Fire And Ice

Chapter 76 - Stares and Whispers

She was gorgeous from afar, but seeing her up close left me speechless. Her beauty was so striking that you couldn't help but stare. She looked so much like the memory of Natalia's face painted with venom that had burned into my memory on the night I lost her, but at the same time, like an entirely new person. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought them sisters.

I stretched my trembling hand out, doing my best to keep it and my voice steady, "May I have this dance?"

She regarded me, her gaze running to my feet and then back to my face.

The look on her face made something inside me wither.

"I'll have to decline." She said, sounding entirely uninterested in anything to do with me, then left the dance floor to mingle with the girl that had entered the ballroom with her and who I assumed was the girl's mate.

Somewhat dazed at the rejection, I started walking back to where Harry, Brittany and Kylie were. Their conversation made me rethink the decision to join them just before I reached them.

"Who does she think she is, rejecting a Beta just cause she's an Alpha?" Brittany grumbled.

"I bet I could've gotten her to dance with me." Harry threw a drink back and looked at her sternly, "And I don't think you should speak like that about another Alpha."

'At least not here. People don't need to hear you disrespecting an Alpha or they'll think you disrespect me like that too.' He added in our mind link.

'You worried they'll think you don't do shit at the pack?' Brittany quipped, then continued aloud before he could respond, "Callum suddenly started begging for us to let him dance with her. I thought you would be a better choice to do it, but your Luna was against it."

'I guess the bitch can't handle what she dishes out.' Brittany spat.

Harry's head whipped towards her, 'Watch how you talk about my Luna.'

'Oh please. She can't stand you dancing with someone else but had no problem sucking face with my fucking mate. I don't know why you didn't get rid of her when she obviously disrespected you by doing that. If not for the fact that she up and disappeared, I would have said you should pick Kirstin instead. At least she was useful before she ran off.'

Over a month ago, we'd woken to find Brittany ranting about Kirstin being missing when she needed her. After checking high and low, we'd concluded that she'd left the pack in the dead of the night. Her disappearance had puzzled everyone, seeing as she'd become indispensable to Brittany and proved her competence, but I knew better.

Months ago, when Kirstin had arranged for me to discover Brittany's cheating, she'd confided in me about how she was unhappy with how things were done in the pack, and that she was on a mission to find out how deep our sins ran.

"Everything I've ever known is here." She'd said, approaching me in those woods, "I need to know the truth so I can leave with confidence in my decision."

After minutes of her pleading and prodding, I'd given it up. I'd started off with my own dealings with aconine at Harry's request and gone right down to I suspected that he was connected to some Rogues. I hadn't told her about the pack's methods of systematically tearing others down, or anything else done on a scale higher than us, but when I finished talking, she thanked me for helping her make the decision.

That had been over a year ago.

'Kylie is my mate and a good Alpha knows when to forgive.' He didn't even sound like he believed it.

She scoffed, 'Did you forgive her or did your dick do all the forgiving?'

"This discussion is over. I'll handle it, you go dance with your mate." He finally said out loud.