Day of the Mate Ball “This is outrageous! I want to see my mate, NOW!” Damon screams in my face. I smile at him as I wipe droplets of spit off my face. “I’m sorry, Alpha. She doesn’t want to see you before the ball. She wants her dress to be a surprise,” I lie. “I haven’t seen my mate since Laura died, and I want to speak with her! Two weeks is too long!” He yells. “She’s been very busy with the final preparations for the ball, Alpha. Don’t you like what we did with the pack hall and the beautiful canopies? I think the fairy lights will make everything look magical when night falls,” I say with an innocent smile. “Yes, everything looks very nice,” Damon says, his teeth clenched. “However, very important people are attending this event, and I want to ensure that everything runs smoothly.” “I can assure you, Alpha, that Luna Cassia has meticulously gone over every detail. To be honest, she’s been running us ragged,” I chuckle. Before he can respond, I hear a window upstairs slide
‘Is everyone in position?’ I mind-link the Luna Guard and Crescent Warriors as we walk through the back door of the pack hall. ‘Yes, Delta.’ ‘Gamma Alex, are the rest of the warriors in position to support Nick’s men?’ ‘Yes, Delta. Everyone is in position. Now stop worrying and try to have some fun tonight,’ Uncle Alex tells me. I take a deep breath to try to calm my nerves as Cassia passes me a glass of champagne. “Here, Athena. We might not be able to get drunk, but this will help take the edge off,” she smiles, clinking her glass with mine and then Jess’s. “Cheers,” I say with a smile, downing the glass in one gulp. Tony puts his hand on the small of my back and asks, “Are you okay?” “I’m fine. I’ve just never had to give a speech in front of so many people before,” I explain. I pull the stage curtain back slightly to peer out at the people who have arrived already. “You’re going to be great, Athena,” Tony chuckles lightly. “If it helps, just picture them all naked,” he say
As we walk through the side door and into the main hall, Jess and Jason walk in front of Cassia, while Tony and I walk behind her. Cassia begins greeting and mingling with people while the four of us keep an eye on her. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Harry talking to an older man, and when he notices me, he leads the man over to us. “Delta Athena, I’d like to introduce you to Felix Denning from the Shadow Rock pack,” Harry says. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Delta,” Felix extends his hand for me to shake. “You too, Felix,” I say as I shake his hand. ‘Where’s Damon?’ Harry asks over the mind-link, and after a moment, Leah responds. ‘He’s drinking at the bar with Alpha Costas,’ she says. “It’s safe to talk, Felix,” Harry tells him. “I’m sorry, Delta,” he says. “But as I told Harry, I wasn’t able to find out what Alpha Costas and Alpha Damon are up to. But I can tell you it isn’t good, whatever it is.” “Why do you think that?” I ask him. “Alpha Costas has been leaving the
Content Warning: Mention of r@pe “Fuck you, Damon. You’re a worthless piece of shit,” I snarl at him. Damon charges at me and backhands me across the face, splitting my lip. “YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS ALPHA!” His Alpha aura radiates from his body as he screams in my face. I laugh in his face, and he slaps me again, making me laugh harder. “You’re no Alpha. You’re nothing but scum.” He raises his hand to strike me again, but Nick catches his arm. “How are you fighting his Alpha command?” Nick asks, eyeing me curiously. “I don’t take commands from filthy mutts.” Nick drops Damon’s arm and points to me. “Command her again,” he tells Damon. Damon lowers himself to my eye level. “SUBMIT TO ME!” He roars in my face, unleashing his full Alpha aura and shaking the vases in the room. When he’s finished, I look at him blankly and then laugh again. “Wow, that was a good one, Damon. It felt like you blew your entire load on it.” Damon steps back in surprise as he realizes he really can’t comm
