Chapter 3

"You do not look glad, Alpha King." Alphose countered.

Wolfariane Daminor Throne spared him another glance, "I do not have to look glad to be glad, Alphose."

"Of course, Alpha King."

"You're dismissed." 

He inclined his head slightly and faced the door.

"Oh, and Alphose?"

"Yes?" He turned.

Wolfariane finally put the signed documents away and looked at him fully, "You are a mountain lion, and you are starting to seem edgy. As a man who is a mountain lion and a werewolf, I can tell you that there is not much difference between the two species. 

    Both species need to let off some steams once in a while or the animal... will not be at rest." A surprisingly gentle look took over the frown that marred his face before, "You know how dangerous that can be."

His Alpha is right and he knows it, "I will go for a run at sundown."

  "Running can only take the edge off, you need séx." He said bluntly, "If running works so well, wolves wouldn't be saddled with the full moon which forces us to mate with females. You're long overdue, I can feel your cougar's uneasiness and you know what that means. 

    I can control myself but, you need to do something about it before the young males  feeling it too, lose control and go around forcing themselves on females."

"Of course, Alpha King. I will do something about it right away." 

Wolfariane nodded his head once in agreement. Alphose inclined his head again before he walked out of the meeting Hall.

🌺OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA🌺

Ismena stared dreadfully at the two white pills and three brown pills in her palm. She dreads popping pills. Hell, if only she can keep her heart beating perfectly without these damn drugs.

Swallowing tightly to wet her suddenly dry throat, she squeeeeeeeeeezed her eyes shut and threw the pills into her mouth. Without wasting any time, she downed it with water.

"Ena!? Dinner's ready!" Valentina's voice came all the way from the sitting room.

"Coming!" Her response was loud and quick. Aim? That'll stop her sister from coming up to her bedroom to tell her again thereby seeing her with her bottle of pills.

Speaking of her pills' bottle, it's almost empty. She had to get a refill and her drug cost an arm and two legs. After all her expenses, she doesn't have that kind of money left.

"Shit. I'll worry about you some other time." She told her bottle of pills before she opened her bedside drawers and slammed it back where it came from.

In the sitting room, she walked straight to the dining table where her family is already seated waiting for her and lowered herself to the only empty chair left. 

As usual, they all bowed their heads while their mother prayed. Amelia is a very religious woman and she did her best to bring them up in a Christian way too. After prayer, they all dug into the food.

"So, how did the shopping go?" Valentina asked while trying to slice her stubborn beef into several pieces.

"Went well. Sandra helped me. I brought everything I'll need." She responded with her mouth filled with tater tot casserole.

"I'm so glad you took some time off work to come to stay with us," Amelia said, "We don't get to see you more often. These past three weeks have made me really happy, now I'm just sad that you're going back to work already."

"No, mother, I'm not going back to work. I'm leaving Oklahoma for NY."

Her parent's eyes widened together, glanced at each other before they focused their attention on her, "New York? Why?" Her mother asked.

"I've been in Oklahoma all my life. I want to see new places, get a different breath of fresh air, meet new people, explore new things, have some fun..." She shrugged, "It's like a vacation of some sort. For a week or two."

"Wow. I'm surprised. You always talked about how you hated traveling and making long distant journeys. We never thought you'll leave Oklahoma." Her father remarked, chewing on the salad in his mouth.

"Never thought I'll be dying soon, either." She mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." She was quick to reassure her father, "What I meant is that I think it's time I tried new things."

"We're definitely in support of you. Who knows, you might find a young man," A wistful smile clouded Amelia's slightly wrinkled but very beautiful face, "get married and have sweet beautiful children."

Valentina snorted out loud, "As if. Anyway, I agree with mother. For once you aren't working your ass off for that jerk boss of yours. Who knows, you might bag a hot dude."

"Well, that isn't the first thing on my mind, that's for sure. But if it works that way, it's all good too." Ismena lied, swallowing the sudden lump that formed in her throat. "Anyway, this meal tastes very delicious, mother. I have missed your home cooking." 

