The next day at Graymoon Packhouse...
Karen's 100 days of pregnancy was celebrated no less than a bloody festival. While all members of my pack enjoyed booze and dances with festive lights filling up the sky, the ceremony only reminded me of my doom. The beginning of my doom. The day it all went downhill.
Karen and Nate were matching in a white dress and suit. It looked like their wedding. Almost everyone wore white that day, except for me.
I showed up in a bold black dress that hugged my figure and showed some extra skin. I was responsible for turning heads so hard that they cracked that evening.
The men of my own pack started salivating at my appearance. Did they mistake me for someone like Karen? I don't go spreading legs for them, unlike her.
Nate turned at my appearance. I walked down to the open ground decorated beautifully with 999 roses. The bouquet was as big as me. It made my shoulder hurt with small, unattended thorns pricking. But it was a small price to pay.
Nate's smile dropped when he saw me. He got down the stage and left Karen with an unsettling smile. I just knew the party was going to be amazing from that moment.
"Nova. What are you doing?" Nate asked and tried to take the huge bouquet off of me. It hurt even more as I tried to move it because the thorns impaled the mark on my neck. In other words, I was hurting Nate too, as his neck and shoulder were burning along with mine.
"What are you even wearing? Cover yourself properly. You're the Luna." Nate was taking his coat off for me. I barely exposed a part of my cleavage and wore sleeveless.
I looked at Karen. She was just as shameless. She was wearing sheer clothing, a white collar necklace that made her look like a whore. I scoffed in my head.
This is how men like Nate interpret women's clothing - it literally depends on what they mean to him.
As his mate, Nate wanted me to be diligent. And as his girlfriend, Nate wanted Karen to show herself off to the crowd. He wanted to let them know that one of us was good as a wife and the other was good in bed.
Nate repulses me so much.
Just as Nate was trying to take the bouquet from me, he frowned.
"You couldn't have gotten any other kind? Karen is allergic to roses, Nova. You knew that." Nate accused as he took the bouquet.
However, Janet snatched the thick bouquet from his hands and threw it to the ground. The roses splashed across the floor.
Janet lifted her leg and stomped on the roses with her boots. The petals smashed against the dirt. I lifted my leg to look at Janet who couldn't stop herself from embarrassing me.
"You steal everything. The chance of my pack having an heir, my son's true happiness, my daughter-in-law's happiness...everything." I quickly knew Janet wasn't mentioning me as her daughter-in-law. It was Karen.
"What do you want from us!? You're a witch! Everywhere you go, happiness just vaporizes from around you! You killed your own parents and you know that!" Janet spat.
The crowd gasped.
Watching Janet act this way was new. The level-headed woman finally uncoiled and burst into a naked wire of emotions. And somehow, I ignited that in her.
I was, yet again, made the epicentre of Janet's anger.
"You don't mean that, Janet." I retorted.
"Oh! We all know you sent your parents out to get a gift for your birthday. They didn't want to go, Nova! You killed them! They died because you urged them to be fed to the rogues in the middle of the night!" She screamed. Nate stared at my balled-up fists. He knew I could hurt Janet if I wanted to. I didn't care if she was my Luna or Nate's mother.
It took tremendous energy to hold myself back. I was shaking. Rexi was already clawing at my head to be let out.
"You seem to be too proud of your 'daughter in law' Janet. Let me show you something." Saying, I walked up to Karen. She seemed uncomfortable. She feigned being scared of me, acting as if I'd hurt her.
"Tell them, Karen.
Tell them who's the real father of this child."
Because the last time I checked, I was not barren but my mate was. Nate was impotent.
Then who made the baby Karen's carrying?
