“Schedule another meeting in a week’s time and make sure every leader is here and not some fucking proxy.” I snapped at him as I stood up from my seat before I laid my hand in front of Nadia.
I would have wanted to grab her, but I didn’t want to hurt her or make a scene.
And I was hoping she would take my hand and not humiliate me in front of my people, especially in front of Benedict.
I wasn’t looking at her, but I kept waiting until I felt her soft hand clasped around me. It was only then that I let out the breath I was holding.
“Excuse us, gentlemen.” I bid my farewell to everyone as I snaked an arm around Nadia’s waist before pulling her to my side as I guided her out of the room.
We were already walking down the corridor alone after I refused the offer of some of the leaders to walk us out.
“Why did you do that? You didn’t have to stop the meeting because of me.” Nadia was talking in a hushed tone as she skipped and walked to keep up with my pace.
“I can’t fucking control myself anymore. If I hadn’t stopped the meeting, I would have killed that man.” I answered her back in a hushed tone, gritting my teeth.
I was beyond furious, and walking out was the best option at the moment.
“Do you plan to kill me too?”
“I will deal with you later once we’re home.”
She pulled her body away from me and swatted my hand when I tried to reach for her. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Didn’t do anything wrong except defy me.
My chest was already heaving. If I answered her one more time, I might snap and end up losing my temper, so I just kept my mouth shut.
We were already outside the building when someone called behind us.
“Alpha Riley.”
Fuck.
I grabbed Nadia’s waist and pulled her beside me before I turned our bodies around, placing my mate slightly behind me as my eyes squinted, looking at the man who had the fucking nerve to follow us.
“What do you want?” I asked him in a cold voice.
NADIA.
“What do you want?” Riley’s voice was too cold, and if he wasn’t holding me, I would have probably fallen on my ass because his Alpha aura was rolling off, and it was affecting me.
I swallowed hard as my hand flew to Riley’s chest. I wanted my touch to calm him, but at the same time, I wanted to feel that he would not leave me alone in front of Benedict.
Benedict was Elliot’s nephew. He was older than me by four years. I thought at the beginning that he had good intentions whenever he would talk to me when he and his uncle started visiting me when I was seventeen.
I wouldn’t deny that I wasattracted to him at the beginning, but it just faded away. Maybe because there was really nothing special about him except his good looks.
When I turned eighteen, he told me that he was hoping he would turn out to be my mate, but fortunately for me, he wasn’t. It was then that he asked me if I was willing to do everything so I could get away from his uncle.
I tried to ignore his proposition because I didn’t need it yet. Until everything was decided and I was just a month away from being mated to Elliot.
I was desperate.
I met him a week before the full moon that I ran away and met Riley. I asked him if he was still open to the suggestion he gave me before. I was thinking he was better off as a chosen mate than Elliot. At least he was younger, and maybe if he met his mate, he would eventually let me go.
He agreed, and we decided to meet up again and plan everything. He was proposing that we run away and live together so that his uncle couldn’t do anything, and he promised that his father would be behind us.
But I got cold feet. I couldn’t do it.
