Hated Ties That Bind

Chapter Two

‘Mate, you need to stop pacing’ Landon commented, ‘you are wearing a hole in my carpet.’

Nathaniel threw himself down into his Beta’s armchair, letting out a huff of annoyance, ‘I need to find her Lan! Where is she?’ he growled.

Rolling his eyes, Landon got up from his seat on the bed where he had been putting on his trainers, and walked over to his best friend, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, ‘she is out there, like she has been this whole time’ he replied soothingly.  The pair had been having this same conversation on and off for four years since Landon had found Sierra who was pregnant with their first pup and his younger sister Gabriella had found Rowan, the two already about to welcome their second baby to their family.  Even Henry, the youngest, had found that his steady girlfriend since he was sixteen was his fated mate and the two teenagers were already discussing plans for their future.

‘It’s alright for you, you have your mate’ Nathanial grumbled, ‘you don’t know what it’s like, everyone around me has their true love, and I’m sat over here like Billy no mates.  I’m supposed to take over the pack soon, Mom wants to step down, but I have no Luna to take over with me!’

Landon perched on the arm of the chair thoughtfully, ‘maybe it’s time we actually go look for her then’ he mumbled to himself.

Nathaniel groaned loudly, leaning his head back over the chair, ‘we have Lan’ he growled, ‘we’ve been to every known pack within one hundred miles and not found her.’

Landon smirked, ‘so maybe we stop looking in packs . . ‘he suggested with a raised eyebrow.

Nathaniel sat up, his eyes widening, ‘you mean go off grid? You think my Luna is a Rogue, a traitor to the species?’ he scowled.

Landon laughed, ‘no mate, I just think that we’ve exhausted the big packs, maybe it’s time to start digging out the lesser-known packs, the lone wolves and yes, even the Rogues until we find her.  Even if she was a Rogue, would you really care? If you find her and she is a Rogue because of her parents’ choices, would you reject her?’ he asked pointedly.

Nathaniel’s shoulders slumped, ‘no’ he admitted, ‘I would still want her, everyone deserves a chance.’  His mind went to his brother-in-law, the most feared Rogue in the country four years ago, now a loving family man who doted on his sister and was one of the strongest and most loyal warriors of their pack, devoted to the protection of his wife’s family and pack members.

Clapping the future Alpha’s shoulder, Landon stood up, ‘come on, let’s go and get some food before my mate and your sister eat everything’ he teased, holding out his hand to pull the warrior to his feet.

Nathanial laughed as he took the proffered hand, ‘yeah, last time I was late for breakfast, when Gabriella was pregnant with Ethan, she polished off all the waffles. I still have the fork marks from where I tried to take the last one from her plate’ he replied with an amused shake of his head.

The friends stepped out of Landon’s room, heading down to the stairs to the dining room where they grabbed plates before scouring the room for Sierra and heading toward where she, Gabriella, Rowan and Ethan were sitting eating.

Looking up, Sierra smiled as her eyes met her mates, ‘finally, I was beginning to wonder if you two finally decided to run off together and elope’ she teased as Landon sat down next to her.

Placing a kiss on her lips, Landon placed his hand on her stomach, rubbing it affectionately before pushing some of his own food onto her plate and beginning to eat the rest.

Sighing in happiness, Sierra kissed his cheek as she groaned, ‘you know me so well, before attacking to replacement food like she had been starved.’

‘whipped’ Nathaniel coughed loudly as Rowan chuckled.

‘Oh don’t even, man!’ Landon growled toward the older warrior, ‘everyone here knows that you are even worse with Gabby than I am with Sierra.’

Rowan shrugged, not even denying it, ‘hey, if my baby is happy then I am happy, happy wife, happy life’ he replied.

‘And you’ Landon added, pointing his fork accusingly at his best friend, ‘you will soon change your tune when we find our future Luna.’

Nathaniel sobered up at his words, stabbing his fork into his food with unnecessary force, ‘yeah, but we have to find her first’ he grumbled darkly.

‘Nate, you will find her, I know it’ Gabriella said as she reached for her brother’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Looking up at his sister, the oldest sibling finally allowed his pain to flash across his features, ‘how Gabs? How do you know? What if I never find her?’ he croaked.

Gabriella fixed him with a steely gaze, ‘you will find her Nate’ she replied sternly, ‘because if you don’t, I will kick your ass.’

