Revenge served in a black dress (Nora and Jace) novel Chapter 49

Jace

The word association game with the randomly picked pack members wasn’t going so well; Nora’s name had come back as either nothing at all, no response was given and some of the pack frowned at John his Delta, and honestly had no idea who she was. They were warriors that didn’t live in the packhouse or have a reason to come to the packhouse. Lived down in the town and had jobs either in the city or in the pack town, and had their own lives, and families that saw them have no real reason to come to the packhouse unless he as the Alpha requested it.

Others had stated Alpha Jace’s Mate, not one of them had stated the packs Luna or Future Luna even. And when Gloria’s name came up, it came back as the Luna, not acting Luna, but The Luna. All this had been done just after his announcement yesterday and this morning he’d had them go out and do it again, giving them time to absorb the announcement that Gloria wasn’t their acting Luna anymore; to see what the automatic response was.

A few of them had raised an eyebrow at Mark and stated, “I’m not playing that game.” To which Mark had asked them why not. And the response had been “because the Alpha has a Mate and a Luna, who are not one and the same, they are two separate things inside this pack. I’m not taking sides, that will insult one or the other, or tick off the Alpha.”

An elder had looked at Matt and shaken her head. “You want my utter honesty, Gamma. He doesn’t deserve either of them.” She muttered, “If the Alpha truly loved Gloria, he’d have marked and mated her years ago, regardless she can’t carry a pup. That transcends love, and they could have taken an orphan for an heir, bled

a child to both of them at birth.

“He would also have rejected Nora regardless of her being his Goddess–Gifted, because he loved Gloria with

his whole heart…” she’d sighed. “If he truly wanted his Goddess–Gifted as his Mate and Luna, he would have unseated Gloria the moment he came home after claiming Nora and announced Nora proudly, and held her Luna Ceremony the following full moon, and none of this would be happening.”

Jace was sitting staring at Matt. The elder he’d spoken to was not related to him, but was the

great–grandmother of his War General and was of an Elite bloodline herself. She had not minced her words at

all.

So, the pack did actually know that he had wronged his Mate, but were simply staying out of it due to the fact that he was the Alpha to the pack, and telling an Alpha that he was in the wrong was not something a regular pack member would do, and go unpunished for.

He just sat and sighed himself, as he leaned back in his chair, and the words ‘he doesn’t deserve either of them‘ rolled around in his mind. He supposed that he probably didn’t. He’d been with Gloria for many decades and though they’d never shared a suite, that was simply because they weren’t marked and mated. But he had been faithful to her the entire time they’d been seeing each other.

He’d scented Nora out and claimed her without much thought because Hydro wanted his Goddess–Gifted Mate, and he himself had been caught up in the scenting out of his Mate like all wolves were. At that moment, laying eyes on Nora, she was beautiful to look at, and so why wouldn’t he want to claim that she–wolf for himself, when she was smiling up at him, accepting of him and their mate bond.

He should have been able to stop and think clearly about it. Tell Nora he had a she–wolf he loved back inside his pack and declined their mate bond, but he’d not. At that moment of scenting her out, he’d wanted her for himself and hadn’t even thought about it, not until he’d gotten back to the pack and laid eyes on Gloria once

more.

Only then had Jace realized what he’d done, that he still wanted Gloria and hadn’t had the presence of mind to deny the Mate Bond something he’d waited for, for over a hundred years, and had thought, in the end, he

wasn’t getting a Mate at all.

He’d wanted to keep Gloria for himself and Nora for his beast and only now did he realize that he’d been trying to live two lives at the same time. One to keep him happy and the other to keep his beast happy. But he’d not actually considered in all of this, how either of the she–wolves would feel or what would happen; if he

didn’t make a clear choice between them.

He hadn’t thought he needed to because Gloria was at his side and Nora had been in his bed. Although Nora had pulled away from him quite a bit, she’d not seemed to care at all, and she hadn’t confronted him about it,

and so he’d thought it was all good where she was concerned.

Though Gloria had told him it was okay, she understood and knew it would happen sooner or later. She just wanted to be with him any way she could, even just standing next to him acknowledged as his Luna was alright with her.

The mate bond had not outweighed 60 years of love from him to her, even when he’d not once thought about Gloria in the scenting and claiming of Nora, or the drive back to the pack. Only once inside the pack and face

to face with Gloria had it affected him.

That was the real problem. He was a selfish, cruel bastard, just like Nora had stated he was.

He made his way up to her suite and pressed the doorbell. He could feel her in there and waited. She didn’t get up or answer the door, and he reached out and turned the door handle; the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open, and she was just sitting like she always did, studying.

It had annoyed him that she had studied near on nonstop, over the past few months, she put that before even going to bed with him. He understood that now,‘ studying was her way of coping with how things were between them. He’d likely turned her into one that constantly sat and read and studied, to preoccupy her

mind. So, she either didn’t have to think about him or the situation she found herself in.

“Morning Nora.” He addressed her simply as he walked into the room.

Her eyes flicked to him and then turned back to the laptop on her lap, the barest of glances, and he couldn’t

even blame her. He took a slow breath in and smiled. “I’d like for us to sit down and talk. I think, no, I know, I

have made many mistakes, and I’d like to explain things to you.”

“Explain?” she murmured with a nod, but didn’t take her eyes from the screen.

“Yes, and… apologize for hurting you.” he walked over and sat himself down on the lounge. She was sitting in a single armchair, and he had a feeling it was so that he couldn’t sit next to her anytime he came into this room to talk to her, to try and reconnect with her.

“Which time?” she asked right back and finally looked at him. “Or do I get just one apology, a blanket apology,

or will you be apologizing for each time you hurt me?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

This was going to be more difficult than he thought it would be, he suddenly realized, “Let’s just start with

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one and as we talk, and I can see where I went wrong, I will apologize as we go along. Would that wor?” be offered up, knowing it was likely going to be many, many instances of apologies needed, and he didn’t really know where to start. Best to see where she wanted him to start, show her he was open to listening to her

So, you don’t know when you hurt me the first time then?” she shook her head. “I recall that day with ful

clarity”

Jace sighed and nodded. “I don’t doubt that you do. Perhaps we should have lunch together, just the two of us. I’ll organize it in the private dining room. Will you join me?” he asked.

Tm not at the point where I am willing to do that.” she shook her head ‘no‘ at him and turned her eyes back to her laptop.

He couldn’t get mad at her, it wasn’t right, she was hurting and upset, and he was the reason why, so he hed to accept her cold, distant demeanor. But he really did want to talk to her. He needed to start recreating the bond they’d had in that first month here. He looked about the room and realized her study books weren’t all around her, like they normally would be. The semester was over.

“Did you pass the semester?” he asked, trying to engage her, “I know you studied very hard. How was your final grade?”

He watched her eyes lift from the laptop, though they didn’t turn on him. She was staring at the door to the suite, and he saw as her lips got pressed together in a hard thin line, and a hard look crossed her face. There was the slightest nod as well, and it appeared to him that she was thinking about whether or not she wanted to tell him the answer to that question. He waited only to have her eyes finally turn on him several minutes

later.

“Why do you care to know that? You hate that I study so much.” She stated point blankly.

“I never said that,” he counted “I simply stated you always study.” He corrected her gently.

“I wonder why I did. Can you think of a reason?” she asked right back.

Jace sighed now. “Yes,” he nodded. He didn’t even attempt to deny it. “To stay away from me, your Mate, who didn’t show you the care and love you deserved

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