However, she says nothing and turns. She is not going to let this bitter women come between her and her best friend. They are Carmela’s friends, and they are picking on her on purpose because Carmela sacrificed herself for her.
She has no position to defend herself.
As she heads for the bathroom to get a mob, Edna shrieks behind her: “Who are you leaving this mess to?! Get the shards first! It could hurt someone, jeez!”
Leila nods and kneels to pick up the bigger ones with panicking hands, and it is at this moment, the door opens after a short knock, and Leila looks up with the shards cupped in her palm, only to meet the Alpha’s cold eyes.
“What are you doing?” He notices Leila and instantly, a frown crawls onto his handsome face.
“Alpha!” Carmela jumps off the bed and runs to the Alpha, throwing her arms around his neck like when they were kids, “Can I please, please leave the hospital now? Pleaseeee.”
Her cute tone got a light laugh out of the Alpha and he pats her on her waist to get her off.
“Twenty now, and you are still acting like a little girl.”
“You should know…..you are the one who spoiled me–ouch!” Carmela’s big smile is replaced by a sudden frown as she lifts her foot in pain.
“Careful!” Alpha Tatum picks her up into his arms, noticing the shards left on the floor. His unfriendly eyes glances around and lands on Leila.
Her heart shrinks in fear and she speeds up the picking, using her palm to wipe the floor in case she missed any, leaving several cuts which hurt her but not as much as seeing her husband carrying another woman in his arms.
“What happened?!” The Alpha demands again, still at Leila this time when she is secretly checking her hands.
“It’s not her fault…” Carmela pulls Alpha Tatum’s sleeve timidly. And at her words, the Alpha narrows his eyes, understanding that Leila is the one who broke the cup.
“You can’t get a mop for it?” The man’s long, sharp eyebrows twist together, “Who taught you to clean broken glasses with your bare hands?!”
Confirming the Alpha’s attitude toward Leila, Carmela’s friends exchanged a gloating look.
“Carmi just wanted a cup of water, and she was too impatient to deliver the cup into Carmi’s hand!”
“She cut herself seeing Carmi hurt her foot, just to get your atten–”
“That’s enough.” Two calm words out of the Alpha and the mean girls shut their mouths in fear. They can’t handle the Alpha’s dominant aura.
Leila’s eyes brim with tears. She embarrassed him, again. She wasn't born to be Luna like Carmela.
All she ever brings him is trouble.
Speaking of trouble, Leila sneaks a timid peek at the Alpha as her stomach twists together: she is carrying one in her as they speak.
If she wasn’t sure whether he would want the baby before, she is sure now that the baby will only be a bother to him.
She hasn’t had time to talk to him about it. Or rather, she hasn’t allowed herself the time to talk to him, so she doesn’t have to make a decision on it.
Now she has one.
She can’t keep the baby. She can’t break him and Carmela up, again.
They all say that she stole him from Carmela, but only she knows she could never. His heart has been Carmela’s since forever ago. He is just too kind, taking good care of her in their fake marriage and she started twisting his kindness into symbols of love.
She tricked herself into thinking that maybe somewhere in his heart, there was a small spot for her but it’s time to wake up from her dream, a dream that is too good to be true.
Seeing the stinging image of the Alpha sitting by Carmela’s bedside, talking and laughing, Leila forces the tears back in her eyes and scooches to the door.
“Where are you going?” Alpha Tatum spots her sneaky moves before she can take two steps.
“Home…” Leila can only squeeze single words out of her without exposing the crying tone behind it.
“Wait for me, I’m going home, too.” Alpha Tatum gives a flat order.
“Actually,” Leila bites her lips, “I need to see Amanda first.”
“Amanda?” The Alpha frowns, upset at her change of answer, “You don’t have to take the routine tests anymore.”
Right. Leila sighs in her mind. They don’t have to pretend that they are trying to have an heir anymore. He is marrying his true Luna.
“I…” Leila grips her own finger hard, trying to form a sentence, “I should let her know, then.”
The Alpha stares at her with his eyes narrowed. Is he getting suspicious, just because she insisted on talking to her?
“I–”
“You said I can leave the hospital!” Carmela shakes the Alpha’s sleeve coquettishly, “Aren’t you taking me home yourself?”
With an indulging sigh, Alpha Tatum rubs Carmela’s head: “Of course I will.”
“I’ll be home then!” Leila throws her words as she escapes the room, unable to watch even one more second.
She needs to talk to Amanda before the news could get out because soon it will not be true--
She needs an abortion.
