Chapter 192

I knew she would resist and yell at him. I knew she was going to attack me, and he would have to see exactly what kind of person she was and what her ultimate goal was. He would see that she was just trying to come behind us.

I tensed, waiting for the moment. Then, Estella met his gaze. They seemed to share a conversation silently. I wanted to lung across the space and claw her face off for daring to have such a relationship with Candido. She didn’t even look at me before she nodded.

“If that’s what you want, ‘Dido.”

“Stop calling him that stupid name!”

She ignored me and limped away. She stopped beside where Moth was. He struggled to his feet, and they leaned together, walking away from us. I set my jaw. There’s no way I would let someone that close to me physically when Candido was so focused on me.

She didn’t deserve his attention. I turned back to tell him that as he turned back to me. He skimmed his gaze over me. There was nothing caring about it. He would never look at Estella like that.

“Can you stand?”

“Candido,” I whimpered. “She… She was going to kill me. And Damian—”

“Can. You. Stand?” Candido asked, looking down at me with a cold expression.

“Why are you being so cold to me?” I sniffled. “Look at me! He was going to—”

“Can you stand?” He asked again.

“Stop asking me that!” I cried, letting tears run down my face as I looked up at him. “You’re supposed to—”

“Can you stand?” Candido asked again.

I sniffled, glaring up at him. “You’re not treating right. I bet you wouldn’t treat Estella like this! If she were injured and hurt and scared, you wouldn’t treat her like this!”

“Can you–”

“You wouldn’t have even treated—Hey!”

Candido turned away from me. I got to my feet, still a little dizzy as I staggered after him. He wasn’t walking fast, but it was still hard to follow him. I felt my strength faltering with every step, even as I felt my anger pushing me forward.

“Don’t walk away—”

“So, you can stand?” Candido asked, turning back to me, eyeing me. “With relative ease at that.”

I flinched at his tone and the way he eyed me suspiciously.

“I—” I sniffled. “It’s only because you were walking away from me! I’m still—I—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Candido said. “I told you to stay behind. I told you to go back and you didn’t. You being here and in this state is no one’s fault but your own.”

I started to cry, but his eyes remained so cold, looking at me as if there was a wall between us.

“I just want to be with you. I’m your partner. I’m Pandora, not her!”

“You are no longer Pandora, as I said before—”

“I am!” I shrieked and stomped her foot. “I was chosen! I earned it! I—”

“Have done nothing but jeopardize the lives of hundreds of people with your childishness,” he hissed. “I told you to stay behind.”

“I’m a part of Moon Shadow! I should be with you wherever you go! I should be commanding Moon Shadow with you, not her! It’s not supposed to be her! It’s supposed to be me, and she’s just making you think that I’m not worthy.”

He said nothing, looking down at me. It was all Estella’s fault. If she wasn’t around to distract him, confusing him and his wolf, then he wouldn’t be like this.

“This time,” Candido said stiffly. “Get on the truck. Stay on the truck. And be quiet. I have no patience. No one left has any patience to deal with your tantrums, and I cannot keep staying their hands.”

“You can’t say that to me,” I cried. “You can’t! You’re the king. They have to listen to you!”

“If you haven’t noticed, Hedy,” Candido said. “Full Moon has fallen.”

I couldn’t breathe at the finality in his words.

“And until it is rebuilt, until Damian and his faction are pushed back or eradicated, there is no chance of Full Moon ever rebuilding.”

“It could,” I sniffled. “If you would just listen to me and get rid of her.”

He sighed and shook his head. “It won’t be long before the rest of Blue Moon finds out what happened--”

“There’s nothing to find out!” I said, looking at him. “Nothing but the fact that you’re being terrible to your mate! I bet the Goddess wouldn’t stand for this. What about all your talk about her plan? What about all of your faith?”

His eyes were cold. Candido blinked at me. He drew up to his full height with a deep breath.

“Hedy,” he said quietly. There was no warmth or apology on his face. “For now, just be quiet.”

I burst into tears. “You—You promised! You promised! You promised to protect me, and you let him drag me away and bite me! I almost died. You were too busy worrying about everyone else but me and he almost killed me, again! She was going to kill me, and you don’t even care!”

Candido took a deep breath, closing his eyes as his eyebrows twitched.

“If you had just taken care of me the way you’re supposed to–”

He turned away without another word, and I cried harder, making sure everyone heard me. I wailed as loud as I could, shrieking in grief. I was going to make sure everyone knew how he was treating his mate. Someone would be on my side. If they were all as devout as they seemed, there was no way they’d stand for someone treating their mate like this. Someone had to be on my side. I expected someone to come and try to comfort me. I was going to be their luna, but no one came. No one even seemed to notice that I was crying.

They walked past me as I cried and cried louder to the point that there was no way they could ignore me.

But they did. They walked past me as if they didn’t hear or see me. And soon, my tears dried up as anger filled me. I heard the revving of engines. I saw people getting packed up and putting bodies on the truck beds. The scent of death and blood grew stronger. I looked around and realized that there were no spots left on any of the truck beds or in the jeeps, and several other people would be walking, including Candido.

Estella was in a truck bed, leaning against someone with her gun in her arms and seemingly asleep. I stumbled after them as they started to head into the cave passage that had been opened and led away from the area.

I hurried forward to get to Candido. “I don’t have a seat.”

“You didn’t get on when I told you to,” Candido said.

“So, you didn’t even save a seat for me? He almost drained all of my--”

“No,” he said. “There are others–”

“Who cares about the others? I’m your mate!”

Candido turned, but before he could say anything, someone else spoke.

“She can have my spot,” I looked over to where Estella was as she pushed herself to stand, and the jeep slowed to a stop. “If it will keep her quiet for the rest of the journey, I’ll walk.”

“No,” Candido said. “She can walk.”

I whirled on him. “I can’t believe you. I’ve been drained of–”

My voice vanished. Candido sighed as I felt my feet leave the ground. Estella pushed herself over the edge of the truck bed as I floated into her spot, yet I couldn’t speak. I thought Candido had done it, but he was looking at Estella as she caught her bearings on the side of the truck, wobbling in place and gripping the edge of the truck bed.

“I need quiet more than I need rest,” Estella said softly. “I’ll be fine, ‘Dido, have you heard anything from the other packs?”

I tried to push my way to the edge of the truck as the truck seemed to slow, and they walked past. They weren’t leaning together. Estella was still using her rifle as a walking stick, but I didn’t want them to have any more time together than necessary. Someone grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back into the seat I’d been put in. It was a vampire. Her eyes glowed as she glared at me. Her fangs glinted in the light, and her eyes glowed yellow.

“You wanted a seat, sit in it and shut the fuck up, or I’m going to knock you out.”

I glared at her and pulled away, then I felt pain explode in my face, and everything went dark as a sharp crack filled the air.