Rejected, Abused, I Fall for the Forbidden Alpha (by Riley Scott) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Raven POV

Marissa broaches the subject of her and Hade’s engagement at breakfast the next morning. “Hades, don’t you think it’s time we made it official? My mother has been waiting for the announcement. She’s growing a little,” her voice lowers dramatically, “impatient. She wants us to plan the wedding and choose a date already.”

“Your mother has no business butting into our affairs,” Hades said with a faint twinge of annoyance, a dark look on his face.

Their voices are low, but they are sitting close enough that Jackson and I can hear them clearly. We blatantly eavesdrop, both of us glancing at each other, me being highly amused and Jackson looking stone-faced. He was not a fan of Marissa already and it showed.

“Hades, please. She’s my mother, and she’s important to me. Besides, you made a promise,” Marissa said with a huff, “and we’ve kept our side of the bargain. We agreed to the alliance, and I travelled all the way here to marry you.”

“Do not speak to me about agreements or should I remind you of your poor performance of fighting off the rogues the other day?” Hade’s voice is carefully controlled, but the expression on his face is anything but.

Marissa’s cheeks go flush. She bites her lip. “Look, I’m not exactly as my mother described me, but my wolf is still white, and I can still strengthen yours. Not to mention, you need an heir,” she pressed, “if you’re so desperate for one, I’m willing to even start working on that now.”

“Not until after the wedding,” Hades is blunt. “I won’t fuck you until the ceremony is over and we’ve marked each other.”

Brutal. Honest. I liked it.

“Then announce the engagement,” Marissa pleads, “what are we wasting time for?”

Hades exhales. His expression is brooding. He glances at me and then hastily turns his head away when I smile at him like a Cheshire cat.

“Fine. We’ll hold an engagement party. All the neighbouring packs Alphas and Lunas,can attend. It will give you the opportunity to meet them and hopefully form friendships with the women. A good support network and relations are vital to a Luna. You have to make a good impression,” he warned.

Marissa nods eagerly. I calmly cut my strawberry in half and bring a piece up to my lips, eating it slowly, licking my lips as Hades grips the edge of the table with his fingers. No one else notices.

“The omegas will organize everything. All you have to do is worry about a dress,” Hades said, putting his fork down with a loud clatter.

“I’ll organize security,” Jackson is already in preparation mode, “and the invites will be personally handed to all the guests so that details of the party aren’t revealed to any unwanted visitors.”

They were acting as though we were all going to be suddenly attacked by monsters or something, I thought, amused. Then again, it wouldn’t look good if another Alpha or Luna was attacked on Blood Moon territory.

“Raven, I’m in half a mind to have you be part of my team,” Jackson suggested, wriggling his eyebrows at me as l giggled, “alas, I think the men are going to take one look at you and fall in love on the spot.”

He sighed dramatically as I fluttered my eyelashes at him, still giggling at his antics.

“Hades, what’s wrong?” Marissa is a little shaken, “It’s not that big a deal. I’ll stop complaining about Raven,” she said quickly, trying to rein in his temper in case it was her that caused it.

He shakes his head and stands up. “It’s fine. I have a lot of work to do. Jackson, if you have time to flirt,” he growled, “then you have time to help me if you can bear to drag your sorry ass away from Raven, that is.”

Ouch. Jackson chuckles and stands up. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were jealous,” he muttered under his breath with a pointed look at Hades.

“Shut it,” Hades snarled as Marissa looked between the two men, her brows furrowed, “the last thing I need to hear is your bullshit.”

“Bye, Raven,” Jackson waves over his shoulder, smirking at me.

The look Hades gives him when they leave the dining room is so fierce I start to worry that I might find Jackson’s body hidden away somewhere later, torn limb from limb.

“If you so much as try to ruin my party, I’ll kill you,” Marissa breathes, leaning forward and fixing her eyes on me. “I’ll make you wish you had never been born.”

I smiled coldly. She blinked, unaccustomed to my intentional disregard of her threats. “By all means, Marissa,” my tone is like syrup, “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

She storms off in a fit of temper. I smile widely, already beginning to plot.

It was too bad that I wasn’t about to heed her warnings. Things were getting interesting, and all it would take was the right spark, and everything would implode.