Nick P.O.V I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and dial the boss’s number as I run to my car. “Yes?” “She’s the fucking Alpha!” I yell into the phone as I sprint to my car. “Get everybody here now. I’m pulling my men from the border, so they’ll have a clear run into the territory,” I say, and the line goes dead. I jump in the driver’s seat and start my car, mind-linking my warriors at the same time. ‘Everybody pull back, but do it unnoticed,’ I order them and tear down the road towards the main gate. “What about Cassia and Jess!” My wolf, Miko, howls in my head. “He needs to die for what he did to her!” “I have a feeling Damon won’t make it through the night,” I try to reassure him. I speed through the open gate and nearly collide with another car coming up the road, but I swerve to avoid them and re-enter the road as I speed away. # Athena P.O.V “What are you talking about?” He asks, his eyes filled with suspicion. “I believe you were involved in the attack, Alpha Damon,”
Catherine P.O.V “Do you think they’re going to find the Alpha tonight?” I hear one of the werewolves ask Leo, the Beta of the rogue pack. “Alpha Damon invited nearly every lycan Alpha and Luna from across the country for this mate ball. His bid for power has given us the best chance to find the Alpha once and for all,” Leo tells him. “What if the Alpha is a werewolf?” Another werewolf asks. The lycans in the room look between each other and we all start laughing. “As if a werewolf is going to be the chosen Alpha,” Rebecca, another lycan, sniggers. The werewolves glare and growl at us, but Leo lets out a roar, and the room falls silent. “We have never heard of a werewolf being one of the chosen. As far as we are aware, it’s only been lycan to have been chosen by the Moon Goddess,” he explains. “Then why are we even here? This sounds like a lycan problem,” the first werewolf says. Leo approaches him slowly, causing the werewolf to back up. “The chosen are a problem for us all. I
Alpha Costas falters slightly, as if he didn’t expect me to accept his challenge. But he recovers quickly, a smug smile returning to his face as he nods and turns to his men and starts whispering to them. I’m about to walk to Uncle Alex when I see Rich and Noah. I run to Noah, a big smile on my face, and I launch myself at him, hugging him tightly. “It’s good to see you too, Athena,” he chuckles as he squeezes me back. I pull back from Noah and hug Rich hard as well. “You guys timed your return perfectly,” I say as I pull back from Rich and smile at them both. “How’s your shoulder and back?” Rich asks softly. I lower my voice so that only they can hear me. “It’s healing, but it’s still pretty gnarly,” I grimace as I move my shoulder. “I don’t like this, Athena. There has to be another way,” Noah says, his eyes swimming with concern. “He’s vicious, Athena. Be careful fighting him,” Rich warns. “Athena, can we speak please?” Uncle Alex calls out. I pull Rich and Noah into a gro
Catherine P.O.V ‘I’m freezing. I should have found one of their drop spots and stolen a pair of clothes.’ ‘Why don’t we shift?’ Bella suggests. ‘My fur will keep us warm.’ ‘There’s not enough room here and they’ll spot us,’ I say, watching the hospital entrance from our hiding spot nearby. ‘I still don’t think we should do this. You saw what she did to Costas,’ Bella whimpers. ‘Because of Costas, she’s weak and injured. This is the perfect time to kill her.’ ‘Well, I don’t want any part of it,’ Bella says firmly, as she curls up in the back of my mind and blocks me out. ‘Fine’ I huff, rolling my eyes. ‘I’ll do it myself.’ I slowly creep out from my hiding spot and run across the road to the side of the hospital building. I try the windows as I walk along the wall, but all of them are locked. “Shit,” I quietly curse out loud. The last window is an old push out kind, and when I look through, it looks like it’s a janitor’s closet. The lock looks flimsy, so I push hard on the top o
The early morning sun peaks over the surrounding mountains, spreading its warmth over our territory, but I don’t feel it. My breath is ragged as I run hard through the forest. Low-lying branches smack my face as I go past them, but I feel nothing. My only focus is to get to the lake. The lake will calm me before this rage swallows me whole.I finally see it in the distance, the lake that Enyo and I used to soak in after practice. Back when everything was right in the world. Before Daddy was murdered. Before I knew anything about the chosen.I don’t slow as I get closer. Instead, I brace for impact as I dive towards the ice covering the body of water. Enyo’s large, heavy body breaks through, and the iced water takes my breath away as I slowly sink to the bottom. I let the freezing water cool my heated body; the rage releasing from my body and my mind slowly clearing.I can hear shouts from above the water, but I ignore them. As the rage fuelled fogginess leaves my mind, I’m hit with a