She smiled warmly to her mother who returned the smile, "I'm really glad that you are here, Ena. When is your flight leaving?"

"In three days."

The clatter of the spoon dropped back onto the plate and filled the air. Amelia took her daughter's hand into hers from across the table, and squeezed gently, "I'll make sure I cook more of your favorite dishes in the next three days."

I'm dying. Tears prickled the back of her eyes, but she blinked hard to keep them away. "You're gonna get me fat, mama." She teased.

"A little fat won't hurt, you will still be beautiful."

She squeezed her mother's hand, "I love you, Mama."

"I love you too, my baby." Amelia grinned lovingly at her.

**************************************

Hours later, Alphose was in the house of Eline, a packmate and a friend. She'd offered him séx wholeheartedly when she got the slightest hint of his uneasiness, and he'd taken what she offered. Their pack is like family, they always help each other out especially when it comes to their changeling nature. 

Séxual contact when needed is freely given with warmth and genuine love for a packmate, and the males respect their women for it. 

Alphose kissed Eline's forehead with gratitude and respect before he rose from the bed, and began putting on his clothes.

She dressed too and offered him dinner with a warm smile. He'd accepted. Together, they walked to the kitchen sat down on the chair, and watched her make omelets. His cougar is calm again, he is feeling more relaxed than he'd felt in a long time.

Eline has always been a good friend of his, so he told her about his run-in with a potential mate, and what the Alpha King has to say about that.

"He's glad she's dying?" Eline winced, "That's harsh, even for the Alpha King."

"It's not, really. You know why he hates 'normal' people. His experience with them was not a good one."

She nodded, "I will hate them too, hell, I did before." a smile feathered her lips, "but not anymore. Not all of them are like... 'them'. Besides, Kara and Nomah are my best friends now, I love them so much." 

At the name of the two human mates of their packmates, Alphose smiled too. "Yeah, those two are angels. Wolfariane loves them too."

"Because they're family now." She parrotted, "The Alpha Called God has everyone's love and respect because he puts all of us first before himself. Once any changeling male mates a human female, he sets his differences aside and accepts the female as pack—as family."

Eline is right. "Well, I made a mistake there. I shouldn't have asked him what will happen if the dying unmated human female was his while knowing full well what he went through by their hands. I wasn't thinking clearly." he confessed.

"Your cougar was edgy. He knows and understands that too. The Alpha King is too damn strong. We struggle with our other halves every single day and lose control half of the time. Yet, he has two different powerful breeds inside him and barely loses control of anything." She shivered, "I wonder how he does it."

"No one knows, Eline. Coupled with what he went through in the hands of humans when he was younger?" He shook his head, "Other wolves went insane and turned rogue."

"He scares me to hell when I think of all these, even though I know he will NEVER hurt me." she smiled again, shaking the frying pan constantly, "Imagine if his mate is human? I know for sure the heavens won't play such a sick joke on him. He doesn't deserve it at all. Hell, even the human female doesn't deserve it at all."

Alphose snorted, "It's not possible. Even if we forget his legendary hate for the specie, there's still the fact that no human female can match him. Not in battle, and most especially, not his séxual appetite. She will die quicker than a rogue's mate."

"Speaking of death, you need to inform the other Alphas about the dying unmated human female you bumped into, so they can go check out their compatibility with her." Sadness and pity dripped from her voice, "I truly hope her compatibility with her mate will pass the average level. That way, her Alpha can sustain her with his own life."

"It's a rarity, Eline. Only two mates out of hundreds of mated couples have passed the average compatibility level. It's not really important. We are all lucky if we can get even a low level of compatibility—as far as there's compatibility at all."

"Yeah, I know. But it's important in her case." she moaned pity, turning off her cooker, "Poor woman... I feel pity for her alpha too, whoever he may be."

Alphose shrugged, "It cannot be helped. What's most important is for her mate to find her and claim her fast. Just intimacy with her alpha can do more than whatever drugs those humans are giving her now."