Oops! Still Your Mate

Chapter Twenty Seven

The pack is gathered at the main hall for a formal pack dinner, warmly welcoming Enid to our pack as Darius called it. Ivy and Tessa arrived the hall a little late when everyone was already seated. Tessa's plan to draw attention, one that Ivy despised but could do nothing about.

When they arrived, they discovered Darius had arranged the seating arrangements. Enid was seated directly beside Zeke, with Darius sitting opposite her. Tessa opened her mouth to say something but ivy hushed her. Tessa's seat was beside Lucas who was seated beside Enid. She walked past her seat to ivy's assigned seat. Close to where junior pack members were seated.

“Tessa,” ivy whispered.

“I'm seating with you.” She stated. She negotiated with a girl that had an obvious crush on Lucas and took the girl's seat, close to Ivy.

“Tessa,” Darius called in his sweet, charming voice. “You're aware that you're disrupting the seating arrangements I put in place?” He asked.

“I thought mates were supposed to be together, or don't you know that, uncle Darius?” Tessa's eyes glittered. “The seating arrangements is already disrupted.” She added.

“She would sit with me.” Ivy said and pulled Tessa to the seats. “What's wrong with you?” She whispered and Tessa rolled her eyes.

Dinner started. Ivy engaged the pack members close to her in discussion, asking about their health and the pups. The discussion flowed easily with Tessa contributing intelligently.

“You're the one that was said to help bring down the Howling rot?” One of Enid's delegates asked. It seemed the news went out of the pack.

Ivy shrugged and smiled. “Well, it's me.” That brought about another bout of discussion. She could see Enid's face mask slipping, falling into a frown. The set of people around her were pulled at her. Even Enid's delegates were involved in the discussion.

“Ivy,” Ivy heard Misty's call.

“What?”

“Just watch,” At that, her arm went up in burning blue flames, Ivy bit down on her lips and when she turned her eyes to Zeke. He was surprised and was looking down on his hands.

“You talked to his wolf?” Ivy asked in surprise.

“I did.” Misty replied. The mark burnt and Enid's eyes flickered from Ivy's hands to Zeke's. Zeke raised his eyes to glance at Ivy and met her watching him. When Ivy's eyes collided with Zeke's, she winked and trailing her tongue over her lips.

Enid noticed the movement and her eyes narrowed into slits. “What's going on here?” Enid asked. Zeke cleared his throat and made to reply but Ivy beat him to it.

“A mark for mates. I think real mates.” Ivy pouted and returned her attention to her food.

The whole hall went silent as they watched between the two ladies. “I love whatever is happening now.” Tessa smiled and whispered.

Slowly, Darius shifted the discussion from the burning marks to something else and Enid was relieved but Ivy was not about to let them win. She continued her discussion with the pack members, asking about their wellbeing, feeding their kids and laughing with them.

Zeke stared at her. Really stared at her, for maybe the first time. Ivy could feel it, could see it. The intense stare piercing through her body. His eyes were oozing with pride, his lips tugged into a small smile he didn't even know was on his lips.

Ivy let her face break into a grin and looked up, he diverted his gaze, maybe thinking his stare was subtle enough but it sure wasn't, because Enid noticed.

Ivy could feel her mask slipping, her polite and expensive mask slipping. Darius tried minimizing the eye contact between Zeke and Ivy by engaging Zeke in talks, but it only increased the eye contact between Enid and Ivy.

Enid's eyes twinkled with mischief as she placed her hands over Zeke's during dessert. Ivy's vision blurred and narrowed into the intertwined hands. Misty howled and surged forward. Zeke felt the touch and looked down on his hand but did nothing, returning his attention to Darius but he noticed ivy's stare almost immediately.

When he looked at her, he could see the eyes of the Luna Head in his dreams. He tried pulling his hands away but Enid held onto it. That was all Ivy needed. She pushed her plates forward and stood up. She could feel Zeke's gaze pleading with her but she didn't care. He didn't try enough, didn't try very well.

The whole table quietened down, Tessa's eyes lit up in pride and expectations as Ivy walked over to Enid at the head of the table. She leaned in and said quietly in a pleasantly and devastatingly way.

“Well….” She drawled. “Enid, I forgot to compliment you today, seeing how good you look. You really look lovely tonight, Enid. Though a woman who needs a political arrangement to sit beside a man she wants must find it exhausting, pretending that's enough.” She said and stood up straight. A hush fell upon the hall, Darius eyes goes cold and flat for a moment, Enid's jaw tightened.

Then Ivy turned to Tessa who was looking at her proudly. She winked and turned her gaze to Zeke. His own expression was… something she haven't seen before. Just closer to Tessa's.

“And you, you would meet me in your chambers.” She said quietly with a tone leaving no room for negotiation. Zeke was to stunned to respond. Enid nudged at him but he kept quiet. He was stunned at her confidence and the way she handled this.

Ivy's eyes flickered to Darius and she scowled subtly. “Well, have a nice dinner.” She turned on her heels and walked out of the hall. That was when she felt the pounding of her heart against her chest, threatening to come off.

She leaned against the wall and held her shaky hands, taking deep breaths to stabilize herself. But she was smiling. And smiling so wide and satisfied.

“You did great, girl.” She heard Misty's voice.