Nine.

Nate

She peers up at me with those baby blues of hers. Sometimes it was just the way she looked at me. I could feel the hunger inside of me. The need to be with her.

“She’s good to go.” Doctor Ally breaks me from my thoughts.

“Good. Home.” I mutter. Her baby blues narrow at me.

“I didn’t mean to break the stitches.” She drops her eyes, still frowning

“I know. I just have a lot on my mind.”

“The meeting?” 

I nod my head. Though I was aware that the doctor was paying attention.

“We will talk about it later. Ready?”

She nods her head at me. Instead of picking her up, I let her walk.

She stays a step behind me. Quieter than usual.

“Are you alright?” Turning around, I see that she has stopped. Her eyes are on the group of Lycans that are sparring near the forest.

Elsa jumps when I touch her. Letting out a little gasp

“They’re not going to hurt you.”

She takes a deep breath. “How do you hide yourselves so well?”

“Rules.” I mutter, tugging her up to the house.

“Rules.” She repeats “What if they show themselves to a human? You know, without being bitten?”

Stopping to look at her. I was weighing up the options of telling her the truth or not.

“They won’t show themselves because it is punishable by death.”

Her mouth does that thing where it parts a little.

“It is important we keep ourselves hidden. We don’t need anymore events like yesterday.”

Her eyes are wide as she nods her head. “You told me.”

“I had marked you.”

Her fingers trace over the mark on her neck as she stares at me.

“Why me?”

“You were chosen for me.”

“Chosen?”

“I could smell you Elsa. Your scent called to me. How do you think I was there that night?”

Her heart flutters as she continues to stare at me. The longer she stares, the more irrational I feel.

“Inside.” I grumble.

“Let me guess. I have to go to bed.” She mutters.

She spins around and almost crashes into my chest. She gasps as her hand rests against me and I grip her hips.

“You and Doctor Ally.” She takes a long breath. “You weren’t talking about running or sports were you?”

The rumble comes from deep inside of me. A sound of desire. A sound that I had never made before.

“No.”

Tilting her face up. My thumb runs along her bottom lip. She doesn’t fight it. I can smell her. She was just as desperate for me.

Pressing my lips against hers, she freezes before relaxing into it.

She groans a little as I press myself up against her. She doesn’t pull away. Her tongue entwines with mine. My hands ball up in her long dark hair. I had to stop before it went too far.

Her breathing is heavy as I pull away. I couldn’t risk giving her any more injuries.

“You should rest.”

“Okay.” She whispers breathlessly. Her skin was a little flushed, but nothing like when I caught her looking at me the other night.

I watch her trot up the stairs before disappearing into my office. A note sat on the table

‘Blue Moon will be arriving shortly after Crescent Bay.’

I groan. As much as I didn’t want this meeting, it was needed. 

Blue Moon and Crescent Bay were allies of Black Forest. It wouldn’t be a bad thing usually, but my ex is part of Blue Moon and she is the Alpha’s daughter. No doubt, Farrah would be coming with Alpha Craig.

‘Mason?’ I link him

‘Yes Alpha, is everything okay?’

‘Come to the office.’

Less than a minute later, he raps on the door. He steps in without waiting.

“Any problems today?”

“Nothing has been reported, Alpha.”

“Good. The less trouble I have when our guests are here, the better. I trust that you can manage without me for a couple of hours.”

“I wouldn’t be Beta if I couldn’t.” He gives me a smirk. “I assume Farrah will be coming.”

“Of course. Farrah doesn’t miss an opportunity to remind me that we belong together.”

He laughs as he shakes his head. “Well she is going to be in for a rough ride when she realises you have a mate.”

"Hmm." I was planning on keeping her away from the meeting. “Do you have a guard for my mate?”

“That is something we need to discuss. Lola wants to do it.”

“As in my sister, Lola?”

He nods his head at me.

“Do you think she is capable?” I knew he had a thing for her, he just wouldn’t admit it.

“She works hard at training. There’s no reason why she couldn’t. Plus it helps that they seem to get along.”

“Fine.” It wasn’t ideal but the least I could do was give Lola a chance.

Less than an hour later, Alpha Vella of Crescent Bay arrives. In tow is his tall and lean Beta, Brant.

Vella greets me with a hearty handshake. We had gone to the same school together. He had taken over Crescent Bay the day he turned eighteen. They were thriving more than ever.

