Charlie
My mom and August had decided to take the day together to get to know one another better. Which I had no quarrels about because I felt like the two of them together would be my biggest influences and the two that I could go to when it came to Luna's duties.
I had been nauseous the past few days, and I chalked it up to being nervous. My family, who most of the pack hated, was visiting. Presley had been thrust back into his alpha duties. I was constantly bugged about what I would like to do with our mating ceremony, and at times it felt like it was too much.
I decided to get some fresh air today to let the wind hit my fur. To stretch my bones and feel normal for just a day.
After a while of running around within the pack's confines, I was finally worn out. I found myself resting at the edge of a pond, other pack members walked around, and some were also in their wolf form.
"I thought I saw you." A familiar voice said. I looked up and saw Mateo standing above me. The weird feelings came back to me. The ones I hadn't felt the entire time I had been away from home. The ones I hadn't even had while we were away.
Guilt knotted up in my stomach, I wanted to look down, but I knew that was impolite.
"Oh yeah, I'll meet you back at your place when you're dressed?" He asked; I nodded my head and got to my feet, leaving him behind.
Not even a half hour later, Mateo barged into Presley and I's apartment.
I furrowed my brows. "I think it would be best that you knock from now on." I crossed my arms.
"C'mon, I'm your friend." He plopped down on the couch.
"And Presley is an alpha, and you're in his apartment. One day you're going to barge in and piss him off." I stated firmly.
"Alpha's and their short tempers." Mateo laid his head back in dramatics. "Presley isn't a good alpha if he would try to hurt your only friend in the pack."
"He's a good alpha, and you know it." I grit my teeth. "Who pissed in your breakfast this morning?"
"No one, I was just excited to see you after all this time. Tell me of all the fun you had on your trip." He tried to change the subject.
I sat down on the couch adjacent to him, crossing my legs.
"Oh, come on, Charlie, why don't you sit beside me?" Mateo asked. I sat back in my seat, feeling a bit weird, being confronted with Mateo after not seeing him for a few weeks.
"I'm fine where I'm at. Thank you, though." I tried keeping my composure.
"How about you get me a glass of water then? I'm quite parched." Mateo's brownish-red eyes bore into mine.
"From what, running your mouth all morning, noon and night?" I joked.
"Pff, you know it," Mateo smirked at me.
He looked so hot when he did that.
He smells like trouble. Bleu piped up in my head.
What do you mean?
Dunno, just something not right. I inwardly nodded at my wolf and got up from my seat. I went into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, and grabbed two glasses. The cups clanged on the counter when I sat them down. I turned and opened the fridge, grabbed the pitcher of filtered water, and poured the liquid into the cups.
I handed Mateo the glass of water, and our fingers brushed against each others. The feelings I had before I left for Jamaica with Presley resurfaced.
Something not right, something not right. Bleu chanted in my head. He not our mate. He raised a red flag in my brain.
I closed my eyes for a second, trying to refocus, but it almost felt as if there was a haze in my brain. I furrowed my eyebrows, suddenly feeling dizzy. I stumbled over my feet and sat back down on the couch.
"You good?" Mateo sat his glass down on the table in front of him and stood to his feet.
"I'm feeling a bit famished. I guess I overdid it this morning." I sat my glass down on the table in front of me and covered my eyes with my hands.
"Do you need to get Presley?" Mateo questioned.
"No-no," I waived my hand dismissively. "He's catching up on things still."
"If I were your mate, I wouldn't care about that as long as you were okay." I took my hands off my eyes for a second and looked him in his eyes. I could almost swear that I saw a glint of scarlet in them.
I swallowed and shook my head, returning my hands to my eyes, feeling like I had been hallucinating.
"Presley is a good mate," I responded.
"Honestly, from what I've seen, he's half-assed at a lot of things he does," Mateo grunted, grabbing onto my arm gently. "Let me get you into bed."
I didn't bother arguing with him. I knew how great Presley was to me, and I didn't need anyone's approval because I knew the real story. I let him pull me up and walk me into the bedroom. He pulled the duvet back and helped me onto the bed.
— — —
"What are you doing laying in the bed with him." I heard Presley growl.
"I was taking care of him, unlike someone." Mateo hissed back to my mate.
I opened my eyes to see Presley standing at the end of the bed and Mateo lying in the bed right next to me.
"Why are you in my bed?" I rubbed my eyes groggily. I leaned up on my elbows, looking between the two. The tension in the air was thick.
"You asked me to stay with you," Mateo replied.
Had I? I didn't remember asking him to stay. I know he helped me in bed, but after that, I faded out.
"Even if he did, you have no right to lay in my bed," Presley growled through his teeth.
"I don't even remember asking you to stay." I cleared my throat. I looked at Presley, "I promise I don't remember asking him to stay."
Presley took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I need to go out for a minute to clear my head, Charlie. I believe you, but I need a minute, please?" I looked down and nodded. A minute later the front door to our apartment shut.
"Why the fuck are you in our bed?" I looked over to Mateo, pushing him. "What is wrong with you? Are you mad?"
"You're the one who asked me to stay." He responded, trying to defend himself.
"I don't remember that." I shook my head. "Get out of here. I really don't want to talk to you right now."
"Whatever you say, Luna." Mateo slipped out of Presley and I's bed. "I'll see you soon."
— — —
Mateo
I clenched my hands, frustrated with myself. I looked down at my hands that I had coated with the powder the witch had told me to make sure it would make Charlie fall for me. I ground my teeth. He seemed so resilient to all of my advances, and I didn't even know what had happened in the month that he was gone.
I grumbled under my breath.
I took a breath of the crisp air, and I sat down on the back steps of the packhouse. I pulled my pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and lit the cancer stick. I pulled my phone out of my other pocket and scrolled down to that wretched witch's number.
"Ello," Her thick accent answered the phone.
"That powder didn't do shit." I cut to the chase.
"'En dat mean he has no feelin' fer ya." She replied.
"It worked before he left for a fucking month. What changed in that amount of time?" I asked more to myself than her. I took a drag of my cigarette, holding the fumes in my lungs.
"He with child?" She asked.
"I don't fuckin' know." I exhaled.
"'En he don't 'ike you." She said in a bored tone.
"Oh, he will like me," I wiped that powder off on my pant leg.
"Be careful playin' with fate. She'll get her revenge," Merda responded, her R's coming off harshly with her Irish accent.
"Whatever," I responded, ending the call with her.
A/N: You can get early access to all of my books on patreon. You can also get up to chapter 36 and 5 extra chapters to this book in Mateo and Erin's POV. You can also gain access to all of my newest books as well.
https://liinks.co/neonskies95