Chapter 20: Chapter 20

ELEANOR

As soon as we heard her room door close, Xavier pulled away from me and stared into my eyes. “It was…”

“A mistake. I know. You did that so that your mom wouldn’t be suspicious.” I finished his sentences, which made his eyes widen in surprise, but he quickly covered it.

“And…”

“We won’t talk about it. I know the drill, Xavier. You don’t have to remind me,” I told him as I turned around, picked up the teacups, and handed him one before I left the kitchen with mine.

I walked upstairs and into Xavier’s room and sat down on the bed. I wanted to feel angry at myself but strangely I felt happy that he kissed me.

My hand moved up as I lightly touched my swollen lip as a smile appeared on my face. If Xavier hadn’t pulled away I knew that the kiss would have turned into something more. The thought didn’t scare me like I expected it to.

Every time Xavier was close to me, I felt this bizarre feeling of bliss.

“~It’s called love, Ellie,~” Erica suggested, and I thought she was right.

~I think I ~am~ falling in love with him~, I thought as a smile appeared on my face. The smile gradually faded away when I remembered that Xavier still didn’t want me. This was just business to him.

I placed the cup on the bedside table next to me, covered it with a book, and climbed into the bed to sleep.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to face Xavier with the state of mind that I was currently in, so I tried to fall asleep before he walked into the room.

I closed my eyes, and within minutes, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

~Knock, knock.~

“Come in,” I groaned as I woke up.

The door opened to reveal Mrs. Costa standing there with two mugs of hot beverage in her hand.

“Did I disturb your sleep?” she asked me with her sweet voice, and I shook my head.

“No, please come in. I was awake before you came,” I told her.

As she walked closer, the aroma of coffee greeted my nostrils.

Just the smell of it acted like a soothing balm for my headache.

Mrs. Costa walked toward the bed, took a seat, and extended a coffee mug to me.

“Thank you so much.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I thought about spending some time with you,” she said.

I smiled at her and took a sip of the coffee, momentarily closing my eyes in bliss.

“I told you the mate bond would grow stronger.”

My eyes flew open again to look at her.

I saw a content smile on her face.

“I don’t understand,” I said, trying to play dumb.

“Both of you tried to eat each other up in the kitchen last night,” she reminded me.

This made a blush creep up my cheeks.

Even if the kiss wasn’t meant to be romantic or filled with love, it was still a kiss I shared with my mate—and that alone made it special to me.

“Oh, that…that just happened,” I mumbled and broke my eye contact with her.

“I thought Xavier would never accept you. But when I saw you two yesterday, I knew there was still hope,” she said.

I looked at the dark liquid in my cup.

Mrs. Costa looked so pleased thinking that Xavier had finally started accepting me. I didn’t want to destroy that.

I didn’t tell her it was all a show that Xavier put up so that his mother would believe us.

“We are starting to see beyond our hatred,” I lied, and she nodded her head.

“As long as you two are happy, I will be at peace,” Mrs. Costa said as she got up.

“Where are you going?” I asked her, getting up from the bed too.

“Well, I’m invited to have breakfast at a friend’s place. But before I leave, I wanted to see you.”

“Oh, have a great day,” I told her.

She nodded her head and walked out of the room.

After finishing my coffee, I looked at the time to see that it was 9 a.m.

~Well, I don’t have anything to do till 2 p.m.~

I placed the cup on my bedside table and walked into the bathroom.

Finishing my morning routine, I walked into the closet to get dressed when an idea popped up.

~I’m not going to live here for six months with my clothes stuffed in my suitcase.~

I looked around the closet to see that there were some empty racks.

I walked toward the drawers and opened them to see that there was not much inside.

~Well, looks like we have a little rearranging to do today~.

“~Do you think Xavier is going to be okay with that?~” Erica asked me.

“~He won’t, but I don’t care,~” I replied as I began moving his clothes to one side and arranging mine.

It took me two hours to arrange all my clothes and shoes, but once I was done, I stepped back and looked at my work.

“~Now it looks better.~”

“~All the clothes will smell like our mate’s soon,~” Erica chimed in, but I didn’t care about that.