He runs a hand through his chaotic dark curls and nods his head. “It’s good to see you Nate, just a shame it's under such poor circumstances.”

He was here to discuss the same problem that we all had. The murder of wolves and lycans.

“Will Craig be long?”

“No, he is due to arrive any minute. Come in.”

Vella sits at the large dining table. Brant stays on his feet, positioning himself right behind Vella. No matter how many times I have told him that he is free to sit with us, Brant continues to take this position.

“NATE!” I hear her voice travel through my house. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was Elsa’s. But the voice was coming from Farrah. It sends a shiver down my spine.

“Farrah. Will you keep it together!.” I hear Craig’s deep voice rumble as Mason opens the door.

Farrah rushes me. Her arms wrap around my neck as she squeezes me. “It’s so good to see you Nate.”

“Farrah, take a seat.” I push her off of me and she pouts, sticking out those plump lips of hers. 

Her coils seem to grow every time I see her, but today she had her hair braided. All the way down to her ass.

“Nate.” Craig beamed at me. He had no hard feelings over mine and Farrah’s break up. It was Farrah that couldn’t seem to accept we were over.

We waste no time in talking about the deaths. I had lost two, but Vella and Caig had lost six members of their packs, each. All through the same causes. Killed by silver bullets.

“This has to be human, right?” Vella asks as he takes a swig of brandy.

“We found the one that is responsible for the deaths in my pack. He met his own fatal death through wolf bite.”

“Well that’s something.” Craig mutters, “But our latest victim was yesterday. The same person isn’t responsible.”

I could feel Farrah’s chocolate eyes on me. Her lips smack together as she chewed heavily on gum.

“There is a link with someone in my pack. The guy was responsible for killing her father.”

I watch Farrah perk up as I say ‘her’. She quickly stops chewing on the gum to stare at me.

“The situation is a little complicated. She’s currently transitioning.”

“That surprises me.” Vella smiles at me. “It’s been a long time since you have had a new wolf in the pack. But forgive me. Why would her human father have anything to do with this?”

“He wasn’t human.”

There are frantic mutterings as I ask Mason to see if Elsa was up for joining us.

Moments later, I smell her sweet scent. She hovers outside the door as Mason holds it open for her.

When she doesn’t move. I make my way to the door, taking her hand. Her eyes stay on mine as she enters the room. Farrah’s eyes were already narrowed. Her chocolate orbs moved from our locked hands, to the mark on her neck.

“She’s your fucking mate?!”

“FARRAH. Watch your language, we are guests.” Craig yells

Farrah slams her hands down on the table as she rises to her feet. “You are supposed to be with me. You are mine. Look at her, she is nothing!”

As I sit, I pull Elsa onto my lap.

“Farrah, we broke up over a year ago.” I wanted Elsa to know that Farrah and I had nothing going on.

“You said that we would be together!” She snarls through gritted teeth. Elsa’s hand tightens around my wrist.

“I never said that. Farrah, we broke up because you were so obsessive. We were never meant to be.”

“You fucking bastard!”

“FARRAH NIGHTINGALE.” Craig yells at the top of his voice. “Sit your ass down and shut your mouth. We are not here for you. We are here to discuss our problem.”

“But Dad…”

“No, Farrah. We have had this conversation. You are not his fated mate. And that is the end of that!”

He sits down next to me and apologises for his daughter's outburst. He smiles at Elsa, “Please forgive my daughter, Luna Elsa. She has no right. If I knew she was going to cause a scene, I would have left her at home, where she belongs.”

Elsa nods her head, but she keeps her lips pressed together. Refusing to look at my ex.

The other Alpha’s ask her questions, the same ones I already had. They were both baffled that Elsa’s father had managed to live among humans for so long.

“Dillon.” Vella mutters "A familiar name.". His eyes flash up to Elsa’s “What is your surname?”

“Stanson.” She whispers quietly

Vella looks up his Beta. “Could it be the same man?”

“I will make some calls.” Brant mutters as he leaves the room. 

“You knew my father?” Elsa leans forward on the table. 

“If it is the same man. He was my father’s Beta.”

Elsa looks to me. “A Beta?”

“The same as Mason. Looks after things.”

“No, you’re wrong. My dad worked in an office.” She shakes out her long dark hair as she frowns.

“It seems that your father kept more from you than you ever knew.”