“Alpha! Alpha, can you hear me?”I groggily open my eyes and see Leah hovering over me.“Alpha, thank the Goddess,” Leah says with a heavy sigh. “Don’t move, Doc Apollo is on his way.”I grab the back of my head, and I feel that my hair is wet. I look at my hand, and it’s covered in blood.“What happened?” I ask, lifting my head slightly and looking around.“You fell down the cliff side after the rogue charged you,” she explains.I look to my left and up the cliff side. “I’ve been saying for years there needs to be a railing put up there,” I say with a groan and try to sit up.“Please don’t move, Alpha. You fell a long way.”“I see that. But I’ll be okay,” I tell her, sitting up. Then I remember the reason I was in the forest. “Where’s Catherine?” I ask, panicked.“Gamma Michael and Gamma Cole have her in custody,” she explains.“And the other rogue?”She says nothing but looks behind me. I turn and see a young boy, his neck clearly broken from the fall. “Shit,” I grumble. “How did you
“Everything looks wonderful, Melanie,” I compliment her as I look over all the decorated tables outside of the pack hall.“Thank you, Alpha,” she says happily. “I hope you like everything inside, as well.”“I know I will,” I tell her with a big smile.She smiles back and bows before heading off to attend to her duties. Andreas comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, nestling his nose into the crook of my neck. “I can’t believe we pulled this off.”“The pack has worked hard. I’m so proud of everyone.”I see Rich and Noah in the distance, with the Cresent Warriors, and Michael and Beta Castor behind them. I take Andreas’s hand and walk over to them, wanting to keep the conversation away from others. “Still nothing?” I ask, disappointed.“I lost their scent on the other side of the mountain,” Beta Castor says with a frown.“Leah stayed at the Cabin in case she’s stupid enough to go back there,” Tony says.I nod. “We’ll pick up the search again in the morning,” I tell them.
“How is the feast coming along?” I ask Melanie, the pack’s head cook.“Everything is coming along nicely, Alpha. I’ve ensured there’s plenty of food for both packs, with extras.” She says with a proud smile.“You’ve done amazingly, Melanie. If there’s anything you need help with, please speak with Gino,” I tell her.“The Omegas are all taking care of everything, Alpha. They’ve been very helpful, as always.”“I’m proud of all of you,” I tell the rest of the Omegas and they all smile and bow their heads.“Alpha, I need a word with you,” Leah says from the kitchen door.“Of course,” I tell Leah. “Please excuse me, Melanie,” I smile at her.She bows her head and returns to her work, and I follow Leah into the dining room, where I find Rich and Noah waiting.“What can I do for our Epsilons today?” I ask with a smile.“We have a report from our border patrol, Alpha,” Rich says.“There’s been a sighting of a couple of rogues hanging around our borders,” Noah explains.I stiffen. “From the pa
Three hours laterWe watch as fight after fight ends, and the defeated warriors fill the sidelines of the training field, joining the rest of the pack in cheering and enjoying the spectacle.We watch Michael closely as he defeats opponent after opponent.“He hasn’t lost any of his strength,” Cassia says, and I think I see something flash in her eyes, but whatever she was feeling quickly disappears when she notices me staring at her.“Or his viciousness,” Ryna adds.“Nothing wrong with some viscousness in your Gamma, Beta,” Harry says.“As long as it’s towards our enemies...” Gino mumbles.I focus back on Michael as he defeats another warrior, trying to ignore the guilt I feel from Gino’s comment.“Maybe you should have just named him Gamma, Alpha,” Tony says. “He has the advantage of being a born Beta. I don’t think anyone will beat him.”“It is looking that way. But maybe that will earn him back some of the respect he lost.”“Doubtful. But we’ll see,” Ryna says.“Cole could give him
