Three.

Charlie’s POV

Opening my eyes, I find myself staring up at Alpha Zach's chiselled jaw whilst his fingers absentmindedly run through my long dark hair whilst his dark eyes stay firmly on whatever is front of him. His hand momentarily pauses but he keeps his eyes up and I close mine tight but listen in when he starts speaking to Kayden.

They mostly talk about pack stuff until the subject turns to me, well more importantly, my mother.

“How easy is it going to be to convince Sophia?” Kayden questions Zach, for a Beta, he was really quite brave in challenging the Alpha.

“She will come when requested”

I wondered what he meant by being ‘requested’. Alpha Zach had said my mother was living on his land, but if my grandmother was the Queen before she passed away then surely she had some sort of position of power.

“Are you sure, you know she can be…. Temperamental”

“I will deal with her when the time comes Kayden, but for now take us home”

The car falls silent and Kayden picks up speed, whilst Alpha Zachs fingers continue to twist in my hair but neither of them speak and I wondered if they were mind linking each other to keep the conversation away from my ears.

At some point the car grinds to a halt and I feel the rush of cold air as the door opens, it was definitely much colder here than at Max’s pack.

Alpha Zach slides himself out from under me but then his arms suddenly appear underneath me, lifting me out the car, the cold wind whipping against my face and I shiver.

“You don’t need to pretend to be asleep” he mumbles quietly, yet I could tell he was amused

I peer at him with one eye and he stifles a laugh “How did you know?”

“You snore”

“I do not!”

He laughs out loud, “A little snuffle snore, its quite cute really”

He stands me up as I wrap my arms around myself, the thin hoodie doing nothing to keep me warm as Alpha Zach hurries me inside to a large room with a roaring fire, he guides me to the sofa and gives me a blanket to wrap up in as he speaks to a young girl with shoulder lenght blue hair who looks to be around my age.

She bows her head and darts off quickly whilst I continue to shiver. Kayden comes in moments later with my battered suitcase and puts it down shaking his head

“I know this is your suitcase but what ever you have in here is not going to keep you warm here”

I shrug “I have some money, maybe one of you could take me shopping tomorrow?”

Kayden raises an eyebrow at me and then looks at Alpha Zach, had I said something wrong

“There is something you should know about our pack” Alpha Zach sits on the chair opposite me and holds his hands out to the fire “The men look after the females here, we provide everything that is required”

I frown “I am quite capable”

“It is not that we think you cannot do it, it is just tradition. A way for us looking after our mates”

I look at the ground “I rejected my mate” I knew he was my mate but I hadn’t accepted him and I had rejected Max to come here. Max, how I missed him

“It does not matter, you are our Queen, everything you need we can arrange. I already have the omegas on it”

I frown, something I couldn’t stand is when everyone else did something for me, I was more than capable. I had pretty much been looking after myself since I was a kid because my father and step mother were always drunk or high and just because I was in a new pack, it didn’t suddenly mean that I couldn’t look after myself.

“When can I see my mother?”

“Tomorrow”

“Do you think she will be happy to see me?”

The men exchange glances but didn’t say anything, they were hiding something from me, they had used the word tempermental to describe her and I wondered what they meant by it, was she as crazy as my father was?.

Until recently I thought my mother was dead but it turned out she had been in hiding all this time, leaving me to be raised by an abusive Alpha father who hid my true identity from me.

“It will probably take a few days”

“Why? If she is on your land then why will it take a few days?”

“Sophia likes to keep herself to herself, she rarely travels far from her home”

They were hiding something, I didn’t know what but I would find out.

I look at Alpha Zach and nod my head, “Can I crash somewhere?”

“Of course, you room is ready”

He stands, stretching his body and offers me a hand but I stand without taking it, he doesn’t say anything as he leads the way out of the room and up the grand staircase. He opens a door and gestures for me to enter.

It was huge, bright and airy, a large four poster bed with drapes hanging around the bed and some furniture was scattered around, places where I could put things, things I didn't have.

It was completely different to the room I had grown up in and yet it reminded me of Alexander’s room, a bay window just like his and I went straight to it, looking out as I often did his.

A fluttering of snowflakes were starting to fall and Alpha Zach asks me if I am okay. I nod my head but keep my mouth shut, I was still trying to figure out if I had made the right decision in coming here, I had rejected Max days after his twins death because I couldn’t stand to be there anymore, Alexander's scent lingering everywhere I went, a constant reminder of someone else I loved.

“You can talk to me Charlie”

I nod again and make my way to the bed, a pile of blankets sit on the edge and as I climb on, I pull them up around me, burying my face in the pillows and trying not to cry, I knew Alpha Zach was stood in the room watching me and he just stands not making any movement.

I could sense that he wanted to hug me but he doesn’t even try, instead keeping his distance like he was afraid of me.