“Again?” I sighed, desperately wishing there were no casualties.
“We have lost one of our own, alpha,” he said in earnest, and I knew from Alex that that had not happened in over a decade. “Warrior Derrick Falls is no more.”
Blood froze in my veins at the words.