"I knew it!" Octavia cried into her hands. "I knew Javier would go back to you!"
"Octavia..." Javier panicked and didn't know what to do as he stared down at his wife with frantic eyes. "Octavia, don't cry."
"Don't!" she continued. "Just leave! I don't want to see you right now!"
I sighed, knowing exactly what she thought. Just as I opened my mouth to reassure her, someone beat me to the chase.
"What is going on here?"
The three of us turned to see the new arrival. The first things my eyes laid on was his green eyes and dusky red hair. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the alpha of the Copper Moon Pack.
"Octavia, dear," he spoke in a soft tone and I felt Javier tense. "What's wrong?"
"Talon," Octavia whispered his name, and again, Javier tensed even more. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause a scene."
"It's fine." He took a step towards us and I stepped in front of Javier, blocking him from approaching them any closer. It was as if he finally realized that I was here as well and looked down at me. His eyes slowly widened and I saw his Adam's apple bob up and down. "You..."
I lifted my chin. "Lydia Vincenti. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
My voice seemed to startle him even more, but he quickly recovered and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm accompanying Javier on a visit. We're simply here to clear up a misunderstanding with Octavia."
Talon narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, but I turned my back on him. Javier glared at Talon with hard eyes and I knew the two of them had tension between them. However, I ignored the men and held a hand towards Octavia. She stared at me with surprise as I smiled reassuringly at her.
"I'm not here to take Javier away from you, Octavia. I'm here to let you know that you already have all of him."
I could tell she was confused by my words, but regardless, she took my hand and stood up cautiously. I glanced over her shoulder and saw that it appeared to be her room. No one else was in there.
"Should we go inside and talk?" I asked.
Octavia gazed into my eyes, searching for something. Whatever she found, it made her nod and she turned around and led me into the room.
I immediately followed her, but I quickly turned around and faced Javier when I was in her room. He stared at me, confused.
"Octavia and I will have our talk first. Alone."
"What?" he said shocked.
"I'll let you know when you can come in. For now, I want us to speak woman to woman."
Without waiting for his reply, I slammed the door on his face. He could've easily broken the door down, but he didn't. I turned around and saw Octavia standing in the middle of her room. Her hands were clasped together as she nervously glanced to the side.
I leaned against the door casually. "Like I said, Octavia, I'm not here to take Javier away from you. But I did end up here because he came to me and informed me about what happened."
Octavia closed her eyes. "No matter what you say, I know he feels something for you. I can still hear the affection in his voice every time he speaks your name."
"You're right." I said and her eyes shot up to mine. "He does. And I still feel something for him as well. But it's not what you're thinking. Javier was my lover in the past, but he was also my friend. He understood me the best just as I understood him. But we each have someone else now. We know that we can no longer go back to the way we were before, and we're happy with that. Javier loves you, Octavia. His blood mate is you."
"You..." she blinked and repeated my words, "You have someone else?"
I nodded and brought my hand up to my neck, brushing a few strands of my hair over my shoulder. It was as if she just noticed the werewolf claim on me and she recoiled from the sight of it.
"As you can see."
"Who is it?"
"Mickey Myster." I answered and saw her eyes widen. "You know him?"
Octavia slowly nodded. "Mickey Myster is famous amongst us werewolves. He helped abolish the omega title."
I smiled. "Yes. That's him."
Curiously, she asked, "How did you two meet?"
"Nothing fancy, I assure you," I chuckled. "Our situation was similar to yours and Javier's."
She tilted her head, interested, and I told her about the letters from the Elders that turned our worlds upside down. Of course, I told her everything from the beginning-including when we initially thought the werewolf in the letter was Giovanni, the alpha of the Hidden Moon Pack.
From there, I told her about what happened and what brought Mickey to the Hidden Moon Pack in the first place.
I could tell that as I progressed with the story, Octavia gradually relaxed and listened with intrigued eyes. I couldn't help but smile at her innocence.
"But..." Octavia spoke when I finished. "That means you two weren't brought together by love."
"Neither were you and Javier." I pointed out and she had nothing to say to that. "Regardless, it doesn't matter. Mickey and I understand what we've agreed to and have decided to remain faithful to each other."
Octavia gazed into my eyes with worry, but I dismissed it and continued.
"My loyalty to Mickey will not make me try anything with Javier. And Javier's love towards you will keep him by your side. The only reason why he sought me out was because he wanted to let me know that he found happiness with you. I guess that bothered his conscious every day and only when he assured me such did he feel that he could finally move on."
I saw that she was still skeptical.
"Believe in him, Octavia," I said and she twitched. "He's showed how much he truly loves you during the years you've been together. And I believe that. And I'm happy for him. The two of you started with unfortunate circumstances, but you've come to love each other deeply. If there's one thing I know about Javier, he's not a liar. In fact, he's horrible at it. The moment he begins to tell a lie, he cannot meet your gaze and chatters like an Elder."
Octavia cracked a smile at my statement and I knew that she also experienced that side of him.
My part was done.
I turned around and opened the door. Javier was having a heated conversation with Talon, but they immediately looked at me as I stepped out of Octavia's room.
"It's your turn." I simply said and Javier rushed past me before slamming the door. The rush of wind blew against me and I tucked my hair behind my neck. As I did so, my wrist brushed against Mickey's claim and I momentarily froze as I remembered our last night together.
But I quickly snapped out of it and looked up at Talon. He was staring at my neck.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself properly." He suddenly said and nodded his head. "My name is Talon Reiner."
