Goddess of the Moon: The Challenging

Chapter Six

JORDAN POV

“Violet?” I ask, surprised to see her in the foyer. Is she here to see me? She looks nervous. She looks beautiful, too. I can’t help but sneak a look at Zane to see if he’s admiring her beauty the same way I am, but he seems concerned. Her beautiful green eyes find mine, but only for a moment before she looks at something behind me. “What are you doing here?” I ask her, hoping she really is here to see me. After four years, maybe she’s finally ready to talk.

“I’m filling in for my mother,” she tells me coldly, void of any of emotion, her eyes lacking the sparkle they used to hold when she would look at me. “I’ll show you and your mate to your room. Follow me.” She gestures for the King to follow her, but I can’t just let her walk away.

“Vi!” I call after her.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Zane warns, but I ignore him.

“Vi, please, wait,” I say, following her up the stairs. She doesn’t wait. “Excuse me,” I say as I pass Alpha Maxwell on the stairs. “Violet, I miss you,” I confess and she finally stops, frozen in place. My voice sounds pathetic even to myself and I know that this is inappropriate behavior for an Alpha, especially one with a mate, but I can’t stop myself.

Vi takes a deep breath and then begins walking again. She stops at a door by the time I catch up with her.

“This will be your room for your stay here,” she begins but I cut her off.

“Vi, let me talk to you. Please. We can go back to my office.”

“No,” she says, her jaw locked. “You’re not making a very good impression on the King and his mate,” she says, her words dripping acid. She takes a step away from us. “I’ll have Zane step in to avoid situations like this moving forward.”

“Violet, that’s not what I want.”

“What the hell are you doing, Jordan?” Zane mindlinks me. “Where is all of this coming from?”

“Violet,” I say softly, stepping towards her. She steps back. “I never stopped thinking about you. I tried to find you that night… but…”

“But I talked you out of it,” Zane interrupts. “I thought you got over Violet’s. I thought you and Fallon were doing great. It’s been years. Have you just been pretending?”

“This is better than a soap opera,” Daphne says quietly, but I ignore it.

“I never got over you, Vi,” I tell her softly. “Just come with me. We can talk.”

“Enough!” Alpha King Maxwell thunders, reminding me of his presence in the hallway. “Daphne. Go get some rest. I will be meeting with the Alpha, his Beta, and Violet and I’ll be up to discuss something with you shortly.”

His mate nods sheepishly and disappears into the room.

“Downstairs. Now. After you,” he gestures for us to walk ahead of him, but steps between Violet, Zane, and I, with us in the front and Vi descending the stairs last. I feel like a child whose been called to the principals office, and I don’t like it. I feel like I’m about to be reprimanded in my own pack. We spill back out into the foyer with me annoyed and angry, Zane resigned, and Violet trying to sneak out. “Stay put.” He tells her.

She rolls her eyes but otherwise listens.

“Let’s start with you.” Alpha Jordan says, looking at me. “You have a mate. What you’re doing is entirely inappropriate. And you,” he looks at Zane. “You’re going to leave her alone. You won’t lay another finger on her. You won’t even look at her.”

Zane gapes at him, confused. “Why would I do that? She doesn’t belong to Jordan anymore!”

“You’re right. She belongs to me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demand.

Violet clears her throat. “Are you aware that this is about me and I should have a say?”

“A say in what?” He asks her, incredulous. He takes two large steps to her. Zane and I growl but he ignores us. “I’m about to have to go upstairs and break a woman’s heart. I have to tell her that the life we had been planning isn’t going to happen anymore—that I’ve met my mate, and it’s going to kill her.”

Vi laughs—actually laughs—in the Alpha King’s face. It also didn’t go unnoticed that he’d said he’d found his mate, but he sure as hell better not be talking about my Violet, because last I’d heard, Daphne is his mate.

“And the fact that you’ve shacked up with someone else instead of waiting for your mate means that I get no say? Or is it because you’re a King that I get no say?”

He stalks even closer to her, leaning down into her face. She doesn’t even flinch, but I’m livid.

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

“I don’t want a mate anymore,” she tells him, quietly, but boldly at the same time. “I don’t need a mate anymore. I want things to stay the way they are—I’ll continue f*****g Zane, and you continue f*****g your fiancee.”

“Like hell you’ll keep f*****g Zane,” I growl, unable to stop myself.

The Alpha King turns to glare at me. “She is no longer yours to control,” he tells me seriously.

“I am no ones to control!” Violet exclaims. “I am a grown f*****g woman. I make my own choices. No one decided my future but me.” She looks from the King, to me, and then back to the King. “Just like you did,” she says sadly. “You’ve made a commitment to a very lovely woman. It’s only right for you to follow through—you’ve promised to marry her, for her to be your chosen mate, and your Luna. I will accept that, and I’ll be fine… just like I was last time.”

“You weren’t fine, Vi,” Zane says and I turn to gape at him. He ignores me and continues. “You were never fine—you still aren’t. I kept hoping that you would move on, accept that Jordan wasn’t your mate, and let me in. You never did, though.”

“I’ve moved on,” she argues, seeming shocked at his input.

“You’re a mess!” He disagrees.

“You’ve never minded when we were—”

A loud growl cuts her off. It was a mix of both my own, and the King’s.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence! We’re done here,” he says. “This is between my mate and myself,” he tells Zane and I. “Let’s go somewhere and talk. Please.”