"Yes, I'm waiting for you," Derrick said briskly. "Gloria, you haven't answered me yet. The last time we talked, I wanted you to be my mate. Do you agree?"
Gloria remembered the thing Derrick mentioned, but as she recalled, she rejected him the last time. Therefore, she was stunned right now.
"I went to Italy a while ago. I came here as soon as I got back to Gabbs. I knew I'd see you here. Gloria, I want you to be my mate."
Gloria's heart beat faster. She looked into Derrick's eyes, which were completely different from Patrick's. She gawked at Derrick's handsome face, which was so close to her.
Gloria's mind went blank. She looked at Derrick in a daze.
"Gloria, if you keep staring at me like this, I'm gonna..." Suddenly, she heard his voice with a smile.
Gloria raised her head in a trance. She blinked and asked doubtfully, "What?"
Derrick was amused by Gloria's reaction. He couldn't help but grin and say, "This." He lowered his head as soon as he finished speaking. Immediately, Gloria's lips felt warm and it lasted for a second.
Derrick pecked Gloria's lips.
"Don't blame me. You were the one who stared at me like that and no man could resist it." Derrick's eyes lit up. He stared at Gloria for a while and said, "Your ears are red."
After he finished speaking, Gloria's ears turned even redder.
Derrick suddenly reached out and wrapped Gloria's hands in his big palms, and then he cupped them to his chest. "Be my mate," he said.
Derrick thought a lot during his time in Italy, and he became more and more sure that he wanted Gloria to be his mate. He wanted her to be his future Luna.
There was no specific reason. He was simply attracted to the way she looked when her ears went red.
He had seen countless passionate, bold, and proactive she-wolves, and the only one he couldn't get off his mind was Gloria. He could never get tired of kissing her.
He did not meet his mate arranged by the Moon Goddess, and he figured that he would be nothing but happy if Gloria became his Luna.
"Gloria, would you like to be my mate?" he said. "Let me take care of you."
Derrick's words sent Gloria's memory back a few years ago. Gloria found that Patrick was her mate at the werewolves' mating gathering in Gabbs.
Back then, she said to Patrick, "Mate, Patrick, you are my mate. You will take care of me from now on."
Patrick turned around and looked at her with his clear eyes. Then he turned back and left without saying anything.
She chased after him and grabbed his hand from behind. "Why didn't you answer me? We are mates. Why didn't you accept me?"
Gloria still remembered Patrick's answer.
He said, "I don't care about the Moon Goddess' plan. You are not the mate I want." He turned around while letting her hold his hand and led her out of the school gate.
Gloria still remembered that when she glanced at their clasped hands, she thought, 'If I'm not your mate, Patrick, why don't you let go of my hand?'
She grabbed his arm from behind and clung to him. She smiled and said, "Patrick, I am your mate that the Moon Goddess arranged for you. If I'm not your mate, no one can be."
Gloria was lost in memory. When Derrick found that she was in a daze, he called out to her, "Gloria? Gloria?"
Derrick called her name twice, somewhat dissatisfied that she was absent-minded again. There was a trace of disappointment in his eyes. He felt that there was someone else in her heart, someone who had been in her life before him.
But in the next second, his eyes lit up again. He clasped her palms in his.
"Give it a go. At least give me a chance. Believe me, OK? I won't let you shed another tear," Derrick said.
Gloria's shoulders trembled, and there was a trace of longing in her eyes. When she looked up and saw Derrick's earnest face, she felt a sudden burning pain in her palms. She flung Derrick's hands away and held both palms behind her back.
She quickly took a few steps back and distanced herself from Derrick. She blinked while looking at him.
"Say something. Gloria, don't run away from me." He walked toward her, and she retreated.
A light flashed across Derrick's eyes as he approached her again.
And Gloria went backward again.
Derrick couldn't bear it anymore. He stretched out his long arm, brought her in front of him, put his arms around her waist, and locked her tightly. "Gloria," he said. "Don't walk away from me. I won't let you walk away from me."
Gloria didn't struggle. She figured that Patrick was right. Derrick wasn't the mate she wanted. So, why bother walking away from Derrick?
Suddenly, Gloria understood something.
She thought, 'Patrick let me hold his hand instead of shaking my hand off back then. It was only because I wasn't the mate he wanted. He simply didn't give a damn. So, he didn't bother to shake my hand off.
Over the years, he rejected me repeatedly. Every time he rejected me, I got bolder. I guess I'm nothing but a joke.'
Derrick frowned. Gloria was in a daze for the third time today.
Unable to describe what he was feeling right now, Derrick leaned over and pecked her lips.
"It's Patrick, isn't it?"
He suddenly asked.
Gloria's body trembled.
Derrick smiled bitterly. He said, "Gloria, get over him. Whatever history you have with him is painful."
Gloria was suddenly jittery. She raised her head and asked, "How can you be so sure of that?"
Derrick stared at Gloria in his arms. He knew that she probably didn't have a clue. She looked so hostile.
He thought, 'It's OK. I'll make her forget about Patrick.'
"Were there any good memories between you two? If the answer is yes, why do I see nothing but despair on your face?" Derrick said.
Gloria fell silent. There was none. Patrick didn't even accept her. Instead, he rejected her.