Fated or Mated

Mate, Not Mate

Xavier’s POV

“Alpha Julio and his Gamma Joshua of the Onyx River Pack are on their way here. We have just under two hours to figure out why two of the most powerful werewolves in the world have urgent business with us.” As I am speaking to my Beta Chistopher, my mind is still with my mate and why she seems to always smell like him. I feel my anger rolling off of me in waves and I don’t try to hide it.

“This news angers you Alpha?” Christopher’s question brings my attention back to the present.

“Focus Chris… what news from the Onyx River pack recently?” As I’m asking, my Beta is mind linking his men. “Chris!” I roar out getting his undivided attention. “Get your ass up out of that chair and investigate!” Christopher’s eyes go wide and with all the attitude any one wolf could muster he slowly gets up and leaves my office. What is his problem lately? As soon as this Onyx River pack issue is dealt with he and I need to talk, and he needs to make some big decisions.

I open my laptop and start reaching out to the packs I have the strongest alliances with. Goddess, how do I ask without raising suspicions. The last thing I need is for some brown nose pack leader running to Alpha Julio about my phone call.

“Good morning Alpa Marcus, this is Xavier, Alpha of the…” Marcus interrupts me. “I know who this is, it’s called caller ID. Get on with it.” He’s such a pompous prick. I clear my throat and continue, “I received vague reports of a significant event in our area. Apparently the Onyx River Alpha has made many inquiries this morning.” I’m guessing at this point but if something did happen it’s not too far fetched to assume Alpha Julio would have made some calls.

“Ugh, what does this have to do with me?” Marcus breathlessly questions annoyed. He’s only a year older than me. We attended the same university, our packs are roughly the same size as well as our assets. Why does he think he’s better than me?

I deepen my voice, “In the interest of negotiation and cooperation would you have any information regarding the Onyx River Pack? ”

“All I know is that he was looking for a specific pack with a new chosen Luna. Lord only knows why. Now, if you don’t mind, I have more important matters than gossip.” Marcus hastily ends the call.

I sit back in my chair trying to figure out why a chosen Luna is cause for an unscheduled in person meeting. Just then I receive a mindlink from my Beta Christopher. The fear and urgency in his voice makes my jump up out of my chair.

“Get Luna to the safe room immediately! I want all warriors to report for duty NOW! Alpha, I’m almost at your office.”

Christopher doesn’t even knock, he bursts through my office doors practically tearing them off the hinges. I release my full Alpha aura on him as an earth rattling growl escapes my lips. He’s unaffected, showing no signs of submission, if I weren’t so angry I’d be shocked.

We are standing with our faces inches apart, fists clenched and snarling. “You selfish, inconsiderate bastard.” Christopher accuses.

“Explain yourself Beta!” I growl.

“Alpha Julio’s daughter turned Nineteen at midnight this morning. Now why do you think he’s looking for a recently ‘CHOSEN’ Luna?” He grits out.

My mind is spinning as I keep repeating out loud, “why a chosen Luna..19”. As the realization sinks in and my jaw drops, Christopher turns and charges out of my office.

“Dear Goddess, what have I done?” I whisper.

Alpha Julio’s POV

Pulling up to the Ice Moon Packhouse my temper flares to impossible heights. I can not allow my emotions to lead to war. My pack members are far too valuable. As though reading my thoughts, Josh puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder and says, “Who could blame you? Anyone would want his head for this.”

A large man barges from the packhouse, shifts and charges into the tree line. Josh and I look at eachother knowingly and simultaneously say, “they know”. Before we can get out of the car a group of frail frightened young women emerge from the front door to greet us. I’m disgusted by their mistreated appearance and the already stoked fire within burns even hotter. “Please take us to Alpha Xavier ladies” I ask using my most soothing tone. Our presence obviously frightens them and seeing their frail bodies quiver in fear breaks my heart.

This mansion is old but very well maintained. The three story open foyer is framed by a double staircase. Straight through the foyer a large door lined hall leads to a great room with a wall of glass overlooking the lanai. We are ushered into the great room where Xavier greets us.

“Alpha Julio, Gamma Josh, welcome, it’s been too long.”

Keeping our faces void of expression, Josh and I stare coldly at the Alpha pup before us.

Xavier clears his throat and guides us to a hidden staircase to the rear of the great room. “Please follow me to my office.”