Leila tosses and turns on the pristine white sheets of her soft mattress, her red and puffy eyes settling on the chandelier dancing to the tune of the strong wind blowing in from the open window.She smiles bitterly at the ornament swinging above her, it reminds her of own self. She is not in control, she just dances to the tune of whatever terrible music her miserable life is playing.Two years ago, she was just a regular girl hoping to find her fated mate, to live a simple life with him and raise beautiful children but life has her right now as a hated Luna and a jilted wife.Tatum promised to come home after dropping Carmela but it’s been hours and he is still with her, probably reminiscing of the love they used to share before Carmela disappeared She blinks back the tears tugging at her eyes as her chest tightens in pain from the thought. They aren’t mates. She forgot. She shouldn’t have let his kindness cloud that.It was his ultimate act of kindness that made him marry her. Aft
Tatum is sitting on Carmela’s bed in the dark, with Carmela on his legs, her head resting calmly on his chest, with one of his arms around her waist while the other slowly runs up and down her hair.As his Luna and bearer of his mark, the mindlink gives Leila access to all of Tatum’s physical senses and what she sees in her vision cripples her heart, forcing the tears she has been holding back to run down the corner of her eyes.Whatever hope she held out that she meant something to him instantly shatters and an unbearable pain rips through her.A pained smile curves up Leila’s lips and she is about to cut the mindlink when Tatum’s voice barrages into her head.‘What is it?’The coldness of his voice hurt her even more than the image in her vision. It’s like this man feels absolutely nothing but irritation towards her since Carmela returned.Before Leila can even form words in her head, Carmela notices the glow in Tatum’s eyes and guesses it’s Leila mindlinking him.She jumps down from
The rich smell of coffee and excess milk wafts into Leila’s nostrils and her sullen gaze shifts from the mug to his handsome face but she doesn’t reply to him not knowing how to feel. Tatum’s fingers grazes her arm as he pulls away and his mere touch sends tingles of pleasure through her body.Bringing her coffee every morning in bed was his usual routine, something she has grown used to but why still bring her coffee this morning when he spent the night in the arms of his love?Did he even remotely think about how she must have felt yesterday when he made that decision? Were her feelings something that mattered to him or was she just an object that he took pity on and had fun with while he searched for his true mate?“Earth to Leila,” Tatum snaps his finger and his voice brings her back to reality.Leila gulps, feeling her heart pound with raw nervousness and she drops the mug on the bedside.It’s now or never. If she wants to rid herself of this agonising ache hammering at her heart
Old times? She always felt invisible back then when they all hung out with Carmela getting all his attention, she’ll feel even worse now.“You go on ahead, I have a meeting with the pack widows this morning,” Leila replies, looking away from his eyes.“Leila.”The sternness of Tatum’s voice makes her turn, struggling to keep her emotions together.“Yes.”Tatum closes the gap between them, staring deeply into her eyes, like he is looking into her very soul. Leila’s chest heaves slowly, wondering if he has her figured out but he says nothing and he plants a soft kiss on her forehead before leaving the room quietly.Later that day, Leila is woken from her nap by the sound of laughter from outside her shared room with the Alpha. The voices are more than familiar, she knows she should pretend to be asleep and not go there but she just cannot hold herself back.She steps out of the room and to her surprise, the laughter is coming from the room directly opposite theirs. She selected a room do
“I manage,” Leila replies, her heart sinking to her stomach and she gives Carmela a sullen look but Carmela keeps a straight face like losing your wolf wasn’t such a shameful thing.“I’m sure you do. Now, how about we go make some cold drinks and let the man work?” Carmela’s straight face lights up with a beaming smile as she replies, glancing at Tatum but Leila is too uncomfortable.What else does Carmela know? Is her secret still safe? What if she tells it to the other pack members? The consequences will be too dire for her. The pack members will blame her for Tatum’s actions just like they did when Carmela disappeared.Fear, worry and anxiety all flood her heart at the same time and she stands up abruptly, feeling too self conscious and shameful in front of Carmela.“I um- I have to go, I have somewhere else to be.”“But you only just got here, I was hoping to get more stories about your reign as Luna,” Carmela replies with a subtle coyness in her tone.Leila gulps, becoming more wo
Kelvin’s brow creases with worry for her. A deep frown contorts his face and he walks over, taking the seat next to her. He gently takes her hands in his, squeezing it gently, making Leila’s sad eyes meet his affectionate ones. “What happened? Is he treating you poorly?” he asks in a soft and worry laden voice. Is Tatum treating her poorly? Does sleeping in another woman’s bed and spilling their deepest secrets to her count as being treated poorly? “No….” Leila shakes her head, feeling a tug of pain in her heart. “Carmela is back, Kev, you know what that means.” Kelvin scoffs softly, raising a brow at Leila, looking a bit relieved to know she wasn’t suffering at the hands of the Alpha. “You disappoint me Leila, you’re just going to throw away your marriage and position because of that bitch?” Kelvin asks in a curt tone. His dislike towards Carmela is well known to Leila and Kelvin is not one to mince words or hide his feelings, except the ones he has for Leila. Telling Kelvin
