A little far away from them, Erica was fuming in anger, whom Santino chose as his chosen mate to get the upper hand on Artemis in terms of the mate. Because Erica was the best candidate in his eyes as a mate, she was the current head warrior of the pack, strong and intelligent. Even being a girl, she had managed to get that place by fighting with all the male candidates for the head warrior. The second thing was she was an Alpha by blood whom the pack had adopted after her parent’s death. And the third thing was she was beautiful with a brain; the only problem was that she had her mountain-size EGO.
Being an Alpha blood and also the strongest in all the females, on the top, a beautiful face had lifted her EGO so high that she couldn’t see anyone getting more attention than her was something that she couldn’t bear.
At the time, she was looking at Caroline like a throne in her eyes. She was the center of attention from the moment when Santino had announced her as his chosen mate. It was just an announcement, nothing official.
Erica Fernandez was gritting her teeth but observing how a witch, who had just entered the party, had stolen the limelight, and there she thought that she would be the hot topic among the pack members.
“All your family members are partial between you and Artemis. See, how they are enjoying with that witch and no one, I repeat, no one approach to talk with me until now.” Erica said to Santino, whose eyes were on Caroline, wondering how she was doing this. How could she easily win everyone’s heart without using possessing anyone?
It was his idea to use Lobelia flowers with white lilies, and the fact the pack members supported him, even Alpha, didn’t go against his idea, but he was surprised that she still managed to win everyone’s heart without doing any magic.
“Just because I declared you as my chosen mate doesn’t mean you got a license to speak ill about my family. You will find your head under the ground if I hear anything about them from you again.” Santino asked, glaring at Erica. Just because he wanted to become the Alpha of the pack didn’t mean he didn’t observe that they had always been treated equally to both Artemis and him.
“And why in the hell will they approach you? Do you think yourself a queen? Don’t forget that Uncle and Aunt are still the Alpha and Luna of the pack.” Santino sneered at her. “And don’t forget why I chose you to be my mate in the first place, Erica! If I realize that you’re no better than that witch even without her magic, then I won’t mind putting you back in your place,” he added.
“I… I realize my mistake. Let’s go and meet your family members.” Erica realized her mistake quickly and didn’t want to waste a second rectifying it. The last thing she wanted was to return back to the post of Head warrior after seeing the dream of becoming the Luna of the pack.
*
“Mom, she works in the old age home managed by Arti, and you won’t believe me that she has everyone’s heart in just a few works. She didn’t visit a few of them for a couple of days recently, and they missed her badly.” Sila said to Carla, telling more and more about Caroline.
“That old age home is managed by you?” Caroline looked at Artemis in shock. Artemis was about to say YES when Caroline asked another question, “It means you didn’t let me become the permanent employee.” She glared at him, understanding very well his reason to do.
“That’s such a shame that your own mate doesn’t trust you enough to appoint in the old age home that he managed.” They heard the sound of a woman that Caroline didn’t recognize. But yes, she did recognize that whoever commented this would be a MEAN for sure.
Artemis looked at Erica and Santino before responding, “Hell must be empty right now because all the devils are here.”
“Arti,” Carla, his grandpa, smacked him for saying this.
“Grandpa, Grandma,” Santino hugged his grandparents one by one, but all of a sudden, his Grandma grabbed his ear and pulled it the right way.
“Por que demorou tanto?” She asked in portuguese because she was from Brazil. “Você estava esperando o momento certo?”
“me desculpe, vovó.” Santino quickly apologized because his Grandma was scolding him for not meeting her early. Carla left his ear. “Grandma, she is my chosen mate, Erica. She is the head warrior of the pack.”
“Prazer em conhecê-la, vovó. [Nice to meet you, Grandma.]” Erica knowingly spoke on portuguese, showing her ability to speak in portuguese. “Santino me disse que você gosta de falar na sua língua nativa. [Santino told me that you like to talk in your native language.]”
Carla couldn’t understand whether Erica was trying to impress or show Caroline below her. She didn’t mind if Erica was trying to impress her because to become a part of the new family, everyone does such a thing, but if she was trying to humiliate Caroline, that wasn’t good.
“Eu não sabia que sua língua nativa é o português, vovó. [I didn't know your native language is Portuguese, Grandma.].” Caroline spoke out of the blue. “I’m glad that I can speak Portuguese fluently.” She added, showing Erica with whom she was messing.
“Woah!! I didn’t know you knew Portuguese.” Artemis said proudly, wrapping his hand around her shoulder.
“Actually, my brothers taught me Portuguese when they stayed in Manaus for four years,” Caroline replied. “And also, my mom knows this language.”
“Manaus?” Carla asked in confusion. “Even I belong from that city.”
.
#TBC