•••

Where the fuck is he?

I force a smile as Luna Willow comes over with her mate, "Oh my moon goddess, congratulations on your relationship with Alpha Casper. I hope we'll be seeing a mating ceremony in a few years." She smiles and the corner of her eyes crinkle.

"He is a good man, you sure are lucky." Her mate says.

I nod pleasantly fighting back a grimace.

I'm pretty sure they were the seventh couple to approach me this night to congratulate me and without Alpha Casper with me, It was starting to become unbearable.

"What would you do about his son?"

"I love Javier and don't mind him at all"

"Are you happy with him?"

"Yes I am. Thank you for your concern."

The questions keep coming and where the fuck are you, stupid alpha Casper?

I nod at the alpha and Luna and they give me a departing smile. I almost let my forced smile to fall then, I see Alpha Jeremy and his son young Alpha Stanley.

I wanted to walk away but I couldn't because they were not less than ten feets away.

"Ah, Odetta. I heard about you and alpha Casper—am I wrong?"

I shake my head and look around for alpha Casper but I don't see him. "No you're not."

"I have a feeling that it's young Alpha Javier that brought you two together." He says lowly and chuckles like he knows a secret. I pay him no mind.

"Javier is an Angel. I couldn't resist." I say.

"Who would resist that handsome young devil's charms?"

"He is such a good boy and his father is too."

"So do you plan on leaving with Alpha Casper after the SAG? The werewolf capital us quite a long journey from here."

"Uh—"

"We haven't discussed that yet." Alpha Casper says as he circles an arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him. I would've felt good I even remotely like this man beside me.

I play through our conversations a few days ago concerning our small fake relationship but i feel anger. His attitude needs some serious work.

"What did you tell everyone?"

I gasped, "what did i? I recall you telling Alexa that we were mates."

"I didn't mean that."

"Well she thought you did and now everyone thinks we're together."

He makes a face although the change is not noticeable.

"You're not the only one not pleased." I snap at him.

He stays silent for a while before he lets out a low chuckle. Deep and rich.

Fuck.

I feel a small tug from my wolf. She's been letting me know she's somewhere in there.

"That explains the whispers? I thought there was some sort of elaborate joke I knew nothing about."

"So what do we do now?"

"We just go with it. Keep up appearances, if needed and I'm sure it'll keep Alpha Mason far away from you.

That's Good.

"Ah, congratulations Alpha Casper." Alpha Jeremy exclaims.

I look up at Alpha Casper and manage to sneak a look at his face. His facial expression is neutral per usual and he just nods his head.

Alpha Jeremy doesn't seem surprised at his response and keeps on talking, "You've snagged yourself a beautiful young she-wolf. You should be lucky, if it weren't for you, I would've liked my boy Stanley to snag her.", He says and laughs. Mate or Not.

I laugh along nervously and sneak a look at Stanley and he seems so uncomfortable. Casper just breaks into a near smile.

"Oh, Jeremy there you are. I've been looking all over for you", Luna Amanda, his mate says when she spots us.

She recognizes alpha Casper and I, before her eyes go south to where his has a tight grip on my waist.

Her eyes light up as she look back at our faces, "I've been looking for you two everywhere, everyone is just buzzing about you two, powerful mates from powerful families. Congratulations."

"Thank you so much." I smile at her.

Alpha Casper just nods and I elbow him. He looks down at me with a frown on his face.

'Be nice' I mouth.

He just rolls his eyes at me, "Thank you." He grunts and squeezes tighter.

She seems to think our action cute, "Oh, you two are perfect together. You two produce such powerful pups."

I stop my self from saying anything by biting my inner cheek and Alpha Casper goes rigid beside me.

"It's nice meeting you Luna Amanda, alpha Jeremy and young alpha Stanley but I need to talk to Odetta."

He doesn't wait for their reactions or answers but he just grabs my arm and he just drags me out of the hallway and outside.

When I'm sure that we are away front the ball room, I yank my arm out of his grip.

He stops and turns towards me. He looks at me before running a hand through his blond hair.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to kill me. What the hell was that iron grip?"

"It was either that or punching the living daylights out of someone." He snarls and after a while je murmurs out a sorry. "I didn't mean to squeeze so hard."

He runs his hands through his hair, "God, this is such a mess."

I frown and put my hands on my hips, "I wasn't the one who told Alexa this and put us in the mess and besides, I have been dealing with this. Everyone seems to like approaching me, not you."

"You could have easily kept shut and ignored them."

We seem to be having the same conversation we had earlier.

I scoff, "I'm not you, I'm actually a nice and decent person"

He stops pacing and glares at me as I bend to pick up flowers.

"You can glare all you want but you still won't burn a hole through my head." I say and stand up with a hand full of daffodils.

He's still glaring at me and I roll my eyes, "look alpha Casper, we can just play this part. There are only three days left till all this is over."

He looks thoughtful, "or we can end things now. It's no one business if we separate."

"We can't do that. You know it's going to be everyone business."

"Fuck. This is such a pain."

"You're not the only one going through this." I say and throw my hands in the air.

"Look—" I see him give an exasperated sigh, "let's go with your plan it's only three days. Right?"

"Are you serious?" I ask. I didn't think he would agree with me.

"Does it look like I'm joking." He snaps.

Just when i thought he might've been getting better.

"Okay." I say and trail off not knowing what to say.

"Good night"hmHe says and walk past me.

Today's incident with Javier seems to come to me, "Alpha Casper." I call out.

He stops walking and I continue, "you should tell the guard in front to let me see Javier next time."

"You're the main reason why I put him there in the first place", he says and continues walking.

"You–you–." I sputter and i swear i see the corner of his mouth tug.

I walk around for a bit before spotting a bench and sitting on it. I hum to myself and look at the daffodils in my hand.

"Honey?"

"Yes dad."

He sits beside me, "Are you sure about your relationship with Alpha Casper?"

I smile at him, "of course dad. Why'd you ask?"

"Well–" He rubs the back off his neck, "I was wondering if you were serious about him"

"I'm just going to see how it goes."

"I just want you to be happy and comfortable in your relationship."

"Thank you so much." I kiss his cheek, "You don't have to worry, everything is alright"

He lingered like he wanted to say something else.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes there actually is–" He says and clears his throat, "when were you going to tell me about  Alpha mason pestering you."

Who blabbed
I stop picking at the daffodils in my hand and look at him, "Who told you that?"

"Noel did and you should've told me."

"It's okay dad."

"If you say it's okay, I believe it's okay but if he assaults you in anyway, you have to tell me I will suspend him for this year's SAG"

I breath out in relief so he doesn't know about Monday night.

"Don't worry I will."

"And if you don't feel safe anymore because of his presence, I can have something done about that."

I giggle and smile, "it's okay dad and thank you."

"Anything for you."

I hug him and he hugs me back. After that, he stands up and straighten his suit.

"Let's go back inside."

"I don't want to go back to the hall with everyone."

"I'll walk you to your room" He says with an outstretched hand.

I take his hand and we go back to the castle. Picture protest.

•••

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sorry for the boring chapter but I'll make it up to you guys.
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