An evil smile formed on my face, knowing that I had successfully defied Xavier’s demands.

~Now, all I have to do is to wait and see his reaction.~

I took the clothes I was going to wear today and made my way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

While I was combing my wet hair, the door clicked open. I looked around to see Xavier standing there.

He was sweaty, and he was wearing his workout clothes.

Our eyes briefly met before he quickly made his way to the bathroom and shut the door.

“~I think this is our time to run,~” Erica said, sounding agitated, but I ignored her comment and continued combing my hair.

“~Relax, we can take his insult. It’s not like it’s something new,~” I told her.

After applying my lipstick, I got up from my place, ready to leave, when he walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist.

Every time I saw him in nothing but a towel, it stole my breath. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop myself from admiring my mate’s perfectly sculpted body.

“There’s some drool on your face,” he commented.

I walked toward my side of the bed, grabbed my phone, and started packing my things inside my handbag.

“What the fuck did you do, Eleanor!” I heard Xavier scream from inside the closet.

Xavier marched out of the closet, looking beyond livid.

“Didn’t I tell you not to touch my things?” he asked me, and this only made me smirk.

“You did,” I said, then paused, smiling at him. “But when I thought about it, I realized I have just as much right to that closet—since I’m your mate. So, I did a little rearranging.”

He curled his hands into fists.

“Don’t start acting like this is a permanent thing.”

“I never thought that, Xavier. If we’re going to share a room, then we get to share other things as well,” I asserted.

This earned me a deadly glare.

“I’m getting late for work. So, I’ll see you at dinner,” I told him before I walked out of the room.

“~He didn’t look too pissed.~” Erica sighed in relief, and I smiled.

“~He will be once he realizes that all his clothes smell like us,~” I told her as I walked out of the house and toward the bakery.

I took out my phone and began scrolling through social media when I bumped into someone and almost lost my footing, but a masculine hand broke my fall.

“My god!” I exclaimed as I straightened myself and stepped back. “Thank you. I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” I told him.

“It’s all right, it wasn’t your mistake,” he answered.

He avoided looking me in the eye, which made me frown. He was quite taller than me, about six foot two inches, with a handsome face and the body of a warrior. It was odd he avoided my glance when only omegas are supposed to avoid eye contact with high-ranking wolves.

“You know a warrior doesn’t have to avoid eye contact, right?” I didn’t know why I said it out loud, but something about him kept bothering me.

“I’m not a warrior. Well…not anymore, miss. I’m an omega,” he said.

There was something in his tone that twisted in my chest—like shame wrapped in steel. Hearing him call himself an omega filled me with both disgust and a deep, aching sadness.

“Oh, I’m sorry, my mistake.”

“It’s all right, Miss Amato,” he replied before he nodded and walked away.

“~I’m getting a bad vibe from him, Ellie,~” Erica said, and I agreed with her.

Leaving that bizarre situation behind, I continued walking to the bakery. Once I arrived, I made my way to the cashier, Juliet, with a bright smile on her face.

“Hello, Miss Amato, are you here to pick up the cake for the naming ceremony?” she asked me, and I nodded my head.

“Yes. Is Mrs. Tanner here today?” I asked her, missing the bubbly woman who would usually greet me.

“No, Mrs. Tanner is visiting someone. But I’ll make sure you get what you need,” Juliet said.

CHANTELLE

“You should calm down, my love,” Luca consoled me, but this only angered me further.

I got up from our bed and pulled the silk bed sheet to cover my naked body while he leaned back on the headboard.

“You promised you would kill him, but it’s been weeks, and he is still walking around very much alive,” I spat out.

He let out a tired sigh, got up from the bed, and walked toward me. My chest was moving in and out rapidly with pent-up anger.

“I understand your anger. But if we kill him now, there’s no fun in that. He humiliated me, and he threw you out of his life. We kill the girl first,” he reasoned.

We got a perfect chance to kill him a few days ago, and this idiot spoiled it, and now he thinks we will get another chance to kill him.

“It will work out,” he said with a vicious smile on his face, and I trusted him, knowing he would never betray me.