Chapter Sixty-Two

Regan’s POV

Since it was my first time being away from her, I found it somewhat difficult to adapt to the absence of my mate.

Rage’s whining was not helping.

He felt her absence more than I did since he felt my emotions more intensely.

Even though he understood the reason we had to go, it did not stop him from sulking and whining at the absence of our mate.

A part of me wanted nothing more than to turn around and return home, but it would be the wrong decision to make and I knew that.

So we rode on, keeping a steady pace and rode towards the opposite path from where Blackmoon pack was.

The fact that we took an entirely different route simply to avoid them spoke a lot of our hatred for them.

We headed towards the next closest pack to us, a pack whose Alpha was an old friend of my father’s.

I sent two of my warriors ahead to announce our arrival, and not too long after, they came back with news of the Alpha’s acceptance to have us in his pack.

When we met up with a few of their warriors who escorted us to the pack house, the Alpha, his family and many of their pack members stood in front of to welcome us to their pack.

Giving a nod to my warriors, we came down from our horses and Luke and I walked up to greet the Alpha and his pack.

“Alpha Regan”, Alpha Rod called out with a smile, stretching his hand out to greet me. “This is a surprise indeed”, he said, aware of the truth in the rumors that I did not leave my pack unless absolutely necessary.

I took his outstretched arm firmly before speaking. “Alpha Rod, forgive me for this surprise visit”, I said. “But what brings me here is very important so I could not follow the usual procedures”.

He released my hand and waved his.

“None of that”, he said, “Your father and I were good friends. I would hope that hand of friendship extends to you as his son”, he said.

I nodded with a faint smile. “It does”.

“Well then”, he said. “Let us get the introductions out of the way so that we can discuss the reason for your visit”.

With that said, he pulled an older woman to his side.

“This is my mate”, he said as she brought forth her hand for me to take in greeting. “I am sure you remember her”.

I nodded. I did.

She had been the one to bring my pack food and clothing after the Blackmoon massacre. I could never forget her kindness.

So, rather than simply take it, I bowed over her hand as well in a show of respect.

She smiled up at me.

“You have grown very well and very strong, Alpha Regan”, she said as I let go of her hand.

“I have not forgotten your kindness to my pack”, I told her. “I hope to repay it someday”.

She smiled and shook her head.

“That would not be necessary”, she said and her eyes turned sad. “Your mother was very dear to me”, she said and looked away. “She would have done the same if the tables were turned”.

Before we could talk more, her mate cut in.

“My dear, they must be tired from their journey”, he said to her. “Let us be done with the introductions and feed them. Then you will have enough time to speak with him”, he said.

She turned to look at him with a tender smile.

“You are right”, she said, moving backwards to allow him bring forward the next member of his family.

A man around my age came forward.

“This is my son”, Alpha Rod said. “You may probably remember him from when you were both young”, he said as his son stretched out an arm to me.

I took it, trying to recall his face until it finally clicked.

My grip on his arm tightened.

He had been the quiet one who had developed childish feelings for my mate back then. I remembered not liking him around because whenever he was, his eyes would be fixed on Gina.

Not that I blamed him, Gina had been very pretty and most young werewolves had developed crushes on her.

I had simply disliked him in particular because he had been an Alpha’s son as well, and in my young eyes, my only competition.

He had grown as well.

I wouldn’t have recognized him if not for the small scar on the side of his face.

A scar I had given him in a fight when we were younger.

We took in each other warily, before slowly, his lips curled up in a small smile.

I had not expected that.

“I remember you”, he said. “It was you who gave me this scar, was it not?” He asked, releasing my hand to lift his and point it at the scar.

Seeing his smiling disposition, I found a smile coming onto my face as well.

“You will have to forgive me for that”, I apologized. “I was not very wise when I was younger”, I said.

He gave a chuckle.

“I cannot blame you”, he said. “I would probably do the same to anyone who came near my mate”, he told me.

Then as if remembering what had happened, the smile vanished from his lips to be replaced by one of sadness.

“I was very sorry to hear that you lost her”, he said.

I nodded my head. “It is in the past now”, I said and changed the subject. “I presume you have found your own mate?” I asked with a teasing smile that came easy to me.

He laughed at that.

“Yes”, he said, motioning to a red haired she-wolf holding a pup. “This is my mate and my son”, he said as they came forward.

“It is an honor to meet you, Alpha”, his mate said with a bow.

I gave a nod in return.

“The honor and pleasure are mine”, I told her, smiling down at the pup in her arms who reached out to me.

Remembering my unborn one, I reached out a hand for the pup to grab and he did, smiling widely.

“I believe he likes you”, Alpha Rob said. “He does not like many”.

I turned from the pup to look at him, still smiling.