It’s evident that my aura is affecting Xavier. His forehead is beading and he’s clearly resisting the urge to bare his neck in submission as we walk past him into his office.

“Clearly you are aware of the reason for my visit.” I begin refusing to take the seat Xavier offers me on a sofa.

Xavier sits on another couch across from us loudly exhaling. “Alpha, please, allow me to explain myself.” He says. “I’m twenty nine years old. In my mind my fated had to have already been dead. My elders were pushing me to take a chosen mate and so I did.” Xaviers eyes fall to the floor in shame with his last words.

Josh interjects, “we don’t know for sure that the Alpha’s daughter is your fated. There’s really only one way to find out, but before we do anything the elder council must be consulted.”

“My anger can not be contained, therefore, I will visit the elder council personally. As much as it pains me to admit, you are most likely my daughter's fated mate.” I say.

After discussing the details of Xaviers trip to my pack to confirm Anna Christina’s his mate, Josh and I request a tour of his pack. I need to learn all I can about this Alpha and his pack before departing. All I can think about ishow maturely my daughter has handled her personal life so as to not offend her fated mate or hurt their bond. Anna Christina is an exemplary she-wolf and Alpha. Why is she fated to the pathetic werewolf before me now?

Xavier concludes the tour and it doesn’t escape me that we skipped over several buildings. I won’t alarm Xavier with my suspicions just yet. Josh thanks him and we head back to our pack.

“Josh, I’ve arranged for my jet to be ready when we arrive. The sooner we can untangle my daughter from that man and his pack the better.”

Bianca’s POV

By the time I wake up it’s late in the afternoon. Rushing to freshen up I barely brush my teeth and comb my hair. Walking up to the pack house from my parents house I’m flooded with memories of Chris. She would totally tease me for looking so rough. Tears start to pool in my eyes blurring my vision. I hear and smell Matt and Sean walking up from their houses. Normally I would hate to be seen crying but today it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that my best friend recovers quickly.

Sean nudges me with his shoulder. “The fact that you still have tears left is impressive. My tear well ran dry hours ago.”

Blinking I look at him while the three of us walk side by side through the huge double doors of the packhouse. “Did you guys get any sleep?”

“I’m not sure Bianca, this all feels so surreal. I don’t remember falling asleep or waking up. It felt like I walked into my room and walked right back out when my mom called for me.” Matt answers.

“Same”, Sean says.

I knock on the Alpha’s office doors. My Dad steps out of his office and calls us over. As soon as we are inside and his doors are closed, we are brought up to speed on their visit. Sean’s dad walks in.

Beta Michael says hi to us and kisses his son on the head before telling us the last thing we expected to hear. “Alpha Xavier is here by himself. He’s in the spare office waiting to speak to you Josh.”

“Dad?” I say as the three of us stand from our seats. “We’re coming with you.”

Beta Michael jumps in and says, “Maintain your calm kids. You heard Josh, it’s hard to look at him and not tear him to shreds.” We all nod our heads in agreement.

“He undoubtedly wants to see Chris.” Josh states.

“Over my rotting corpse”, Sean snarls.

Matt rests hand on Sean’s shoulder. “No one is going to let that happen. Especially with so many unknowns.”

Seans dad Beta Michael embraces his son. “Let’s all go talk to Xavier and find out for ourselves why he’s here.

Approaching the door to the spare office Sean’s dad left Alpha Xavier in, we all realize that the Alpha’s scent is much stronger in the hallway. “So he’s giving himself a self guided tour?” I say while picking up my pace. We find Xavier in Chris’s room sitting on her bed sobbing. He doesn’t seem to care that we are all enraged by his boldness or that he’s fully emotional in front of us.

“I knew the moment I set foot in this house that she was mine. Forgive my rudeness, it’s just that…” Xavier collapses onto the floor in a blubbering mess. It takes a minute for him to collect himself and continue. The awkward silence was unnerving. “I never thought I’d know a smell so sweet. I’ve taken a chosen and ruined both our lives. I have no right to ask anything of you, but for the love of the Goddess… could I just sit here for a while.”

Matt, Sean, Dad and Michael are seething beside me. My anger subsided at the sight of his misery. I sit on the floor near him. “Would you like to learn a bit about her?” I ask. Before any of the guys could argue I mind link them. ‘Do we not need to learn as much as we can about him? Besides, we should stall and keep him here in case Alpha Julio calls with a solution.’

