Chapter 176
I couldn’t breathe seeing them. They weren’t doing anything. They were even too close, but the sight of them in matching cloaks, laughing, looking so at peace together was too much. He was even wearing a clean shirt, pants, and shoes. I marched toward them and cut them off.
The two older people looked at me kindly.
“Hello—”
“What are you doing with her?” I asked. “Is this what you’ve been doing all this time?”
“Hedy,” he said sternly. “This is not the time or the place.”
“The hell it isn’t!” I cried. “Look at you! You’re so cozy with her. I haven’t seen you in days. You haven’t even called to check on me, and you’re here with her to what? Get married?”
“Really?” Wren asked from behind me. “You’ve come to your senses?”
Candido glared over my head at Wren. “Uncle Wren, please. Don’t stir the pot.”
Wren laughed from behind me as Candido looked down at me.
“If you had ever come to the temple with me before, you would know this isn’t a marriage altar,” Candido said. “No one is getting married. We’re to pray, Hedy. Calm yourself. Why are you so upset?”
“You know why I’m upset.”
He sighed and looked at the older two. “I’m sorry. Please go ahead.”
They eyed me warily but nodded and walked around me. Estella didn’t move. I turned and growled at her.
“Don’t think for a second I don’t know what you’re up to. You’re just like Sibyl—”
“Hedy,” Candido growled, grabbing me by my arm. “Stop it.”
“No! She’s trying to take you from me! She’s trying to trick you, and I’m not going to let it happen!”
Wren outright cackled behind me. Estella glowered at him.
“Uncle Wren—”
“You’re not his family! Stop calling him that.”
“Go without me,” Candido said, pulling me down the steps. “I will handle this. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t strain yourself, ‘Dido. You’re still healing.” Estella’s voice was calm. She didn’t even look like she was bothered by me. I growled at her, wanting to tear her face off as she walked around me and joined the rest of the group behind me.
“Uncle Wren, really?”
He laughed some more as I fought Candido, trying to get away from me. I didn’t care who was watching or what they thought as he pulled me along after him
“Hedy,” he said stiffly. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“No, you’re just embarrassed that I’m making sure everyone knows what’s going on! She’s trying to trick you and you don’t see it, just like you didn’t see it with Sibyl! I was right then. I’m right now.
We reached a clearing off the path of the steps and he forced me to sit down. I lurched to my feet and he forced me back down. I tried to fight against his strength, but he growled at me.
“Stop it!”
My eyes burned. “You can’t yell at me! You never used to yell at me before. It’s all her fault. Don’t you see that?”
He looked down at me calmly. “Never once did I plan to make Sibyl my wife, my queen, or anything more than what she was.”
“You were going to marry her. If it wasn’t for me—”
“If it wasn’t for the Goddess having a bigger plan for me? If the altar hadn’t rejected her as I knew it would, I still wouldn’t have married her.”
“But you had to deal with—”
He dropped his head back with a long put upon sigh. “Hedy, you only know what you know. There is so much more to that entire situation. It was far more complicated than you can even begin to imagine. The more you push and harp on something that you don’t fully understand, the more foolish you look.”
My jaw trembled. “I’m not wrong.”
“You are,” he said sternly. “You are wrong.”
“I’m not.”
“I’m not arguing with you,” he said. “You’re going to apologize to Estella and her parents after the next prayer session.”
“No, I’m not,” I sneered. “You can’t make me.”
His eyes flashed a burning, bloody red. “Don’t go there, Hedy.”
I drew back. “You would never alpha me before she showed up.”
He shook his head. “I used my influence on you before she showed up.”
“Your wolf—”
“Stop trying to excuse your behavior,” Candido said. “I understand that you are young. I forgive a lot of your behavior because of it, but this is getting ridiculous.”
I glared at him. “You would never have treated me like this before. You’ve been mean to me ever since all this started—”
“Because I expected you to behave accordingly?” He yelled. “We are at war—”
“What does that have to do with our relationship?”
“Everything, Hedy,” he said. “You’re half-vampire—”
“You’re holding that against me? What? I’m suddenly not good enough because my mother was a vampire?” I asked. “I’m more of a werewolf than that traitor who’s lived over here for years.”
Candido said nothing. His eyes flickered and turned back to green.
“You’re not listening,” Candido said and turned back to the stairs. “I’m not going to fight with you about this, especially not on holy ground. Compose yourself and join the next prayer session or leave.”
I surged to my feet grabbing his arm. “Don’t walk away from me! What happened to all the promises you made me? What happened to us being mates and meant to be together?”
Candido blinked at me and pulled away. His jaw was set and he walked up the steps. I went after him.
“So, you’re not going to answer me? You’re just going to walk away from me? Why did you even save me if you’re going to treat me like this? Why even get my hopes up by acknowledging my feelings when you were just going to change your mind when someone else showed up? You might as well have just married anyone after getting rid of Sibyl then!”
He stopped at the top of the steps as people started to come out of the temple. He turned around.
“I’m walking away before I actually hurt your feelings,” he said. “Badly.”
I drew back staring up at him. His voice was so cold. Tears spilled down my cheeks, and my heart was breaking. He would have never talked to me like that before her.
“You’ve insulted one of my oldest, dearest friends, Hedy. You’ve been nothing but a terror to her, and she has been nothing but kind to you.”
“How is it kind to try and take my mate from me?” My jaw trembled. “How can you be on her side when I’ve been here with you all this time.”
“Have you?” Candido asked. “Have you really?”
“I’ve been Pandora—”
“You were a part of Moon Shadow. You speak as if you’ve been in the field, in skirmishes, fighting battles, nurturing the injured—you haven’t.”
“You sound just like them. Are you going to call me a glorified operational assistant too?”
“You refused training, Hedy,” he shook his head. “Now, you want to act as though it is everyone else’s fault that you have none. You’ve endangered the lives of so many people because you wanted to throw a tantrum.”
“I didn’t! They were going to attack them anyway!”
“I’m not talking about the college students who organized a party, Hedy,” he growled. “I’m talking about the rest of Moon Shadow, the rest of Blue Moon, who followed me to come and save you and Claire.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m talking about Van and everyone else who nearly died. I’m talking about the few who did, and you don’t even care.”
“Don’t tell me what I feel,” I growled. “And that has nothing to do with how you’re treating me and the way you are with her—”
“She saved my cousin’s life and gave him a chance to survive when he would have certainly been dead otherwise,” Candido said. “I owe her, my family owes her, a greater debt than I can say.”
“So, you’re choosing her over me because she saved his life?” I asked. “That’s not what mates do.”
Candido let out another slow breath and walked away. He headed for the opening of the temple and I followed after him, but once he stepped into the temple, I couldn’t reach him. A barrier came up. Wren turned to me from within the temple and his lips twitched in a smug smile.
Raven let out a low whistle and shook her head as she came to the edge of the temple.
“Why can’t I get in?” I asked.
The stone doors began to rumble closed.
“Probably because you aren’t here to pray,” Raven said. She gestured to me. “I suggest you do some soul-searching and get the hot mess that you are right now together.”
The stone slid shut with a soft grating sound and I wailed to the sky, pounding on the stone door in fury and frustration.
Then, someone called my name.
