LIMERENCE

Chapter Three

A STANCE FOR LOVE

The wind danced in her hair as Amelia ran off to her friend’s house. She was aware she was acting a bit melodramatic, but there was something about romantic feelings that made one completely forget home training.

Nikki was outside her home, by the front porch, cutting up vegetables. Her eyes lit up instantly when she saw her.

“Good news about the debate or about your mate?”

“The debate?” Amelia took a moment to recollect, her breath heaving. “Oh. It was probably a waste of time, just like Father said it would be. I think the council at Woodville had already decided on the trade embargo way before the debate was scheduled to hold.”

“Your father is always right, isn’t he?” Nikki offered with a light-hearted chuckle, but instead of an answering smile, Amelia frowned.

Her father had been right, of course, concerning the debate and a whole lot of other things—she just hoped this time around, he wasn’t right.

She’d fled the library after her encounter with Tristan, only to face off against an entirely unprepared team of opponents. She and Nikki had easily won the debate, but Amelia had known it wouldn’t change anything.

“You’re frowning. It’s about your mate bond with Alpha Tristan, isn’t it?” Nikki, who had been briefed earlier, said, getting up to lead her friend to a seat. “Your father did not accept the bond?”

“He thinks I’m delusional, that Tristan would only use me for his pack’s gain, that I don’t have a real bond, and that this is an opportunity for me to bring Tristan down.”

Nikki made a face. “He does have a point, though. I mean, Tristan is the enemy, after all.”

“My father gave me between a week and a month to get Tristan to declare me as his Luna before his entire pack. If not, I’m to do things his way.”

“Again, he does have a point,” Nikki replied. “But I don’t think he’s right this time around,” she offered. “I think you should go see Tristan. Your heart would know the right thing.”

For the first time since she’d discovered her ‘mate bond,’ Amelia’s smile was genuine. “Should I—”

“Yes, go now!”

Amelia left her friend’s house with a huge smile on her face. Feeling reckless, she masked her scent, then shifted, letting her clothes fall off her, her wolf picking up only her oversized sweater in its mouth.

Sprinting cross-pack was something she had only ever heard about, but Amelia realized her passion was all the fuel she needed. Soon, she was standing outside the sprawling estate of the Woodville Alpha residence.

The air had changed from the last time she had been there. Now, there was an unpronounced air of festivities, as though Woodville were engaging in a festivity they wanted to keep under the radar. It was there in the little ribbons worn by scuttling waiters and waitresses, the elegantly dressed people that hurried by.

The technicalities of getting allowed into the Alpha residence of a foreign pack were something Amelia had taken for granted, and in the end, she’d had to shift back to her human form and endure rigorous interrogation dressed in nothing but a large sweater.

“Alpha Tristan needs to see me,” she tried again. She was seated in the security outpost of the pack while betas trouped in to question her one after another. She couldn’t tell them she was Tristan’s mate, not when Tristan himself had told no one, and yet, she was not about to head back home in defeat.

Just then, the door opened, and a long-legged blonde stepped in. “Are you Flora?” she asked, and it took a moment before Amelia realized she was being addressed.

“N-ye—why do you ask?”

“Because the head cook said Flora, who is in charge of the cake decoration, is cantankerous and lazy and would probably come in dressed in her sleepwear.” She gave Amelia a once-over.

What cake? Amelia wanted to ask, her curiosity rising, but years of training from her father made her straighten her shoulders. “Of course, I’m Flora,” she snapped. “Who else would I be?”

“Well then, hurry!” the blonde snapped, grabbing her hand as she began pulling her further into the residence. By the time they got into the kitchen, someone was already decorating the said cake.

“Well, go change and make yourself presentable,” the blonde snapped at her, tossing her some clothes. “You’ll need to go out there and pretend you’re the one that decorated the cake, or Alpha Tristan will not let us live to see tomorrow.”