No one objects and Alpha Xavier agreed to listen, so I began to tell him about our past year in college. Occasionally asking him innocent questions about himself that parallel my story. It’s an interrogation technique we learned during training last summer.

Beta Michael leaves us after a while, probably attending to pack business. Dad, Sean and Matt take seats around her room listening to me intently.

Anna Christina’s POV

Who’s talking to me right now? I have never heard that melodic voice before. It’s so deep, rich and raspy… it’s… it’s… sexy. Oh my Goddess it’s sexy! I never understood how a voice could be described as sexy before. Holy cow I gotta wake up. I need to meet this man.

“Oh s**t!” Kira exclaims. “I wanna meet him too!”

“Focus pup, FOCUS! Wake us up Kira!”

“Team effort Chris, let’s go. Dang these sedatives are strong.” Kira complains.

“Okay, okay, I have an idea. Remember when we first learned to shift, those adrenaline drills.” I ask.

“You’re a genius, yes, of course. Let’s flood our system with adrenaline.” Kira perks up. I giggle because even though we are immersed in darkness I can picture her ears and tail lifting up with excitement.

Not thinking about the pain returning or anything else we focus on agitating our adrenal gland and speeding up our heart rate. My eyes fly open but my vision is blurry. I try to call out but my throat is dry. I feel a straw brought to my lips and a cup placed in my hand. Rough fingers graze my hand and I nearly choke on the water I’m pulling in by the mouthful. The fingers quickly retreat and a blur passes in front of me. I’m still blinking like crazy trying to get my eyes to focus. It’s too late, whoever was just with me is gone. Taking deep breaths I commit his scent to memory as well as the sound of his voice. Was my mate just here? Is that why I’m not in pain?

“That wasn’t our mate and I don’t know why we reacted to him the way we did.” Kira tells me.

As my eyes begin to focus on my surroundings a nurse walks into my room and calls for someone to link the Beta. Taking in my surroundings I realize I’m at the pack hospital. Slowly the excruciating pain returns. Only this time Kira and I are ready for it and resist it’s crippling effect.

My father’s Beta storms in with our head physician. I’ve never seen uncle Michael look so worried or scared. The doctor inspects all the monitors I’m plugged into and looks dumbfounded. Before I can explain, uncle Michael smiles at me and says. “Adrenaline drill?”

“Leave it to you to find an alternate use for a battle tool.” He laughs and hugs me. “Are you no longer in pain?” he asks.

“Yes uncle, but I can manage it. I’m tougher than I appear you know.” I say while pulling out of his embrace.

“I’ll say”, the doctor chimes in. “I’ve never had a patient disconnect their own breathing tube. That had to have hurt?” The doctor exclaims while disconnecting my IV and sensors. “I’ll have a nurse come in immediately to remove the catheter.” He explains while heading to the nurses station.

“Uh, I’ll just wait outside.” Uncle Michael was suddenly very uncomfortable.

Completely disconnected and dressed, I emerge from my hospital room. Uncle Michael is talking with the doctor and some nurses a few paces down the hall. As I walk over everyone smiles at me.

“Good to go doc?” I ask

“If you were anyone else I’d say no but…well…I know better.”

“Outstanding”, I flash them a big smile. “Uncle, read me in.”

“Walk with me Chris” Uncle Michael gestures for me to follow him. We walk to the gardens just outside our packhouse. By the time we reach the fountain in the center I’m all caught up.

“Wow. I mean I didn’t want a mate before checking off my list but this? Why?” My eyes are welling up and the pain is breaking through my mental blocks. “We’re asked to wait and have faith. I did and the one made for me crumbled?”

“Crumbling seems to be his specialty.” Uncle Michael snorts.

“I need to face him and reject him Uncle.”

He shakes his head no. “Not until we fully understand the consequences of every choice. You know our way.” He’s practically scolding me, but my mind’s made up.

Uncle Michael already knows that and he’s probably linking my parents right now. Before he can get a word in I run up to my room. Standing in the doorway I take in every detail of the man sitting on my floor. I feel nothing for him, no enticing scent, no pull… nothing. Apparently he feels something because his eyes snap to mine and he’s standing in front of me in a flash.