Chapter 74

Valens was acting weird and my powers were going wonky. I didn’t know if the two had a correlation but I feared they might. I’d almost set his papers on fire this morning and yesterday, I went as stiff as a board mid-conversation that he feared I’d died.

I stared at the television screen without really seeing anything. I was bored out of my mind. Valens had to drop by the office, leaving me alone in the house. All alone, there was nothing for me to do asides eat and watch irrelevant shows. I picked up my phone a hundred times but everyone I knew was busy.

As someone who never had free time in the past, I had no idea what to do with the multitude I had now. To make things worse, we moved to this place which was detached from the rest of the pack. I could not access other places easily because it was an impossibly long walk from everyone else.

Just as I was thinking of how important it was for me to learn to drive, I heard a beep from the tablet beside me. It alerted me whenever someone got close to the gate which only happened when Valens was coming.

I grabbed it in excitement but before I could unlock it, I got another sound that indicated someone rang the doorbell. Valens wouldn’t ring the doorbell and the only other person who had come here unannounced was Clover. My smile fell.

Pulling up the camera at the gate, I saw Jabari peering into it and waving. I laughed at the gesture and let him in, walking out of the house to meet him at the door.

“Luna Aysel,” he said once he stepped out of his car. “This is a nice house.” He did a quick glance of the building looming behind us then looked back at the distance he drove to get here.

“Wait till you see the movie room,” I answered, playing along. “Thank you for picking it out.” I still remembered the call Valens placed across to him and how much of a chewing out he received while we searched for a new home.

“No need to thank me. I have an obligation to serve.” He smiled once again but this time, his lips were tight and his eyes had lost their mirth. “It was either that or listen to Valens bitch,” he added. I laughed but his eyes – they still had no mirth.

“Right. Are you coming in or what?” I half-turned, motioning to the door.

“I am yet to apologize.” His words stopped me. “Valens told me what happened.” He looked down at his shoes. “I am deeply sorry for failing as your Beta.”

This apology had weighed him down, I could tell. It was one I expected since the incidence but a part of me had been hiding from the world so I hadn’t seen him.

No one else knew about the baby. That knowledge was between Valens, the doctors, and I. And now, the Beta. With the way his eyes dropped to my stomach, I knew that he knew.

“It’s alright.” I swallowed, feeling a familiar lump in my throat.

I felt better on some days while other days, the incident felt raw and fresh again. Today was one of the days when I felt in between. It was still fresh but a part of me had come to terms with it.

“It is okay if you hate me. I could not keep you or the child safe.”

“It’s alright, really. The only people I’m going to blame from henceforth are those that took my child from me. I am not going to pass the blame anymore. Skylar and Bethel and Lucien and Zavier. Those are their names. Those are the people that did this to me.”

“We have Zavier and Lucien. You can suggest – artful ways for me to make them regret their existence,” he offered.

“Skylar is still missing?” I asked. “Can we go inside? I’m not big on standing these days.”

“Yes. The she-wolf is surprisingly good at evading my trackers.” We walked inside while he spoke. “Valens actually asked me to bring you to the office. He has a lot of work and can’t make it back soon. He doesn’t like you being alone here so I’m your driver and chaperone.”

“Alright, let me grab my phone and shoes.” I dashed in and grabbed my things in excitement. I hadn’t known what I’d been missing until now. I wasn’t just bored. I was missing Valens. I’d become too used to his presence that his absence pricked me.

“You’re excited.” Jabari laughed when I rushed back out, almost running.

“I’ve been bored,” I defended as we drove out of the compound.

We’d chosen a house so far from the pack that it felt like like a long trip to the office. Jabari played music until halfway through the journey when he killed the music to speak. He didn’t immediately speak when he turned off the music so I gave him time. I felt him struggling to get the words out.

“What is it?” I asked in a tone I hoped was soothing.

“Celeste is my mate,” he blurted out, his face reddening.

“Congrats!” I cheered but he didn’t reply me. I looked at his big hand on the wheel and sighed. “Does she know this?” It was impossible for her not to know so I rephrased my question. “Have you spoken to her?”

“She’s avoiding me,” he said, his hands squeezing the wheel. “And now I’m avoiding her in return.”

“You think she’d reject you?”

“I know she will,” he stressed his words. “I haven’t done anything to her but she hates my guts.” The distress in his voice painted his face. “It’s like she took one look at me and decided I am the worst thing on earth.”

“Her past isn’t the rosiest,” I admitted to him.

I had no business telling her business but they needed an intervention. Celeste did not like men. She wasn’t a lesbian but she didn’t like men. The man who put Celeste off most men had a build like Jabari. He wasn’t nearly as built as the Beta but he too had been big in a bodybuilder way. She gravitated towards the slightly effeminate guys now but after Levi, she may just hate men after all.

“You look like someone who hurt her in the past,” I told him. “Don’t avoid her. You’d gain nothing from that. I will speak to her about it but everything is ultimately up to you.”

“I wish she’d talk to me. I haven’t had the time to celebrate the end of my curse. It doesn’t feel like the curse has been broken. It feels as if I’ve been cursed anew,” he paused for a second before sighing. “It hurts too much to dwell on.”

“You both will be fine. I am sorry it isn’t rosy and loving like you must have imagined but the Moon Goddess knows why she paired you together.”

“You think so?” He sounded hopeful.

My heart broke for him because I knew what it meant to find your mate and not receive a k**s and a hug with a promise of a brighter future together. I experienced it twice.

“Celeste needs to heal. I think you can help her heal.” He nodded silently. He kept nodding for a while. Then we got to the office and he parked.

“It may take a while but it will be worth everything at the end. You’ll get through this.” I patted his shoulder in reassurance.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, getting out of the car.

I raced through the office lobby to avoid the people shouting greetings at me. It was unfortunate that I met two familiar girls in the elevator going up.

“Hi, Luna!” Emma and her friend echoed once I got into the elevator. “You look good today!” She exclaimed.

“You look like you’ve been having a good time.” Clarissa added. She touched my hair, then she sniffed it. “I love your shampoo. What is it called?” I looked away, feeling my skin heat. I’d run out of shampoo so I used Valens’ now.

“It’s not – “ the elevator stopped for someone to get in. Surprise, surprise, it was Clover. She took one look at me and the other girls before storming off, not bothering to hide her anger.

Just seeing her face made my stomach turn. My excitement dimmed and my fists clenched. Valens wasn’t the only one who worked here but I had a gut feeling she had come to see him.

“She couldn’t even greet,” Clarissa said, annoyance in her voice.

“How disrespectful.” I had nothing to say to them. My mind was flying over the place and I couldn’t get it to calm down.

The girls got off the elevator and I managed to respond to their farewells. I got to Valens’ office still in a dazed state. He was waiting for me at the door with a smile on his face.

“Should I be jealous of my Beta now?” He asked. In reply, I asked a question of my own.

“Have you seen Clover recently?” The smile on his face fell.

“Ah, about her. There’s something she told me.” I couldn’t fight the scowl on my face.