CHAPTER 21

**Nadine’s First Life: Panic**
Diana's lively voice got closer and closer and she had no time, and since she was wearing no clothes, she took a comforter to cover her nudity. They're like a new couple who was too lazy to get out of bed. She pretended to be asleep because she had no idea how to face her mother.
“Oh!” Diana was shocked to see them together in bd.
“Shhhhhhhh!” Marcus motioned for his mother in law to be quiet and pointed to the sleeping woman.
“Oops, sorry. But why is she under the sheet? She's naked?” The ever observant Diana noticed that her daughter was well-hidden under the comforter.
“You think so?” He smiled and Nadine’s mother was torn between leaving and staying in the room. Marcus could tell that Nadine fumed in anger underneath the sheet and she proved it when she pinched his side really, really hard. “Ouch!” Marcus said and tried to remove the woman's hand from his side. “I will tell her to see you as soon as she wakes up, Mother,” he spoke to Diana.
“Sure. Hmmm, will you be making my grandchild?”
Marcus frowned at what the woman asked. “You bet, we will!”
A minute later, when Diana was gone, Nadine threw the comforter. Furious. Her cheeks were red, her eyes were wide open and her jaws were clenched. “Why do you even have to tell that to my mom?” She shouted at Marcus who obviously enjoyed what he had done to bully her.
“Well, I guess, she would assume we’re trying to make a baby when we couldn’t join her at dinner,” he replied nonchalantly.
“MARCUS! You truly are demented!”
“Ah, sweet, you get even more beautiful when you're angry.” Then, he bestowed a deep kiss on her lips.
Nadine pushed the man away, but it all happened and he was able to kiss her on the lips. “We must stop it now, or regret later!” She warned him.
“I don't want to stop, remember that. Now, whether you like it or not, we're still a married couple.”
“But, Marcus--”
“No but, Nadine.”
“I hate you!” she said to the man.
“I love you,” and he would prove his love and devotion to her even if it would take him a lifetime. He got up, took the clothes from the laundry basket and put on his pants. He refused to wear his t-shirt again. Since he would live with her temporarily, he couldn’t just park his vehicle outside the gate. She was already at the door when Nadine called his name.
“What's my fault again this time?”
“You're half-dressed! You're going to go out just like that?”
“With this kind of body? Some would pay just to have a glance…” Marcus was so proud that he showed the woman his muscles.
“Why are you so arrogant?” She questioned him but when saw her mother coming toward them, she called to him. “Hey, wait for me…!” Moreover, her embarrassment didn't stop there.
“Nadine?” Diana called.
“Yes, Mother?”
“Why don’t you tell me about the progress of my grandchild?”
Nadine blushed because she was sure Diana knew she had given in to temptation and surrendered her body to him. “Can we talk about it next time, Mom?”
“Alright. Go ahead, dear.”
Nadine immediately followed Marcus, and scolded the man for being a jerk around her mother! “I can't understand why you are doing this to me. You lied to me!”
“Sweetheart, am I still leaving when something happened to the two of us? Besides, I forgot to use any protection earlier.” He reminded her.
At that moment, she wanted to tell him that she was carrying their child inside her womb but something stopped her from doing it. She should tell him about her pregnancy when he’s not expecting it!
“Common, let's go.” Marcus said suddenly and opened the door of his car so Nadine could enter.
Nadine's heart sank as she looked at the man. “Where are we going?”
“White Pride. I don't have any spare clothes here in the car.” He needed some couples for staying at the woman's residence.
“You don't need that. Just talk to my mother about leaving again. Tell him there's an emergency or whatever. Just leave!” She ordered him to lie.
“I'm sorry,” he apologized for what he had done.
“I don't know if I can really forgive you. If you thought everything would be okay after we had sex --”
He didn’t like the word Nadine used and he reacted. “For me, it wasn't just sex. We made love,” he corrected her.
“Sex or lovemaking, it doesn't matter anymore. The deed's done,” Nadine said as if she just didn't care what happened to them and Marcus but the truth was, it was too big a deal for her.
Nadine appeared to be more than pissed off at him so he kept quiet for the entire duration of the trip. When they arrived at White Pride, he then spoke. “We're here,” Marcus said happily and got out of the car.
Nadine took a deep breath as she surveyed the house that had once been her residence. Instead of thanking Marcus for what he had done, she raised an eyebrow at him and when the man touched her elbow as they walked into the house, she stopped walking and faced the man.
“I’ll just wait in the car,” Nadine said as she walked back to the car. She was afraid to see Gabby’s face again!
“What are you afraid of? This is our home, our pack! Come on,” he convinced her.
“Thank you, but there's no need for me to go there, Marcus. I still won’t live here again,” she declared.
“Nadine ...”
Nadine turned to the woman who called her name. It was Kate! She was drowning in her sorrows that she has forgotten about Kate. She ran toward the woman who always stayed by her side and give her a warm hug.
“Kate, how are you?” She asked but instead of responding to her inquiry, tears suddenly dripped from Kate’s eyes. Nadine started to cry as well. “Forgive me if I didn't even say goodbye to you.”
“I thought, we won't see each other. I thought ....” Kate continued to cry as she hugged Nadine.
“Forgive me ...” She had nothing else to say but to repeatedly apologize to Kate.
“Have you eaten?” Finally the woman stopped crying.
“Not yet, Kate. I fell asleep and then Marcus was in a hurry to come here,” she informed Kate.
“Why did he starve you? You could have stopped at a restaurant to get something to eat!”
“Marcus was not properly dressed so we can't get out of the car.” It was an honest answer but Kate didn't seem to like her answer.
“What’s wrong with you, Nadine? He has betrayed you once or even more, how come you are still in love with him? When are you going to give up?”