She smiles bitterly at him, holding his gaze, letting the pain in her heart take full control of it. Her legs move with a slow tremor under the table and she bites back her tears, hoping her pain is not so evident in her voice.“If I am STILL your Luna, when do I stop being her, Alpha?”“What do you even mean by that?” Tatum looks at her weird.“I mean, your true mate has returned, obviously my days are numbered,” Leila manages to keep her voice from trembling as she speaks.Something that looks like guilt fills Tatum’s eyes and he shifts his gaze back to his laptop screen.“What I choose to do with her shouldn’t concern you,” Tatum replies passively with an aloofness to his demeanour.The tiny sliver of hope that Tatum may yet keep her flicks through Leila’s mind but she quickly pushes it away. He only said not to concern herself with it, he never said it won’t happen.“I’m just asking because-”“Leila, drop it,” Tatum snaps his laptop shut, his tone becoming stern. “Trying to change
A nervous pit settles in Leila’s stomach as she reads through the divorce papers, shaking her feet under the table. She stuffs it back into her bag, frowning at the other item in there, the test result of her pregnancy. One of them will be in the Alpha’s hands tonight. She picks up the cold glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from the gold plated table of the restaurant's VIP section where she is sitting and as she sips, her eyes scan the space and she can see the eyes leering at her. In a VIP section with ten tables that can sit up to forty guests, she is the only one sitting there. Tatum either booked the whole place out for their surprise date night or the pack members who can afford it are just avoiding her as usual. Tatum has barely said two words to her since their argument about Kelvin, in fact, she barely sees him. He leaves the house very early in the morning and returns far into the night, heavily reeking of Carmela’s smell but Leila doesn’t dare to complain, she is qu
“We have to go right now! I can’t wait another second,” Leila cries, her eyes red and puffy, an unbearable pain lodged in her heart for fear of her precious angel.Anything could be happening to her daughter at this moment. She does not want to even think of it. How is it possible that the one place Leo chooses to attack is just where Amara is?This hardly looks like a coincidence, her heart throbs with pain, pounding in fear. Is it possible that Leo learnt the truth about Amara being Tatum’s daughter and is trying to hurt Tatum by harming her, but how would he have learnt that? Amara’s identity is a well kept secret.She looks back at Tatum from her trembling feet just as he slams his phone down, grunts and runs his hands down his face in frustration, his eyes weary and sad but his rage is clear in them.“I can’t reach anyone over there, it’s like their communications system has been cut off or something,” his voice is laden with worry “That’s why we should be on our way there alrea
It’s her wedding day, it really is her wedding day and it’s not the rushed secret night wedding she had the first time, everything is as she wants.Even if her dream wedding was something small, intimate between just her and her family, she could not deny the pack members who had been abuzz with its attendance so she decided to host it outdoors to accommodate everyone.Several Alphas and Lunas from other packs are also present. It’s a happy day for Leila and the members of the blood oak pack.The wedding was the needed boom of joy to topple the gloom that had overshadowed the pack in recent weeks.Not a single soul wanted to miss it. If they had opted to use a hall as Leila initially wanted, it would be full to the brim and not enough people would get seats.“The crowd outside is wild,” Amanda says, stepping into the room where Leila is getting the finishing touches to her makeup. “This has to be the biggest Alpha wedding I have ever witnessed.”Leila makes a face at Amanda, half roll
“We’re going to the temple?” Leila asks Tatum, seeing the path they are walking down, his hand intertwined in hers.“Yes we are,” Tatum replies with a smile, taking her hand up and planting a soft kiss on it that makes her blush and sets her heart racing even more.She wonders what this surprise may be that it has to happen in the temple. This is the most sacred place in the blood oak pack. Pack members can only visit it on invitation from the priestess of the temple. She has only ever been here once with her dad and even then, she had to wait a distance outside while he went in. The temple is located right in the heart of the pack and yet it is the most secluded place.When they get to the gate of the temple, they are welcomed by attendants who give them water to wash their hands, feet and faces before they are allowed to enter inside.Leila stares in awe at the gigantic statue of the goddess riding a three headed wolf with a sceptre in her hand, the walls of the temple adorned with
