Reborn: The Rejected Luna

#16 - A Possessive Wreck

"I'm Vieva, his fiancée."

He had a life and Irabel only wanted revenge, so why in the world did she want to claw the other woman's eyes out so bad?

Disappointed in herself, Irabel stared at the ceiling. The bed was as warm and comfortable as her own used to be back in her father's castle, but Irabel hadn't enjoyed that comfort even after not having had that in her mother's pack. It was only the first day, a stupid dinner and yet she had behaved more like a love sick puppy than someone out for revenge. She blew out a breath before turning on her side and facing the bare wall. How pathetic could she be? Mate bond or not, she hadn’t expected that she’d willingly ditch her plan to make Maxith pay for his crimes at the first available opportunity.

Last night was a disaster. Knowing she would be turning heads after Nykka’s work, Irabel had hoped dinner with Maxith would be the beginning of her revenge. She thought if he felt half of the things she was feeling, her plan would take off without a hitch. His fiancee’s presence however, and her own reaction to the witch turned out to be more than a hitch that sent the plan down the drain. She had suddenly turned into a possessive wreck that kept sending glares towards the woman more times than she could count, not caring if Maxith saw it or not.

"For what it's worth you didn't crash and burn." Irabel scoffed at herself. She might as well have. Seeing how she had been painfully aware of how hot Maxith had showed up for dinner and how she had desperately wanted to be the one sitting close to him. It had taken her an awful lot to tone down that desire and for the rest of the evening she had barely pretended not to be bothered by that woman or Maxith. Thanks in part to a new question that had assaulted her mind and Nykka’s awesome entertainment skills.

"You are awfully quiet.” Nykka shuffled in her bed reminding Irabel that she was in a stranger’s bedroom, who by the way, had chatted with her like she had known her her entire life. Irabel was grateful for that as it had made her forget about her circumstances a little.

She wished she had that too. The ability to make friends so easily. That was a skill she sadly lacked even as a princess. With every girl in Belmont wishing to be her friend, she’d never really had an opportunity to personally befriend anyone. Rayna too. If it wasn’t for her nanny forcing her to speak to the shy girl that was in tears at one of their royal picnics, Irabel would not have had anyone to really call a friend. “I can understand it when it’s in my brother's presence but it's just you and me now.” Irabel felt the bed dip and when she turned to look at the intruder, she found Nykka smiling at her.

“How do you do that?” Irabel sat up, shooting Nykka a questioning look. “How do you find it so easy to speak to a stranger like me?” This was as close to open as Irabel had been herself and she had no doubt it was because of Nykka.

“One of us has to be if this relationship is going to work.”

“Relationship?” Irabel curled an eyebrow, feeling amused.

“Yep. Besides, you are not really a stranger. In a few hours I would have known you for a whole day.” Nykka’s grin drew out her own. She wasn’t Rayna, but Nykka would make a pretty good replacement. It was just sad that Irabel had no intentions of making more bonds that would complicate everything, especially not with Maxith’s sister.

"Is Vieva your brother's mate?" Hoping to keep Nykka away from her personal life, she diverted their conversation to something that would answer her burning question. Why was it Vieva and not Rayna?

Irabel had noted that there was no love lost between Nykka and Vieva and she found herself liking that fact more than she should have.

"His mate died. Killed in an attack."

Irabel wanted to scream that the bastard got what he deserved but the sad look in Nykka's eyes made her frown. Did she love Rayna that much? “I’m so sorry to hear that.” She wasn’t, but Irabel kept that to herself.

“Don’t be. It’s been a while and I guess we are all doing better now.”

“All?” A pang of jealousy hit Irabel as she stared at Nykka’s sad smile. How many people had actually mourned Rayna’s death? Was she somehow the perfect luna Irabel had failed to be for Maxith’s pack?

"So what do you think of my brother?"

"Think of your brother?" Irabel was caught off guard by the question. Nykka was propped up on the bed, a mischievous grin on her lips had replaced that sad smile.

Nykka knew something. Irabel realized. Was she being that obvious? Was that why Nykka was being so friendly, because she suspected she was mates with her brother? Irabel knew she shouldn't have accepted the dinner invitation. But that would have been plain rude to her warm host.

"He's okay, I guess." Irabel shrugged, hoping she was convincing enough on the outside because she sure as hell thought much much more of Maxith than she was willing to admit, even to herself.

"You are kidding right?" Nykka stared at her incredulously.