As I walk towards Ryna’s house with Andreas, I can’t help the pounding of my heart as I think of my best friend never forgiving me.I feel Andreas squeeze my hand tightly, and I give him a small smile as we climb the steps of Ryna’s small cottage. I take a breath as we approach the door and knock.Gino answers the door a few moments later, and I’m engulfed with the anger he feels as it radiates from his body.“He needs time, Alpha.” He says shortly.“I understand, Gino. But there are pack matters that need to be attended to,” Andreas says when I don’t say anything.“I will make sure that all pack matters are dealt with,” Gino responds, his glaring eyes never leaving mine.I swallow the lump in my throat and finally find the words I want to say. “I’m not here about pack business,” I say, my voice coming out as a squeak. “I came to apologize for everything that happened yesterday.”“It’s going to take more than apologies, Alpha,” Gino says angrily.“I know, but I can only start there.”
The Next DayAthena P.O.VI try to roll over, but I’m being held in place by Andreas. I kiss his arm and say, “Time to wake up, my love.”He groans and hugs me tighter. “No, thanks.”I laugh and try to roll over again. “If you squeeze me any harder, Andreas, I’m going to pee.”“Fiiiiiine.” He releases me with another groan before rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes. “We can’t stay in bed,” I say as I get up and go into the bathroom. “We have way too much to do in the next few days. We still haven’t questioned the others we captured with Leon the other night. We have to get the pack house sorted out…”“I knooooow,” he says with another groan, cutting me off before I repeat the seemingly never-ending list of things we need to do.I giggle as I finish up and wash my hands before turning the shower on. I hear Andreas come up behind me, so I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck with a kiss.He smiles into my lips before kissing down my neck to my mark. He leaves a chaste kis
Somewhere nearby…I’m flung across the room as my connection to the Alpha is broken.“Master! Are you okay?” Alyria asks, running over and taking my arm.I look down at her bony hand on my arm, then at her. I glare at her and slap her hard across the face.“HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!” I bellow at her.“I’m sorry, Master.” She whimpers, holding her cheek.“GET ME THE WITCH! NOW!” I yell at her, and she gets up from the ground and scurries from the room.“What happened, Master?” Wren asks from the corner of the room.“Her wolf broke the connection,” I explain angrily, standing and brushing off my clothes.“How? I thought the witch said she’d be locked away in the Alpha’s mind?”“I don’t know!” I yell at him, and he shrinks back in fear.“You called for me, Sir?” the witch, Elizabeth asks as she enters my office.I stalk toward her angrily. “You told me the wolf would be locked away in the Alpha’s mind. So would you care to explain to me how the wolf was able to break my connection to the Al
“MURDERER!” someone screams, and everyone falls silent, turning to where the scream came from. “Karla,” I whisper, my body suddenly shaking. She looks weak and sickly, her eyes red from crying. “WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?” she screams again, and I see Cassia running towards her. “Karla, why don’t we go back inside?” Cassia says softly, taking her arm. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” Karla shouts, pulling her arm out of Cassia’s grasp. “I WANT TO KNOW WHY SHE KILLED MY MATE!” The pack members begin whispering and pulling their kids behind them. “Karla, please, why don’t we go inside so we can discuss this,” Andreas says, taking a step towards her. He takes my hand to walk with him, but my feet won’t move. I’m frozen in place. No words are forming in my mind as I stare at the woman whose mate I killed with my bare hands. “Athena?” He says, looking back at me. “I… I…” I stutter out, but nothing else comes. “ANSWER ME, YOU FILTH!” Karla spits out, and Enyo growls. There are gasps and more whispers