Revenge, served in a black dress

CH 9

Nora walked out of her study room the following morning to find two omegas standing in the living area of the suite. Both of them kind of just stared at her, and looked at where she’d come from. She could only guess they’d been expecting her to come out of the master bedroom, likely thought, just like everyone else in this pack, that she’d roll over and bow down to their Alpha.

She’d not been feeling for anyone in the suite other than Jace. There weren’t usually omegas in this suite until after nine, when Jace had officially started work for the day, and so she didn’t know they were there. She hadn’t been trying to sense anyone else.

Nora kind of came to a halt after seeing them, and although she’d woken up 30 minutes ago, she hadn’t come out of her study room until she’d felt Jace leave the suite altogether. He had morning training and was headed out there. She could feel that through their bond, so this was the safest time to go and shower and get changed without him trying anything on her.

He was well aware of the fact that he could seduce her using that mate bond of theirs. Even without Rosa, she still felt the sparks of their mate bond on her skin. He could still wake her up so gently, that she didn’t realize she was all turned on and wanting him, until it was too late, and her body was moving with his.

He knew exactly what he was doing to get what he wanted from her, could seduce her in her study room or pick up her sleeping body and move her to the master bedroom, as her mate the scent of him kept her asleep and lulled by him. He used that to his advantage. Though if he’d done that this morning, she’d likely have tried to beat the hell out of him.

“Can I help you?” she asked the two girls.

“The Alpha had us prepare a nice breakfast and said we should serve you,” one of them stated and stepped back, waved her hand at the door that led off towards the kitchen and dining area of the suite.

“No, thank you,” she stated simply and walked past them into the master bedroom to shower and changed for the day. She felt him pull on her tether while in that shower and realized he was on the move this way.

‘Oh, hell no’ she told herself, and got out dried off roughly and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, stepped out of the bedroom and into the living area as he pushed through the suite’s door. He blinked at seeing her fully clothed, and she just knew those omegas had told him where she was, likely he’d asked them too.

He was trying to seduce her, and she knew it. He stepped towards her as she was twisting her still-wet hair up into a loose knot. “Morning Nora.” He smiled at her and walked towards her. All charm this morning she could see, as could both the omegas still standing there in the living area, likely witnesses to him being all loving towards her. She took the opposite route around the living area, and actively stepped away from him.

Jace stopped walking and frowned at her, “Don’t be like that, I’m here to have breakfast with you.”

“I’m not hungry,” she stated right back. “Feel free to go and eat with your unit like you normally do,” she told him, and saw his eyes move to the omegas. Who the hell did he think he was fooling? Everyone knew he ate after training in the packhouse dining hall. She ate breakfast up here. They all thought she was asleep in the Alpha Suite. That’s what she’d heard him state once by way of an explanation as to why she did not have breakfast with him.

“You girls may leave,” Jace told the omegas, and she watched him wave them both off, though his eyes never left hers and the moment the door was closed he stated, “Are you trying to make the pack think there is something wrong between us?”

“No,” she answered simply, and she wasn’t. She didn’t bloody have to. They all saw him with Gloria all the time. He was doing a good enough job of that on his own. He didn’t need her help.

“Then what are you doing?” he asked, looking right at her. She’d come to a halt because there was a couch between them, and he didn’t look to be going to try to snag her. He wanted answers, it seemed, seeing as she got out of the shower before he’d gotten there.

“You’re not even dried properly,” he stated, his eyes moving over her, and she wasn’t and her hair was still dripping water from it.

“Maybe Jace, I’m still mad at you and didn’t want you to join me in the shower. Realized you were coming to do that, seduce me into forgiving you and opted out of it myself,” she told him.

His mouth curved into a smile, “You can’t say no, our bond is very strong,” he stated, and she heard it. He did know it was and was proud of it, happy about the fact that she could easily be seduced by him.

“Granted it is. But I’m not in the mood, and I’m not going to let you try either. Go and do whatever it is you as the Alpha are supposed to do inside your pack,” she stated.

“Oh no, you called me out yesterday in front of the entire pack, and I’m going to show them I’m apologetic about it. My attention for the entire day is going to be on you. Where you go, I will go.” He smiled right at her. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner, which I’ve organized everything for.”

“What for? There’s no special occasion today,” she countered.

“To make up for my mishap,” Jace stated, “Now you can either agree to it or I can trail you everywhere, and the pack will see you’re the one ignoring me, acting childish about it, when I’m trying to show you, I care.”

She thought about that as she stood staring at him, wondering if that was a good idea. He was likely to try and put his hands on her to prove to the pack they were still all good. That their mate bond was fine, that she was just being difficult. She saw a slow smile form on his face. She hated that he was tall and handsome, and even more so when he smiled. Sometimes she actually forgot what he looked like when he smiled at her like that.

Though a part of her wondered if he could actually do it, especially with Gloria in the pack, it was going to tick off the woman he actually loved, to see him with her all day. That thought alone made her want to do it. She’d love to see that annoyed, pissed-off expression on Gloria’s face at having to see Jace hanging around her and acting all lovingly towards her.

“I don’t really care if they think I’m being childish.” She shrugged it off. “Only a teenager would think I was being childish. No mated pair will,” she countered, “because they all spoil their Mate on their birthdays. So…” she half smiled. “You’ll look like you’re in the dog house, and they will understand it’s where you belong.”

His smile was gone in an instant. “Are you that set on humiliating me?” he bit out, and there he was, the Jace that no one saw but her. “For one error.”

One error she thought to herself comically, from what she recalled, there were at least five just from yesterday, forgot her birthday, yelled at her in front of everyone un-warrantedly, hit her with two lots of pains of betrayal, and then he had the hide to give her one of Gloria’s roses to try and apologize. Five errors in just one day, and on her birthday no less.

“I’m not humiliating you, you're insisting on trailing me everywhere when I’m not interested in talking to you about it at this point in time, because I’m still upset about it. That is, you fulfilling your own wants and needs. You want to do that, and why? To make me look childish to the pack.” she called him out on his very own words.

“So, it’s not an apology at all, you don’t feel sorry Jace, not one bit. This is not about that. This is just you trying to make me out to be the bad guy. You, yourself, just stated that plainly to my face. Do you think I’m so dumb that I would pick up on it?”

“What do you want from me then?” he stated, “I can’t fix it if you don’t let me.”

“Agreed.” She nodded. “But you know what, why should I? When you came in here last night and handed me a second-hand rose from Gloria’s office by way of apology. Should I accept that? Would any she-wolf in this pack accept another woman’s flower from her Mate as an apology?”

“Everything was bloody closed. Where the hell, was I supposed to get flowers for you at that time of the night?” he grated out at her.

“Hmm, isn’t there a pack garden in the center of town? You could have walked down there and hand-picked a bunch of flowers if you truly wanted to. You chose not to is all,” she stated, and saw his anger notch up.

“You’re bloody impossible right now,” he muttered, and then she watched him take a deep breath in, and calm himself. “I wasn’t thinking straight, Nora, and how could I when I saw your tears, and realized I have royally f****d up. I had hurt you and I didn’t know what to do about it. So, yes, I saw the roses in Gloria’s office and took one to give to you. Is it not the thought that counts?” He sighed.