When they touch me (Shelagh Milano)

Chapter 60 ARTEMISIA

I'm officially pissed.

Raging wouldn't even describe my internal whirlwind that is creating total havoc.

"And if you could check with Astrid. The annual excursion with the pups usually takes place before the ball," Cayden doesn't even look at me as he goes through the to-dos scribbled in his stupid notebook. "Sure," I answer annoyedly, whipping with my leg that I have crossed over my other.

With my emotions scrambled all over the place, Fynn not ignoring me only to mock me, and my mates avoiding me most of the time because of this complicated situation, nobody is telling me about, I just can't seem to get a grip. And after Lisa told me what I wanted to hear, I don't want to get the grip back on things.

He sighs, throwing the notebook on his desk. "What is it?"

"Oh," I lift a brow. "Are you asking me?"

"Yeah," he simply states, sitting back down.

I shake my head, smiling at him. "You have been awkwardly strange to me, and avoiding me whenever you could. You tell me!"

"I never avoided you. Things can get chaotic, and I have a lot to do," he responds, gaslighting me.

"Sure," I say again, shrugging. "Then it's nothing, I guess."

He groans, passing his hand over his face. "What is it, Missy?"

"Nothing," I repeat sulkingly, making him stare at me unimpressed.

I click my tongue, losing the staring contest. "Did you reject your mate?"

"Come again?" He asks, not appearing as dumbfounded as he wants to.

"Did you reject your mate because she wasn't what you expected her to be?" I repeat my question, fighting to keep my temper in check. "Not Luna material, if you want?"

He chuckles, making me look at him wide-eyed. "Yes. Yes, I did reject her. And yes, she was the farthest away from Luna material you could imagine someone to actually be."

"You are just incredible," I hiss, clawing on the armrests of my chair as I lean forward. "Just a bunch of entitled assholes thinking they reign the earth and everybody has to kiss the soil they walk on."

"Missy..." he says calmly, but I ignore him and the warning tone in his voice.

"Then you saw me, the poor Alpha's daughter, who was left without a mate, so maybe you could try to lure me as you would never take another Luna! Play a little game to pass a bit of your time. You are on enemy territory and you guys are bored constantly without a challenge anyway." Getting up from my seat, I raise my voice. "Who would care about me anyway? You are the strong Alpha everybody wants!" "Missy, sit down!" he growls, but I'm far away from done and not even able to sit down tight.

"Like you are all that enormous gift the Goddess had the grace to grant us." I pace up and down, as he narrows his eyes at me. "How would a woman ever be good enough for you guys? She could never stand a chance because to be next to you she has to have a certain status and strength and savoir-faire." "I'm not Rick, Missy..." he states, nearly snarling at me.

"Of course you are not!" I yell, clapping my hands together once. "Because you are the great and mighty Cayden Blackw... Wait... What are you doing?" Stopping my rage speech abruptly, I lift my index finger as he stood up and starts opening his pants.

"Goddess, Cayden. What the hell are you doing?" My voice reaches a high-pitched tone as I cover my eyes with my hands repeatedly. While I keep rumbling things without any sense at all, he keeps going silently, pulling his shirt out of his pants nonchalantly. "You can't just undress yourself in front of me. We needed to talk about what happened in the arcade rooms, and you ignored it. I'm your brothers' ma... te...

He sighs deeply as he holds his shirt up for me, showing me deep red scars running along his hips and up over his toned abs. I gulp as I sit back down, holding the armrest again as if they could give me some kind of comfort. "I'm so sorry. I didn't... I... I had no right to..." "It's alright, Missy. Don't be too hard on yourself." He pulls up his pants, lowering his shirt before he sits back down. "The story about her not being Luna-material worthy was a story we fed to the pack members. It is important that their Alpha remains strong in their eyes, and well, able to keep a woman, actually."

Closing my eyes, I lower my gaze shortly before I find the courage to lift it again. "How long did it go on for, to turn out that bad?"

"Well, I gave her a lot of chances.

Endured the pain because she was who was supposed to be made especially for me, right?" I blink away my tears as he flashes me a sad smile. "But: One night Finnegan found me throwing my soul up, and... We weren't actually on good terms at that time, but he sat down next to me on the cold bath tiles and helped me through the betrayal pains like I was a baby. And afterwards helped me stand my ground and reject her. The scars, unfortunately, stayed, but I'm not hung up on her or anything like that. I just didn't want my pack to worry, and I would love it if that stayed this

way."

"Of course," I reassure him, biting the nail of my thumb anxiously.

"Now, I don't want to talk about what happened in the arcade rooms, yet. I hope you can wait a bit for us to have that conversation. But I'm going to talk this situation out with you, also because there are certain facts that we should be clear about, and the pack shouldn't know."

I wave at him dismissively, shaking

my head. “Listen, it isn't my place to know. In the pack there is a rumour going around of you being fond of me, so they were actually hoping I would be your second-chance mate. As I'm not your mate, they were even thinking you would take me as your chosen mate, and I would leave Fynn, Matt, and Logan for you. This is certainly crazy, but there is far worse that could be happening. So, please don't worry! I'll simply take it as a compliment and whenever someone asks me, I'll say that I don't know any details."

"Thank you. But I can still confirm that I indeed prepared the pack on ending without a Luna. And I know that they are excited about having you here, and, if I may, I already talked about the succession with my brothers and your firstborn pup can gladly take over when it's time to." He flashes me another sad smile as my heart breaks for him.

"Oh my. Don't say that too loudly when Daisy is around. She is already trying to get me pregnant too eagerly." I joke and finally get him to laugh.

"Well..." I say, before getting up again. "My apologies... for being an idiot... again."

"It's okay, Missy. You aren't an idiot," he tries to cheer me up, making me smile awkwardly.

"Well... If you will excuse me," I do a little curtsy before turning around. "My Alpha."

He chuckles, and just as I lay my hand on the door handle, I turn around. "I could make you an ointment that would help you with the scars."

"Thank you, but it's fine." He shakes

his head, watching me with a devastated expression. "I know that you know about the fact that those scars appear only if it happens for a long period of time. They say that it is like your wolf clawed you from the inside. So, as a reminder to myself and also as my punishment for having put him through it, I will

continue to wear them. It also raises

rumours in the pack and risks

blowing my cover, but it's still fine."

"Okay," I whisper, before leaving by flashing him a last smile and closing the door behind me.