Chapter 10: Unwanted? I think not!
"Jealousy is not a good look on you"
Willow spun around to see Damon behind her.
"Who says I am jealous?"
His eyebrow shot up in question.
"Really?"
"You heard the girl. She said it was a mistake and honestly, the red color gives the dress character than the wearer." she scoffed.
"You should not have done that."
Willow seemed surprised at Damon’s admonishment.
"Come on, what is wrong with you? You would have done the exact same thing, remember?"
He did remember.
One time he and Willow had decided to play a cruel game of kick the buckets with one of the Omegas and they had picked Ayla.
Damon could still remember her stumbling over the bucket of dirty soap water and being drenched in it.
"Nothing is wrong with me, Willow."
"Then why are you coming to her rescue all of a sudden?" she folded her arms across her chest and regarded him pointedly.
"This is an important occasion and you ruined it with your pettiness. I do not appreciate that." He took a step toward her and lowered his voice so only she could hear.
"You are going to take the girl you sent to do your dirty work, leave this ceremony and do not return."
"You cannot be serious."
"I am dead serious, Willow. Do not make me repeat myself. You know how much I hate to do that."
Willow’s eyes flashed with anger but she knew Damon and she knew he was no joke.
The last thing she wanted to do was disobey a direct order from him.
"I cannot believe you" She scoffed, signaling to the girl who had spilled the wine on Ayla.
They both walked away with Damon watching to make sure they headed for the exit.
"You need to grow up." Cassian muttered.
He was standing beside Damon now.
"Grow up?" Damon echoed turning to his brother.
"Yes, Damon. You know how important this ceremony is to both our father and to us and you think this is the best place to play one of your pranks on Ayla?"
"You think I spilled the wine on her?" Damon asked in disbelief.
"I think you have no idea how much hangs in the balance and you should... you are not a child."
Damon scoffed.
He did not bother correcting his brother. What was the point? It was not like he would believe him anyways.
"I know exactly how much hangs in the balance and is still hanging because our brother could not bring himself to do what needs to be done so spare me your faux righteousness, Cassian. You were ready to fuck Ayla too yesterday. If you will excuse me, I do not have to stand here and listen to you berate me." Damon said, stalking off.
Cassian glared at his brother.
There were moments when he was so tempted to punch him in the mouth.
This was one of those moments.
But he was right.
He had been ready to mate with Ayla.
Hell, he had been anticipating mating with her.
He had always thought of her that way.
She was beautiful and she had a way about her that also made her pretty interesting.
Right before the whole wine incident, he had been watching her and his brother, Ares.
It was obvious she was smitten by him.
She always had that blush in her cheeks whenever he was speaking to her.
Cassian was not used to this feeling.
He was jealous.
He wanted Ayla to look at him the way she did with Ares.
Hell, with Damon she always looked like she was in between thinking of strangling him or just killing him.
He wondered what she was doing with Ares now.
His brother did always have that rogue aura about him that made the girls swoon. Was she swooning right at this moment?
Cassian’s thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into him.
"I am so sorry, my lord."
When he turned around, it was a girl, an omega.
She had her auburn hair tied up in a knot.
He knew her.
He always did see her and Ayla together so he assumed they were friends.
"What is your name?" He asked.
"Astrid, my lord"
"You are friends with Ayla?"
The girl glanced up in surprise.
"Yes, yes I am."
"Good. Come with me"
He took the tray she was holding and handed it to one of the guards.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they left the ceremony and headed back into the packhouse.
He did not respond, merely guided her until they reached the prince’s quarters.
Ares’ door was ajar and so Cassian pushed it open.
He saw Ayla sitting atop Ares’ bed.
She was no longer wearing the white dress but was in a shirt.
Ares was nowhere in sight.
She turned around, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw Cassian.
"My lord..."
"Please Ayla... just Cassian." he smiled.
She appeared to be considering this.
"Go on, give it a try" he prompted.
"Cassian" she murmured.
"Better" Cassian praised.
Heat rose in Ayla’s cheeks as she fumbled for words.
"What are you doing here?"
"I brought a friend."
Cassian beckoned for the girl to come in.
"Astrid?" she scampered to her feet.
"Ayla!" the girl screamed rushing forward.
They both embraced each other while Cassian looked at them, a smile tugging at his lips.
"I cannot believe this." Astrid squealed.
"I haven’t seen you in ages." Ayla wailed.
Cassian stood to the side and watched the two girls giggle at each other.
"What the hell is going on here?" Ares’ voice boomed as he walked into his room, his eyes moving from his brother, Cassian to Ayla and the stranger standing in his room.
"This is Astrid... she is..."
"I thought it would be nice if Ayla was with a friend." Cassian cut in.
"Did you now?" Ares turned to him, a knowing look in his eyes.
"Yes, brother. She is quite happy about it, don’t you think?"
"Well, aren’t we thankful you had such selfless thought."
He knew what this was about.
When Damon had mentioned that their brother, Cassian had specially requested Ayla to clean his room, he knew it was because he fancied her.
A smirk slowly played on Ares’ lips.
"You are becoming obvious, brother."