Chapter 37: Chapter 37

~ NYSSA

Over the next two days, things went smoothly.

For a minute, I forgot the kind of shit show I was in and began looking forward to the bonfire.

Aria and I went shopping for clothes and she even took me to see the bonfire preparations. It was amazing to see just how beautifully everything was coming together. As evening fell on the day of, I was brimming with excitement.

I sat in front of the dresser, scrunching up my curls when my phone rang.

It actually took me a minute to realize it was phone because in my entire week here, I hadn’t gotten a single call.

I reached for it and frowned when I saw the caller ID. A part of me wanted to ignore it, but I figured it had to be something important so I answered.

“I see how easy it is for you forget your pack,” Henry growled once I’d picked up. “I expected more.”

“You’re not going to try to manipulate me, Henry,” I said simply. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” he scoffed, sounding offended. “I called to inform you that while you’ve been off gallivanting with the King, your pack is still under attack, or have you forgotten?”

I didn’t respond because the truth was… I had.

With everything that happened here, I’d momentarily forgotten about the pack. I’d pushed everything regarding Rowan and our deal to the back of my mind, and unfortunately, the pack was part of it.

“There are guards there,” I said finally. “They should be handling it.”

“Are they?” Henry hissed. “You may choose to be ignorant about what kind of man Rowan is but I am not. His guards are not here to help, they are here to spy on us for him. He wants our pack.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you hear how ridiculous you sound? Why the fuck would he want our pack? What does he stand to gain? He has a fucking palace.”

“I’m not being unreasonable-”

“Yes, Henry, you are. He is helping us. We have a deal-”

Henry laughed humorlessly, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. “That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? You’re fucking him, that’s why you’re defending him.”

My cheeks went bright red, not because he was right, but at the venom with which he spewed his words. He spat them out like they were dirty and despite the fact that he wasn’t right next to me, I could feel his eyes like daggers searing into my skin.

“That is inappropriate-”

“But it’s true,” he scoffed. “I should have known. Why else would you agree to the ridiculous rule? Why else would he agree to it.”

I was about to tell him he was wrong, but his last words stopped me. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Come on, Nyssa, you can’t really believe that the King would choose you as his mate? If he wanted to, why hasn’t he? If he truly cared about the mating bond, you’d have a crown on your head. All he cares about is fucking you and you’ve given him just that.”

His words stung like sharp daggers aimed right at my heart.

He continued speaking, but I could barely make out the words anymore. I hung up, tossing my phone on my bed like it burned me.

He called back, but I let it ring out.

I tried to push the thoughts out of my mind but they’d already taken root in the depths of my mind. His words made a lot of sense despite how much I didn’t want to believe them.

Why else was Rowan keeping me around? He hadn’t tried to fuck me yet but that didn’t mean…

A knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts. I jumped in fright, my heart leaping in my chest.

I forced myself to breathe. There was no threat.

“Come in!” I yelled out.

Of all the people I expected to see, Aria was not one of them. She stood in my doorway, hands crossed over her chest as she roamed her eyes over me in my robe, hair still half-wet.

She wore a short blue dress that clung to her like second skin and paired it with thigh high boots. Her hair was curled slightly with little ribbons intertwined beneath the strands.

“Why the hell aren’t you dressed?” she asked incredulously.

“You said it started by nine.”

“I said officially. You have to go early so you can go through all the other stands first. Don’t you have bonfires in your pack?”

I shook my head.

It was a foreign concept to me.

The best we had there were huge parties to celebrate the Alpha’s birthday but the last one we had was just before Henry’s father died.

“Whatever,” she mumbled. “Get dressed, I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

She shut the door behind me, leaving me in the quiet of my room.

To be honest, I didn’t want to go for the bonfire anymore. Henry’s words had sucked out all of the joy. I headed for the door to tell her as such but stopped with my hand on the doorknob.

Henry wasn’t even here, and I was letting him make my life miserable.

So what if Rowan wanted to fuck me? It wasn’t the end of the world.

Besides, he was too much of a coward to do anything about it.

With a determined huff, I headed for the closet, pulling out the outfit Aria had chosen for me. It was more risqué than anything I would’ve chosen for myself and I fought Aria on it two days ago, but now? It was perfect.

The jean shorts were so short that they could’ve counted as underwear, and the top was a lace sleeveless crop top that left almost nothing to be imagined.

I paired it with boots and a large leather jacket, grabbed my purse and a lip gloss then headed to find Aria.

Fuck both men, tonight’s all about me.

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