Rising Sigma

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

[Iodine's POV]

"Yven, if I have to ask, I will get angry. I suggest you start talking now." I kept my tone level at my Gamma as I linked him and I had to give him credit for having a remarkable poker face. The door shut behind us and he held out my robes as I shifted.

I might have been at least frustrated with the man, but there was little to no privacy amongst a pack. I shrugged on the robe and started doing the ties at the sides up myself before securing the front with a small brooch. "I don't know what you mean, Alpha."

"The Moon Goddess deigned to tell you that I would find my mate tonight?" His eyes widened and I thought for a moment that my Gamma had been caught out. "Yven?"

"She told me when you would be marked. I assumed that the date of both marking and meeting would be a little, ahem, closer." His gaze dropped and he could no longer meet my eyes. His voice was soft, apologetic. "Had I known it would happen tonight I wouldn't have kept it a secret, that's for certain, Alpha."

I sighed and leaned back into my desk. It didn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out what was going to happen. One of us was going to reject the other, I couldn't imagine it being myself.

Unless my actions thus far had already made his mind up. I frowned. I didn't even dare look for him in that room, I knew my body would have betrayed me in a heartbeat. Then I left without a second glance back to speak with my Gamma.

An errant thought washed over me like a wave, a reminder of my teenage years that still stung. My father made me attend human schools - I think to keep me away from sycophants who would treat me differently due to my parentage. It wasn't until high school that I noticed the whispers of my peers about me. I managed to hold my head up high about it, and ignored them for the most part. I couldn't deny that it hurt all the same.

But what if he didn't like women... like me. I was taller than most due to being an Alpha, and no Alpha could forego training to maintain strength, regardless of whether they planned on using it or not. I wasn't exceptionally curvy. I wasn't flat - but... I frowned. I wasn't used to feeling insecure about myself and tried to shake the thought from my mind. The Moon Goddess didn't pair up the incompatible.

Different - sure. Having a mate took many forms For some they would be their perfect opposite that balanced then. For others it was a complementary person who fit next to them like a puzzle piece. But She never paired those who could hold it in their hearts to hate each other, never did She give you someone you couldn't find a spark of attraction with.

"Alpha?" Yven broke my thoughts and I stared at him. "Perhaps you were wrong?"

"Is there anything else that could feel like a mate bond?" I whispered. We both knew the answer. "What was it like when you met Christie?"

He smiled gently. "Vanilla and smoke. It hit me like a tidal wave. We met at Citrine Moon, during the blindfold hunt."

"You took part in a blindfold hunt?" I raised an eyebrow. Typically ranked wolves avoided hedonistic events like that, and Yven was all calm and patience. The blindfold hunt was nothing but letting our wolves loose trying to find our mate. You submitted a handkerchief you slept with under your head for a week and if you could smell your mate on one of the handkerchiefs you entered the hunt to find your mate by scent alone. It was hard to reconcile the frantic blindfold hunt participants with my Gamma.

A peculiar look crossed his face and he coughed into his hand. "Uh... yes. Though suffice to say it was obvious. I would suggest we find this wolf of yours."

"Could the Moon Goddess have got it wrong?" I asked.

"She never does." He answered me plainly.

I nodded and gestured at the door. "We're going to be missed. After the meal, if I haven't figured out who he is you can help me find him and we can go from there on figuring out why he's here now but... when am I supposed to be marked?"

"Not for a fair few months. The Moon Goddess said it was supposed to be the night of Luna ceremony at the Midnight Desert Pack."

I raised a brow at him. "Ah, yes. Alpha Raphael will find his Luna soon. I've spoken with the Gamma at Midnight Desert seeing as our messages from the Moon Goddess seemed to coincide."

"That's helpful. I'll look at the wolves in his entourage much closer." I closed my eyes. "Come on."

I hadn't even managed to get back to the ballroom when aniseed and mint washed over me and I had to stop myself on the stairs to stop myself toppling.

"Him." I linked Yven as I spotted the figure heading towards the ballroom.

Everything inside me screamed to run toward him but I stayed still, studying him a moment. He whipped his head directly at me and I swear to the Moon Goddess if I hadn't been an Alpha I could have fainted. His eyes were ice blue, and contrasted starkly with pitch black hair that hung loosely but for a pair of wind braids that were pinned at the back of his head. He was built like a mountain, tall and broad shouldered, his suit left little to the imagination on the figure beneath them.

I could feel my heart thumping hard against my ribs. "Gamma Yven. Tell our guests I will be busy for only a little longer." The Gamma nodded briefly at me and spared a withering glance in the direction of the man I was sure was my mate. There would be some explaining to be done. Even if Alpha Raphael found his mate too tonight - it would be at least three, if not four months before a Luna ceremony would take place. Marking a mate that long after discovering them was rare to say the least. "You... we need to talk, follow me."

He gulped, and started walking toward me like he was in a trance. I scarcely wanted to breathe as each inhale of that delicious scent was driving me closer to breaking. All I wanted to do was close the distance between us and pin him against the wall, the floor - anything. Sink my canines into that shaved neck and claim what I needed.

