Chapter 0005

It’s been a few days since I stripped Zell of her luna duties. Zell moved out of the room and is spending all of her time in the guest room. I hate to admit it, but I miss her in our bedroom. I have not been sleeping much without her. I wonder if she misses me as much. Zel has cut herself off from the pack. I can feel her bond to me and the pack weakening.

“Isn’t that what you wanted, asshole?” Emil whined.

“So, you are speaking to me again?”

“Nope, just taking the opportunity to remind you that you are an idiot,” Emil says and blocks me again.

It has been lonely these last few days. My pack is mad at me. Most of the members are looking at me differently. The pack is slowly falling apart without Zel. Khalis has been trying to help out and take on some of the luna duties. A few omegas are happy with that, but most of the pack hates her. I noticed that the daily meals are getting light and the atmosphere around the dining room is changing with each meal. We are going back to the way we were before Zell came. I asked Khalis to look into the changes. She told me that the kitchen staff had to cut the food budget so now they are only getting the essentials needed to keep of healthy. In the past couple of years, we were able to have extra because Zell was supplementing the food budget with her personal finances. I did a review of the pack’s overall finances. The pack’s current income barely covers the expenses of the pack. Even with the taxes paid by the working members, we are barely getting by. I can’t afford to increase the taxes on the pack and the business cannot afford to increase our income. Zell has diverted all of her funds and locked me out of her accounts. I only have access to the pack account and the accounts that I started. She was fair in how she divided anything. I still have everything I had before she came, but none of what she brought with her. I need to divert some of my personal money to the pack’s account, but even that won’t have that big of an impact.

I’ve noticed that since Zell has not been leading the company, we are losing deals. A lot of our business contacts are refusing to work with anyone other than Zell, and she has removed herself from the daily operations of the pack’s business. She is still maintaining a presence in the companies she acquired while working for us. I received legal documents from her attorney a couple of days ago outlining the separation of our finances and the division of the businesses. Zell maintained control of all the new businesses, but returned ownership of all of my family businesses and the original pack companies. I am still responsible for repaying the loan she gave us, but she is allowing us to pay it over some time. I can’t believe Zel is being this petty right now. These are still her people and she is watching them slowly lose morale.

“Ugh! Why are you blaming our mate for this? You are the one that stripped her of her luna duties. She was still fulfilling all of her duties to us, even when we were not being a mate to her. This is your fault.” Emil huffed.

“I like it better when you are not speaking to me.”

“Whatever,” Emil said.

Like everyone else, Emil blames me instead of Zell. Khalis is not helping. She sits in the luna seat at every meal now and treats the pack members like she is the luna. I know that she and a few omegas have been disrespecting Zell. At first, I allowed it because I saw how upset Zell got, but after a couple of days, Zell stopped reacting. It’s like she stopped caring what anyone in the pack did or said. What bothers me the most is that Zel has not come to me once and tried to talk things out. Zel used to always try to fix whatever problems we had in the past. She would always come to me and be the first to compromise. She never wanted me to be mad at her. She would always do whatever I wanted or needed to make me happy. Not this time. She doesn’t even acknowledge my presence anymore. If she would just come and apologize, I may just take her back.

“What does she have to apologize for? She has not done anything.”

“She cheated on us!” I yelled

“Say you and that evil female. But don’t forget, I know your inner thoughts, so sell that line to the others. I know better. I’m just going to sit back and watch you self-destruct.”

“If I go down, you go down with me,” I say

“I know. It doesn’t matter anyway. I am already losing Sapphire and because of you going against the moon goddess, we will never get a second chance mate. As much as it hurts, I pray that Zell and Sapphire get a second mate who will treat them better than us.”

I can’t believe Emil would want Zell to get another mate. She is OURS!. No one can have her. Once I break her down, we’ll take her back and love her right.

Khalis picked that moment to pop into my office. I hate seeing her come. It is always bad news when she comes. She is beginning to really irritate me. She actually thinks she is the next luna. That will never happen. She is a means to an end and nothing more. She is my spy and informant. That’s it.

“Hi, alpha.”

“What is it you need, Khalis?”

“Why do you always assume I need something when I come to see you? I just wanted to check on you and make sure you are ok. I know it’s hard but stay the course. I am very close to getting you the evidence that you need. This evidence is concrete. There will be nothing anyone can say or do when you kick Zell out. Not even the council will be able to dispute you getting that parasite out of your pack. You should have picked me. I have always loved you. I would have never cheated on you. I would never try to steal your pack and companies from you. All I ever wanted was to love you and be your luna. I don’t need to be your equal. I don’t need to be your alpha female. I just want to love you and let you lead and care for me.” Khalis said.

“Why are you listening to this whore? She sleeps with any male available. Our mate has only ever been with us,” Emil growls.

“Shut it mutt,” I say to Emil

“What do you mean that she is trying to steal my pack?”

“Come on, alpha, isn’t obvious? Can’t you see how she is turning all the ranked members against you? Everyone is blaming you for the lack of luxuries in the pack when it is her blocking all of the money. My sources told me that she has been approaching the other alphas. She recently spoke to Alpha Richard about merging his pack with yours. He will become her chosen mate and take over your pack. The pack that has been in your family for generations. She is telling the other alphas that you are not strong enough to lead the pack without her. I wouldn’t be surprised if other alphas start challenging you. You need to get rid of her before it gets worst.”

