Revenge served in a black dress (Nora and Jace) novel Chapter 40

CH 40

Nora

Jace walked into her room and smiled at her, as he held a dress bag in his hand, and she raised an eyebrow at him. “I bought a dress for your Luna Ceremony,” he stated. He even sounded happy about it, she–realized, as he unzipped the bag and pulled out a champagne–colored dress with a white lace overlay, in a mermaid–style gown. He held it up for her to see, ran his hand over its bodice and turned it about.

She looked at it; that lace was punctuated with shiny beads, and it had a softly flowing skirt about the bottom of it, and a train at the back. He looked happy with his choice of dress, she noted. She watched how his fingers slid over the sweetheart neckline as he looked at it himself, and then he smiled at her. “It’s

beautiful, just like you are Nora.”

It was, she thought absolutely, a very pretty dress, but not her style at all, though she’d seen in the past few months that Gloria had worn several slinky dresses that were similar in style to that dress he was now holding for her. She also knew Gloria wore mermaid–style gowns to the pack’s mating balls.

She could only guess he was trying to make her look like the woman he loved and wanted. She could also see that it wasn’t going to fit her either. It was too small. “I think that is too small to fit me. What is it, a size

four?” She asked curiously.

“Yes, you’re only tiny,” he commented with a smile.

“Give it to Gloria, that’s her size… I’m a six,” though she’d been an eight when she’d gotten here and liked the curves that had come with it. She still had some, but not as much as before, and she thought she was too

thin now, to be honest.

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Jace muttered, and he frowned at her for a moment, and she watched him look her

over and knew he was trying to tell if she was lying or not.

“Feel free to go and check my wardrobe if you think I’m lying.” She stated flatly, she wasn’t, though they’d all say eight. He’d simply purchased a dress for Glória was all, and was trying to pass it off to her, likely done to have her reject it so he could claim she was once again being childish and refusing to accept his gift.

His eyes met hers, and he frowned deeply. “I never said that,” he stated, and she saw him put it back in the dress bag. He was so very careful not to cause damage to it. So carefully, she was willing to bet he was going to walk it to Gloria and hand it to her. “What style of dress do you want?” Jace asked a moment later.

“I don’t need a dress to make me look like her, and I won’t wear something that is her preferred style.” She

told him, “Please leave.”

“Nora, I am trying.” He muttered, and he sounded a bit on the annoyed side to her now.

“Good for you,” she stated, happy that he was annoyed, but she wanted him to suffer, not just be annoyed.

he thought she was just going to smile up at him and forgive him because she’d not once felt him touch Gloria over the course of a few days, when it had been going on for months, he was dead wrong. It would, she knew, only start all over again the moment he thought he had won her over, she supposed, because that was his actual M.O.; once a cheater, always a cheater.

She turned her attention to the journal she was reading and heard him leave the room and the door kind of banged behind him, his annoyance showing, he was never going to be able to keep up the act.

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She smiled to herself, knowing that he had to feel it, that their mate bond was falling apart bit by bit. He might not love her, but he and his wolf were bound to her, and her indifference would be felt, and should cause him pain. The longer she was indifferent, the more it should hurt him.

That was what she was aiming for. To make him feel unwanted, unloved and uncared about, showing her annoyance at him, like he did her. Although he had been different around her since Rosa and her had lost it in the Luna’s suite.

She didn’t truly understand why he was doing all of this. When he could just reject her, she knew it was what he was going to do in the long run. He loved Gloria. There was no doubt in her mind. After all, she’d heard him state it himself, seen the way he defended her at every turn, and felt his intent when he touched the woman,

Jace’s behavior suddenly didn’t add up to her. Nora sat there in her room and really thought about it, that very thing, his sudden change of attitude. He’d nearly gotten an heir from her, something she knew that he did want from his Goddess–Gifted Mate. Because it would be good for the pack, make for a stronger heir,

Her thumb was tapping on her thigh as she thought about that. There had been a pup between them, and he’d not known about it, likely due to her being practically wolf–less. It was growing at the human rate, not the wolfen rate. So, he himself nor his wolf had picked it up, and then he’d lost it before he’d known about it.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a full possibility that the loss of his own pup was eating at him. Wolves were maternal creatures; both parents loved their children. Just maybe, somewhere deep down inside Jace and his beast, they had come to realize that they wanted their Goddess–Gifted. There was nothing like death to make one regret their own actions. Her near death would have affected him and his wolf, whether he wanted

it to or not.

