Thalia's POV
For the few seconds that Alpha Kade and Ronan stared at each other, no words were said, but I could tell that nothing had to be said then.
The tensions were rising from the standoff, to the point where I was feeling it from where I stood.
And soon, it wasn't just me feeling it. I guess the more they just stood there, looking at each other, the Alphas and other guests in attendance were also feeling it.
I had made a quick note of how the people that were looking at us had nearly doubled from the moment Kade joined me and Ronan.
It felt the same way sharks smell blood and come running, or how piranhas get into a feeding frenzy to the point where they don't even recognize their own from their prey.
I wanted to walk away from there, and leave the 'men' to do what they always do to assert dominance.
However, I wasn't stupid, and could remember how during the training for the contest, as the expected Luna of Alpha Kade Prime, that would be deemed as insubordination and disrespect of the highest order.
I wasn't going to start stirring things up, less than an hour after being crowned Luna.
And what had me by the balls was knowing that I was the one expected to pick my poison.
It was either I go back to Ronan( and I highly doubt that was ever going to end well), or stay with Alpha Kade, or lastly, defy both of them and having Kade execute me right there and then.
I mean, even I knew that the man was not going to waste a second with me to send a message that even if his Luna defies him, there were going to be consequences.
Deadly consequences.
As I was deep in thought, I was shoved back to reality by Ronan's action.
It seemed to me that the long standoff in silence was not just a measure of their egoes, but an assertion of dominance.
And this was clarified after the long wait finally ended with Ronan, doing half a bow for Alpha Kade Prime.
It wasn't enough for any ordinary person to still have their head still on their shoulders, but it's Alpha Ronan we're talking about here.
Kade had no reason to be happy or content with that pathetic excuse for a bow, and I could see it on his face.
Well, I could barely see it since the man has a near rock solid face that wasn't the best one to read and get any emotions from.
He had half a smile, but his brows were furrowed and pulled more to the center than normal.
Even if his eyes showed some distance elation, I noticed that his veins were a bit popped, and I couldn't have missed him grinding his teeth for just a split second.
Alpha Kade was half pleaded, and half angered.
And even for the people that were spectating, none of them said or did anything.
That was a message to me not to interfere with whatever was happening, and this was also greatly attributed to how Cassian was still talking to the elders and not with us.
The two Alphas looked like they were about to clench their firsts and start a brawl right there in the middle of the celebration, and no one seemed like they were going to get in the way.
As I was still confused with what I was expected to do in that situation, Ronan decided to break the silence.
It came as a shock, since I was highly doubtful that whatever was going to come out of his mouth, was going to be positive.
"Alpha Kade Prime, it's a pleasure to see you. Allow me to pass my congratulations from the Shadowmoon Pack, and offer them to you."
His voice was clear and didn't carry any kind of hesitation with it. And neither did it have any form of jealousy, or hatred with it.
Till now, when I remember hearing that, I still try to pick out any kind of emotion and tone from the way he spoke, but I'm still unable to pick anything out.
That still bothers me.
And I know that even Kade was expecting to pick something from the way that Ronan talked, but from the reaction on his face, I guessed that I wasn't the only one that was unable to pick anything up.
Even when I looked over to Ronan, and wanted to see if there was any kind of expression on his face, I came up short.
It was as if Ronan had killed all the nerve endings that were on his face to manage to pull tha one off.
I could tell that Kade was not buying that, no matter how good Ronan was making it seem.
However, as though as he had decided to put the thought on hold, Kade decided that it would be smart for him to give him a response.
In a similar and identical tone, he looked at Alpha Ronan and said to him,
"Your congratulations has been received rightfully so."
And that was not all. No.
Kade decided to take it an extra step further and as he looked deep into the eyes of Ronan, he slowly lifted his hand to Ronan.
He waited, and waited....for Ronan to reciprocate what he was doing.
Like a gentleman's pact, Kade waited for Ronan to shake his hand.
To the normal person, that would seem like a harmless action from both men, and it would be just a handshake.
What anyone who knew saw was about to happen, was that Ronan was going to admit defeat if he was going to shake that hand.
Ronan wasn't also stupid not to know what it would mean for him to shake that hand.
And even with my eyes focused on looking at neither of them, I could feel the tension of Ronan wanting to look at me, for I was sure that he would have wanted to see if I knew what was being portrayed.
I didn't dare look at the man. If he had the brains to find his way to the finals of the contest, then he had the brains to know what to do when Kade was waiting for a handshake with him.
What made the situation even worse was, even with the growing number of people who were increasingly turning their gaze towards us,was that ignoring Kade's invitation was also wrong.
It would be classified under the rules of insubordination and disrespect as well since all the Alpha's under Kade's territory were answerable to him.
However, I wasn't prepared for what happened next, and I still don't believe that Ronan decided to do something absolutely stupid and questionable.
Instead of just accepting the handshake and shaking Kade's hand, he did more than that.
He looked at Kade, raised his hand to meet the waiting hand and then went ahead to say, as he shook the hand,
"I've had some good memories with her, I hope that you won't let any chances."
I felt the bile in my stomach within a second, still shocked that that was going to be the type of person to go with that and say something such as that.
Kade didn't seem surprised by it. In fact, he didn't even look bothered by it.
It was as if he was expecting such from Ronan, it's just that he didn't know what to expect.
I wanted to talk back and defend myself, if not,at least make an effort to save my dignity.
But that wasn't possible.
I still had to hold my ground and not make any kind of sound
That was a conversation happening between two Alphas, with one of them being the most powerful in the land.
There was absolutely no way that I was going to even think about finding out what was going to happen if I was going to dare and step out of line.
"She is something, isn't she?" Kade asked Ronan, and for the first time since he had gotten to where I stood, is when I felt his gaze on me.
I managed to gather some courage so that I could look at him, and figure out what he was trying to accomplish.
And the moment that our eyes connected, I felt something.
It felt.... different.
I didn't understand it then, and that's why I didn't pay attention to it that much and thought that it was just a muscle spasm.
Setting aside my thoughts, I realized that I could somehow see the emotions and facial language easier from the person that I just happened to be looking at.
And that's when I saw it.
Kade wasn't looking at me like his selected Luna who he could have been waiting for for all the years.
He was looking at me with a sick and sadistic smile that I could right through the fake smile that he plastered on his face, that he was doing more than just looking at me.
He was staring down at me like I was some sort of possession to be shown off.
I don't think that even being a trophy was as bad as the impression that I was getting from Kade.
The only thing that I could for sure tell that might have been different with Kade and Ronan, was that the person who was looking at me, was no longer Ronan.
'Keep looking at me like I'm nothing, used in anything except my sole purpose. You're going to regret it!' I muttered in my heart.