Chapter 21

RILEY

“Do you love her, Riley?” She asked me without looking at me, and I knew the answer right away.

“I don‘t,” I answered coldly, not really liking this conversation at all.

“Liar.” She hissed at me.

“I told you I don‘t lie.”

“Then tell me about her.” She tilted her body in my direction, her eyebrow raised as she mocked me
with her eyes.

“There‘s nothing to tell. She‘s part of the past, Nadia. Let it go.”

“I want to know everything about her.”

“What‘s the point? She‘s gone.”

“I want to know everything about her! Don‘t make me say that again.”

“What the fuck for? I don‘t ask you about your past. Or anyone in your life. So can we just move on...”

“Because I have nothing to tell you! I never had a man in my life! Oh, I have! I forgot! Let me tell you
about him! This man saw me when I was 17 and he was forty–five years old! And he decided he
wanted me as his mate! That evil man would visit me every time he could, and he would look at me like
he was undressing me every single time!”

“Stop, Nadia…” My voice came out desperate.



This was exactly the reason why I didn‘t want her to find out who Andrea was. The evil man in her story
was me in Andrea‘s. And telling her what I did to Andrea would only remind her of her own life. I didn‘t
want her to end up loathing me. And I never wanted t o be accepted by anyone as much as I wanted
Nadia to accept me.

“My uncle would force me to hug him, and I would do my best every time not to vomit or pass out
whenever I had to because I hated him. I despised the way he smelled and how his skin felt on my
skin…”

“Stop!” My grip on the steering wheel tightened. It was getting harder to control the car. I just wanted to
grab her and hug her to make her stop talking.

She was making me feel so fucking small and dirty right now. Everything she was saying about this
man mirrored what Andrea must have felt about me.

So tell me, how could I tell her about Andrea without her hating me or worse, calling me evil?

‘‘I couldn‘t do anything until I was 19. It was only then that I was able to sneak away whenever I knew
he was coming to visit me. And every time I came home after that, I would receive a slap or a beating
from my uncle. But I was okay with that. The pain and the bruises were better than being wrapped up in
his arms and being abused by his eyes!”

“Nadia, please... Enough. You don‘t need to remember those things.”

“No, Riley, I want you to know everything about me the same way I want to know everything about you.
If you want to make this Alpha and Luna thing to look real, I have to know what I was going against with
this.”

“Just trust me, Nadia. I will fix everything. No one will call you by another name except your name.”



“And how about the pictures in your room? Will it stay there?”

“Picture?” My forehead creased in confusion until it dawned on me the one I had on my bookshelves. It
has been there for years and I never thought about it after the full moon because I was too busy
looking for her or moping about her.

“Was it Andrea in the picture with you?”

“I will throw it away once we‘re home. I didn‘t know it was still there.”

“You didn‘t answer my question Is it Andrea in the picture?”

“Yes.”

“Who is she to you?”

“Nothing. She‘s nothing to me now.”

“Why do I feel you are hiding something from me? Tell me why you look like you‘ve seen a ghost when
Stella mentioned her? Why? Because it does still hurt? Just fucking tell me and this conversation is
over. I just want to know if I‘m already crossing boundaries or not.”

“Can we fucking stop this conversation? It‘s pissing me off already!” I slammed my palm on the steering
wheel, and her body jolted i n response.

“Stop the car!” She yelled almost immediately after.

“No!”

“Stop the car!”

“I said no. We‘re going home.”



“I said, stop the fucking car or I will jump out!” She snarled at me before she opened the door beside
her. It was now slightly open, and if I based it on the expression on her face, she would undoubtedly
jump out of it.

“Fuck! Wait, I will stop the car. Then we‘ll talk.” I told her, in a calm manner. I was fucking terrified that
she would jump out before I would be able to stop the car.

I slowed down and parked the car while she took off the sling bag she had on her and her shoes.

“What are you doing?” I grabbed her forearm, but she just shoved my hand away and stepped out of
the car.

I growled before I jumped out of the car and followed after her as she walked towards the forest line.

“Nadia, what the fuck are you doing? Where are you going? Come back here!”

“Go home, Riley! I will see you at the pack house!” She yelled without looking back at me.

I grabbed her arm and swung her around to face me, gritting my teeth as Ileaned my face closer to
her.

“Do you think I would let you on your own? You don‘t even know how to get back to the pack house.
Now get back in the car!”

“I don‘t want to see you right now.” She pushed my hand away again.

“What do you want me to do so you‘ll come home with me.” I brushed my hand over my face in
annoyance.

This was fucking annoying already. I was so close to just grabbing her and hoisting her up on my
shoulder, but I was trying to be patient with her.



“You can beg and cry, but I won‘t still come with you. Now get lost!” She snarled at me before turning
around and launching forward, shifting into her wolf right before my very eyes.

And I fucking couldn‘t believe what I was seeing.

The she–wolf in front of me, springing away to the other side, was too fucking beautiful. Her fur was
gray, melting into white towards her paws, and she was definitely bigger than a regular she–wolf.

I knew it. I smelled it on her. My mate is not an ordinary female. She must have Alpha blood in her. Not
pure Alpha blood like Alba or Alia. But definitely from an Alpha bloodline.

I snapped myself out of my own thoughts when I couldn‘t see her wolf anymore.

Fuck!

I went back to the car and turned off the engine before closing the door and sending a mindlink to my
Beta to send someone to pick up the car at the location I gave him. I then took off my shirt and placed it
in my mouth before leaping in the air and shifting midair, letting my wolf, Hunter out.

Hunter would be the last one I wanted to face Nadia right now because my fucking wolf kept losing his
mind whenever Nadia was around. But I needed him to track her faster. He seemed to have a nose just
for her because he could sense her even from a great distance.

And I was right. In just a minute or two, I could already see Nadia in front of us. She was definitely
heading somewhere further from the pack house, and this just irritated me. She was so careless. She
could be in danger because of her outburst.

It didn‘t take long before Arrow sensed us as she stopped on her track and turned around to face us.

Hunter stopped and was about to growl at her when Aarow did it before he could.



And my fucking wild wolf lost his fucking tail and raised a white flag. Instead of growling at our mate,
Hunter slumped down on the ground and whimpered, surrendering to Arrow.

And my beautiful Aarow couldn‘t hold her anger. She lowered her head and started licking Hunter, and I
couldn‘t help but smile internally at their interaction before Nadia‘s emotions came surging in through
our mate bond. She was pissed off at her woli.

From the looks of it, our wolves were angry with each other‘s humans, but they could never be angry
with each other. In the end, they ended up playing and flirting with each other – rolling, licking, and
sniffing each other out.

And as much as I wanted to talk with Nadia, I let Hunter have her time with Arrow. I contented myself
by watching them while waiting for Nadia to shift back to her human form.

I wanted to mindlink her, but I didn’t want to disturb our wolves. So I just stayed quiet until Hunter
shared a thought with me from Arrow. Nadia was jealous.

With Andrea.


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