Let us do it. The Moon Goddess could be wrong.

She never is. We need to know why there's doing to be such a large gap. Aren't you suspicious too? I asked the wolf inside me.

But you can see him too, how are we still standing?

Don't. This is neither the time I want to be... doing that. Nor is it right if Yven is to be believed.

But what if he lies? Could he have an ulterior motive?

He's never given us a reason to distrust him. We'll speak to this wolf and go from there.

***

[Leon's POV]

I couldn't help but follow after her like a lost pup. I didn't hear an iota of Alpha command in her voice but I still felt just as compelled to comply.

My mouth was dry, and I averted my eyes when I noticed just how level I was with her behind as we ascended the stairs.

I itched to lunge forward and sink my teeth into her, anywhere. It didn't matter if I marked her right now, I needed to taste her. Yet I couldn't, she should have been just as desperate to consume me, yet the woman I followed was poised. She showed no sign of being affected in the same way.

It made my chest hurt just how badly I needed her to return even the barest hint that she was restraining herself like I was. She shot me a look through her eyelashes that could have turned lesser men into a puddle and gestured at an empty room.

I stepped into a disused room, though it was clean, old furniture was stacked up the entire back wall and there was none of the artwork that made the packhouse look like it was living up to its name. "The next Beta of Gryphon Wing Pack. Leon Blaidd." It was a statement, not a question. I nodded mutely.

The way her voice chewed on my name should have terrified me. I longed to be between her teeth in the same way. I studied her face in the dim light streaming through the uncovered windows. Utterly unreadable. "Alpha... you feel it too then?" I managed to choke out. It felt like I could barely whisper with how dry my throat had become.

Deep green eyes blinked, returning a study of me, though she didn't answer me. "Io. My name is Iodine, but you can call me Io."

"Io." I breathed. A flush crept across her cheeks.

Are we changing our mind then? Trust my wolf to be a sliver of sanity in the face of our mate.

I closed my eyes and turned away, focusing on calming down. It was easier to explain to myself, and even then I barely managed it.

"I..." I trailed off, trying to find better words. "Before I start, I'm not rejecting you."

I heard her release a relieved sigh and a small part of me started brimming with joy. "My Gamma informed me that he didn't expect my mate to become apparent for a few months. I hoped you might know why."

Her words shook me off kilter and I turned back, a furrow in my brow. Was she questioning the truth of what I knew we were both feeling?

Hesitantly, I held out a hand. "Touch my hand." Skin contact between mates was an instant give away. She reached out and carefully laid her hand in my palm.

It was as if time stopped, I couldn't feel my heart beat, neither of us moved a muscle, but the electric butterflies that exploded on her touch settled in my stomach as if they'd always been there. Iodine gasped and pulled her hand away. I almost felt hurt from the loss of that brief touch. "You were saying then. You're... not rejecting me?"

"I'm not ready." I shook my head. I couldn't put it any other way. How could I begin to explain it to her? The mate bond was absolute, even if I didn't know the first thing about her right now, I was supposed to trust her with my very soul. Whatever I thought - the Moon Goddess obviously thought differently.

"Oh thank the Goddess!" She smiled at me and I needed to see that smile again like my life depended on it. "Now we should probably get back to my ceremony. Dinner will get cold and my kitchen staff were preparing some of the dishes for the past few days."

It was a whirlwind from that moment on, and I kept trying to steal glances her way during dinner without my Alpha or Luna noticing. Marwan was talking crap about wine again when I noticed Iodine let her gaze linger on me before turning back to her Beta as if nothing happened. "Are you feeling better, Leon?"

I looked over at Rachel, part of me wanted to tell my Luna, but I nodded at her gesturing a fork at my mouth to indicate it was full. We'd had a choice between breaded calamari for the starter and a strange vegetarian "tuna" sashimi looking dish that was apparently watermelon. I'd been given the former but from the look of it, the people who were adventurous tonight were enjoying it. Marwan had picked for me as I hadn't been there when the choice was given. "Ghostbusters arrived then did they?" Marwan joked.

I swallowed my mouthful. "They did."

"Excellent!" His face split into a large grin. "Oh, you missed it earlier when you ran to the bathroom. The chef came out to give us our options for the starter-"

"Hmm?"

"The Alpha from Midnight Desert found his mate! He stood up and the two of them... Goddess above." Marwan laughed.

"It was very romantic. He just picked her up bridal style and said that he'd chosen what his dessert for tonight was!" Rachel giggled. That smooth fucker. Part of me was a little jealous at how easy it could be for others.

I raised an eyebrow and looked down the table to see that indeed, the Midnight Desert ranked wolves were missing their Alpha. I take that's where he is right now? "Didn't he get taught to save his dessert for after the meal?"

Rachel slapped my shoulder and Marwan choked on his wine and gulped loudly. "Goddess above, Leon. Warn a man before you joke! I wasn't ready for that!"