Santiago's Pov
Santiago's POV
Begrudge.
I never thought I'd get to this point, merely a second away from ordering a hit on the man dating my mate. If it weren't for Mom Ximena requesting to see me, I would have pressed send on that message to a trusted hitman in the area they're both in.
I know my wildflower is going to find her way to me. My job has been to sit patiently, awaiting the day she graduates from the top of her architecture class and then, she'll be mine forever. I'm not against this arrangement, it's for the best. Once she had her wolf ripped from her, it was only plausible her father wiped all memories up until the moment it happened. The man deduced it would tame her but even without her memories, my little wildflower can't be tamed.
I don't reckon if anguish and begrudge are the same but I feel the same if not more miserable than Adrian, the only difference between us is I can control my reactions, my appearances and he can't. Everyone can see how miserable he is without Camilla, we've searched every corner of Midnight Saints and surrounding areas with absolutely no luck in finding her.
Roughly five days ago he had missing flyers of her and Mirabelle going around town and now everyone is talking about it, rumors have sparked but my favorite one is they ran off with Mirabelle's lover. I know for a fact this isn't true because Mirabelle's mate is silently stalking her, preying on her from the sidelines, without the intent of approaching her. I find it fucked up, but I'm doing the same thing with my wildflower, except her has good reason.
Selfless reasons for keeping away from her, reasons to which I selfishly approve because I love Moon, she's the glue that kept Adrian together when all hope was lost. Nonetheless, I had to double check with him about her whereabouts in case he in fact did change his mind about the forced relationship mates make because they have to, which again, in his opinion is appalling.
He wants her to be with however makes her happy, with a connection she doesn't have to feel obligated to create. I double checked with him and he assured me he wasn't with her but would find her and not give me or anyone else information about her whereabouts.
Mom Ximena is sitting in the sun with three girls close to the water fountain, a beach umbrella covering her. “Santi, my marvelous son.” she grins, “Where is my useless son of an Alpha?”
“I'm right here!” Adrian responds, his voice sounding in my earshot. I turn to the direction I assume his voice is coming from, and there he is, striding to us with the same miserable expression.
“Where are you headed to?” she queries, fanning herself with her hand.
“The library,” he retorts, pausing right next to me.
“Dressed like that?” she asks, her gaze running over his outfit. Adrian doesn't care how he dresses these days but he dresses good still, he throws two outfits together and the outcome remains a marvel.“Anyway, I just want the two of you to run me an errand.”
“Mom, can't someone else do it? We are busy with looking for Mia, we can–”
“No,” I blurt out, shaking my head. “Not we Adrian, you.” I assert, interrupting his sentence. “I wasn't the one that run her off, I am done helping you with Camilla. It's been almost two weeks since we saw her and you let her go.” I say, dropping my hands in defeat.
“Santiago.” Adrian growls, only then do I realize what I just did. However, I don't regret it, if he told her that we did find her that very day she wouldn't be this cold to him.
Adrian looks to Mom then me, then back to her and sighs, “I didn't let her go.” he explains, trying to put himself in her good graces when it's clearly no worse than spilt milk by now.
“Oh yes, she pushed you and broke your arm right?” I sarcastically counter, earning myself a hard nudge in the midsection from Adrian and a laugh from the girls Mom is with.
“Silence,” Mom orders. Everyone halts, my hands stroke my arm gently, wearing away the effect of Adrian's elbow in my midsection. Mom kicks her feet off the chair, narrowing her gaze on Adrian. “So, are you aware you skipped an important council meeting?”
“Zachary didn't say I was invited.” he retorts instantly.
Moving away from him I snort, “I reminded you yesterday, you said you'd go so I don't know where you went.” I tell him, grinning at him now that I'm at a safe distance. He knows how furious Mom Ximena gets over lies, and I always go down with him when she finds out so I rather tell her the honest to God truth right now.
Adrian is giving me the stink eye when mom Ximena signals the girls to leave and they hastily do, almost like they couldn't leave fast enough.
“New Packs have been formed,” she begins. Her gaze shifting between Adrian and I.
I nod, but this is new information to me. I need to get back to work full force, I'm always on top of things like this but right now, I'm hearing it from the retired Luna and by the looks of it, Adrian didn't know of this up until now.
“So, we overthrow and expand my territory?” Adrian asks, instantly regretting his question when Mom furrows her face at him.
“No, no.” she tells him, making sure to look at me as well. “They're not threatening us so we leave them just as they are but the moment they try balderdash with us, you better end them or I will spread wildfire.”
“Yes ma'am,” Adrian and I reply in unison.
Mom Ximena nods, picking her magazine up from where it rested in her lap. We take it we're dismissed and walk away, when I look back over my shoulder she's staring at us with a scornful expression. I instantly turn away, not looking back until I'm in my car. Adrian slips into the passenger, our conversation the entire ride based on the interaction we just had with mom. Nagging me about snitching on him to the fire luna despite the many codes among us, the bro code, the best friend code and the most sacred code of all, Beta and Alpha protocols to which I admit I was wrong for blurting out.
The moment I pull up at the town library, I notice something is a little off here. Even as I park my car, I can feel it, everyone is looking at us. It's not unusual that people would stare at us, it's the manner in which they're staring. Bewilder and worry incorporated in their expressions as they whisper among themselves.
Adrian and I walk past two boys, mumbling in silent whispers as they continue to talk behind us. I pause in my saunter, Adrian ensuing my movements. “Come here,” I demand. My gaze zeroed in on the two boys that continued to speak behind us. Without too much hesitation, they both walk to us, their gaze on the floor as they do. Each nudging the other closer to us.
“Since when is it okay to talk behind the Alpha's back?” Adrian inquiries, his tone dark and chilling. This is a glimpse of the old Adrian, same dark and unimpressed way of existence has arised.
I step closer, the boys mumbling underneath their breath, in case Adrian finds his old was again, I prefer not to see a bloody scene at the town library. “Speak up, clearly.” I urge.
“Alpha,” one of them begins. “Please don't get us wrong, we assumed you knew.”
“What is it that you assumed he knew?” I ask, watching Adrian's next move, ready to stop it if he decides to go through with the sickness that just crossed his mind. I don't need to look back at Adrian to know he's already plotting sixty thousand ways of tearing these boys from limb to limb.
“That you aren't the youngest Alpha anymore.” the other boy retorts, seemingly braver than his friend despite the way both are visibly shaking in front of him.
“And so?” Adrian counters, “I don't see an issue with that, and listen, if I see or hear you or whoever babbling behind my back again. Trust me, I will break you in two halves and throw you to the new youngest Alpha as a tribute to his fanbase.” Adrian roars, sparking fear among everyone within an earshot of us. Both boys actively nod at him, heeding his warning with great notion of how he makes good on his word. .
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