Emil takes control and grabs Khalis around the neck. “Zell would never do that! Where is your proof?”

“You didn’t think she would cheat on you either, but you were wrong,” Khalis said gasping for air.

“Watch it, bitch. You are not dealing with my idiot human. I know my mate has never cheated on me and I know that there is no way around the bond wolves have. No matter what the humans do, we are connected on a different level. I always know what Sapphire is doing, so save that lie for that idiot human of mine. You either bring me real proof that she is trying to get some other alpha to take over or I will kill you before my human can stop me,” Emil said and then gave me back control.

“Alpha Richard himself is willing to meet with you alone tomorrow at his pack. He can provide you with all the details. He will have his better and other trusted men who can corroborate his story. We all know that Alpha Richard has been very open about wanting Zell. My source says that Alpha Richards wants Zell, but does want the drama and would never move against another alpha in that manner. We can end all of this tomorrow if you agree.”

“Set it up. I want to get to the bottom of this once and for all. I am tired of the back and forth. Oh and Khalis, if you are lying to me, Emil is your least worry. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.”

Khalis rushes out of my office. I think she realizes that she has pushed Emil past his limit.

“Mate wants to replace us,” Emil whins. “She doesn’t just want to leave us. She wants to take our pack. This is all your fault. You pushed her too far with all of this. Sapphire won’t even talk to me right now. The more you and this pack hurt Zell, the more Sapphire pulls away from me. I hate you for would you did to our mate and me.”

“We will get to the bottom of this tomorrow. One way or the other, we will know and we will deal with it.”

“No one can take my pack from me. Not even mate.” Emil said and ended our link.

I linked my beta to come back to my office. I wanted to see what he would say with this new information. Sooner or later, he will have to open his eyes and see Zell for who she is. He is my best friend. I need him on my side. I may very well lose my other best friend behind all of this. I can’t let Zell take anything else from me. She already took my freedom away before I was ready to settle down. I didn’t want to be responsible for a mate at such a young age. It was me who asked her father to let her come to me, but my father pressured me, and I didn't think Zach or her father would let her leave with me until she was 18 and her wolf confirmed I was her mate. I thought I would have 2 more years to live my life. I gave up everything for her. I will not give up my pack or my friend for her.

“You wanted to see me, alpha?” Beta James asked.

“I just heard that Zell is trying to get other alphas to challenge me for my pack. She is offering them the opportunity to be her chosen mate if they challenge me. Now what do you have to say about you innocent luna.?”

“Let me guess. Khalis told you that and you believed her without question?”

“Khalis is Zel’s friend. Why would she lie?”

“Can you hear yourself right now? A friend would never do what Khalis has been doing to Zell. Even though I think what you are doing is wrong, I haven’t run to Zach and told him. I haven’t even said anything to Zell. A friend would have tried to talk to Zel, not try to undermine her and start a relationship with her mate, and then flaunt that relationship in front of everyone.”

“Khalis and I do not have a relationship. She is just my informant and nothing more.”

“Please, I know she was one of the many females you were sleeping with before you decided to claim Zell, even though you claimed you knew she was your fated mate. All of this is a little convenient. I am still hoping that I am wrong about you and that you didn’t set Zell up and convince her that you were her mate because you knew she loved you just to save our pack. Now that the pack is somewhat stable, you are looking for an excuse to get rid of her and go back to your whore.”

“James, how can you think that about me? You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did, but we both know what type of person Khalis is. There are at least three mated pairs that Khalis has destroyed in the last three years and that is just the ones that we know about. Before you tell that same lie that she was covering for Zel, we personally witnessed her meeting with these males and caught them in the act a couple of times. No one outside of Zell ever gave her the benefit of the doubt. Zell was naïve enough to believe and her and now I see that she was also naïve enough to believe in you.”

“I have not touched Khalis since I have been with Zell. I have not encouraged her at all. She came to me out of concern.”

“Keep telling that lie to someone who does not know the truth about the two of you. Khalis has never respected the mate bond. Why would you believe her sudden concern for your bond with Zell? As far as her primary witness, Alpha Richard, don’t forget, he also approached Alpha Z and asked for Zell as a chosen mate several times before Zach had to threaten him to stay away from Zell. You know, Zell refuses to meet with him without someone in the room with her. Remember when Zell first came to us, Alpha Richard tried to force her to take him as her chosen mate and she wasn’t mature yet. Sort of what you did, you just convinced everyone that you were fated.”

“I never tried to force her, and we are fated.”

“Then why would you take the word of the very person that will do almost anything to have her? Why would he tell you if he can just challenge you to get her? And let’s be real if Zell offered herself up, there would be numerous challenges coming in for you right now. There is not an unmated alpha in the realm that would not jump at the chance to have her as their mate.”

“I hear what you are saying, but I owe it to my pack to see this through. They deserve to have all of the facts. Khalis claims that they have actual evidence and I want to see it.”

“Alpha, I am going on record again saying that I don’t agree with this.”