Chapter 6

KADE

I made my way back over to Apollo’s room so that the Luna did not realize I switched rooms. He opened the door with a glare, but I just shrugged. I often had to do things for our pack that I did not care for, so that was what he was doing now. He just needed to be a team player on this.

“Imagine how much it would hurt your new Luna to have this one coming in to make a move while she and I were getting to know each other. It could make her feel betrayed. Do this for her,” I said, squeezing his shoulder.

“Fine. For her. Not you because you fucking suck,” he said, shaking my hand off his shoulder. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

Apollo knew how much I wanted a mate. My grandparents had an amazing connection that held strong to this day. Gramps still took Grams out on dates every Friday night unless it was a full moon. He would move those date nights accordingly. They said that life of a leader was hectic and stressful. Intentionally making time for your mate was what created strong relationships. My parents also had a strong relationship as well while my mother was alive. I grew up wanting that type of relationship. Finding that one person who would become your everything was a gift that our species was given.

“Excited but nervous. Tyre already said he’d win her over if I couldn’t,” I said which just caused him to laugh. Thanks asshole. 100% unwavering loyalty was apparently hard to come by these days.

There was a knock at the door, so I opened it up to reveal the Luna in a black dress that was even shorter than before. Did this tactic work on other Alphas they dealt with? I had never met an Alpha who paraded his Luna around to entice visiting packs. It did not seem that he had the respect for her that many would for their mate.

My mate would be my Queen and treated with the utmost respect and love possible. I would not take her opinions, voice, or choices away. If she wanted to wear a certain style, as long as it was not obscene, then she could. She would be my equal and have just as much authority in our pack and our relationship as I would. I would not tolerate anyone disrespecting her, just as I would not disrespect her like this Alpha did to his Luna. It did not matter if it was mutual or not. They disrespected the bond gifted to them.

Cheating on a mate was impossible to hide. Physical marks would form on the party being cheated on if they intimately touched someone or someone intimately touched them. The only way that did not happen was if both parties were legitimately okay with it. Their bond would become damaged as a result of their extramarital affairs.

We had an Elder in our pack that figured out that his mate was being raped because of the cuts that lined his skin. He knew that she would never cheat, and that was confirmed when they found the guy in the act. The guy was dead before he realized that anyone found him.

“I hope you’re hungry. We’ve prepared a delicious meal just for you…your pack,” she corrected once she noticed Apollo behind me.

“I’m sure we’re all famished,” I said with a nod.

She smiled and gestured for us to follow her. I linked everyone else to follow as well, and they all filed in behind us. I was glad that we brought so many with us. It was not our intention to need them, but it showed our strength and solidarity.

Our pack members were beasts when it came to strength and size. Even our female warriors had the muscles and strength to take on any of his best warriors and leave victorious. There was not even a single thought of potential failure with them coming out on top.

We were led into a dining room that had a large table that would easily fit us all and then some. Alpha Andrew stood up from his seat and approached us.

“We look forward to this time with your pack and hope that great things will come of your visit,” he said, shaking my hand and offering another overenthusiastic smile.

“I’m certain that great things will definitely come from this trip,” I replied.

Great things definitely would come but had nothing to do with aiding his pack. I would just let him think that was my meaning. I had not seen a single thing to indicate that it would be a wise move to ally ourselves with Blue Crest, and this was them on their best behavior. There were surely things that he would hide during this visit. That was why we would be observing every single behavior and clue. They might try to hide behind facades, but we would find out the truth one way or another.

“Good. Good. Please take a seat.”

We never really had specific seating arrangements in our pack, so we just took a seat. I caught his look of confusion when I sat in between Apollo and Tanya. I was not the type of Alpha that he was. I was no more important than the rest of my pack and would never act like I was. Alphas were given their positions to be the leader that their people needed. It was not because they were more important or anything. Alphas like him apparently did not learn that tidbit of information and thought it did make them better than every single pack member.

The son came bounding into the room looking extremely pissed off. I wondered what could have put his panties in a twist.

‘What’s with the boy?’ I asked Apollo. He was a gifted wolf and part of his gift allowed him to detect emotions.

‘He’s angry about something important. There’s also a great deal of irritation. His wolf is feeling vindicated and is quite smug. Poor boy’s wolf apparently is giving him hell over the rejection.’

“Where have you been?” his father asked.