“Leila! You have guests!”She hears the sound of her mother’s voice calling her from downstairs and she drops her phone on the bed, which she had been browsing the internet with searching for pictures of a wedding gown and trying to also find a designer even though Amanda swore she had that part covered.Who could those guests be? She doesn’t remember expecting anyone, she’s not exactly the most popular figure in the pack, even though she’s going to be their Luna for the second time.A part of her is honestly quite troubled about how the pack is receiving the news of her wedding to Tatum.It still feels surreal but she knows it is happening. She is going to get married to the love of her life twice in her lifetime. The first time they got married, it was Tatum saving her, now it is her who is more or less saving him by agreeing to be his bride, such an irony.Coming down the stairs, Leila freezes and she takes some steps back, seeing the crowd gathered in her living room, members of t
“I already told you I summoned her, she doesn’t have to answer—” “It’s okay,” Leila gently holds Tatum’s hand to calm him, feeling the change in his aura. She smiles gently at him, letting her palm trace down his blood ridden forearm, her body tingling with a subtle pleasure as she interlocks her palms with his. Tatum unconsciously or perhaps consciously clasps his hands against hers, while looking at her with confusion in his eyes and feeling as one with him in this moment, the power of Trent’s Alpha’s command dissolves into thin air. That pressure that wolves always felt to speak the truth once under the alpha command is not felt by her wolf, what she feels is different. It is a feeling of bliss, a calmness and a knowing that this is meant to be. Her union with Tatum. Whatever happens next, whatever hurdle they have to face, whatever storms they have to brace, whatever challenges may come, they’ll face it together and so out of her own free will and not under the influence of Tre
Leila frowns as Trent approaches them, looking between Trent and Theo who has a stern expression on his face.Theo switched sides? He betrayed Tatum? Why? She understands Trent is the new Alpha but still, him and Tatum go way back.If she had to take a guess as to the men that would betray Tatum, she would have never put Theo on that list.She looks at him with pain in her eyes and heart as Trent closes the distance between them and says, “Theo’s my man now, my good beta, he does what I say, he’s loyal to me, right Theo?”“A beta must serve his Alpha wholeheartedly,” Theo replies in a clipped tone, that stern expression still etched on his face.Leila’s skin crawls at the way Theo easily dismissed Tatum as his Alpha. She can never understand the reason for his betrayal but she’ll have to worry about that later.Right now, all she needs to do is get Tatum out of this unnecessary torture they are making him suffer. The sound of his painful grunts and groans inside as he continues to fig
“They’re all gone, they think you left. Come with me,” Theo returns shortly after leaving to distract the guards. Leila feels grateful, taking his hand as he leads the way out of the kitchen. “Theo.” “Yeah.” “Nevermind,” she replies, holding herself back from asking how the men knew she was coming in the first place. They didn’t treat her like some intruder, they treated her like a target they had been waiting for and if anyone knew she was going to come, it was him but still, he was the one who saved her. She can’t jump into conclusions, it’s better to keep her speculations to herself. As she follows closely behind him, she wonders if Trent is here, what about Tatum? Just as she thinks about Tatum, she hears a loud and painful grunt, a sound that makes her wolf whimper, hearing the pain their mate is in. “Tatum!” She yelps, her heart slamming against her ribcage in terror of what could be happening to him and she runs towards the direction of the sound but just as she’s abou
Leila gets to the pack, parking her car quite a distance away from the old gym, her heart thudding slowly as she approaches the gym. She goes around the back, deciding not to use the main entrance to keep the element of surprise. The fence behind the gym stands meters above her and is almost fully covered in moss because of its abandoned state. Leila stares at it for a short moment, not allowing any doubtful or hesitant thoughts to enter her mind and she quickly takes a step back before leaping onto the fence, grabbing the top to hold her weight and pushing herself up with a silent grunt and she jumps over to the other side. She stays glued to the fence, closes her eyes and focuses her hearing for any kind of sound that may tell her exactly where she needs to go or where to avoid but surprisingly, she can barely hear anything. Did they leave already or is her hearing just bad? She frowns, cautiously tip-toeing from the fence to the main building itself and she presses her ear again
Leila doesn’t waste another second as she hurriedly turns her car around and heads back to the pack. Theo freezes over at the gym, cursing under his breath. He had mistakenly mindlinked Leila when he was trying to block her. He glances at Tatum as Tatum groans, hit by the hard fist of a warrior that sends Tatum staggering. Will Leila come here? Now that she knows the location? He frowns when Tatum is tackled to the ground by one warrior while two more try to hit him with their spears but he quickly rolls away. There was a time where he would be in the thick of it with Tatum, loyal, by his side but right now, he’s standing behind Trent. When Trent became Alpha, he did not name another beta and he conveniently filled the role and he got no opposition from Trent either. His loyalty is now to his new Alpha. “Someone was mindlinking you, who was that?” Trent asks, turning back to glance at him with a peering as suspectful gaze. As if Tatum heard Trent, Tatum also looks over in their