“Which I did.” She added it almost immediately, and it left a sour taste in my mouth.
“I’m sorry you have to find out that way.” I pressed my lips to the crown of her head. I wished I had reacted differently. Maybe things would have turned out better.
“Are you not ready to tellher that you already have a mate?”
“I’m sure it reached them already, as I wasn’t hiding you from anyone. But to answer your question, I am ready to talk about you, just not ready to talk about my sins.”
She didn’t say anything after that. We just looked at the dispersing crowd in front of us, waving and nodding our heads at the warriors paying their respect while we held on to each other.
“Nadia, about the Luna ceremony. Have you thought about it?” I broke the silence. I’ve been thinking about this after the calls I made. Maybe if we could finally have her as my Luna and my official mate through the union, I wouldn’t be bothered anymore by Benedict’s presence.
“I’ve been here not even a month yet. Is it important to have it right away?” She asked in a low voice, and my heart dropped. She was still not ready for it.
“No. I was just wondering why you’re holding off.”
“I just don’t feel that I am ready to be a Luna just yet. Give me a little more time, Riley.”
Her words keep ringing in my head. I wanted to understand her, but a part of me felt that she didn’t want to be officially a part of me. But I didn’t voice my concern. Maybe she just really needed time to get used to everything.
So I tried my best to shove off any bad thoughts running in my head, especially the one telling me that she didn’t want to stay here for good.
“Do you want more?” Nadia asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, and my eyes darted to her, meeting her dark brown eyes before I lowered my gaze to my plate. I didn’t even notice she had been placing food on my plate.
“More…” I smiled at her and she obliged, placing more meat on my plate before covering it with sauce.
“Thank you,” I told her in a low voice, and she just smiled back at me before placing food on her plate.
Lady Katarina and Lady Sofia stayed for dinner, but my Gamma couple were not with us since it was Gamma Sebastian’s mother’s birthday.
“Riley, we were wondering if you had an idea about Katarina’s Claiming?”
My eyes squinted as I stared at Nadia, forcing the meat into my mouth as I waited for her to continue.
“What do you know about it?” She asked.
I shrugged my shoulders andanswered nonchalantly, “Aeon will claim Katarina on the next Claiming. That’s all I know.”
“Is there a way out?”
“I seriously have no idea. I never dwell on the Claiming so I’m no use when it comes to that.”
“Why? You’re an Alpha. You didn’t even think of attending a Claiming just in case you ended up not having a mate or a Luna?”
“No. I never considered Alpha Females.”
“And why?” Three mouths blurted out the same question, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I don’t think I need to explain, but I will explain to you later.” I winked at Nadia before darting my eyes to the other females around the dining table. “You both don’t need to know about it.”
My Beta butted in and asked Katarina a question. “Are you having second thoughts, Lady Katarina?”
“I never wanted to.”
“Do you think you can help her?” Nadia asked me, and I felt useless because I knew I couldn’t.
I shook my head, my lips pursing into a thin line. “I can’t. This is between Katarina and Darvin. And Aeon. I don’t meddle with family affairs, especially of another Alpha.”
“Maybe your Beta can claim me, just for a show,” Katarina said, her eyes went to my Beta and my Beta’s mouth just dropped open.