"Uh, would you rather I say he's ugly?"

"He's my brother, but even I can tell he's not just okay."

"You are weird." Irabel let out a chuckle, feeling weird herself. That might have been the most genuine happy sound she had made in while thanks to the person she should probably hate too.

"So they say." Nykka let out an exaggerated sigh. "But I like to think of myself as more of real than weird, and I happen to think that my brother likes you."

"And there it is." Irabel scoffed. "Are you a matchmaker too?" Irabel faked exasperation. "Your brother has a fiancée." She ignored the sharp pinch to her heart at the statement.

"Matchmaking is for the moon goddess, and I’m no moon goddess. As for Vieva, yes she's his fiancée, but that doesn't change the fact that he likes you."

Irabel suppressed the hint of excitement that bubbled inside her. She wasn't going to be that stupid. "I'm going nowhere near an unfaithful guy."

"Uh huh, so you feel something for him?"

"So not what I said or meant.” Oh hell, did she just blush?

"Not in so many words." A satisfied smile broke out on Nykka's face as she jumped off the bed happily. The girl hopped to one end of the room and opened up two large doors to a huge closet that was filled with every type of clothing Irabel’s nanny would have deemed inappropriate for a princess to wear. “Dress or pants?”

“Dress.” It was nowhere near the more formal gowns Irabel was used to, but it was less scandalous than pants. In Belmont, the only times she was ever allowed to wear pants was when she rode pepper. A tightness formed around her heart at the memory of her horse. What had happened to her horse after her death? Would she still be alive?

“I wish I looked half as good as you do in dresses.”

The appreciation in Maxith's eyes when she'd entered the dining room flashed before her eyes, leaving Irabel flushed. "That was one dress." She looked away before Nykka noticed. “Besides, I think you’d look good in anything.” With the confidence and body the girl had, Irabel had no doubt about that.

“Yeah right.” Nykka rolled her eyes as she zipped up Irabel’s dress.

“I’m guessing dresses aren’t your thing?” Irabel agreed with her. She did look good. Simple yet pretty if she said so herself. So different from both the girl from the Green Forest Pack and the princess from Belmont.

“Rom seems to think dresses are more appropriate for a princess.”

“Rom?”

“Oh yeah, that would be my brother. But be forewarned that only I can cut his name short like that, no one else. Probably because he would never banish me from the pack even if he wanted to.”

“Oh I see.” Irabel smiled while a familiar sting pinched her heart. It was only a name, but she couldn’t get past the fact that Maxith hadn’t even bothered to tell her he had another name. He really wasn’t into her after all. “You are dead, how clear do you want it to be?”

“So how old are you?” Irabel opted for personal but casual and away from anything to do with her mate. Maybe she could put her nonexistent friendship making skills to use too.

“Almost sixteen.”

What was that? Regret? Irritation? “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.” Irabel shot Nykka a questioning look.

“What, being the baby of the family? Nah.” Nykka shrugged. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s more of a minor inconvenience.”

“How so?”

“Topic for another day.” Nykka shrugged. “How about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. How old are you? And don’t you dare lie about it.”

“Yeah, because lying is so my thing.” Irabel scoffed.

“That’s so not what I meant, in my defense.” Nykka looked almost apologetic, making Irabel roll her eyes.

“Almost eighteen.”

“So that’s why…” Nykka appeared as if she'd just had an epiphany.

“Why what?”

“Nothing. When is your birthday?” Mischief and excitement danced in Nykka’s eyes at the same time.

Irabel didn’t want to indulge her, but this reminded her so much of the days leading up to her real eighteenth birthday. Nykka was just as excited as Rayna had been, giving her a piece of her past that warmed her heart. Discounting everything wrong with her being back from the dead, this day had started out to be a normal one and she couldn’t ignore the growing desire to just roll with it. Forget everything and just be a normal teenage girl . “In a few days. why?”

“Nothing.” The look in Nykka’s eyes didn’t exactly agree with her statement but Irabel let it be.

“I’m sorry for what my brother did to you.” Nykka suddenly said.

“What, for killing my entire family and taking my life away from me?” The words snapped out of Irabel’s mouth before she realized.

“He what?!”

“Nothing." With eyes shut, Irabel blew out a breath, reminding herself that Nykka was not the enemy. "Thanks for your apology, but you really don’t have to–”

A loud bang stopped Irabel mid sentence and when she opened her eyes searching for Nykka, the girl was gone.