Nathanial laughed, his bad mood broken, ‘you couldn’t kick my ass little sis’ he teased.

Gabriella shrugged, ‘then I’ll get Rowan to kick your ass’ she replied with a smirk, turning to her mate and adding, ‘you’d kick Nate’s ass if I asked you too, wouldn’t you baby?’

‘Of course baby girl’ Rowan replied without removing his eyes from their son who had somehow managed to trap his own arm in the back of his chair and was complaining loudly as his father tried to free him.

Turning back to her brother, Gabriella’s triumphant look morphed to one of understanding, ‘you can find her Nate, you are the future Alpha, the Moon Goddess wouldn’t leave you to lead alone.’

Nodding silently, Nathaniel ate his breakfast, ‘we are thinking of going out for another search’ Landon butted in conversationally, ‘going off grid, see if she’s in one of the packs that we don’t know about, or maybe a lone wolf . . ‘ he added in a low voice.

‘You think she’s a Rogue?’ Sierra asked, her voice tightening as she snapped her gaze to her mate in horror.

‘Not all Rogue’s are bad’ Rowan muttered, as the she wolf flushed.

‘Well obviously not Ro’ Sierra said with a nervous giggle, ‘I didn’t mean that . . I . . ‘ she faltered, unsure how to continue.

‘I think Master Ethan is going to need a bath’ the warrior said abruptly as he stood up, picking up the sticky toddler who smiled brightly as a dollop of maple syrup ran down a lock of his hair, whilst jam covered his mouth and clothes.

Placing a kiss on Gabriella’s lips, he nodded to the others, Ethan waving madly at Nathaniel, ‘bye Uncle Nate’ he yelled excitedly making the young Alpha smile as he waved back.

‘Bye little dude’ he replied, ‘we’ll hang out later OK?’

‘Yeah!’ the young boy shouted happily as he clung to his father’s shirt as they left the room.

‘Damn, that kid is adorable’ Nathanial muttered, ‘how the heck did he get made by you?’ he added as he nudged his sister playfully.

‘Pfft, I am adorable, so obviously I make adorable children’ Gabriella replied, making the table laugh.

‘I think that kid has more of Rowan than you Gabs’ Landon commented with a smirk, ‘that little boy doesn’t have a vindictive bone in his body, I can never see him gluing his sibling to the toilet seat after they accidentally dented his car.’

The she wolf raised an eyebrow, ‘umm, that car is my pride and joy’ she replied archly, ‘my beloved husband bought it for me as an engagement present and THAT doofus’ she growled pointing at Nathaniel, ‘put a dent in it by throwing a football into it before I’d even had it a week!’

‘You glued me to the toilet Gabs’ Nathaniel muttered angrily, ‘I had to ring Landon and he had to get dad and the pack doctor to help get me free, I couldn’t sleep on my back for four days until my skin healed.’

Gabriella smiled, ‘You dented my car, I dented your pride, that’s just fair big brother.’

Giggling, Sierra stood up, picking up her plate as Landon hugged her waist, ‘come on Gabs, lets go waddle these asses upstairs, I’ve been looking at a bedding set for the nursery and I want to see what you think’ she said as Gabriella joined her and the pair walked over to deposit their plates before leaving.

‘So what do you think about heading out for another search?’ Landon asked as he finished up his plate.

Nathaniel nodded, ‘yeah I think so’ he agreed before meeting Landon’s gaze, ‘but I need you to know, if we don’t find her this time, I’m done.’

The Beta raised his eyebrows, ‘what do you mean you are done?’ he demanded.

‘I mean this is the last search man, I can’t keep going out full of hope just to come back alone, if we don’t find her this time, I’m taking a chosen mate.’

‘Mate, don’t be hasty here, you know that chosen mates will never replace a true mate’ Landon protested.

Nathaniel shrugged, ‘I know that, but I have to be realistic here, mum wants to step down, she’s ready, and the pack needs a Luna. Yes, I want my real mate, that one that gives you sparks and consumes your every thought, but we don’t all get that.  If I have to take a chosen mate for the good of the pack then that is what I will do’ he said stubbornly.

Sitting back, Landon remained silent, leaving her best friend to his own thoughts as he glared at his plate.  One thing he was sure of, he wasn’t going to allow Nathaniel to come back to the pack until they had searched every inch of land they could for his mate.