"Reiner?"
He nodded. "I'm Octavia's cousin. Our uncle was the one who caused her marriage to Javier Jennings. My mother was the middle child and therefore, she became the luna when my uncle passed. Eventually, I took my mother's maiden surname and inherited the alpha title."
"I see," I slowly said, "And you don't hate Javier?"
"I didn't agree to the marriage, and hoped that there would be some way out of it. But the next thing I knew, she flew off to find him and brought him back." Talon shook his head. "The moment he married my cousin, he became a part of my pack and I couldn't harm him even if I wanted to. Luckily, I can see that he truly loves Octavia."
I smiled. "That's good."
Talon suddenly motioned down the hallway with his hand. "Should I show you around? I have a feeling those two will take a while, but they'll be fine."
I hesitated at first, but sighed and nodded. "Why not?"
The complex was fairly large, but the amount of werewolves that wandered around made it feel homey. I received curious and cautious glances from the members since I was with their alpha, but no one approached us as Talon continued to show me around.
Most werewolves who didn't live near any forestry usually had complexes like this one to settle in. They disguised themselves as a business and humans didn't bother them, allowing packs to live in peace.
"You truly no longer feel nothing for your previous lover?" Talon suddenly asked as we continued to walk down the halls of a new building.
I glanced at him and saw that he was staring directly at me, unafraid of eye contact. After a brief second, I looked in front of me again.
"He's still a dear friend to me. But other than that, I don't have any romantic feelings towards him. Besides..." I patted my neck with a lazy smile. "I have a fiancé now."
"But you do not love him."
It didn't surprise me that he heard. A door wouldn't be able to stop our keen hearing.
"Perhaps I will through time, just as Octavia and Javier have found love."
"But they were mates initially."
"The Elders have told us that my fiancé and I are mates as well."
Talon had no reply to my statement and we continued to walk in silence.
I didn't blame him. After all, I found myself having a hard time believing that. There was no doubt that I felt something for him, but Mickey felt nothing for me. Behind the nonchalant façade he constantly wore, he was kind. And perhaps he knew that he hurt me with his words and felt sorry. Why else would he show me such a face when I left him last night?
But I didn't want his kindness. Or his pity. I wanted more. But if we weren't mates, then my wants would never be fulfilled.
When we made a full cycle and arrived back to Octavia's room, only then did Talon speak again.
"I'm sorry if I sounded persistent," he said, "I just couldn't help but notice the...dangerous scent of your fiancé's claim on you."
I ran my fingers across it once more. "I didn't know werewolves could even sense the atmosphere of when the claim was made."
Talon's brows furrowed. "Then it's true? His claim was nothing but pain?"
"That's none of your business, now is it?" I said with an undertone of harshness.
I expected my words to secure a safe distance between us. Or for him to at least drop the subject. It really was none of his concern. What went on between Mickey and me was our business, not the business of an alpha wolf who lived on a different continent from us.
"If..." Talon slowly said as he raised his hand, "If I had finally found my mate...I would never hurt her. I would never let her feel...lonely."
A cold shiver crawled up my spine and the moment he touched Mickey's claim on me, goose bumps broke out across my skin. I stared at Talon with horror and his thumb pressed against my neck just as I swallowed.
"What do you think you're doing?" I said breathlessly before taking a step back.
But Talon followed and took one forward.
"You're known as the Vampire Princess, but you've come to fulfill a menial task of mending your ex-lover's relationship with his wife-the same woman who took him away from you in the first place. You've even become engaged to another man who treats you cruelly, yet you can still smile sincerely in front of Javier and Octavia. I find you...intriguing, Lydia Vincenti, to say the least."
"I care nothing for your intrigue." I glared before I teleported to stand behind him.
Talon wasn't startled and simply turned around. He stood up straight and looked down at me with blazing eyes.
"If I added any more to my words, I would scare you away. And I don't wish to do that."
A pause stretched between us before I said, "Do you make it a habit to hit on women who are taken?"
"No," he answered, "But I cannot stand to see a women-especially one like you, who holds beauty inside and out-mistreated by a man who's supposed to protect her."
I chuckled bitterly. "And you wish to save me?"
Talon rushed forward and I was taken aback before stumbling on my feet. He caught me around the waist and pressed our bodies together.
"I wish to claim you for myself," he whispered harshly.
I stiffened and searched his eyes for any teasing-any mocking. But all I could find was truth and determination.
"I told you, didn't I?" he said with a tight smile. "That if I added any more to my words, I would scare you."
Once more, I teleported out of his arms and stood in a cautious stance. I couldn't relax around this man as I originally thought.
"It'd take more than that to scare me. Unfortunately for you, I'm not interested in being unfaithful to my fiancé. We've promised to stay by each other's side, no matter who may try to get in between us."
"True mates wouldn't need to make such a binding promise in the first place," Talon said, "True mate would be faithful to each other without question."
"Talon." I warned through clenched teeth.
"I would be faithful to you Lydia," he continued, "without question. I had fallen for you the moment Octavia told me about you. The more of your deeds I discovered, the harder I fell. A woman as chivalrous as you-a woman who knows what sacrifice means-only existed through tales. You were nothing but a story to me, but I couldn't help but want to make you mine. I didn't realize I could love you even more than I did. But with you in front of me, I realize that I indeed can."
His words left me speechless and the only thing I could say in reply was, "What?"
Talon smiled as if it hurt to admit his next words.
"I've loved you for a long time, Lydia Vincenti. But now, I've just fallen in love with you all over again."