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“Forget it. We still got time to hash out our issues later. But that… that’s me and you. I’m here about you and Duke.”
It hurts to admit it, but… “There is no me and Duke.”
“You’re right about that. At least, if he goes through with this nonsense, there won’t be.”
I don’t know what she means. “There never was to begin with.”
“And who’s fault is that? You were too busy mooning overmymate to notice when a big hunk of male arrived in Accalia and couldn’t stop staring at you. You now why Duke asked Ryker’s dad if he could stay? Because of you! He knew you were his mate, and when you didn’t react to the bond the same way he did, he thought he already lost you to another male. And instead of leaving, that bonehead spent the next four years worshiping you from the distance—”
I can’t stop myself from interrupting. “Me? He never said one word to me until he felt bad I got caught byyourdad. Before that, I never noticed him. In fact, after you came along, he signed up to be your personal guard. He only started watching my back after.”
To my surprise, Gem doesn’t take my tone of voice as a challenge. She could, but she doesn’t. In fact, she looks kind of impressed that I fired back. “He did. You can’t blame Duke for that, though, anymore than you can me changing his name. It’s… it’s an alpha thing. Just know that he didn’t mean to pledge himself to me, and the moment he found out you were in danger, his feelings for you broke any hold I had on him. He loves you, Trish. So much that he set aside his own mate bond so that you’d be happy, no matter what. You rejected him four years ago when you barely noticed him, and you rejected him again this last Luna. And you’re surprised he never told you that you were meant for him?”
“Meant for him? Really? Then where is he? He tried real hard to talk to me, right? But I haven’t seen him in days!”
She raises her eyebrow. Scowling, fierce Gemma is gone. In a heartbeat, the suspiciously curious Alpha is in her place. “What? Are you telling me you don’t know?”
If I did, I wouldn’t have asked. I shake my head.
“Fucking males. I told him he could go talk to Elizabeth onlyafteryou agreed. Not to be all noble and go on his own.”
Elizabeth. I know that name. She’s the Luna-touched wolf who mated the head vampire in Muncie. The one who—
breaks mate bonds.
“Wait. I haven’t sensed Duke in a while… are you telling me that he went to see her?”
Duke. The male who Gem just told me is my fated mate, who I marked during the night of the full moon, and who I’ve avoided ever since.
He’s not my fated mate. He can’t be. I would’ve known, right? Even if I didn’t, he would’ve told me. For Gem to know everything she did—most of which happened before she even came to live with us—someone told her.
Why would he tell the female Alpha and notme?
That doesn’t matter. None of that matters. Not if he really did what Gem said.
She nods. “He’s there right now.”
I dash for the door.
Smart Alpha. Fast, too. Gem beats me to it.
Blocking it with her body, she says, “You can’t go.”
“Move, Gem. I don’t know what’s going to happen between Duke and me, but I can’t let him do this. If we have a bond, I don’t want him to throw it away without me getting a chance to explore what it means.”
“He said you weren’t happy. He thought, if he did this, you would be.”
My laugh is hollow as I purposely meet her stare. “You should know better. I’m not the type of she-wolf who will ever be happy. Now move.”
She puts her alpha voice into it. Her eyes glisten, a deeper shade of gold than I’ve ever seen hers turn. “You can’t go, Patricia.”
If her dominance hadn’t made me give up my idiotic challenge, her use of my full name would have.
She gentles her tone. “We have an agreement. Mountainside shifters can’t just walk into Muncie.”
I did. After Aleksander Filan found me outside of Kendall’s territory and brought me to meet the former head vamp so that I could get permission to enter Muncie and confront Gem… I walked around the Fang City without even a fang to shield me.
As though she’s remembering that day last August when she found me pleading my case to Ryker, she shakes her head.
