“He loves her.”
“Sebastian told me the Alpha just wanted someone to stay with him. Despite being good at almost everything, he’s a very insecure man. He thought he was not good enough for someone to actually like him.”
“Funny, because Beta Dominic said the same thing.”
“Because it is the truth. He used the blood contract between their fathers so he could take hold of Andrea. He thought no one would like him. At least Andrea would stay because she had no other option.”
“Why would he even think he was not good enough for someone?”
“His mother’s abandonment left him with that impression. Growing up, Sebastian said, the Alpha would always stare at mothers, but he never talked about his own. He kept it all inside him. Maybe he thought he was not good enough to make her stay.”
“For Goddess’ sake, he was only a baby when she left. How would he ever think it was his fault?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was what his father made him believe? I never met Alpha Melvin so I had no idea how he was as a father. But Sebastian said he never took another Luna after she left, and he told Riley the Luna position was just for his mother alone. I was guessing his father’s loyalty to his mother made his hatred for her grow deeper. Because how could she leave when his father was so loyal to her?”
“But it’s only one side of the story. Maybe there’s something more.”
“That’s what I keep saying to Sebastian. Because how could you, as a mother, just abandon your child?”
I didn’t know what to say anymore. A part of me was hurting for my mate for what he must have felt about his mother, but a part of me was still scared of him.
Now that he found out I was his mate, will his obsession with Andrea shift to me? Will he hold me against my will if I decided I didn’t want to be here anymore?
Chapter 41
NADIA.
The day went bydraggingly slow, and even though I was terrified of Riley at this point, I must admit that I missed him.
I spent half of the day with Jenny. We just talked about Riley and what he had done and what she thought of him, the good and bad.
And I was thankful that Jenny was being honest with me, with no filters.
She told me about Riley threatening to mark Andrea and how he put his life and his men’s life on the line to assist Alpha Caspian’s pack when the latter was attacked, even if things about Andrea weren’t settled between them.
And how he almost died.
Of all the things she told me, this was the one that pained me the most. I thought that asking Andrea to sleep with him, and the marking was too painful, but those couldn’t compare to the anguish I felt inside at the thoughts of him dying even before I met him.
Even if a part of me wasn’t okay with what he did, I didn’t think I wanted a life without him.
I was still lost up to this point. I’d learned many things in just twenty-four hours, but I felt there were still many things I had to find out. But to be honest, I had no idea if I could take more.
So I told Jenny I was done for the day and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the library on the second floor of the packhouse. I read books by the window overlooking the packhouse ground so I could see if they arrived, but it was darker now, and yet, they weren’t home.
I wondered where they ate lunch and dinner.Did some female invite them over?
I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy from creeping into my heart.
Oh, stop it, Nadia!
I huffed at my own thoughts, reminding myself that Riley wasn’t like that. Riley could have gotten any female if he wanted to, but he didn’t.
And then I remembered that he thought he was not good enough for anyone.
I was snapped from my own thoughts when I heard a car approaching. It was the Beta’s car.
I peeked down, too excited to see him, and when I did see him come down from the car, my heart dropped and I couldn’t help the grin from spreading on my face.
