The Other Part of Me
Chapter 9

Braden

After spending the day showing Cassie around the property and introducing her to all the pack members they came across, Braden realized she was likely tired and overwhelmed. After dinner with the pack, Braden decided to guide her to their

rooms.

"Braden, dear, I must speak with you in private," a sultry, female voice called from behind them.

They both turned.

"Cassie, this is another of the original pack members," he stepped aside so that the ladies could exchange handshakes.

Cassie outstretched her hand right away but the other female leaned in. "Surely I can offer an embrace to our future Luna," the woman pushed past Cassie's hand and leaned in to hug her. "Welcome to the pack," the woman said. "I am Elsbeth Vasilakis, and your name, I've heard, is Candy Wolfe, correct?"

"Cassie Wolfe," his mate corrected. "Cassandra."

The two women separated.

"Hmmm, apologies my dear," Elsbeth quickly turned to Braden. "As I said, I need a moment of privacy with you."

Braden looked at Cassie. "Would you mind waiting for a moment?"

Cassie nodded. "Sure."

"I only need two minutes of his time." Elsbeth smoothed her shiny black hair and patted the ends. "It won't take long at all."

Cassie hadn't even turned around yet when Braden felt Elsbeth slip her arm through his and encourage his momentum up the stairs. Upon the second floor, she guided him to his bedroom door and looked at him expectantly. "Well? Won't you open the door for me?" She asked in a tone he was all too familiar with, once upon a time.

Braden gently pulled her arm from his and leaned against the wall. "Considering our history, I don't think we should be seen walking into my bedroom with my mate downstairs." He answered.

Elsbeth looked up at him through coquettishly long lashes that framed her beguiling emerald green eyes. "I would have preferred your office but given that you have turned that into a bedroom for Candy, your bedroom it is." "You know damn well what her name is." He stared at her angrily. "Elsbeth, our dalliance was long ago. Our fling will never give you the right to disrespect your future Luna."

Elsbeth laughed. "Luna. Hmmm. I don't think she fully has what it takes." She twisted the doorknob to his bedroom door and walked right in, he followed and closed the door behind.

He saw her looking around. "Mmmmm, if these walls could talk." She made a beeline to the bed and unceremoniously dropped herself on top of the mattress, pressing her front against the firmness. "It's a different bed but I imagine you would have had to replace it after we damn near broke the old one." She reached for one of his pillows and snuggled it. "Smells like you."

He sighed, now bored. If she wanted a tryst, he knew of at least three other pack members who had mixed their scent with hers within the last five years. "What game are you playing at?" He asked her flat-out. She released a sultry laugh. "Do you remember your first time?"

Of course he remembered his first time. It was with her.

"You had just saved the life of the Dragon Fire Pack's Alpha and he had vowed to help you restore our pack to what it was before the infamous rogue attack," she rolled onto her back. "When his feast in your honor was over, you returned to these ravaged lands and just sat there, looking up at the moon."

Braden remembered. He damn near cried with relief that night. It was when he realized what his Moon-Goddess-given mission was. He stared up at the celestial body of his goddess with gratitude and asked her to always be his beacon so that he would always be worthy of the Alpha title for his pack.

That evening, he let Andrei free so they could quickly roam around the broken land and start making new plans for the pack's future. When he had come back to the spot where his clothes lay, he found Elsbeth there, wearing nothing but his shirt, which she had left fully open at the front.

She introduced him to carnal pleasures that night. She was ten years older than he, and she had definitely used the extra ten years she had on him in perfecting her skills where passion was involved.

She would warm his side off-and-on for two years before her mate found her- or her second-chance mate, as it was. He'd heard her first mate found her while they lived on the kindness of other packs, but she had rejected him, whomever he had been.

Her mate hadn't been Alpha Thaddeus, as she had thought. She claimed to have mistaken a deep infatuation with the mate bond but Braden always had reservations about this.

Moon Goddess help him, even now, he didn't want to think ill of any of his pack members, but Braden sharpened his ability to decipher true intentions when he became the pack's Alpha. Elsbeth left him uneasy.

"Do you still suffer without your mate?" He asked her.

Elsbeth snickered. "Jonathan died long ago," she stood from the bed. "I've conquered the pain." She walked toward him. "I didn't die from a broken heart, so I'm confident Moon Goddess still has important plans for me."

He looked at his watch. "Cassie is waiting for me. This has already taken longer than anticipated."

Elsbeth gave him a smile that reminded him of The Cheshire Cat. "Ah yes, she's the talk of the pack." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I smelled it when I hugged her, you know."

Without flinching, and rather bored, Braden stared into her bejeweled eyes. "And what is it you smelled?" He asked, thinking of Cassie's sweet scent.

She laughed. "Funny, how history tends to repeat itself with our pack," she stroked his hair. "I smelled the humanity in that half-breed." She moved her face close to his. "And I wasn't the only one. Did you not notice the looks she was being given during dinner? Did you not hear the whispers?"

Braden pulled her hands from him. "Moon Goddess selected her for me. She is my mate."

Elsbeth leaned back against the wall. It unnerved Braden to see the pleasure she was taking. "We've suffered once already for a human Luna. We won't suffer twice." With that, Elsbeth turned and walked away, leaving him with much to process.