Fated reborn - Chapter 61: Chapter 61

"Oh come on, don't be like that. I'm only complimenting you." I dragged out in a sing- song voice and out of the corner of her eye, Lykania sent a ferocious glare my way.
"Cut. It. Out." She gritted out.
I smiled, though I doubted it came out like a smile. More like a show of teeth with how much I was enjoying the situation.
"How's your arm?" I taunted. Thankfully, my voice was drowned out by the chatter from other guests so no one knew the little game Lykania and I were playing.
"How's your stomach?" She shot back with a bit of satisfaction lacing her words. Touché.
Seeing me speechless, Lykania smiled a full blown smile, finally having the upper hand.
"I hope it didn't hurt too bad, sister." She taunted more since she finally had something to sink her teeth into.
"My stomach's fine believe or not, a bit sore but nothing serious," the lie came off my tongue smoothly and i kept my features set in stone as she regarded me through hooded eyes, "I can't say the same for your arm." I peeked through the lacy long sleeve she wore and just at it's rim was a ring of purple bruises. It was only visible because of the angle she sat her hand at.
Noticing me looking, she snatched her hand from the table and pinned it to her side, tugging them down for extra measure.
"Not feeling in a taunty mood any longer?" My words came out lazier than I intended and I relaxed into my chair.
"What? Cat's got your tongue?" I asked when she didn't respond and it was still the same result now. Her jaw clenched and unclenched but she kept her head trained forward.
No fun. I let her be- for now. The chatter was dying down and I ran the risk of exposing what was going on between me and her.
But I wasn't subtle enough because across from me, Varin had his eyes very much fixed on me. His eyes darted to Lykania for a split second before returning to me. His wink right after told me he had seen- perhaps even heard more than he needed too.
I kept my face stoic. That would be a problem for later. Now, I turned all my attention to my Father who held up a half filled wine glass in one hand and a spoon in the other.
The clink of his spoon on the glass echoed across the room, and one by one, the voices died down until only his clinking remained.
"Now that I've gotten everyone's attention," he began, " I'd like to thank you all for staying this long to celebrate with me." His smile was soft, no trace of the man that made me roil back in fear. My mouth soured just thinking about it.
"Why I'm making this toast at all is to congratulate the newly mated couple, Alpha- to- be Simon and his mate Willow." His eyes grazed past Alpha Thomas to Simon who has an answering smile, before settling on Willow who sat next to him. He wracked over her frame and I caught the disdain in his eyes. It was practically jumping out, but he masked it quickly.
Only someone who had been watching him closely would have caught it.
It seemed Willow did from the way she wormed about in her seat, a lopsided smile on her face. Some other guests would even chuck it up to being pure nervousness- but I knew better.
Varin seemed to catch it too because he caught my eye because side eyeing my Father for a bit. I blinked, then hoped he knew I meant "I'll talk later".
"Thank you Alpha, it's such an honor," Simon voiced. He placed a hand over Willow's exposed one, and her face reddened rapidly.
"Enough of the show now, you can take all that to your room for later- I'll even let you leave now if it's that bad." My Father commented with a sly smile, and some of the older Alphas laughed.
That only caused Willow, and even Simon to redden some more.
"They look ready to burst." Lykania shot but I ignored her. I prayed our Father would knock it off because his comments were getting to both Simon and Willow.
From the end of the table, Trent was picking up on it too, his borws knitted as he glanced from my Father to the clearly embarrassed Willow and Simon. He couldn't say anything too, which I was sure made him feel a lot worse because there was nothing that he hated more than being unable to protect the people he loved.
Why was Alpha Thomas saying anything, I grumbled in my head. How could he just sit there casually while his son was getting humiliated?
As if he could hear my thoughts, Alpha Thomas sat up, the smile he had on already dropped as he cleared his throat.
"Okay, that's enough. I'm sure the kids have had enough," he said after My Father and his other Alpha cronies had said at least more depreciating jokes.
"Alright, alright. We were just having a little fun." My Father defended. Then at the next moment, he lost interest in them and struck up a conversation with Alpha Magnus. That was after he signalled we all could start eating.
Willow shot Alpha Thomas a grateful look that he returned with a soft smile. That in turn made me smile. At least this Alpha was on her side. I hadn't seen a shadow of disdain on his face that had been on my Father's. That just reaffirmed that he actually like her and wasn't faking it.
I knew to my Father he considered her too low of rank to be mated to an Alpha- to- be. But what could one do, the Moon goddess made mysterious choices.
"... Wyn."
The sound of my name brought me out of my thoughts that I had somehow sunk into, and my brows shut up in response.
"Are you looking forward to seeing Alpha Orion again?"