Cassian's POV
"Are you fucking kidding me, Cass?" Ryder raised a brow as he looked at me as if I grew two heads. "It was only a day ago when you almost ripped my throat apart for saying that your mate would be better off with someone else. Was that the same you?"
I only looked down in defeat. He doesn't understand the situation I'm in and I don't know how to make him understand.
"Who in their right mind would tell their mate to sleep with someone else? Do you have some kind of multiple personality disorder?"
"Look, the situation forced me to say that. I had to make her stop." I raked a hand through my hair.
"What situation? Cass, you're not making sense now. I don't understand you one bit. What's going on with you? You're not acting like yourself," Ryder sounded worried. I can't blame him. He's right. I'm not acting like myself. I used to deal with things in a calculated way but I'm now I've turned into an impulsive retard. She's turning me into someone else.
"I don't know…." I let out a tired groan as I leaned back in my chair. "That kid is acting up. I had to put her in her place. She was doing things without worrying about the consequences. I can't imagine what would've happened if my wolf lost control. I'm struggling to keep my cool right now."
"You put her in her place by telling her to sleep with someone else?" Ryder scoffed. "And what if she does that? What if she starts to look for someone–"
"She won't." I cut him off, my voice sounding so dark that it even surprised myself.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
"See?" Ryder smirked. "You're already losing your cool at the mention of it. I can't believe you actually told her that."
"It was after the attack. My wolf was exhausted so it was easy for me to control him. I told her that to keep her away from me." I sighed.
"Don't push people away too much, Cass. They might end up liking it there." Ryder warned.
I ignored his warning. "You don't have to worry too much. She won't go to some other guy. She doesn't have the guts to do that."
"Hmm…you're right. She might not go after someone else but others could always chase her. Since you don't care much about her, others might take the liberty of doing so." He shrugged.
I frowned. "Don't mess with me, Ry. I'm already annoyed,"
"Truth always annoys you." He rolled his eyes. "I just want to give you one piece of advice, Cass. Get your shit together. You're the alpha of this pack. You're someone who should set an example. You treating your mate like trash will only encourage other people to do so. Do you really want that? Set a good role model for your people." He said firmly before putting a file on the desk.
"This is the report of what happened in the areas where we spotted those rogues. It includes all the suspicious things that happened in the past month," Ryder explained.
I opened the file and carefully checked every page. "Cattles missing?" I looked at him. "Why did no one tell me this?"
Ryder pulled the chair back and took a seat before explaining. "They initially thought of it as a Panther stealing food. That's why they didn't report it. There weren't any traces of wolves or anything since it rained that day." Ryder took the paperweight on my table to play with it as he talked. "But recently another one went missing and they swear that it was not a Panther because they saw the pawprints of wolves."
"Couldn't they smell them?" I raised a brow.
"Nope. They're now using scent hiders. I wonder how they got their hands on that. It is extremely hard to get and expensive. Someone is supporting them," He threw the paperweight in the air and winced when he couldn't catch it.
I glared at him while he uttered a small apology before going back to play with it.
"Tell the warriors to keep an eye on these areas. I think they are a large group. They might be still out there,"
"But we killed a lot. Do you think there's any left?"
"There might be. If they dared to mess with our pack, then that means they're confident. Their confidence is their size. I'm sure there are other dogs lurking in the woods and waiting for us to let our guard down."
"Hmm…you're right. I'll let the warriors know about this," Ryder nodded. "We might need to be extra careful on the celebration. I'll arrange more men on patrol that night." He said.
I hummed in response before closing the files.
"By the way, how's the planning going?"
"No idea. Mom and Dad are taking care of it. They want it to be extravagant. All the decorations will arrive today." I sighed. "They sent invitations to almost every pack they knew. It's crazy," I shook my head.
"Uhh…it's going to be fun!" Ryder laughed. "I should go and help them out a bit." He stretched as he stood up. "Good luck to you dealing with all those people. " He laughed before striding out of the room.
I let out a sigh before leaning back. I hate dealing with people. This is going to be tiring.
____
"What?" I took a deep breath before asking. Her glare was getting on my nerves. I wanted to have a peaceful sleep but this kid is always annoying me.
"Why didn't you tell me about it?" She sounded angry. She's always angry or sad. It's pathetic.
"Tell you about what?"
"The celebration." She gritted out. It almost looked like she wanted to eat me alive. I rolled my eyes.
"It was no secret."
"Then tell me why no one told me that. Am I not your Luna? Shouldn't I know about things like this?" There she goes again, talking about being the Luna of the pack. It always gets on my nerves. She doesn't have a single quality to be a Luna but she sure does has a lot of audacity.
"What were you going to do after knowing? Managing the celebration is not meant for you. You don't have a single quality to take on that kind of responsibility. All you have to do is come to the celebration on time and look pretty." I scoffed.
I put the towel away before turning towards the bed. My eyes landed on her face and she had that all-familiar look of hurt. Her eyes all watered up like a pup who got bullied at the playground. She clutched the blankets and blinked away her tears while I watched her with an uninterested expression.
So much drama over nothing.
"I don't understand what you want from me…" She spoke up when I ignored her again.
"I want nothing from you." I sat down on the bed. I hate sharing a bed with her. Now every fucking thing in my room smells like her.
"You always put me down for not knowing things but you're not willing to teach me at all,"
"I'm not your trainer," I scoffed. "I'm the alpha of this pack. I have other important things to do."
"I'm your mate. Why am I not important to you?" Her voice sounded desperate. So fucking annoying.
I closed my eyes. "No. The one who was important to me died three years ago. You are not something I wanted. You'll never take her place."
"I don't want to take her place…" Her words have turned into whispers. "I just want you to be nice to me…"
"Look kid, I'm not your fucking friend. Don't forget that you're a rogue and the daughter of a traitor. I'm not going to turn a blind eye to all that just because the Moon goddess decided to play a joke and mate you to me."
"My dad was innocent! Don't you want to get to know me? Can't you spend a little time with me to talk? If you don't always try to insult me or ignore me, maybe then we can talk and get to know each other. Why won't you give me a chance…? I'm not asking for a lot. It's just this little thing…"
I put on my glasses and took a book, leaning on the headboard to read. "Because I'm not interested in you. It's just that simple."
She was silent for a moment. "I don't understand…I never hurt you or your people yet you hate me so much."
"Can you wind up your emotional drama now? I'm trying to read here."
"Right…" She finally said before turning around on the bed.
Finally some peace. I let out a sigh of relief before continuing my reading. I could hear her shaky intake of breaths. I knew she was crying. My wolf was pushing to take over knowing that his mate is in distress but I managed to force him down.