Chapter 88

Mira

Suddenly, Celeste was everywhere.

For someone who had spent years off-the-grid, she seemed to be making up for lost time and was making her presence known all around the compound. Since she had been training to be Luna before she disappeared days before her trial, she knew the goings-on of the Pack. Having grown up there, she was still closer than I was to many members, and they welcomed their Prodigal Daughter with open arms.

She was at the community center, visiting the elders, reading aloud at the library to the children after school. She even showed up at the hospital a few days after her reappearance.

Since Dominic had no interest in taking time off with me, I threw myself back into work and packed my schedule with appointments and meetings. I even offered to cover for nurses who had children who needed them, confusing some other staff members when I was seen cleaning bedpans. I just needed to keep myself busy.

I was in the women’s locker room when I heard her.

“It feels so good to be back, almost like I never left,” Celeste was saying. What she was doing in the hospital locker room, I couldn’t guess. “I just hope the Pack accepts me, understands that I would’ve come back sooner if I could have.”

“It’s too bad you weren’t back sooner,” a voice that I knew belong to Jacqueline, said. “Maybe Dominic would have done the right thing and abandoned the outsider.”

“Stop it!” Celeste responded, her tone playful. “That’s not why I came back.”

“Sure, sure,” Jacqueline said.

I decided against the shower I was planning to take, and went back to work. The hours passed slowly for the rest of the afternoon, my heart like a ticking time-bomb in my chest.

Luckily, Celeste did not intrude on our dinner that night as she often had. Yesterday she even opened the door to our apartment without knocking, wondering if we all wanted to walk to the dining room together. Dominic didn’t need to read my mind to know that I would not allow that to continue, and he must’ve said something to her.

“It’s nice, just the two of us again,” I said to him, pushing my fork around my plate. “Three’s a crowd, as they say.”

“She’s lonely, I think,” Dominic said with a shrug, “and I’m sure intimidated by you. I hope that you can eventually be friends.”

I scoffed, then felt bad for the reaction. “Yes,” I said earnestly, “me too.”

One place that Dominic was not distracted was in bed. When we lay down together those first nights as a married couple, the world faded away and we could melt into the safe haven of our coupling bodies. Every night I discovered something new: what he liked, what I liked, what secrets were locked inside him that I could uncover by placing my hands or lips just there. It was the one place Celeste could never intrude, or so I thought.

That night, after hearing the women gossiping, Celeste was all I could think about. When Dominic rolled towards me, searching for my mouth, his hands caressing and kneading my flesh, I pulled away.

“What’s wrong?”

He seemed to think he had hurt me, and gave me space to breathe.

“Are you happy with me?”

A new shade passed over his eyes, like I had just asked him if water was wet.

“What do you mean?” He asked out loud. “Of course I am happy with you? I believe I was demonstrating that happiness just now…”

His fingers traced my collar bone, my chest swelling with sensation that I couldn’t control. I shook my head and pushed his hand away, sitting up in bed.

“No, I mean,” I paused, figuring out what I meant. “Are you happy that you chose me to be your Luna? You don’t regret it?”

“Regret it?!” His voice was loud, incredulous. “Mira, I am in love with you. I couldn’t have denied you as Luna if I wanted to, these things are so beyond our control. It’s Fate, remember?”

“I guess,” I said, looking down.

“Where is this coming from?” He asked me gently, propping himself up on his side. I tried no to look at his biceps, his pecs, that triangle between his clavicles where he liked to be licked.

“I just wonder,” I said, gathering courage, “if you hadn’t just married me, would you have taken Celeste back as your Mate?”

Dominic

I was stunned. I was hurt, and then I was angry. I felt a shift within me, and felt my control slipping through my fingers.

How can she say that?

My wolf was mortified, humiliated. Did Mira really not believe that I loved her unconditionally? Did this mean she didn’t love me as much as she said?

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mira!” My voice got louder without my noticing. “What have I done to make you think that? Do you think I have been sneaking away to make love to her after leaving you in our marriage bed?”

“No, no, I just—“

“You just what?” I was furious, at her and myself and Celeste and the gods. “You just thought you would accuse me of adultery, of lying to you and to the Pack, of making a mockery of the vows I said before you and all those witnesses?”

I threw the sheets off of me and stood up. I paced the room, knowing that in a moment I might not be able to control what I said or did. It had been weeks since I’d had a bad outburst, and the familiar feeling made me queasy.

“I don’t think that, Dominic, but—“

She reached for me, and I slapped her hand away. There was a small scratch on her palm, and I saw that my claws were out.

“Don’t touch me!”

I ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind me, just as my spine cracked and the rage clouded my vision. My reflection in the mirror was horrifying, half wolf, half furious man.

“Dominic, are you alright?” Mira’s voice was panicked on the other side of the door.

“Don’t come in,” I warned her. “It’s not safe.”

I closed my eyes, gripping my humanity before it slipped away.

“Your tincture!”

I had just enough lucidity to find the small bottle and consume it’s contents. It wasn't immediate, but I felt the storm starting to pass over me. Leaning my back against the door, I slid down to sit on the ground.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Mira was saying, “I was so jealous, it’s my own fault, I shouldn't have said anything to upset you. Please, Dominic, answer me.”

The episode left me suddenly exhausted, and I didn’t know what I could say to her anyway. She continued whispering, whimpering, apologizing and telling me she loved me. Her words were like a healing balm on an infected wound. I was still angry at her, but it never ceased to amaze how my mate could bring me back from the edge of insanity.

After what felt like years sitting on the floor, I was back to myself. I rose, splashed water on my face, and prepared to have a calm conversation with Mira. Marriage was all about communicating and working through issues together, and I wouldn’t let this tear us apart. She was worth more than my pride, my ego.

But when I opened the door, Mira was gone.