Alpha Kieran won’t let that shameless sister ruin things a second time.”
They laughed. Celeste joined in.
My jaw clenched, and I looked down at my drink to mask the storm brewing behind my eyes.
Was this how they talked about Sera when she wasn’t around? Seeing the way Celeste spoke to her earlier, they probably did this when she was around, too.
It felt wrong, letting that kind of talk go unchallenged. But after what just happened, after the promise I’d made, I couldn’t come to Sera’s defense. Not now. Not in front of her friends.
“Are you two planning to announce anything soon?” Marcia asked with a sly smirk. “Should we start planning the wedding?”
My heart jackknifed at her words, and panic flared, making it difficult to breathe. Difficult to form an answer.
Thankfully, someone else spoke.
“Oh, they just got back together,” Abby said. “Let them enjoy their reunion. Besides,”-she nudged Emma with a wink-“they’re likely in no rush since Ethan hasn’t married his Luna yet.”
“Actually,” Celeste countered, her voice softening a little as she looked at a blushing Emma.
“Ethan recently found his mate.”
I saw Emma’s face fall in the split second before my gaze snapped to Celeste. She looked up at me and shrugged. “He didn’t tell you?”
No, he didn’t. I was as shocked as the rest of Celeste’s friends.
Definitely not as devastated as Emma, though.
“What?” Her voice wobbled, her hands clenching her champagne flute a little too tightly.
Celeste shrugged. “I’m sorry, babe.”
“Who is she?”
“I haven’t met her. Don’t know who she is.”
Emma scoffed, her shock and devastation giving way to something ugly. “This is ridiculous,” she sneered. “Ethan’s not going to marry some random woman he just met and make her his Luna.”
I opened my mouth to say something, to tell her that Ethan would absolutely do that-he was traditional right to his core and had been waiting his whole life to meet his fated mate
-but I was beaten to it.
“Of course I would.”
The voice cut through the group like a knife through butter, and all heads turned.
Ethan stood at the entrance to the garden, one arm wrapped around the waist of a stunning woman whose confidence radiated through the air like static.
She looked vaguely familiar, and I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out where I knew those daring eyes and self-assured smirk from.
The silence that followed his announcement was sharp. Celeste stiffened beside me.
And in that moment, I knew this night wasn’t done unraveling.
***
MAYA’S POV
WAI
“You tore the slit higher,” Ethan accused as we stepped out of the car.
“It got caught on your belt,” I shot back, adjusting my thigh-high slit, which was now hip- high, a direct result of him brutally shoving the dress to my hips.
He ran a hand through his hair, still slightly tousled from my handling. “If you hadn’t refused to change-“
“I told you,” I said, cutting him off as my heels clicked across the pavement, “this dress makes me feel powerful. Not my fault if you can’t handle it.”
He groaned under his breath and followed, his hand at my lower back as we walked into the gala. It was too late for subtle entrances-we’d already missed most of the formalities.
My eyes scanned the room. I spotted Lucian in the middle of the room, surrounded by men in suits hanging on to his every word. I did another once-over but couldn’t find Sera.
“Shit,” I murmured, reaching for my phone in my purse.
I saw the missed call and voicemail and sighed. It probably came in while Ethan and I were going at it in my driveway.
I pressed the phone to my ear and played Sera’s voicemail. When it was over, I closed my eyes and groaned. “I’m such a piece of shit.”
Ethan’s hand clenched around my waist, and there was an instinctive reaction between my thighs even though I’d spent the better part of the last hour with him pounding between them. “Why would you say that?”
“I missed my friend’s speech,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “I blame you.”
He arched a brow. “Me?”
I nodded, my gaze drifting down to his crotch. “You.”
“If you’d changed like I so kindly asked, I wouldn’t have lost control.”
I snorted. “Kindly asked, my ass. You demanded I change, and when I pointed out that you might be an Alpha but you don’t control me, you lost your shit and fucked me against the steering wheel of your car to ‘assert your dominance.””
–
He smirked, his eyes darkening with the memory. “Yeah. Well,” he pulled me closer-“you weren’t exactly resisting.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed away from him. “I need to find Se-“
He pulled me back, his hand splaying against my bare back. “You’re not leaving my side.
That dress is a magnet, and I’ll be damned if all these greedy males think for even one second that you’re single.”
I snorted. “Whatever. Let’s go find my friend.”
True to his word, Ethan stayed glued to my side as I moved through the ballroom, trying to find Sera. He growled at every male who even glanced in my direction-which was all of them.
To be honest, I’ve always been put off by possessive, jealous behavior, but somehow, on
Ethan, it was almost… adorable.
Especially since I, too, growled at every female who ran their appreciative eyes over him.
When I ascertained that Sera wasn’t in the ballroom, we stepped out through the back. I wouldn’t put it past my new friend to be hiding in the shadows after rocking the spotlight.
We followed the cobblestone path, my head on a swivel, looking out for Sera. I debated calling out her name, but the night was so peaceful and still, I didn’t want to interrupt it.
Then Ethan inhaled sharply. I turned to him. “What?”
He was staring ahead of us, his brows furrowed. “I think that’s Kieran and Celeste.”
I frowned. Those names sounded eerily familiar.
He turned to me and beamed. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my sister and best friend.”
I huffed. “I need to find my friend first.”
He kissed the side of my hair. “I promise we’ll find your friend and I will apologize properly for making you miss her speech, but my sister is right here, please let me introduce you to her.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
He guided me towards the small gathering at the end of the path we were on. As we moved closer, I could hear snippets of their conversation.
“Who is she?”
“I haven’t met her. Don’t know who she is.”
“This is ridiculous. Ethan’s not going to marry some random woman he just met and make her his Luna.”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply