Chapter 0003

As the entire ballroom went quiet I could hear my heart beating in my ears. Everyone was paying very close attention to what was happening between Alpha Ethan and Alpha James, all the while I was just sitting there astounded. I usually had a million things running through my head but right now, it was completely blank.

My wolf on the other hand, she was going crazy. She was jumping up and down and making my head hurt, but it was easy to ignore with this beauty standing in front of me. Holding Alpha James off the ground and scaring almost everyone.

I didn’t even notice Ryker stand up and stand right beside me until Alpha Ethan turned to face us and growled at him.

“It’s alright. I’m her brother.” Ryker said. And Alpha Ethan looked him up and down and then looked back at Alpha James.

He dropped Alpha James, not gently, to the ground and Alpha Ethan looked at me and his whole face softened from that scary looking creature that was just threatening a man.

“Can I escort you outside so we can talk in a more…private setting?” Alpha Ethan asked, looking around at everyone staring at us. I was still lost for words and all I could do was nod my head. So I picked up my clutch and he gave me his arm to escort me outside, and the second we touched I felt sparks shoot up my arm and all over my body like electricity. And he helped me down the front stairs of the packhouse until we were in the poorly lit gardens outside.

We managed to get to the fountain and I sat on the rock side of the fountain and Alpha Ethan sat next to me.

“Alpha Ethan Embry.” I finally managed to choke out.

“Yeah. I’m not surprised that you’ve heard of me.” He says.

“Well, everyone knows who you are. The second most powerful werewolf pack in the country.” I say. And this man is MY mate? I still couldn’t believe it. No matter how many times I heard it.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Summer. Summer Everstone.” I said.

“You are Everett’s daughter?” He asked. I could see a change in his demeanour as soon as he got confirmation who I was. Deep down I didn’t think my father would actually be right about my mate rejecting me. But maybe he was. But why would me being Everett’s daughter have anything to do with it? I was starting to get a little confused.

“Yeah.” I say, getting butterflies in my stomach. Suddenly, I didn’t like where this was going.

“I saw you come in with Ryker. But I thought you were just another pack member. Not his sister. Honestly, I thought Ryker was an only child.” Ethan says. And I nodded my head at that.

“Yeah. That doesn’t surprise me.” I say finally tearing my eyes away from him and looking down. I was a little embarrassed that people think Ryker is an only child. Dad has never even mentioned me outside of the pack. I should have known. I don’t know why I’m surprised.

And then the thought hit me. The one that I had been expecting. The rejection. He didn’t look impressed that I was Everett’s daughter, so he probably wanted nothing to do with our family. I don’t blame him. My dad is a complete asshole. Why would he want anything to do with my family? And why would he want to be mated to an Everstone?

“It’s so beautiful out here. Peaceful.” Ethan says. And I nodded my head looking around. There was no one outside of the packhouse. They were all in the ballroom having a really good time. And I envied them right now. To be having such a great time. While Ethan was looking around, I managed to look back at him.

“Alright. If you’re going to reject me can you please just get it over with? This is kind of torturing me right now.” I openly admitted.

It must have taken him by surprise because he looked at me with wide eyes and an indecipherable look on his face.

“Why do you think I brought you here to reject you?” He asked.

“Because it’s private and because I saw the look on your face when you found out who I was. You didn’t look too impressed that I am Everett’s daughter.” I explained. And he looked at me for a long while. I could see all sorts of emotions flashing through those beautiful emerald green eyes of his. They even went black at one point, meaning his wolf was pushing forward. I wasn’t sure what to think right now, about his reaction and he wasn’t saying anything. It looked like he was having an internal struggle with his wolf and the only thing I could do was wait. I know how stubborn our wolves can be when they want to.

“I have absolutely no intention of rejecting you. I swear. Our two packs don’t really get along.” He admitted.

“Why not? I’ve never heard of any feud between my pack and your pack.” I said.

“Your father probably doesn’t talk about it anymore. He really tries to pretend like we don’t exist. He hates us that much.” He says. And I admitted that I had never heard of it. My father had never mentioned that name or Ethan Embry around me or our house before. So I didn’t understand about this feud.

“Why don’t you get along?” I asked.

“Honestly, I’m not too sure. The feud started with your father and my father. But since my father died, your dad has continued it on with me. He just hates our pack now, no matter who is in charge.” Ethan explained.

“Yep. I can believe that. That’s exactly who he is.” I say.

“What do you think your father will do to you when he finds out that we’re mates? He doesn’t hurt you too, does he? I’ve heard stories about the way he treats people in his own pack.” Ethan said. And I sat there thinking about it. I thought about earlier when all I did was talk back to him and he hit me.

“No. But I don’t know what he’ll do. I honestly can’t answer that.” I lied.

“Well, that’s another reason that we need to be careful here. Your father isn’t going to be happy about this. I don’t want you getting hurt because of it.” He says.

“I can handle my father. I’ve been doing it for 18 years.” I say. And he looked at me with doubt and something else in his eyes. It looked like love, I think. Not that I really know what that feels like yet. It was obvious to me that he knew more about dad than I realised. He probably knew everything about dad and that’s why he was worried about me. I really didn’t know. And I wasn’t going to ask him. I didn’t want to know if he knew about my father’s extra curricular activities in order to earn more money.

“I don’t want to leave you in that pack if you're in trouble. You are my mate and I want to take you home with me, to protect you. So, you need to go and get your things and leave the pack. I’m not allowed on pack grounds. But he can’t stop me from entering if I’m coming to collect you.” Alpha Ethan says.

“I don’t know how he’s just going to let me walk out the front door. And I have my mother and brother to think about. I don’t know if I want to leave them behind. Especially not my mother. She’s not as strong as my brother.” I sighed, knowing how much that would hurt him.

We had been sitting out there for a little while talking when Ryker came up to us. Ethan and Ryker both shook each other’s hands. They had met previously and there were obviously no grievances between the two of them. They seemed very polite with each other.

“Summer. We really should be going. I just had the car pull around to the front of the packhouse. I’m sorry Ethan, I gave you two as much time as possible. I had to hold off Alpha James as long as I could but he’s probably already on the phone with our father. So I should get you home before he comes looking for you.” Ryker says. And I nodded my head.

“Alpha James. He’s friends with your father?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah. The creep himself.” I admitted looking away from Ethan.

“Here’s her cell phone number. Dad never bothers with her phone. He thinks that she never gets important phone calls so it’s safe to call her on that.” Ryker said, handing Ethan a piece of paper.

“I appreciate that. Thank you.” Ethan said, taking the paper.

“Do we really have to go? I don’t really want to now.” I said, looking at Ethan. And he cupped my face with his hands and I felt sparks shoot all through my body again like electricity. It was incredible.

“It’s alright. We’ll see each other again real soon. I promise.” He says. And he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

Ryker took me back to the limousine and we got inside of it and I saw Alpha James come out onto the veranda like he was trying to catch up to us or something but Ryker told the driver to move it. So we left and pretended like we didn’t see him.

The whole ride home was really quiet and Ryker was trying to come up with something to tell dad that wasn’t going to get me killed. And not to mention Ethan’s name at all. Ryker knew all about the feud. Because he was going to be the next in line to take over the pack, he needed to know about it. Dad had really painted Ethan out to be the bad guy, but we both knew that was a load of shit.

We got the driver to take the long way home so we didn’t get home too early and our parents weren’t suspicious of anything but when we did get home, I wasn’t surprised that they were still waiting up.

“How did it go?” Mom asked, beaming from the couch. I couldn’t believe that she was so happy. Didn’t Alpha James call my father and tell him everything?

“Struck out again.” Ryker says. And when I didn’t say anything, he elbowed me in the ribs.

“Yeah. Me too. He was there, but you were right. He rejected me.” I lied.

“Honey. I’m sorry. But there’s always a second chance mate.” Mom says.

“Oh please. She’ll never find a second chance mate. They're even harder to find. And she didn’t have a chance in the first place.” Dad said standing up and walking over to us.

“Dad. That’s enough.” Ryker snapped at him.

“I’m sorry son. I know that your Luna is out there somewhere. We just have to look a little harder. Or you’ll just have to do what I did and choose someone to be your Luna.” Dad said. But then I saw him looking at me really suspiciously, but he didn’t say anything. He was making me really nervous.

“I’ll wait for my goddess given Luna, thanks dad.” Ryker says, pulling dad’s eyes away from me.

“It’s been a long night. I’m gonna go to bed.” I say, turning towards the stairs.

I went to my room and I had a shower and washed all of my makeup off and I got dressed into a single and shorts and I jumped into bed but I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t only think about those beautiful emerald green eyes, the little scar above his eye and his beautiful features that would make any girl want to blush. The most gorgeous specimen I have ever come across. And my phone suddenly went off.

UNKNOWN - Hi Summer. Now you have my number too. I will be seeing you again really soon. Ethan.

It took a few hours but I did finally go to sleep and I wish I could say that it was a peaceful one. But it wasn’t. It was full of Ethan. He was all I could think about now. This mate bond was a whole lot better than I expected it to be.

I was woken up the next morning by my mother shaking me.

“Get up. Get up now.” She demanded, pulling my covers back.

“What is it?” I asked, groggily.

“Your father is downstairs with Alpha James. They are planning your wedding as we speak.” She said urgently.