CH 12

Nora She sat and looked at Jace as he stood watching her as he listened to Esme at the bar. He had no idea who she was; that much was a given. Even looking directly at her. Knowing he could see her eyes clearly behind that mask, he didn’t recall what they looked like. They’d not changed, were still a soft golden honey brown, though that mask did hide the pockmark of a scar he'd given to her. He’d not changed at all; still looked exactly the same, right down to his haircut. He even wore the same style of suit; after nearly two decades, the man had changed nothing about himself. Whereas she wore a completely different style of clothing, and had changed the way she wore her hair, had grown in longer and kept it straight for the most part. She often changed her clothing to suit the current trend, and she lived her life not in the past but in the present. She heard what Esme had to say about him looking for a she-wolf; one that held an engineering degree, and that she had gotten top marks for it, that he stated she’d be an asset to any pack. Yes, she would have been a good asset to his pack once, if he’d ever given her the respect she deserved, made her feel appreciated and wanted. Her architecture firm could have been something attached to his pack, and created the pack not only a good name but wealth as well. He’d lost more than just a Mate that day, he’d lost a promising business and council affiliations, for all new packs. Hell, if he only knew what she was truly working on, he’d likely slap himself to death, but that was his loss. He could have had everything she had right now; but it simply wasn’t meant for him. ‘Are you sure, Nora, you want to have me bring him over, and you'll speak with him?’ Esme mind-linked to her. ‘Yep, I dealt with him all those years ago, I can again. He clearly has no idea who I am.’ She stated with full certainty, and watched as Esme walked over and collected him. He stood before her table and offered her his hand; she glanced at it as he introduced himself and shook her head. “I don’t shake hands with those unaffiliated.” She told him simply, though in reality it was just that she didn’t want to touch him. “You are?” he asked as he sat down in that chair. “I think you’d know that seeing as you want to talk to me,” she pointed out. Jace stared at her for a moment, and there was a slight frown on his face, and she wondered if he recalled what she sounded like. Her voice hadn’t changed over the years, and her direct curtness in speaking with him, was something he’d had to hear all the time right before she’d left him. “I was expecting your name,” Jace replied. “Were you? I’m not inclined to give it to an unknown Alpha, straight to business then, this she-wolf you mentioned you’re looking for?” she asked directly. “She’s an engineer, graduated from Rice University, summa c*m lade,” he told her. She stared at him for a long, quiet moment as she thought about that; the information he had on her. “I have many engineers, eight to be precise, four of whom are female. Have you got a name Alpha? Or are you expecting me to be a mind-reader? I’ve also got two pack affiliations where I work with other company engineers.” “The packs?” Jace asked right back. Nora leaned back in her seat and made herself comfortable, she swirled that glass of spiced cognac in her hand and stared right at him; did he think she was so dumb as to just give out who she was allied to? That wouldn’t make her a very good Alpha, let alone a trustworthy ally either. “I don’t think you’re here looking for a pack member, I think you’re looking for information on my pack that’s not out yet.” She shook her head, and then waved her hand at him dismissively, “You can go, I don’t give out information so easily, only a fool would do that.” He frowned, and although he stood to leave, he said, “My apologies. I was just curious as to if they were packs I had already spoken to about her. I wasn’t trying to imply you were a fool or disloyal to your allies.” “Hmm, not my problem if you can’t stay on topic,” Nora stated dismissively. “Nora, her name is Nora.” He said her name in kind of a rush. “Do you have a Nora in your pack?” She nodded. “I do,” she answered him simply, honestly, because she did; it was her. “I also know four other Nora’s throughout my affiliated packs,” she told him. “Good luck in finding the one you’re after,” she waved her hand at him once more dismissing him. Only to have him stay put. “How old is she, what’s her last name?” he asked right away. “Now why on earth would I tell you, an unaffiliated Alpha, that. How could I expect my pack members or allies to ever trust me? If I just go giving out information to strangers, I'd be disloyal and untrustworthy. Yet you want me to do that for you... I see no reason to feed you information at all.” Nora shook her head no. He leaned on the table and looked right at her. “Please, she’s my missing Mate.” he told her, “I’m looking for my Mate.” Nora raised an eyebrow. Yes, he would refer to her as that, because it was all he ever saw her as; his Mate, not his Luna. Even now, after all those years of searching for her, he still only