She’d heard the nurses in the pack hospital talking about how it had been Jace who had been the one to catch her as she gotten out of the car and passed out, not that she’d seen it or felt it. She’d also not actually

believed it either.

She’d also heard that he’d stayed with her the entire time she’d been unconscious in the pack hospital. Again, something she herself had dismissed, put it down to him having allied within the pack, and so he had to

show them he cared for her.

When she knew it wasn’t something he’d normally do, because he’d not done it the previous time she’d been in the hospital. But what if he had actually done all of that out of pure instinct? She didn’t doubt that Carlos would have alerted him to her plight. She was after all his Mate, but there was also the possibility, she now realized, that he could well have felt her life ebbing away, and their bond severing from him as she came

closer to death.

She understood Mates reacted to that very thing. It caused them actual pain. They could feel their Mate’s life slipping away through the bond, so what if he’d actually been affected by the Mate Bond during that one moment; his actions, his words in the hospital? Even now, they were more Mate like than he’d ever been with.

her after that first heat.

Perhaps that was why Gloria had also seen fit to mind–linked to her, after she’d woken up and told h for the best that she didn’t have his pup. Maybe that one thing; them having a pup together and losing it, along with her life ebbing away, That had pulled Jace right into their Mate Bond and Gloria not only saw it, but she also now knew she was in fact losing her grip on Jace, and her place as the pack’s Luna.

as

So, her words about her not having his pup were because Gloria had actually come to the conclusion that if she did have Jace’s pup, he was going to be sucked right into the Mate Bond completely, and want to raise it

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with Nora instead of Gloria. That Gloria was going to be rejected by him. So, a new surrogate was what she’d stated. Gloria’s insecurity over Jace having a pup with his actual Mate was showing, as she realized what it

would actually mean.

Nora half laughed into her room as she saw it all starting to fall into place, that just maybe all Jace’s efforts with her were in fact real, and Gloria knew it. He was pulling away from Gloria and trying to not only make amends with Nora, but to actually win her over. Maybe Jace actually realized that he wanted her now.

That in nearly losing her, his Goddess–Gifted, he’d finally seen the error of his ways and realized what a true mate was, when granted to them by the Moon Goddess herself. He’d been different for weeks. Eating with her, trying she now realized to actively spend more time with her, since that moment when she’d lost it, and

she’d nearly succumbed to the bloodlust.

He’d even sent the pack’s Gamma in to check on her, something he’d never done before, or that it had worked either. Something was different with Jace where she was concerned. His attitude was indeed… Mate like.

Jace had, just a few days ago, sent her flowers, something he’d never done before and, though she’d looked at them, then sent them down to Gloria. It had only brought him up here to tell her they were for her, and maybe they actually had been for her. She thought about it, those very flowers. They’d not been red roses

either, something she knew Gloria loved. They had been yellow roses.

She thought about Jace’s interaction with her. He’d gotten down on his knees and bowed his head before her, apologized for hurting her, no Alpha would just do that to a Mate he didn’t want. Then there was that offer of holding her Luna Ceremony finally, and now he’d come in here and presented her with a dress to wear at the

ceremony. Told her he’d chosen it himself, showed it to her himself. Instead of just sending an omega to bring it up to her… and now she did laugh, as she realized, she’d been wrong about him faking his sincerity, it

was actually real.

The Mate Bond had finally gotten him, only he didn’t know it was too late to be saved for her and her wolf. He

thought that he could still win her over, and because she’d not once left him even with everything, he’d put her

through. It showed him that she’d stay with him, and be his Luna. That she would forgive him and accept him

with time.

Revenge was as simple as letting him believe he would get what he wanted. Even if she was distant and cold

towards him, he’d still try, and she was going to let him. It was the perfect revenge. He wouldn’t even see it

coming.

She would make him know how she and Rosa felt.

She could also incorporate Gloria into the plan that was formulating inside her mind, because she’d told

Gloria she could have him. A snicker escaped her into that room as she sat and thought about exactly how to get revenge; for not only herself but Rosa too.

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