Wooing

Chapter 21

Anastasia

I had not given a date to Julian nor confirmed that, even after signing the blood oath. I could turn

back on him, but Vivian was not at fault for my fight with Julian.

my

She did not have to suffer because of me when all she asked was to meet me. A war was raging in my mind ever since Julian walked in through my father’s territory’s gate.

My mind kept reminding me of how he begged me to give him a chance to talk to him, how badly bruised and beaten he was with vivid clarity.

The way he fell to the ground after getting beaten by my father’s men, yet he kept smiling at me, was imprinted in my

brain.

I felt restless and uneasy.

After Julian walked out of the meeting room, I kept looking at him through the partially open window as he got in the car and turned the ignition on.

And then he suddenly raised his head in my direction as if he knew I was looking at him. He held my gaze only for a brief second and there were so many emotions on his face that it was hard to unravel all of them.

He did not linger, but pressed the accelerator and then drove off. I knew he was angry that I made him sign a blood oath.

But then he had to find out how his stubbornness affected others.

Mom saw me sit gloomily by myself, so she announced.

“Okay, you only got your essentials from your home and I have missed 4 birthdays of my daughter and granddaughter. So, instead of going back to your old home to get your stuff, how about we go for some shopping?”

Lea almost jumped up from her chair and asked, “Grandma, can I have ice cream?”

Mom nodded, “Of course, princess. You can eat all the ice cream you want! And I will buy you dresses, shoes, and whatever else you like.”

Lea looked at her as if she was her fairy godmother

“Really? Mummy doesn’t let me eat more than 1 ice cream at a time.”

Lea frowned and Mom gave me a stern look, placing her hands on her hips and staring at me with shock.

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“How can you treat my little princess like that?”

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She then turned to Lea, “Do you know when she was your age, she used to eat an entire tub of ice cream?”

“Mom!!”

Lea chuckled, and my mom winked at her.

“You two are ganging up against me!” I frowned.

And somehow that reminded me of Julian and how he would frown when me and his mom would nag him.

He would say this exact same line. My smile disappeared at his thought.

Mom noticed my smile wavering and decided to pull me from my chair and ordered the drivers to get the cars ready.

Mom practically shoved me into the car while she and Lea got in the co–passenger seat, discussing what they were going to shop for and what food to eat after that.

I was just lost in thoughts as my phone beeped

There was a text message from Julian

-Mom was smiling today after months. You made her happy. Thank you-

Julian sent me a text message. My fingers hovered on the keyboard for a while, wondering if I should reply and, if yes, what it should be.

After typing and deleting a few lines, I simply decided to let it be. I was not obligated to reply.

So I looked outside the window and tried to focus on Lea and Mom’s enthusiastic chats. Lea was absorbing everything my mother was telling her like a sponge.

The world of werewolves did not terrify my little girl. Instead, it fascinated her and aroused her curiosity.

“And when you grow up, you are going to be able to turn into a werewolf too,” Mom told her proudly.

Lea almost shrieked at that line. She placed her little fingers on her mouth and gasped.

“I will?”

Mom replied. “Of course. And can I tell you a little secret?”

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Chapter 21

She nodded excitedly.

“Your mother has one too. Did she ever show you?”

Lea looked at me as if I had snatched an ice cream from her hand.

“No! She never told mell”

Mom winked at her. “I will make her show you soon, don’t worry.”

I smiled as they began talking to each other again. The drive ended soon as the car stopped outside. a huge mall.

We stepped out and Mom instructed the driver to show up when she called and to not tell dad that she had gotten both Lea and me out the first day we got home.

The driver nodded nervously and left while Mom muttered, “Your dad will not let you live freely. and make you feel like you are in a cage with all the rules he would want to impose on you. I know he wants the best for you, but that does not mean I have no say. I am his wife, after all.”

1 reached for my mother’s face and pinched her cheeks.

“Yes Mom”

She too chuckled like Lea and we three went on a shopping spree. For the next few hours, I forgot all about my worries and Julian.

We got busy with buying new clothes, footwear, crayons, drawing and craft supplies, filling almost ten huge shopping bags.

At the end of five hours, we were tired and hungry. But Mom pointed to one of the many restaurants in the mall and we ate heartily.

My phone beeped again and only now did I realize that it was almost 10 pm. Again, it was a message from Julian.

-Just wanted to check when you can visit Mom. She was asking about you.-

Now that was a direct question, and I had to answer him. Earlier, I wanted to postpone it, but then I realized that the sooner it was over, the better.

So I thought about it before typing a short reply.