“Nowhere,” he snapped before taking his seat next to his mother.

Damn. If I had responded to my father that way then I would have been put in my place real quick. Had I popped off with that retort then he would have my life a living hell as he gave me scut duties and extra patrol shifts until I learned my lesson. My father did not tolerate disrespect from anyone. I was held to an even higher standard growing up because I was the future Alpha. He required me to act as such. His father, however, just glared at him but said nothing.

Alpha Andrew clapped his hands twice. Four people came out of the kitchen area carrying platters with individual salads on them. They distributed them around the table, starting with the Alpha family who did not even acknowledge them at all. All of our people thanked them each time they set a plate down. They were taking care of us even though each of us were more than capable of bringing our own plates to us. Our pack utilized a buffet style line that we were all required to get our own food from.

I quickly noticed that none of those serving even looked up at us as if it was forbidden or something. It was obviously not just the son who had a thing against Omegas. That was a ridiculous notion because Omegas kept a pack running efficiently. We did not necessarily have an Omega rank in our pack but did have those who functioned within a similar capacity. They were shown the same level of respect that everyone else got and paid for the work that they did. It was probably a safe assumption that these people never saw a penny for all of their hard work. That really set the Alpha in me and Tyre off. It was absolutely disgusting.

When a guy set mine down, I noticed a hint of jasmine and cherry coming from him. That meant that he had been near her very recently.

“Thank you,” I told him.

He met my eyes and nodded with a small smile before heading back to the kitchen. He was different than the others had been, and I was insanely curious about who he was. He was built like a true warrior but in the role of an Omega. I bet he was one hell of a fighter too although I doubted that he was allowed to fight here.

I took a sip of my water as I kept my eyes aimed towards the kitchen, hoping to catch a glimpse of my mystery mate. Thankfully, I was on the proper side of the table to do that without making it obvious.

Part of me wanted to just run in there and find her, but I was getting the distinct impression that I needed to handle this very delicately. If she was in there then it was a safe assumption that she was an Omega, and it seemed that this pack were pricks when it came to them. They had better pray that they did not ever do anything against her, or I might just challenge Alpha Andrew and absorb the pack entirely. It would not even be a challenge at all. It was not something I normally did, but these were not normal circumstances either.

I saw the same guy standing towards the side of the kitchen, hidden from view of the Alpha family. His eyes were focused on someone out of view before discretely jutting his chin towards me.

The most beautiful woman I had ever seen peeked out and caught my eyes. Fuck. She was gorgeous with ivory skin, black wavy hair, and the most mesmerizing blue eyes I had ever seen. I inhaled discreetly and smiled when I caught her intoxicating scent. 

‘Mate,’ Tyre purred happily.

She looked very confused about what was going on, but I could not figure out for the life of me why she would be confused. The guy looked back at me with his eyebrow raised before a smile broke out on his face. Yet, she still looked confused. I had no idea who he was to her. Were they lovers? I was not inclined to think so because he seemed happy that she found her mate. Was she not happy to have found her mate? Did she have someone else in her life? My thoughts were running over every possibility as to why she did not seem happy.

‘Is that her?’ Apollo asked.

‘Yes, but she doesn’t seem as happy to have found me as I am to have found her,’ I admitted.

My heart hurt to think that she was not happy with this pairing. If that was the case then I would do anything necessary to change her mind. I would do anything to keep her now that I finally found her.

‘There’s probably a good reason. Don’t take it to heart until you get to talk to her,’ he advised.

He was right. Perhaps she was afraid that we were just like her pack was. Perhaps she heard rumors about our pack. It was also possible that she was unsure about what a mate-bond should work like. She might not have good examples of happily mated couples. There could be a million reasons why. It was unfair to assume that she was not happy.

There was something different about her, but I could not quite pinpoint it yet. It did make me insanely curious about what it was. She might possibly be a gifted wolf. That idea intrigued me to no end. Two gifted wolves would make a hell of an Alpha and Luna duo.

Alpha Andrew clapped again, so people came back out with platters to take the plates away. Things worked very different here than they did back home. This was ridiculous. He treated them like slaves. I could only imagine how far that rabbit hole went.

The same guy came out to pick up the plates, but the son stopped him from taking his by grabbing the guy’s wrist. The guy wrenched his hand away, and I could tell that there was some seriously bad blood there. No idea what it was, but it was intense. The son better watch himself because that guy could punt him across the territory.

