WESLEY
“What the hell is taking her so long? Where the hell is she?” Alpha Pierce growled as he paced back and forth in the conference room, his hair disheveled from running his hands through it over and over.
I stood off to the side, leaning against the wall with my arms and legs crossed, my gray suit jacket thrown over one of the few chairs in the room.
My mom and Fiona had cleared out the conference table and most of the chairs and rearranged what was left for this charade of a mating ceremony. The only people in attendance were my parents, Alpha Timothy, and Reid.
Seb and Nolan were in the city, at the club. Maya had approached me on Thursday, telling me of the mass text sent to every member and employee of the Redwood Forest Ballet Company inviting them to the club for Haven’s birthday. I immediately enlisted Seb and Nolan to go stand watch for the evening, even though my dad said not to.
But I knew it would be the end of our charade, since King Malachi had called my dad to let him know they would send someone to apprehend
Alpha Pierce at the ceremony. And I wasn’t willing to spend an entire night knowing Haven was out at some club. Alone. Wearing Selene knew what and being ogled by men and werewolves and potentially other supernaturals as well.
My lycan had snarled and raged in my head at that thought, and his tantrum was only sort of calmed because he knew Nolan and Sebastian would protect her.
They had used scent blockers. Just in case someone from Pierce’s pack was there. Then, they’d gone to the club in town early to set up camp in one of the more private VIP booths that still offered a view of the club floor.
I’d had high hopes that we would wrap everything up nice and tidy in the early evening, and I’d be able to sneak away. Maybe even catch Haven before she made it to the club so I could talk to her and explain and beg for her forgiveness. But as had been the case, more often than not, luck was not on my side.
Not only was King Malachi’s representative from the palace late, but Nicole was late as well. Timothy was close to blowing a fuse, a vein pulsing in his forehead, and under the calm I presented on the surface, I was a raging storm.
My lycan paced back and forth in my head, unable to settle, more on edge than I’d felt him in weeks. My skin prickled, and I felt as though I might shift at any moment.
I gripped my arms with my hands to keep from reaching for my cell phone that I’d dug out of my dresser that morning so I’d have a way to stay in touch with Nolan and Seb. Under any other circumstance, I’d be texting them every five minutes to make sure everything was fine. Then again,
under any other circumstance, I’d be with them instead of at the packhouse. I’d be with her instead of pretending to be engaged to another woman.
“How much longer do we have to wait?” I asked my dad through the mindlink. “Can’t we lock him in one of our cells?”
“No, and you know that. We have no authority to do so. The king would question every piece of evidence we gave him. We have to do this the right way.”
I clenched my jaw but didn’t argue further. The right way. The right way had only gotten us so far. Not just with the situation with Pierce but with so much more.
It shouldn’t matter if we locked him up. He was a piece of shit. The evidence Ben gave us proved that.
Not only had he been funneling money from their businesses into the pack funds and his personal funds, but he’d also received money from numerous sources for letting them use his pack as a “holding area” for “merchandise.” We hadn’t been able to ascertain whether that merchandise was drugs or people or both, but it didn’t matter. It was illegal, shady, and would be what
brought him down.
I didn’t want him on our lands any longer than necessary, though, which was why I was so frustrated that both Nicole and the council representative were late.
I was worried Tim would take off to look for her if she took any longer, and we needed him there when the council member arrived. Otherwise, he might catch wind of it and flee before we got him cuffed and behind bars for the night.
“I swear to Selene if that girl doesn’t have a damn good reason…” Alpha Timothy muttered under his breath, his head shaking.
I narrowed my eyes at him, daring him to finish that thought. She may not be my actual mate, or even who I would take as my chosen mate for real, but she had helped us and shown she had good intentions. I would not stand for her father threatening to harm her.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to say anything to him in her defense, because the door opened just then, and she stepped through, Benjamin with her.
But my relief only lasted for a moment. Because as soon as she was in the middle of the room, we all noticed something different about her.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Alpha Pierce roared as she approached him, her head held high, his eyes wide and wild. “You stupid, stupid girl!” he added, raising his hand to strike her.
Ben stepped in front of her, and another male entered, grabbing Nicole and pulling her behind him. He had his claws out, and his pupils dilated with rage as he stared at her father.
“Who the hell are you?” Timothy growled, looking the male up and down with distaste.
“Alpha Alton Bauer of Vigne Della Luna,” he growled. “Your daughter’s mate.”
“Explain!” Timothy spat, glaring at his daughter under Alton’s arm.
“He was at the winery we went to for the bachelorette party,” Nicole said, her hands wrapping around Alton’s arm. “His pack owns it, and he was there checking on things.”
Alton’s body relaxed under his mate’s touch, his head turning just enough so he could glance at her over his shoulder. I blinked as I watched their interaction, watched as she cooled his rage with just her presence and touch. “I went crazy running around the winery all afternoon trying to find her,”
he said. “Her scent led me on a wild goose chase.”
Nicole’s lips twitched into a smile, and I couldn’t help but smile, too, seeing her so happy with her mate. Even though it caused a temporary snag with our plan, it would still be okay. We could let Timothy rant and rage and throw a fit for as long as needed until the council member arrived.
“And you just let him mark you?” Timothy asked, still glaring at Nicole. “Did you force her?” he added, stepping closer to Alton, getting up in his face.
But Alton didn’t flinch. His blue eyes just stared down at the shorter alpha in front of him. “I didn’t do anything to her that she didn’t ask me for,” Alton drawled, a self-satisfied smile on his lips. “And she asked me for it several times.”
