His Luna or His Mate

Chapter 7

Paige’s Point of View.

I already knew where he was. Of course, I did. He was with HER! I knew it and Maddie knew it. But I needed to see it. I needed it to be drilled into my thick skull. Because the second Jacob had smiled at me last night, I had dropped my panties and served myself up on a silver platter for him. A baby for a continued marital contract. It might as well have been money for s*x. I was no better than a w***e.

‘Don’t,’ Maddison pleaded. ‘You’re spoiling it.’

‘It wasn’t real Maddison,’ I replied quietly. ‘The sooner we admit to that, the better off we’ll both be.

‘So what now?’

‘I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt one last time.’ The rational part of me knew he didn’t deserve it, but my fractured heart wouldn’t listen to reason.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position and winced as my body physically reminded me what I had been up to the night before. Desire flashed through my veins as I re-played some of the more filthy moments of the previous evening. But they passed quicker than I would have thought possible. Because subconsciously I knew that we were never going to be intimate again.

The urge to just throw on any old clothes and go out and find him was overwhelming. But at this moment in time I was still his Luna. I had a reputation to maintain and being seen outside with ‘thoroughly f****d’ hair was not an option, so, instead, I climbed gingerly out of our bed and headed through to the bathroom.

I took my time in the shower, as I would do on any normal day of the week. Afterward, I applied my make-up, dried my hair and found an outfit suitable for the Luna of the pack. It was one of my own designs, and it always made me feel more sure of myself when I wore it. I took some deep breaths and left the room.

Jasmine was downstairs waiting for my breakfast order.

‘Just a coffee, thanks Jas.’ I pulled a stool out from under the bar and perched right at the edge so that the softer parts of my body could continue to heal themselves after the previous night's debauchery.

“Of course, Luna,” Jasmine replied before busying herself with the percolator.

“Have you seen Alpha Jacob this morning?” I asked, keeping my tone casual.

My Omega kept her back to me, which made my stomach drop to my knees. She could not keep her feelings hidden from her face, so she chose not to look at me.

“He passed me at the front door Ma’am.” There was more she could have said. I could hear it in her delivery. But I decided not to push her.

Jasmine started work at 6am, and she was conscious enough to arrive at least ten minutes before her shift each day. The last time I had looked at the clock before I fell asleep in Jacobs arms it was a little after 5 am. So as soon as my head hit the pillow, he was out of our bed and on his way to Aria.

‘Or he could have gone to his office,’ Maddie put in. But she didn’t sound confident.

I drained my coffee and stepped down from my chair.

“Would you like to go through this week's dinner choices, Luna?”

No I f*****g wouldn’t I thought. “Go ahead and use last week's menus please.”

“Luna?”

Jasmine looked at me, stunned. In the whole time I had been with Jacob, I had never repeated a menu. I always took great care in what I planned for us to eat. It needed to be a decent size, it needed to be healthy, and it needed to be something that he liked. It also had to work with his schedule. You couldn’t give him a three-course meal at 5pm if he was due at the gym at 6. Equally, if he had late training, you couldn’t give him something small afterward. Every week I checked Jacob’s diary and then Jasmine and I would painstakingly go through every single detail of his arrangements to make sure he had what he wanted when he wanted it.

I sighed. A very small part of me was still hanging on, hoping he’d be working, catching up after what had happened yesterday. He’d be behind on his work and that never sat well with him.

“Forgive me Jasmine. I have an appointment this morning. We’ll talk about it over lunch.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond.

I checked my reflection on my way out. The smug afterglow of s*x was completely absent. I curved my mouth up into a small polite smile and opened the door.

Jacob’s office was situated a few minutes walk from the hospital so I would have to walk past it in order to reach my destination.

When I got level with the hospital my steps started to falter. What was the point of going further into the town when, in my heart of hearts, I knew he was in the hospital with Aria.

“Luna, what are you doing here?” I looked up to see Kai heading from the direction of the office. He was juggling a stack of papers and a laptop, trying to keep everything from dropping onto the floor.

“I was just on my way over to the office,” I said brightly.

“There’s no one there.” He replied flatly.

I closed my eyes and took a moment to process what I was seeing and hearing.

“That’s Jacob’s laptop, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to keep the misery out of my voice.

“Yes. He asked me to bring it to the hospital. Aria had a bad night so he is going to work from her room today.”

“Is she ok?” I asked, because I had to, not because I wanted to.

“She’s been in a great deal of pain. It obviously didn’t help when her fated mate left her, because he had to pacify his wife.” His eyes glinted with contempt.

Maddison let out a feral snarl loud enough to cause the hospital door to shake.

“Know your place, Beta.” I growled in warning. “I am still the Luna of this pack.” Five minutes before running into him, I thought I had also been his friend.

Kai nodded his head but he didn’t bow. The reactions I was receiving were going to get real old real fast.

“Should I tell the Alpha you’re looking for him?” Kai asked.

“No,” I said quietly. “Tell him I’ve gone to see my father. Assuming you’re still able to follow orders from me?”

“What for?” Kai asked curiously.

“That Beta is none of your damn business.”