“Send the Omega out here to pick up my fucking plate,” he spat.

The guy’s eyes darted to the kitchen and discretely shook his head at my mate as if to tell her not to come out. This boy better be careful right here because I would kill him if he hurt her. I did not know why he was pissed off, but I did not care. He was treading a very thin line, and the Alpha and Luna would have no heir to take over if he made the wrong move.

“Omega!” he hollered.

‘Don’t react unless I say to. It’s her,’ I linked my people.

My mate walked out with her head held high, unaffected, and unafraid. I had not even officially met her yet, but she immediately earned my respect. She acted the same as the guy did instead of like the others who kept their eyes down. She held herself like a Luna would.

My reading on her was clearing up the closer that she got. She was certainly a very special wolf. It was not something I had come across yet, so I was not entirely certain what her gift was. It was really powerful whatever it was though.

She placed her hand on the guy’s forearm and pushed against it to get him away from the son. The guy’s jaw clenched before he took a couple of steps backwards, but his body was tensed up as if ready for a fight. It was clear to see that they protected each other.

“Does she not have a name?” I asked to get the attention pulled back to me and away from her.

“Her name is inconsequential. She’s just an Omega. Therefore, I’ll call her whatever the fuck I want to,” he said, glaring at me.

He obviously had no self-preservation if he was willing to speak to me like that. I could rip his throat out faster than he could blink. His holy-than-thou attitude was really wearing on my patience.

Her beautiful blue eyes met mine, and I could see the worry in them. She did not want me to cop any of the son’s wrath. My little mate did not need to worry about it. I could take care of myself, and I would take care of her too.

My eyes slid back to his as I relaxed back in my chair. My head tilted slightly as I observed him carefully. He probably could not even win a fight against a pup. This rejection must have done some serious damage to him. That was what nobody thought about when they rejected their fated mate. It was even worse on the party who broke the bond because they went against the desire of the Goddess. Mate-bonds were a sacred gift. For anyone to reject that would be like spitting in the Goddess’ face. Not something I would ever advise doing.

Not everyone made a good mate. He was a great example of that fact. However, there were reasons why people were paired up with one another. The mate-bond drew two souls together but did not create love or respect. We were human after all. Human emotion and human stubbornness could destroy a bond. However, it could also help fortify it instead. It all depended on the involved parties.  

“If you’re going to call her by her title then you should call her Luna,” I told him.

“She’ll never be a Luna. I already rejected her ass. She’ll live and die as nothing but a weak Omega,” he said with venom lacing his voice.

My eyes slid to Apollo since he wanted to meet her so badly. Who would have foreseen this outcome? Her confusion now made sense. I was her second-chance mate. I would have been confused too. I could not wait to get the full story with that because he looked like he went through hell, and she did not look affected at all. It was certainly curious to say the least.

“I was told about that. One of our pack members was actually in attendance and said that you rejected your fated mate at your birthday party because she was an Omega. She gave you hell too from what I heard. I’m incredibly glad you did reject her though because anyone would be lucky to have her as a mate. And I don’t know who you’re talking about, but that woman right there certainly is not weak either,” I said, looking directly at her with the last bit so that she knew where I stood on this matter. I did not want her to feel like I was anything like them.

I got a better view of her features this close up. She had the bluest eyes I had ever seen, and they were even more expressive up close. Thick long lashes framed those beautiful eyes. She had full lips, high cheekbones, and a figure to die for. Her jeans and fitted blouse showed a beautiful hourglass figure. I could see some good muscle on her too which just showed that she was not physically weak either. I definitely loved a female with muscles.

There was white aura surrounding her that seemed incredibly familiar. It finally made sense once the same white aura appeared behind her. She was touched by the Goddess herself. That was why she seemed so different and powerful. I had no idea what the power was tied to, but the fact that the Goddess personally chose her to touch meant a great deal. Being touched by the Goddess was a rare occurrence and only happened when someone had an important destiny. She would not choose someone who was not worthy, so I was blessed that she chose me as a mate to someone like her.

My mate’s aura brightened for a moment, a telltale sign that the Goddess just spoke to her.

“Tell your visitor that I said hello,” I said.

She looked surprised that I knew it at all. I had no idea what was said to her, but a legitimate smile graced her face when I mentioned it.