"You haven’t met Emira yet, have you?" Kael asked slowly, his eyes flicking toward Ramona as she stared at the girl who had just interrupted them.
What was she doing here? Shouldn’t she have been with Zen? That is what she had heard yesterday...
Ramona shook her head in answer to Kael’s question, unable to pull her gaze away.
Emira stood barefoot in the middle of Kael’s living room, damp hair clinging to her shoulders, a bathrobe tied around her slender frame. She looked freshly showered, casual and unbothered by the artefacts around her... as if she belonged here.
Ramona’s hand curled into a fist. So it was true. She was with both of them. Zen and Kael.
The thought burned hotter the longer she looked.
Last night, she had promised herself she would deal with the girl soon, but because of what she had done for the child, Ramona had planned to temper her anger and hold back. But within such a short span of time, she seemed to have gotten close to Zen and Kael... Which make it unacceptable to her.
’How dare she play with her mates?’
After giving the girl another once over, she turned to Kael and said," No. I haven’t met her yet. She is the new Omega, isn’t she? What was your name? Mira something? Haven’t you been given lodgings yet?"
"Emira. Her name is Emira." Kael answered slowly, not giving Emira a chance to answer.
Ramona clenched her hands and sent a look to Kael," Can she not speak? Emira? I asked you a question... have you not been assigned any lodgings yet?"
Kael leaned back in his chair and once again, giving the Omega no chance to reply, instead said, "Emira. This is Lance’s fiancée, Ramona. And she is here to seek help."
Ramona frowned the moment Kael introduced her as Lance’s fiancée. That was it? Not their mate? Not the future Luna? Nothing about her status, her role, or what she meant to him?
Her lips pressed together tightly, the muscles in her jaw working. For a brief second, anger clawed at her chest, threatening to spill out. But she forced it down. Was he trying to deny her the recognition she was due?
She would talk to Lance about this later. Ask him to let Kael behave. Just because she was their mate and was fearful of Kael did not mean he would not give her the honour she was due.
As for the Omega, Ramona reminded herself she would deal with the Omega later. The girl would learn her place soon enough. Right now, her mission was to seduce Kael. And he was probably doing all this purposely to antagonise her so that she would leave him. That way, he could continue to let her play the bad person.
She knew that the pack was not happy with what had transpired this evening and neither would Lance be happy. Which meant, first, she needed to smooth things over with Kael.
So instead, Ramona smoothed her expression and gave a small, dismissive smile to the Omega, "You can go and rest now. Don’t worry about the lodgings. I’ll have a word with Ryn about being inefficient. For now, leave us. I want to talk to Kael about something."
She watched as the Omega nodded dutifully and turned to leave. Good. At least she knew her place.
But just before she walked away, Kael’s voice cut through the air.
"Stop."
Ramona’s head snapped back toward him. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. What did he mean by making her wait?
She watched as the Omega stopped immediately and turned around as Kael stared at her. "Ramona here needs help," he said, his eyes finally flicking back to Ramona, almost as if he wanted her to catch every word. "She does not know how I like to be kissed. Show her."
Ramona froze.
For a moment she thought she had misheard him. But no-the silence in the room, the slight stiffening of Emira’s shoulders, the way Kael’s lips curved faintly... all of it told her she had heard correctly.
Her heart skipped, then slammed hard against her ribs.
What did he mean by that?
Did he mean the Omega would tell her? Explain it? Or... no. Surely not. He couldn’t mean that.
But the weight of his stare told her he meant exactly that.
Her throat tightened. Heat rose up her neck and burned her cheeks. The implication struck deep, and humiliation dug in sharper than any fear she had of him. How dare he! This was the first time she had kissed him! And he... was he saying this Omega kissed better than her? That she had already done what Ramona had not?
The thought twisted in her gut like a knife.
Forgetting her fear, she blurted out angrily, "Kael! What do you mean by this?"
Her voice was sharper than she intended, and she hoped Kael would understand but he only shrugged dismissively.
"Exactly what I said," he replied, his tone almost bored, as if it was obvious. His eyes didn’t waver, as he stared at her challengingly. "If you know how to, then you can come here and do it."
He patted his thigh once, casually, like one might invite a pet closer.
Ramona froze again. The gesture, the tone. It was all deliberate. Meant to humiliate her.
Ramona felt her tears threaten. Kael had always been careful around her, sensitive to her feelings. Why then, was he doing this?
Her breath hitched in her chest as silence filled the space around them and she stared at him... but he simple stared back, not saying or doing anything.
Then, after a long minute, he simply said, "Do I need to repeat myself?"
The words were calm and spoken in the same impersonal tone he was used to, but Ramona’s hands clenched into fists. Her nails bit into her palms, and even as the wolf inside her told her to accept the challenge... Ramona realized that she could not move.
Ramona’s breath came sharper now, uneven. Rage mixed with humiliation until she almost couldn’t tell one from the other. She wanted to scream, to pull the girl back, to demand Kael explain himself.
But she stayed silent, her lips pressed together so tightly they ached as Emira stopped for a moment in front of Kael and then lifted one leg, then the other, and lowered herself into his lap.