Nicole’s eyes widened, and Benjamin blew out a breath, his hand running through his hair.
Timothy sputtered, his face turning deeper shades of red with each passing second as he worked through everything Alton insinuated. I couldn’t help but admire his determination and courage. Coming here unannounced with his mark on the daughter of another alpha on the day she was supposed to be mated to a different alpha. Brave, but possibly stupid. Unless Nicole had told him it was all a gimmick, all an act.
“You will reject him,” Timothy told Nicole once he’d grabbed hold of his temper, his voice low and leaving no room for argument, an alpha command laced into his words.
“I’m already marked, and so is he,” she told him, standing her ground, her grip tightening on Alton’s arm.
Timothy inhaled again, his face somehow growing even redder than before as he confirmed with his nose that not only was she marked, but that she’d marked Alton back.
“At the full moon,” he said, using the same tone as before, “we will have a council member come to the pack. They will perform the rejection ritual for couples who have already marked each other.”
“We will do no such thing,” Alton told him, moving backwards with Nicole. “You have no right to order her to do such a thing.”
“She is my daughter and my pack member!”
“She is MY mate and MY LUNA!” Alton roared. “You lost all ability to alpha command her the minute I put that mark on her neck,” he added smugly. “Nicole makes her own choices now.”
He pulled her under his arm and kissed her temple. “Come, my luna,” he said. “We need to get home to our pack.”
And with that, he walked her out of the conference room, not stopping to speak to anyone else.
Ben had his lips pursed together, a pained look on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was trying not to laugh or cry. Because I felt the same way. I wanted to cry in relief and laugh at the look on Timothy’s face as he realized he’d lost one of his pawns.
“YOU!” he roared as he turned towards me. “This is all YOUR fault! You Stones always have your hands in everything, always mucking up my plans! You did this so you could have a way out!”
“Yes, because I have an in with Selene and can talk to her whenever I want or ask her to suddenly make people mates,” I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. “There was no way for any of us to know she’d meet her true fated mate before this ceremony.”
“Don’t smart mouth me, boy,” he snarled, pointing at me. “You need to learn your place.”
I just stared at him, my face cold and emotionless. I wanted to wrap my hand around his stupid finger and bend it backwards until it broke. I wanted to twist his arm around his back until he learned that my place was above him, with him on the ground begging me for mercy.
My lycan nodded in my head, flashing me images of all the terrible things we could do to him if we had him in our clutches, each idea more cruel than the previous.
But I refrained. I held myself back. We needed to keep him here until whoever was coming from the palace arrived, and if I made a move to attack him, he’d leave.
He jabbed his finger towards me once more, and I held back a laugh so I wouldn’t provoke him further. He then turned and began pacing the room again, stroking his chin.
“So what do you propose we do now?” he asked. “What do you mean?” my dad replied.
“I mean,” Tim began, “I mean this alliance? My daughter has her… her mate now and—”
“Dad?” Maddie’s voice interrupted from the hallway. “Dad, what is going on? We’ve all been waiting for five-ever, and I’m bored!” she said as she opened the door and strolled in without a care.
Everyone froze, and every eye in the room moved to her. Mom paled, and Dad stood up slowly, walking towards Maddie.
“Madeleine,” he said in a low voice. “I told you to stay outside.”
She swallowed and glanced at everyone, keeping her sassy mouth shut for once in her life. Reid’s jaw ticked. But he didn’t move from his spot, even though I knew he wanted to get her out of there and away from Alpha Pierce as much as the rest of us did.
“Who is this?” Timothy asked, eyeing Maddie calculatingly, his eyes looking her up and down. “Is this your youngest?” he added, turning to look at Dad.
“Maddie, go back downstairs,” he told her, ignoring Timothy’s question.
“Wait,” Timothy said, holding his hands up, his eyes now holding a slight glint of excitement. “Wait, this could work.”
“What could work?” I asked, my brow furrowing as I watched him look at Ben and then back at Maddie.
“No,” Reid growled, standing up straight from where he leaned against the wall, his arms uncrossing as he clenched his hands into fists at his side.
“You have a daughter, and I have a son,” Timothy continued, ignoring Reid. “There’s no reason to cancel this mating ceremony. We’ll have Maddie and Ben mate instead of Nicole and Wes.”
The growls and roars that filled the room at his words echoed so loudly that it was likely the entire pack heard us from the lawn outside. I saw red, and my lycan snapped and snarled in my head, my claws shooting out without warning.
Timothy just kept talking, his volume rising to be heard over the din. “The contract can still stand! We can still have our alliance, and your daughter will be a luna and still be close—”
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Ben roared, his eyes almost bulging, his face as red as his father’s had been earlier. “She is a CHILD!”
“Let’s go, Maddie,” Reid muttered, moving forward and weaving around everyone to reach her.
The volume of the shouts and voices in the room kept rising to where I couldn’t hear what anyone said as everyone spoke at once. Reid grabbed
Maddie’s hand and pulled her out of the room. Ben was up in his dad’s face, spittle flying as he continued to say Goddess only knew what to him, my dad holding him back from launching himself onto Timothy.
My lycan paced again, more agitated than ever. Growls and snarls fell out of his mouth, adding to the noise echoing in my head.
I moved forward to help Dad keep Ben at bay when a mindlink came through from Sebastian.
“You need to come help me. Now.”
My response was instant and urgent, my feet moving me through the room before my mind could catch up and before Seb could even respond, before I knew where to find him. My heart thudded against my ribs as I feared the worst. “Why? What’s going on?”
He hesitated for only a moment, then replied, “It’s Haven.”
