8: I LOVE YOU

Jessica lacked the strength to continue her search for Cory. He must have been out for a run because he wasn't in his chambers or training in the fields.

The small omega girl went back to the barn and used a bucket to draw water from the well. It was difficult and painful since her left rib was bruised and broken.

She stripped naked, and stood behind the shed where she previously placed the bucket of water, then she used the fragments of crushed soaps she gathered while cleaning the bathrooms in the pack-house to take a quick bath, making sure to wash herself thoroughly.

She didn't need another werewolf to smell that she had lost her virginity, even though it was to her mate. It was still embarrassing.

All she longed for was to be with Cory and have him hold her in his arms.

Once she completed her bath, she entered the barn and searched through the box containing her few pieces of clothing. Most of them were old and tattered clothes that other omegas threw away. Jessica salvaged them from the dump and fixed them up, giving her more than just two clothing options.

She wore a simple yellow dress and set the blue dress that she had been saving for the prom aside. It belonged to her mother; it was one of the two dresses the Luna made her keep. The other was the gown from her mother's wedding.

Jessica visited the pack hospital, where the doctor treated her wounds and provided pain medication, before she went to Luna's quarters. She was responsible for helping Magda prepare for the ball.

Jessica was even more terrified of the Luna than she was before. Especially since she found out Magda murdered her parents. She even wondered what punishment the Luna would give her now that the alpha had revealed he planned to take her as a second wife.

She took a deep breath, as she truly believed that things would fall into place after Cory tells everyone that she was his mate. Sure enough, the alpha and Luna wouldn't go against the wishes of the Moon Goddess.

Upon stepping into Luna's bedroom, Jessica felt a dark energy surrounding her.

"You're late!" The Luna yelled.

"I came here as fast as I could," Jessica bowed. She loathed submitting to the woman who took her parents' lives.

Once she became Luna, Jessica made a promise to herself to see Magda incarcerated for her misdeeds, and anyone else involved in the killings of her parents.

"Well, I don't need your services today," the Luna spat. "In two months, you will become the alpha's concubine. Might as well get used to not doing any work. Not that you do any now. You're lazy and ungrateful."

"What am I supposed to do?" She asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Luna hissed. "You're free to do whatever you want today. The ball has been postponed because your future husband wants to announce his engagement to you two weeks before the ceremony." The Luna turned her back to Jessica and started on her own hair.

"OK," Jessica said as she turned on her heels and exited the room. A smile lit up her face. Since the ball was postponed, she knew Cory would meet her later in the supply closet.

*******

Six weeks had passed since Jessica's deflowering. Needless to say, the sex hadn't gotten any easier or more romantic. It was always the same routine. They'd meet up in the supply closet when everyone was asleep and Cory would take her in any which way he wanted until he climaxed.

Jessica didn't know sex was that uneventful. Reading books like Fifty Shades of Grey, Jake The Panty Ripper and Whips And Chains, she would have thought it would have felt different; better. Cory wasn't like the men she read about in those novels, those men could last for hours when Cory only lasted five minutes the most, and it was normally because he was drunk.

"Cory, you have said nothing to me since I told you your father's plans of taking me as a wife," Jessica let out.

"Pookie, you worry too much. I will tell my father about us soon. It's just that my parents are going through some marital issues right now, and I would rather not add fuel to fire."

"OK," she sighed.

"How's your wounds healing?" He quickly changed the subject.

"My nose is finally out of plaster and my rib is feeling much better these days, especially since your mother and sisters have been keeping their distances from me for the past six weeks," she explained.

"The twins were upset with you because they blamed you for having the ball cancelled, but then when they heard that even more alphas will be present at the one being held tomorrow night, they had been focused on losing weight and finding the right outfits."

"I see," Jessica chuckled. "And Chrissy..."

He cut her off. "I told you Jessica, I don't want this Chrissy. I don't even know her. You're the one I want."

Jessica laughed as Cory kissed her lips.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Jessica smiled.

"Well, Pookie I'm heading out for training. See you at the ball tomorrow. Wear that blue dress of yours. It makes your eyes pop."

"OK Cory, I love you," she announced as he exited the closet.

As Jessica watched him dash up the steps, she continued to wonder why, after more than two months of being together, Cory had yet to say 'I love you' to her.