referred to her as his missing Mate, not his missing Luna. “You say that, but where is the proof? I don’t know you; if you’re honest or trustworthy, or if you’re just out to hunt for a she-wolf that ran away from you, and you can’t handle the rejection. Because, well...” she waved her hand in the air. “You’re an Alpha and your ego is too big to handle one that doesn’t want to be with you. “I’m guessing you’ve always gotten what you want, right? Do and say as you please, expect others to just fall into line with you and your wants, regardless of their wants. Expect them to respect you… but not give it in return, yes?” she stated exactly what she knew of him. “He is rejected,” Esme stated. “I can scent venom in him; she must have run away, or he chose another over her and sent her away. Only now he regrets it and hunts for the one that left him.” “Hmm, my beast can smell it too.” She nodded and tried not to smile at Esme’s words. They were pretty darn close to the truth, and she knew that was why Esme had said it as well. To make Alpha Jace uncomfortable in his own skin. “Only a Mate in his eyes, Esme, because if she was more to him, he’d have used the word Luna. If, of course, that venom in him belonged to the one he hunts for, that is and not the one he chose over her.” She watched Jace frown and stand all the way up. As she sat there and stared at him, she knew her and Esme were hitting home for him, so damned close to the truth that he couldn’t not see it. Yet in his brain he was already thinking about how they could know that, unless she knew who Nora was, and had all the details of what went on between them. “It is her venom and I just want her back,” Jace stated. “She is my Luna. Will be given that rank and mark of respect when she comes back to me.” “Hmm, when she comes back! Do you hear that girls? That just means she never had the title of Luna when she was with him." She shook her head. "And you want her back! But does she want to go back to you? How long has it been Alpha? A week, a month, a year, perhaps more? Maybe what you want is not what she wants,” Nora laid it out for him, and it wasn’t something she wanted. “It will work out, please, I just want the chance to talk to her. So, if she’s with you, grant me permission to talk to her,” he murmured. “I’m certain you do, but I wonder what you did to make her leave you.” She shrugged, “Not often do marked and mated Alphas and Lunas reject each other, not without some sort of… betrayal, I’m guessing, happening. So, what you want, may not be what she wants... Have you ever once taken that into consideration, on your hunt for her, for however long it’s been? Giving her what it is she wants.” “I will give her everything she wants when she comes back to me,” he stated flatly. Nora laughed and all three of her unit snorted, because it was actually laughable. “So, you only truly want yourself to be happy, not her. She’s to come back to you after she left you, for whatever reason. So, you can give her what she wants for the rest of her life. But what I’m sensing is what she really wants is not to come back to you at all. “So, which is it, Alpha? Do you actually truly want to give her what she wants? Or do you want only what makes you happy? Which is from my understanding of this conversation, you reclaiming her and keeping her by your side, even though she left you and has never returned in how long?” She shook her head, amazed by his backwards logic. “What if I put her before you and she tells you she doesn't want to go with you, doesn't want to regrow that bond, you want to regrow. Will you give her what she wants then, accept her decision and leave?” “Your twisting things,” he stated. “Hmm, am I really or are you just ignorant of the facts of your own life? You never did say how long she’s been gone, and who rejected who? Or her last name,” she asked directly. He stood staring at her, and she smiled right at him. Then, after a minute passed, and he’d still not answered her, she added. “I don’t think, Alpha, you understand your runaway Mate at all.” She shook her head. “I wonder, did you ever know her?” she asked the question she already knew the answer to. “Please leave, I’m not interested in you or helping you to reclaim your rejected Mate. Esme, remove him please.” She sipped her drink. “Yes, Alpha.” She stated simply and stood up and motioned for Jace to leave. He glared at her briefly and then turned and walked off. “Arrogant.” Tessa sighed. “Yes,” Nora answered, then added down the mind-link ‘He always was,’ ‘He’s real confused now,’ Tessa stated, ‘With all you and Esme stated, I think it hit home how he comes across to others where his missing Mate?’ Tessa shook her head. ‘Rejected Mate, is’ she corrected. ‘Likely he believes Nora Hammond is inside my pack now as well, and I have heard her tale.’ She sipped her drink. ‘Let’s see what he does with that information! I did just tell him I wasn’t interested in him or helping him to reclaim his rejected Mate. So, yet again, I’ve voiced directly to him, I don’t want him as a Mate, my stance is clear and all of you got to bear witness to that.’ ‘That we did.’ Tessa smiled.