“A strong wolf recognizes another”, I told him before turning back to the smiling pup. “He will make a strong Alpha one day”, I said and gently pulled my hand from his grip to continue the introductions.

While it was going on, I felt someone’s eyes on me and turned to see the Luna staring at me intensely.

She smiled when we locked eyes and looked away but I could not shake the feeling that she had seen something.

Something I did not know.

After the introductions were done, my warriors and I were ushered into the pack house and led straight towards the dining hall.

Despite our insistence to simply discuss the purpose of our visit, the Luna was adamant that we be fed and rested before any discussion would take place.

Seeing even her mate fold at the sight of her glare, we had no choice but to reluctantly accept.

So before long, we were all seated with the Alpha and his family, along with some ranked warriors of their pack, and began our meal after Alpha Rod had taken the first bite.

“Alpha Regan”, Alpha Rod called from the other end of the table and I looked up from my meal. “I am sure you have met my daughter, Olga”, he said, motioning towards where she sat quietly, eating.

I had in fact met her earlier when she had been introduced to me. She was a brown haired beauty, like her mother. But that was all I had noticed about her.

“Yes I have”, I said. “When you introduced us earlier”, I reminded in case he had forgotten.

He nodded.

“Unfortunately, Olga lost her mate years ago to a plague”, he said and suddenly flinched as though someone had pinched him.

His eyes briefly went to his mate who was seated beside him before coming back to me.

I looked towards his daughter. “I am sorry for your loss”, I told her, understanding her pain.

She looked up from her plate to lock brown eyes with me.

“Thank you”, she said simply, and I could see the pain of the loss still in her eyes before she turned back to her meal.

“Well”, Alpha Rod went on. “I was hoping, that since you both lost your mates unfortunately, it would not hurt to get to know each other”, he said bluntly, before giving a sudden hiss of pain.

He turned to his mate, shooting her an accusing look.

“That is enough”, she said. “If they wished to know each other better, that would be their choice to make, not yours”, she said before turning to look at me. “Besides, I believe you are wrong in assuming that Alpha Regan has not already found someone”, she said, her eyes giving me a knowing look.

I finally understood why she had been watching me earlier.

Alpha Rod turned to me.

“Truly?” He asked. “You have found someone?”

I nodded, a smile unconsciously coming to my lips.

“We had our mating ceremony not too long ago”, I told him deciding to keep her pregnancy a secret for the moment.

His Luna smiled at me. “You have my congratulations”, she said. “Nana must be thrilled”.

I nodded, smiling. “She is”.

“Congratulations”, I heard a quiet voice say and turned to look at Olga.

She was smiling genuinely at me, the pain in her eyes, hard to notice.

“Thank you”, I told her. “I pray you find your second chance mate”, I told her honestly.

She smiled once more and nodded before returning to her meal.

“Forgive me for my ignorance”, Alpha Rod said.

“There is nothing to forgive”, I told him. “She is the reason I must speak with you”, I said.

Clearly wise and observant, his Luna must have seen something in my eyes because it was she who answered.

“Then you had better finish your food quickly”, she said, sounding like Nana.

I smiled and immediately returned to my food.

A while later, when we were all seated in his study. All being myself, Regan, the Alpha, his Luna, his son and his Beta.

I wasted no time in telling them the purpose of our visit and could not blame them when they remained shocked in place afterwards. I had not revealed that Jasmine was already with child though.

Not to my surprise, it was the Luna that spoke first.

“A pure white wolf you say?” She said and at my nod, continued. “And markings of the Royal bloodline”, she said almost to herself before turning to face her mate. “This cannot be a misunderstanding”, she said. “His presence here alone tells that what he says is true”.

Her mate nodded slowly, still trying to digest the information.

“I know he would not come all this way to spread falsehoods”, he said and turned to me. “Have you confirmed this yet?” He asked.

I nodded.

“Alpha Gaius of the Whitestorm pack and his mother, the seer, Gaia, are in my pack as we speak”, I told them.

“Then this is no tale”, the Luna said. “If Gaia is in your pack, that is all the confirmation we need”, she said then turned to her husband. “It is the prophesy”, she told him.

Probably already knowing of the prophesy, he spoke. “But the prophesy speaks of the rebirth of our King. There is no pup yet”, he told her.

“On the contrary”, I said. “My mate is already carrying our pup”.

At my words, their eyes widened and the Luna turned to her mate with an intense look.

“You know what we must do”, she urged.

He was silent for a while before asking.

“What is it you need?” He asked me.

I did not hesitate to answer.

“For your pack to prepare to answer when we call”, I said.

He nodded once.

“When you call”, he said. “Stronghold pack will answer”, he pledged.

I smiled.

One down, several more to go.