-Tomorrow-

The moment I sent the text, the phone beeped again. It was as if Julian had been waiting to jump the second I replied.

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Cool, What time are you free tomorrow?–

Evening. I will be there at 4 pm-

1 hoped he would stop, but there was no stopping on. The phone beeped again.

It makes me feel happy to see that you are now in the werewolf world. Hope you stay here for long

I ignored that text and pushed the phone back into my purse. It was late at night when we arrived

back home.

Lea had already fallen asleep and surprisingly, she wanted to sleep with her grandma instead of me. I did not mind as I was tired and Lea had already fallen asleep. So I washed my mother goodnight, placed a kiss on Lea’s forehead, and headed to my room.

It was strange to suddenly have people to care for Lea. Lizzy used to look after Lea and they got along well, but it could never compare to a grandmother’s love.

My phone beeped again. I shook my head, thinking that it was Julian again, so I just put the phone. on the bed and decided to take a hot shower.

My body felt a little sore and the hot water would take away the aches a little, plus I would also hopefully fall asleep without letting Julian consume too much of my thoughts.

I stripped off of my clothes and I turned the shower on. The hot water rejuvenated my senses and let myself soak in the feeling, scrubbing off the dirt and grime from all over the day.

Wrapping a towel around my body and another around my head, I stepped outside the bathroom to hear the phone beep again.

In fact, I heard it beep 4-5 times.

Annoyed, I wanted to simply call Julian and lecture him not to text me so late at night when I saw that there was only a single message from him.

Were my ears ringing?

I opened my inbox to see a message.

-You will receive a surprise in a few minutes. Hope you like it-

I wondered what new tricks he was playing when I heard 4 to 5 messages beep again.

However, this time it was not his number.

Instead, I had received images from an unknown number. It was a private number with the digits

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Chapter 21

of the number masked but that was not what surprised me.

I had received 4-5 scandalous images. The photos were of two people making love.

And I knew who those people were.

Julian and Angelica were kissing each other passionately, their bodies pressed against each other.

In another pic, Angelica was covered in nothing but sheets and Julian was wearing shorts while kissing her neck.

The more I saw, the more anger rose up in me.

Julian had been acting all coy and nice to me, trying to lure me into his trap again. But he had no love for me. It was all an act to get me to behave as he wished.

That face was definitely his, and so was his body. I had seen that body up close, held it in my embrace, and kissed every inch of it.

My fingers hovered over the last image. It was a close up shot of his face as he stared into her eyes. The bruise from the morning was there on his forehead.

Wait!!

Did that mean he was doing all this right now?

That thought made me grasp the phone so tightly that its screen cracked.

“You two–faced, lying scum!” I muttered, rage and anger trying to overwhelm the hurt and betrayal I felt all over again.

How could he be so evil to take a beating for my sake in the morning and slip into her arms at night?

Why the hell was he trying to make me feel pity for him if he could not wait to get home and fuck Angelica?

I recalled the way he had said how a fated mate’s pull was strong and how he could not resist it. But was it just the pull he felt from the bond, or did he love her?

I shook my head.

What he felt for her or did for her was of no importance to me. He had had her beside him for 5. years already and he would have her for the rest of his life.

I was furious as I stared at those images.

I was angry at myself for allo my heart to feel sympathy and pity for him. He deserved the

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beating Dad’s men gave him and Dad’s warning of how he was a trickster rang in my ears again.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I had been looking forward to falling asleep peacefully, but now that peace was disrupted.

I tried so hard to focus, but my gaze kept slipping to the images, to the way he was holding her and kissing her. There was not even a piece of fabric between their bodies in the last image.

I could not see it anymore.

away from my hair

So I angrily deleted all of it and threw my phone to the side. I yanked the towel and just grabbed the first set of pajamas I could find, wore them hastily, and got into bed.

I was fuming, and it took me a long time to calm down. Half the night, I was simply tossing and turning in the bed, trying to understand what Julian was trying to achieve by doing this.

years had

And I hated the fact that I still felt jealous to see him kiss someone else. I thought five been enough of a time to forget him and move on, but a simple photo of him with the girl he had. chosen over me was enough to turn me into a mess again.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get those photos out of my head. After tossing and turning on the bed in vain, I realized that sleeping was impossible, so instead I decided to get up.

When I checked the clock, it was 4 am. It was still quite early, but I was in my father’s pack that had training grounds.

So, I decided to take out all my frustration and anger by doing some strenuous physical activity.

A long jog and some exercise would work up my mind and body enough and then allow me to calm down so that when I saw Julian next time, I would not want to bite his head off.