Page 54 of Untamed

We make small talk for a few more minutes until Mr. Livestrong announces that he wants to show Jonah a new gadget they got in for their business. Jonah’s mom looks at the both of them as if she wants to scold them, but instead, she leads me to the couch, shaking her head as they walk away. “Never dreamed I’d have a son who would turn out exactly like his father.”

“Jonah certainly takes after his stature,” I muse, staring down the hallway they disappeared through. He’s already left me alone again. Lucky for him, I don’t believe Mrs. Livestrong is going to go allMean Girlson me.

“Kinsey,” Jonah’s mom starts, and when I gaze at her, I detect sympathy in her eyes. Jonah may have inherited his father’s physique, but he got his mom’s mannerisms. “I can tell you, Jonah feels awful about sending you to Greystone Academy. He didn’t imagine he was going to get a mate that night at graduation, and then when it was you....”

I wait for my instinct to lash out but it never comes. Instead, my wolf nudges me forward. “I understand,” I tell her. “I had to live with the rumors my whole life, so of course I can see things from his perspective. I was hoping I didn’t get paired up.” I smile but it falls flat. “What a horrible thing to wish for, huh?”

She breathes out through her nose, her face pinching. “Jonah has shared some things with me, and I wanted to tell you I was quite disgusted with the way you’ve been treated, and I’m ashamed to say that I never saw it.”

“It was at school,” I tell her. “Mostly other girls, so it’s really not something you would have seen.”

Her lips thin. We’re already crossing into a territory that Mrs. Graves wouldn’t like. She’d tell me to compliment Jonah’s mom and change the subject, but it feels like this discussion needs to happen.

“If I come back to Lunar Pack, I promise I won’t let people’s opinions of me keep me from being involved. I have a lot of ideas for what I’d like to do in the future. I want to attend Brixton. I want—”

She grabs my hand and leans over. “You have to be very careful of Lydia Greystone. Do you understand me?”

Her fierce eyes take me off guard. She looks at me pointedly, and I nod, the breath whooshing out of me, and a different panic sets in.

Mrs. Livestrong closes her eyes and gulps in air. When she opens them again, she appears normal. “Yes, Jonah’s told me about your love of flowers.”

I blink at her. She keeps trying to pull me back into conversation after that, but I’m stiff and uncomfortable now. What the hell is Lydia Greystone’s problem with me? And what exactly does Mrs. Livestrong know?

When Jonah’s mom hears the men’s footsteps coming down the hallway, she says, “Stick close to Jonah. He won’t let anything happen to you. You’re doing lovely.”

She stands, and I rise with her until we face the two Livestrong men. I smile for Jonah because that’s what I’m supposed to do, but inwardly, I’m freaking out. Again.

23

The brave face I put on in the wake of Jonah’s mom’s warning impresses even me. These etiquette classes are working. Who would have thought?

The formal introductions when we get to the alpha’s house go by in a breeze of niceties, even when Laura is thrust in my face. She looks like she’s been freshly put in her place and is acting the proper lady as much as I am. An outsider wouldn’t even know what transpired between us.

I told Mia that no one deserves to be in Greystone Academy, but I would love to see Laura’s ass in those walls, taking Ms. Ebon’s notes. She’d be the worst student with too big of a chip on her shoulder to learn anything.

The night’s festivities start with appetizers. Mr. and Mrs. Livestrong socialize with the other couples attending while Jonah and Jesse stay close to each other along with the future beta. If I take my past experience with the pack out of the equation, this isn’t so bad. I can even converse with them without wanting to scream that they were arrogant assholes for most of my life.

It’s Laura that gets under my skin the most. Even when she’s being nice, I see through her carefully constructed façade. Her holier-than-thou attitude—as if I don’t deserve to be at the top with them—makes me want to cunch her.

Mia came up with that word the other day when we were talking about Nathan’s mate. It means cunt punch. And Laura, more than anyone, deserves a freaking cunt punch.

Now that Jonah has come out with his feelings to the school and his parents, he doesn’t shy away from being affectionate, which helps me with my confidence. If I’m good enough for Jonah Livestrong then I don’t really care about Laura, head of the bitches.

However, it doesn’t keep me from watching my back, waiting for Lydia Greystone to arrive. Jonah’s mom made a point to ask where she was when I was within earshot, and the alpha’s wife explained that she would be late. We locked eyes briefly, and I silently thanked her.

Not embarrassing myself and staying away from Lydia are my two goals for tonight. When this is over, I’ll tell Jonah what his mom told me and ask him if he knows what the hell it means. We both know Lydia has something against me because of my no shifting rule but his mom’s warning seems bigger than that. And that’s saying something.

Ms. Ebon is lobbying for me to regain my shifting rights, but I sense my wolf and I are already behind in our relationship. Around me, my past wolfpeers are discussing a reduction in shift pain as the transition becomes more seamless. Jonah steers the conversation away to save me from having to answer how my own relationship with my wolf is going, and I squeeze his hand in thanks.

After an hour, the alpha’s wife announces that dinner is ready. We’re a party of twelve as we take our places at the table, and thankfully, no one tries to mix up the pairs. Each of us are sitting with our own fated mates, or in Jesse’s case, with the leech dressed in lipstick.

Jonah leans over as he grabs his cloth napkin from his lap. “Thank you for enduring this for me.”

A smile crawls over my lips. In moments like this, I know it will be easy to do these alpha dinners for years to come. Who knows? Maybe it won’t always feel like I’m separate from them. For the first time, I want to belong if only because it will make Jonah happy.

Mrs. Graves drilling dinner etiquette into me was almost a waste of time. I could easily turn my head and see what Jonah does so I don’t fall into any faux pas. By the time the dinner is finished, I can barely believe I made it out intact. I got a few funny looks at the table, but nothing that a warm smile couldn’t handle. It at least forced them to smile in return, and pressing them to be nice to me, even if only for social graces, felt like it was my biggest weapon.

The alpha claps his hands together as the liquor glasses empty. “It’s time for our ritual run.”

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