But what was the cake for? Amelia wanted to ask, but she was already thrust into the pantry with the clothes she was to change into. When she was done, the cake was already ready, and it was handed to a waitress on a platter.

“Well then, follow the waitress in,” the blonde snapped.

Amelia followed into a well-decorated hall with ribbons and soft music. Her breath caught as the strong scent of Alpha Tristan engulfed her.

He was her mate, she thought with a relaxed smile, remembering what Nikki had said—her heart would know.

“It is now time for the Alpha to say his vows to his Luna,” an M.C. said, and Amelia watched in shock and horror as Alpha Tristan stood up, heading to the front of the hall, while an older man led a woman who wore a wedding dress to him.

His voice boomed clear over the room. “I, Alpha Tristan Romanov, take you, Charlotte, as my wife and Luna. I promise to put you first above all other women in my life….”

He was still speaking, but Amelia could hear nothing over the sudden ringing in her ears. Her eyes watered, and she tried to breathe as her father’s cruel words came back to taunt her.

*He would never love you…*

She did not know she had fainted until she was awakened with a splash of cold water on her face.

She was in a tight room, and the familiar scent that had once brought her comfort now suffocated her.

Tristan.

Her eyes opened to stare up into his angry face.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” he bit out.

“I came to see you. Father said our mate bond did not matter. I was a fool not to believe him.”

Tristan shrugged. “Would it mean anything to you if I told you that if Charlotte was not pregnant with my child, I’d marry you instead?”

The casual way he asked that question was an insult to the way she felt—like her heart was breaking with each minute. Without thinking, Amelia stretched out her hand and slapped him.

His eyes darkened in anger. “I should have known you’d be unreasonable about this. You didn’t actually expect me to marry the daughter of my enemy, did you? My pack would not accept you. The very Luna throne would reject you. Charlotte is the daughter of an ally and my true Luna. If you have any sense of preservation, you’ll respect my marriage.”

“And what about our mate bond?” she choked out, tears blurring her vision.

“What about it?” Tristan snapped. “We can keep smashing if you like, but you’ll never be my Luna.”

He was about to say more when a beta burst into the room. “Alpha Tristan, it’s time for your acknowledgment speech to the bride’s family.” His eyes widened a fraction, then he nodded to Amelia before rushing out.

“You’re interrupting my wedding,” Tristan said in a more controlled voice, straightening his official Alpha attire.

“You said you’d fight for our bond, that you were falling for me,” Amelia echoed his earlier words as though in a trance, but now, even she saw how empty they sounded.

Tristan merely shrugged. “It’s limerence, Amelia. This pull of the mate bond. It’s not real feelings, and I’ll admit I was caught up in the moment. Feel free to disregard anything I said then.”

For a fleeting moment, his expression was gentle as he looked at her, then he turned and was gone.

Amelia watched his retreating back, finally giving in to despair.

She had been a fool.

A damned fool. She’d heard of his reputation, how ruthless he was, how he only did things for his personal gain, and yet she had dared believe that he might love her – after just discovering their mate bond the previous day.

Her heart hurt like it was breaking into a thousand pieces. Her wolf roared in her ears, a frightened, confused howl as a violent trembling stole over her.

For once in her life, Amelia had dared want something for herself, a love that endures, a mate that would choose her over everything, over his pack even – because she had been ready to choose him over hers.

But she was a fool.

Once again, her father was right. Tristan did not love her, and he never would.

With acceptance came a new resolve, and Amelia dried her eyes, squaring her shoulders. She was future Alpha of Hyde pack, not some simpering maiden. She would beg for no man’s love.

Amelia still didn’t believe her father’s story about the Moonbane, but she found she would much rather plot to bring Tristan down, as revenge, than spend years mooning over him and mourning the loss of something she never really had.

Tristan had put his pack first by marrying an ally, something she instinctively knew he would do. She was going to put her pack first as well by teaming up with her father and his Gamma, and if they wanted Tristan’s destruction, then so be it.