4, SCHEMING ALPHAS

RAUL

Just as we were about to leave the festival after having lost all hope, I felt it; a strange yet familiar presence followed by an ever-sweet aroma. 

The minute my eyes made contact with the girl by the window, we chorused."MATE!"

My excitement about my newfound mate was replaced with confusion once I realised that my brothers had chosen the same thing as me. 

Turning to face Lucian, I questioned. "What did you say?"

Lucian had a strong expression, showing that he wasn’t equally delighted with the outcome of that night. "That’s what I’m supposed to be asking you. I’m the first Alpha. If there’s anyone she’s supposed to belong to, it’s me!"

"Do you two really want to fight right now?" Nikolai interrupts us. "We’d just found our mate after so many years."

I reasoned with Nikolai’s words. "Nikolai’s right! We’ll settle this later. For now, let’s take her home with us." Corking up a brow at Lucian, I questioned. "Would you like to do the honours or should I?" 

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t asking for Lucian’s permission. I was just trying to rub it into his face that he wasn’t even the sociable type so how dare he claim our mate?

And as expected, Lucian gave in to my trap. "You, do it."

A victory smirk splayed across my lips as I super-speed towards our mate’s side. 

Up close, I could get a clearer view of her plus she seemed pretty tensed. "Relax, I don’t bite." I assured her. "Not unless you want me to, that is."

My attempt to calm her down turned futile as she only bowed her head to the ground before me. "Greetings, second Alpha."

Second alpha? How does she know the name I was called by the pack members? "Raise your head." I command as she obeyed. "Do you know who I am? To which pack do you belong to?"

"I belong to the Red Moon pack." 

I stilled. That was the pack I belonged to. That means all these while our mate had been under our noses but we knew not. How could we have been so stupid?  We could have ended this curse a long time ago!

"Sorry for not recognising one of my own," I apologised in a calm tone. "You do not need to regard me as 'second alpha' for now, I am yours and you are mine. Understood?"

She nods. 

I extend my hands out to hers. "Come, my brothers are waiting for you. Let’s take you home."

The minute her hands fell on mine, I tightened my grip around them. "What is my Luna’s name?"

A blush splayed on her cheeks. "Andrea."

"That’s a beautiful name," I conclude. "Let’s go home now, Andrea."

Hand in hand, we walked away from the ballroom to meet Nikolai and Lucian who were still waiting outside.

When we drew closer to them, Lucian's gaze instantly diverted to me and Andrea’s intertwined hands and that displeased him. "You two seemed to have become best friends in a short time."

"I guess you can say that as Andrea and I did some 'heart to heart' conversation." I teased. 

"Are you cold?" Nikolai asks Andrea in a low tone. It was then that I realised that Andrea was shivering. 

"Just a little."

"You should have said something." Turning to face Lucian, I conveyed. "Let’s take Andrea home first. Whatever you have to say can wait, right?"

Lucian stubbornly gives in. "Let’s do that."

***

When we got back to the pack house, my brothers and I helped move Andrea’s things from the cabin house for omega’s into the pack house. 

The movement seemed to have stirred confusion amongst the pack members which led to father interfering. "What do you three think you are doing?"

"Calm down father--"

"I should calm down? Do you have any idea about the rules you are breaking for bringing an omega into the pack house?"

A crowd had surrounded us due to Father’s yelling. "No rules are being broken father. She isn’t an omega but rather the Luna of this pack?"

Mumbles filled the air about how I'd just uttered something outrageous. 

Father likewise hadn’t recovered from his shock yet.  "She is the luna of the this pack? Elaborate!"

"She’s our mate, father," Lucian cuts in, impatient. "Of all three of us."

Murmurs filled be air once again with mutters like: "She’s mated to all three?" "Who is she going to choose?" 

"Father, Andrea is quite cold and needs to be shown her room so that she can warm up." Nikolai lets out. 

Father’s eyes bulged as if not believing the words that came out from Nikolai’s mouth. 

As if father’s loose screw had been bolted tightly together, father burst out into a hearty chuckle; clapping his hands. "Finally the day has come!" 

He proceeds to hugging I and my brothers one after the other before calling Meade to lead Andrea to any available room. 

"We’ve had a long night father and would like to rest now," Lucian says. 

"Right! You three should go and take a nap. You’ve done well."

Matching up to our rooms, we sat in silence for the longest time. I bet we were thinking the same thing; about how fucked up it was that we shared the same mate. 

With our different personalities it was impossible for us to always agree on something so sharing the same mate was going to lead to one thing; chaos. 

Nikolai voiced out my thought. "Sharing the same mate isn’t going to be easy."

"Is that what’s important right now?" Lucian inquired, coldly

I furrowed my brow, confused by what Lucian meant by that as that was our biggest problem right now "If not, what is?"

"Our curse! We have to find a way to break our curse now that we’ve found our mate."

"But how do we even do that? Do we come clean to Andrea about the curse?" Nikolai inquired. 

Lucian disagreed. "NEVER do that, do you hear me?"

Lucian disagreement irritated me to bits because Nikolai and I were on the same page in our thought. 

See what I meant by we barely ever agree I’m something? "Then what do you suggest? She’s still unfamiliar with us."

"Exactly! That’s why we are going to make her familiar with us."

"Huh?"

Lucian smacked his face. "We’re going to make her fall in love with us; hard. To the extent that she is willing to do anything for us."

I smirked; That was my forte. "That should be a piece of cake."

Give me three days max, I was going to break my fucking curse first!