A DARK HEART’S REVENGE

Chapter Three

Nora was trotting down the stairs talking to her father on the phone. She was heading off to have lunch with him. She had been here putting up with Jace and his attentions at night but also trying to avoid it at the same time, by telling him she had to study, and that she would come to bed later. When she didn't really have any intention of doing that and would simply sleep in her study room.

‎He had stared at her a few times this week, like he wanted to ask her something in the suite before he had left to go to his office, but she had just shrugged it off with a "sorry I must have fallen asleep at the computer." She would tell him and then walk off out of the suite altogether or had just pleaded ignorance to his look, as though she had not even seen it.

‎She saw no point in talking to him or explaining herself to him. He knew what he was doing, had to know she knew it as well, yet sometimes those narrowed eyes of his would land on her as if wanting her to explain her lack of being in his bed to him. It was very simple in her eyes; she didn't belong there even though she was his mate.

‎When he did decide to ask her what she was doing or where she was going in passing, she always stated, "I've got a class to attend" or "I've got a study group to attend" and moved on away from him, heading for either the library or her study room. it was also the truth of the matter; she did actually have classes to attend and study to do.

‎She would not let him and his betrayal affect her attaining her degree. No, she was going to have something to fall back on or continue to do when she left this pack. But today her parents were coming to town and she was off to have lunch with them outside of the pack. They had wanted to drop by for a visit, but she had told them there was a nice place to eat outside the pack, and she would meet them there.

‎Today, Nora was dressed a little differently from her normal pack attire, a little more on the dressy side, and she knew it, trying to look her best for her parents so that they wouldn't pick up the fact that something was wrong with her mate bond.

‎Although she had seen Jace walking through the foyer, as she had come down the last set of stairs, she had ignored him, kept her conversation with her father going and her eyes steadfastly off Jace. Something that was actually getting easier to do by the day. She was treating him the way he always did her, she thought, as if he didn't exist outside of the suite.

‎That was probably why he was looking at her in the mornings sometimes, but he had started it, and she was just following his lead or that's how she planned to explain it, if he ever actually asked her what her problem was, though she didn't think he would, or more likely didn't care to.

‎Although today she could actually feel his attention was on her, but she was on the phone talking happily to her dad about catching up with him and her mother, and she was certain it was her dress code that caught his eye, not her, herself.

‎Today she was wearing a simple but nice blue dress and was wearing low heels. She had even put on makeup, looked and sounded happy and cheerful. As though she didn't have a care in the world, because that was how she wanted her parents to feel her. When normally she dressed in jeans and nice tops, a pair of runners or walked about barefoot.

‎‎Gloria always dressed in nice clothes, and had her hair and nails done. She wore nice jewelry, and she had seen her out in the pack, swipe that Luna's card to pay for her lunch with the girls she had been out with. Even with Nora right there, she had likely done it on purpose, Nora had thought. The lady that had taken the payment had looked at her somewhat guiltily.

‎‎Nora had ignored it. She had been in the café inside the pack with a study book to read, not wanting to be near Jace or Gloria in the packhouse. She knew why Gloria did it. She had seen that woman look at her as she had come into the café, she had probably come in here on purpose just to do that to her and reinforce her position at Jace's side.

‎Nora had not even been given a pack card with her name on it, and she had been here two solid months now and nothing. Jace didn't care to give her anything, that was certain. She was still using the money she had earned for herself from her old pack, from tutoring the pack's kids that needed it. She was just lucky that she had gotten a scholarship to her university of choice, so at least she didn't have to worry about paying for that on her own and not being able to afford it.

‎As long as she maintained her grade point average in the scholarship, she would be able to continue it next semester. Although she was already making plans to move on campus for that, she wasn't needed inside this pack for anything at all. She was just here to warm the Alpha's bed until he got that heir, and she knew it.

‎She was just about to get in her car when Jace called her name, "Nora, where are you ‎going to?" it seems he was curious today. Maybe he didn't like the fact that she was leaving pack territory, who the hell knew?

‎"Out to have lunch with my parents. They are in town." She answered over her shoulder as she unlocked her car.

‎"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

‎Nora actually stopped and looked at him and wondered why on earth he would ask that question. "No" she answered him "you're busy, go and do what it is that you as the Alpha does during the day." She stated and saw him frown right at her, and her dismissive answer to his question.

‎But she had no idea what he did. He had never once tried to explain to her what his pack ran into or the human businesses that he had. She wasn't his Luna, so she didn't need to know, was how she took it. She was also now just bidding her time on that rejection she knew she was going to issue before leaving to live on campus.

‎That was still pending for her, and she was hoping she would be notified of this soon, though she would still have to wait until this semester was over, and then new semester started, but her life here was quiet for the most part. She had stopped interacting with the pack members. That was just too humiliating for her, considering Jace didn't care who in the pack saw the way he touched Gloria. So she was solely focusing all her attention on her studies all day, everyday.

‎She had heard many of the pack members call Gloria, Luna, over the past few months, and she was addressed as just Nora. She hadn't originally minded it, but now that she knew the truth of the matter. Although it had really hurt in the beginning, she had made herself get used to hearing those very words. That helped to keep her grounded and showed her just how right she was.

‎She considered herself nothing more than a regular pack member, and one that was planning on leaving the moment she had somewhere to go. Though she wasn't going back to her old pack, she would feel ashamed; that she couldn't even keep her mate interested in her. Barely a month after being mated to him, some she knew would say 'well what can she expect, she was just a lowly ranked warrior's daughter.'

‎"I should go with you to see your parents" Jace said, walking towards her now.

‎"Why?" she had asked. As she saw Gloria come out of the packhouse and called his name, he turned to face Gloria, and Nora took the opportunity to get in her car and drive away from him. She wondered briefly if he thought she would tell her parents about the fact that she wasn't his actual Luna.

‎Did he want to be there just to put on a show for her parents? She was not interested in doing that at all. She had enough issues with them asking about her Luna ceremony and when it was going to be; she had been here for two months now, and still there hadn't been any invitations sent out for it.

‎It was something she was going to struggle to come up with an answer to at some point, considering she had told them this month was a mating ball but come the next full moon, what was her answer going to be? Telling them that he was always just too busy didn't really cut it in their world.

‎Alphas, she knew put off everything to thank the Moon Goddess for gifting them a mate to love and cherish. But that was not something she was going to get from him, and even if by some miracle he did offer to do it, because her parents called him and asked him about it, she knew he wouldn't mean it.

‎Because he had not brought it up once the entire time she had been there. She had rather it not be brought up by her parents to him and have him lie about it as well, so it was best that he just stayed away from them. He did not need to have anything to do with them or they, him.

‎Nora smiled at her parents as she walked into the restaurant. They were already there and waiting for her. She raised a hand and waved to them, then she had just hugged them really tight to herself. She was actually really happy to see them, people that loved her and would never treat her terribly. She missed the days of living in a pack surrounded by friends and people she could actually trust.

‎She had also felt, for the first time in weeks, that Rosa her wolf had come forward in her mind. It had happened not long after they had driven out of the pack, and now her wolf was up inside her mind, happy to see their parents as well. Rosa sat inside her mind and watched them the entire time they were having their meal.

‎It was clear to Nora that Rosa also missed her parents and wanted to see and spend time with them. So not only would they have lunch, but she would order dessert and coffee. They might go for a long walk as well, spend more time outside the pack and feel normal, she supposed, out of sight for her meant out of mind, and that was her attitude right that minute.