Waiting in the shadows. (book 2 in the silver wolf series)

CHAPTER 4: A COMMOTION.

AMBER

In the dining hall, I was looking around for Chris. Something had happened to him in the meeting. I wanted to make sure that he was ok. Not finding him, I made my way over to Paul and asked if he knew where he was. He shrugged his shoulders “He was behind me on the way in, and then he was gone. Something must have come up.” He said. A young man approached us and slapped Paul on the back. “Hey, how’s the summit going?” he asked cheerily. “A bit mixed.” Paul replied. The man turned to me and flashed me a smile. He was a younger version of Chris, although not quite as good-looking. “Hey, I’m Marcus Baxter.” He said, holding out his hand. I shook it “Amber Rivers-Morris.” I replied. His eyebrows raised, and he grinned. “So you’re Amber. Wow, no wonder my brother found it so easy to stay in the city all that time.” He said. I laughed. “Down boy! She's married.” Paul waved his hand at Marcus, who just laughed. “Well it was nice to meet you.” He said to me with a big smile. I returned the sentiment.

A commotion was starting over the other side of the hall. One of the Alpha’s was yelling about his Luna going missing. I moved closer and saw that it was the Alpha who had arrived late. Paul looked around for Chris to come and sort it out, but he was still nowhere to be found. Paul approached the Alpha himself and asked what seemed to be the problem. “I would rather speak to the organ grinder than his monkey.” The Alpha said, his voice full of disdain. “Where is your Alpha?” he asked. Paul paused. He didn’t want to admit that he had no idea. Council Member Perry stepped forward “I will handle this. Thank you, Paul.” He said, nodding at the beta. Paul looked relieved and took a step back. “Now Alpha Simmons, what exactly is wrong?” he asked. Alpha Simmons looked angry as he told him “My Luna is missing.” Council Member Perry calmly asked “Could she have stepped outside for some air or gone to use the facilities?” he asked. Alpha Simmons looked irritated at the question “Not without my permission. She stays behind me unless I say otherwise. As a wife should.” He said plainly. I wanted to punch him just for his words. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for his poor Luna.

The doors opened, and his Luna walked in at that moment. She stopped, realising that all eyes were on her. Alpha Simmons stalked angrily over to her and demanded to know where she had been. She looked down, her long blonde hair falling over her face. “I’m so sorry, Alpha. I desperately needed the toilet, and you were busy. I should have waited.” She answered quietly. He tapped his foot in annoyance “Next time you will be punished. You have embarrassed me.” He scolded her. She apologised again and followed him timidly as he re-joined everyone else. Adam appeared next to me and snaked his arm around my waist “What a total arse. It takes a special type of i***t to treat his Luna like that. Actually, to treat anyone like that.” He whispered in my ear. I smiled up at him. Once again, I found myself thanking the Goddess that I had been given such a wonderful mate. He kissed me gently on the cheek before turning to speak with the Alpha that had just tapped his shoulder. I looked back at Luna Simmons, and she looked peculiar. I couldn’t believe that this beautiful woman was willing to be treated like she was nothing by that shithead. Surely, there must be more to this story. Maybe I should reach out to her, offer her a friendly shoulder. Chris entered the hall, looking a little distracted at that moment. I noticed Luna Simmons glance up at him, and they both flushed a little as their eyes met. Wait! What was that? Surely Chris wasn’t fooling around with another Alpha’s Luna, was he?

I moved towards Chris, and when I was sure that no one was listening, I quietly asked him about it. His face snapped towards mine in shock. “Was I being that obvious?” he asked nervously. “We lived together, Chris. I know you.” I reminded him. He half smiled “Better than anyone.” He sighed. I gently touched his face. He had had to keep huge parts of his life secret from me while we were together, yet somehow it seemed as though I had still managed to get closer to him than anyone else had. “You can’t do this, Chris. It could cause a war. It would definitely undermine your talks of peace and alliances.” I said softly. He looked into my eyes, and I could the pain inside of them. “She is my mate.” He leaned in and whispered. I gasped “Well s**t!! That definitely complicated things.” I replied. I had hoped that Chris would find his mate, someone to give him the love he deserved. However, finding your mate and them already being committed to another must be terrible. I thought about Adam and how he must have hated seeing me with Jason before I realised that he was my mate. It must have been horrible for him. I was so grateful that I had found him. Not that I needed a man. I could even have taken charge of the pack by myself. I was an Alpha by blood after all, but having Adam didn’t feel like just a relationship. It felt like so much more than that. Our soles were joined, and I loved it. Glancing in his direction, I smiled, seeing that he was looking over at me.

Chris sighed, deeply drawing my attention back to him. “I don’t know what to do.” He admitted. Council Member Perry called for attention “The Alpha Summit will continue in five minutes. Please make your way back to your seats.” He announced. I told Chris that we would talk about this later. He nodded and kissed me gently on the cheek. “Thank you, Amber. You are a true friend.” He said. I smiled up at him. I felt a hand on my waist and didn’t even need to turn my head to know that it was Adam. I could feel the electrical tingles where his hand lay. I looked up at him and blew him a kiss. “Come along, Alpha, back to your seat.” I said. He smiled at me, and we joined everyone else in heading back to the meeting area.

???????????????

I had thought that having found his mate, as doomed as that was, that Chris would finally be over Amber. However, they were just huddled together, as thick as thieves just now. He had even kissed her, right there in front of everyone, and she had let him. This b***h has no shame. After everything that she had done, she was swanning around here like she didn’t have a care in the world. She had no problem flaunting her relationship in Chris’ face, and now it looked as though she was still leading him on, maybe more. Clearly, she liked to have her cake and eat it too. I would take everything from her, as she had from me. I f*****g hated her, him too. They would both pay.

The summit was restarting now, so I would use this time to go over everything that I had learnt in my mind and plan my next steps. Being this close to them, it was taking all my self-control to smile and pretend that nothing was wrong. I just had to keep telling myself that fooling them would only make my revenge all that much sweeter. I looked forward to seeing the look on their stupid faces when they realised that I was the architect of their destruction. I sat back and let myself enjoy the thought for a little while. I was so lost in my own dark thoughts that I hadn’t realised that someone was trying to get my attention. s**t!! In the meantime, I guess I should keep playing the part. I plastered on a big fake smile and asked them to repeat the question.