"Get in the way? What do you mean by that? What are you doing?" Celeste couldn't help but grow cautious as she watched Kent inch closer. What on earth did the rogue want?
Over the past few weeks, Celeste's life among the rogues had made her quite familiar with Kent. The man had never shown any signs of aggression or done anything to make her uncomfortable. Slowly but surely, her guard had started to come down, and they were even building some trust.
But now that Celeste was back with her own wolf pack, it was like things had shifted back to the old days, where they were in a delicate state of being semi-enemies. Her wariness towards Kent flared up all over again.
Clearly, Kent caught that flicker of caution in Celeste's eyes. A hint of hurt passed through his gaze, but he shrugged it off and raised his hands. " I mean no harm, Cel. We've been hanging out for days now, and you still can't trust me?"
All of a sudden, Celeste felt a twinge of guilt. The truth was, Kent had really been looking out for her in these past few weeks. If he wanted to pull anything shady, he could've done it ages ago, especially when she was in his territory. He had all the power to do whatever he pleased. Yet, he never took advantage of her, never played her for a fool.
"Sorry, Kent," Celeste tugged her blanket closer, clutching it tightly. "I guess I'm just not used to your sudden appearance out of the blue, and, well, I'm in a state of complete nakedness right now."
Kent heard her words and pondered for a moment, his gaze drifting over Celeste's figure before landing on Jeremy. He seemed lost in thoughts, as if contemplating some deep mystery.
"Did he pressure you into something? Did he threaten you? Force you to tag along?" His eyes shifted back and forth between the two, assessing their reactions. A slight frown creased his forehead.
Celeste's heightened awareness made her acutely aware of her own bare skin and Jeremy's exposed body under the sheets. Sure, the bedding provided some cover, but it did nothing to ease her self-consciousness or the unmistakable sensation of being in the buff.
It took her a beat to fully grasp who Kent was referring to. Suddenly, it hit her—the way Kent saw it, he and Celeste were supposed to be twin siblings, and here they were, snoozing in the same bed naked. The mental picture was downright eerie, yet she couldn't help but remain utterly unfazed, unable to fathom why Kent thought Celeste was in some kind of peril.
"If you've got some deep, dark secrets, spill 'em, Cel. You can come with me, and you know my pack will accept you," Kent declared, a serious expression gracing his face. Celeste caught a glimpse of genuine concern flickering in his eyes.
"No. It's not what you thought," Celeste replied, her voice hesitant as she struggled to find the right words. "I genuinely appreciate your incredible willingness to go above and beyond for me, but he has never coerced or pressured me into anything. And, uh, a new fun fact—we're not actually blood-related siblings."
"What?!" Kent's eyebrows shot up in surprise, his eyes darting back and forth between Celeste and Jeremy. "Wait, so you guys are a thing now?"
Celeste's mind went blank for a moment, caught off guard. She struggled to find the right words. Were she and Jeremy actually together? Sure, they hadn't explicitly discussed it, but they had jumped straight to kissing and were now lying in bed together, completely bare. It all felt so natural, though.
But their mate bond and the fact that they were not actually siblings, which was unknown to outsiders, had never been discussed between them. They hadn't even talked about how they should appear in front of the wolf pack. Celeste wasn't even sure if she could explain it clearly to the pack.
"But the Moon Goddess herself said you would be my Luna, the female leader of my wolf pack," Kent muttered, a perplexed expression on his face. Then he took a step back, effortlessly snagged a chair, and plopped himself down, acting like he owned the place.
Celeste wanted to sit up and have a normal conversation with Kent, but her nakedness kept her from doing so. She didn't want to toss the sheets aside, revealing her body to him.
"Well, I gotta say, I don't actually believe in the words spoken by the Goddess," Celeste scoffed. "She said we could trust you, but turned out, you almost slaughtered our pack."
"But hey, let's not forget, no werewolves ended up kicking the bucket in the end, right? Sure, we were all scared the shits out of you, but everyone is fine," Kent retorted. Just like Kate, he had this unwavering trust in the Moon Goddess, and he wouldn't stand for any smack talk about her.
Celeste frowned. As much as she didn't like it, the man had d point. But it was not that everyone was fine. "Maybe we didn't have any casualties, but you sure as heck messed with the morale of our wolf pack, weakened the authority of our Alpha."
"Your Alpha is nothing more than a two-faced phony, and knocking him off might actually do your wolf pack some good. Works just fine for me," Kent replied with a cold laugh, unaffected by Celeste's comment.
A two-faced phony? Do the pack some good? What was he talking about? Did he know what he was saying? And the man he was talking about Byron? Celeste frowned.