Chapter 83: The Beta Said Hold My Nectar

Alpha Thunderfang faced forward. He must have been deep in thought or something. Nova wasn’t sure.

The men were useless. Derek was wheezing. Tavian was wheezing behind him. The laughter had spread through the Thunderfang ranks like a virus with no vaccine and Nova was standing in the middle of it trying to deescalate things with a woman who wanted her dead.

"Princess, I haven’t done anything to your wolf. I mean no harm," Nova said, ignoring the laughs and looking directly at Celeste.

Extending an olive branch to Celeste Starborne was stupid. It had never worked before. But maybe that’s what she needed.

Celeste’s chin trembled, which was either a genuine emotion or a performance so good it deserved an award.

"You did something to all three of the Alpha’s wolves. And that’s why they bid on you. But you got the bastard. The one you didn’t want. Admit it, you harlot."

Alas, the olive branch was rejected, stomped on, and set on fire.

"You are mistaken. I promise, I have no wolf. I’m not trying to do anything. But I apologize my presence here has unnerved you, Princess. That’s not my intent." Nova meant that part. She wasn’t looking to ruffle any feathers and would’ve gone in the back, but Alpha Thunderfang wanted Derek up here. She also knew every word was going to bounce off Celeste like a tennis ball hitting concrete.

"Your presence HAS NOT unnerved me. Your presence disgusts me," Celeste corrected. "Know the difference."

"If you turn around and face forward, you won’t have to look at her," Derek offered with a straight face, finally done wheezing.

One sentence from a bastard that solved a six-block argument.

Celeste spun back around, walking forwards now. The spin was violent enough to generate wind. Her cloak flared. Her hair followed. The drama was cinematic. Nova could appreciate it.

"Are you listening to this?" Celeste asked, looking at Alpha Thunderfang. "The bastard and the slave are speaking to me disrespectfully, Landon. Two for two. Your brother and his pet have both insulted your future Luna on your homecoming and you are standing there like you can’t hear me. The slave also harmed me. Can you hear me, Landon?" Her voice cracked. "Because I am running out of ways to say this politely. I never in a million years thought Thunderfang would be this hostile."

Every wolf within fifty feet could hear her. But Alpha Thunderfang faced forward and did not spare Celeste a glance. The man was either deaf, meditating, possessed, or experiencing a dissociative episode of some kind. Nova genuinely did not know.

The silence from Alpha Thunderfang was so loud it had its own echo. Celeste absorbed it the way a boxer absorbs a punch and came back swinging at the only target that mattered.

"You will be dealt with," she snapped over her shoulder, operating on the belief that the seventh time she threatened something would be the charm. "The second Derek Thunderfang gets bored of you, he’ll sell you and you’ll be right back where you started. And he will. Mark my words. Enjoy the front of the line. It’s temporary. Everything about you is."

Celeste was facing forwards and she barely had her head turned. Nova took that as don’t respond. She looked out at the crowd.

"YOU WILL LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK, 7709." Celeste’s volume punched through the ten seconds of peace. She whipped back around, walking backwards. Nova blinked a few times, genuinely wondering what her angle here was.

"You’re a whore. That’s all you are and will ever be. My father sold you to be a whore. You were inspected, for fuck’s sake."

The word hit the air and the temperature around Derek dropped ten degrees. His grip tightened around her waist as a growl sounded from under his ribs. His suit began doing things that belonged in a lightning storm.

Celeste’s eyes landed on him, like she had finally figured out that whore was this man’s goddamn line.

"Struck a nerve, did I? Ask her. My brother brought her up into a room. That’s where the Emberclaw Alpha inspected her with the other Alphas. They lined up like customers for a whore. She took it. My brother said she cried after one put a finger in her mouth."

Nova shuddered as the memory of it flashed vividly in her mind. She swallowed it down, refusing to get upset. But hearing that in front of an audience in middle of a parade was a lot.

"Call her that one more time," Derek growled. The sound was half man, half something that lived under his ribs and was done negotiating.

"Just wait," Celeste continued. "She will be throwing herself at the men here because that’s her only currency. And you will tire of her. You two might be suited for one another, actually."

Tavian Voltcrest spoke up from behind them at that moment.

"Accusing the virgin of throwing herself at people. That logic is so dumb it circles all the way around to funny. Spin around, Princess. Cameras are watching."

Celeste whipped around so fast her cloak billowed. Both hands went up, waving, big and bright and camera-ready.

There were no cameras.

She was waving at ghosts. The Thunderfang Beta had just Rick-rolled a Starborne princess flawlessly.

Nova blinked a few times, relieved. Her being a virgin was common knowledge, which tracked if she thought about it. Regardless of that part, she appreciated the help.

She glanced over her shoulder at Tavian. Grateful didn’t cover it. Her eyes burned for a second, which was embarrassing. She swallowed it down.

Tavian gave her a single nod. One nod. The nod of a man who had hit soprano during a bomb disposal, cried on a yacht, and just dismantled a princess with one sentence. Beta Voltcrest was full of surprises and all of them were perfectly timed.

Derek’s eyes were locked on the back of Celeste’s head and the expression that settled on his face said this exchange was far from over.