My Foreign Mate

CHAPTER 12 Bugging affairs

The afternoon went by fast and Selena was relieved she didn’t have another encounter with William again. The sun caressed her skin and she relaxed by the pool with the other girls. It reminded her of old days, and summers in Europe carefreely spent with her friends.

“Strange he hasn’t found his mate yet.” Selena heard Annas clean an analytical voice, it made her snap out of her memories. She knew the girls were talking about Olivia’s brother.

“I’m sure he will find her soon.” Olivia seemed like she didn’t want to talk about this topic. “There is no rush for that.” Suddenly Selena got anxious, how close were the siblings? How much do they tell each other? Did Olivia know something? But why would she say such a thing then?

“Sure. But he is as hot as a wolf can be. I bet he has the chicas chasing him.” Alexandra chuckled. Selena really didn’t like the idea of other women chasing him, but she knew it wasn’t supposed to be her concern since she was on a mission to reject him. The only problem was she desperately had to remind her of it. Feeling uneased she moved on her spacious chair.

“Don’t you agree, Selena?” The girls’ eyes were on her expecting an answer. Why did they ask her that? Did they notice how nervous she was around him?

“What? Ehm, sure of course, yes, really good looking.” She uttered nervously and the others couldn’t help but laugh out load. Selena just smiled back. “I was just wondering, why you and William don’t really look alike.” Suddenly the girls stopped laughing. “Sorry, did I say something wrong?” Selena didn’t want to upset anyone. But it diverted the topic at least.

“It’s alright. It’s not a big secret.” Olivia smiled. “Follow me.” Selena followed Olivia inside with Alex and Anna right behind. They stopped in the living room in front of a fireplace with several pictures on top of it. Olivia took one in her hand and looked at it. “This is Nancy. William’s mother.” She handed the frame to Selena. “You see when my brother was four years old the pack got attacked by rogues and she was killed protecting William. He saw everything. As you can imagine Williams dad lost his mate and he wasn’t the same for a long time. William doesn’t really talk about it. The only thing I know is, that his dad, our dad got better when he met my mom, Maria. So you see, he is my half-brother to be precise. But we love each other, and he loves my mom too. She made his live easier as well.”

“Oh I see.” Selena looked at the picture. She saw a little boy with golden brown hair and a cheeky smile in front of his parents. All three of them standing in front of the entrance of the building which looks like the pack house, they are in today. William’s mother looked beautiful, with blond hair, tall and golden eyes. She had a friendly smile and elegant aura but strong at the same time. A real Luna. The man looked exactly like William, he just had different eyes. Clearly William had his mother’s eyes.

“She was a beauty, wasn’t she?” Anna peeked over Selena’s shoulder.

“She really was.” Selena mumbled and kept looking at the picture, she was captivated. She wasn’t surprised anymore, why William wasn’t a fan of rogues. If she had to experience her mother being killed in front of her eyes, she would have hated rogues as well.

“Ok girls, I think it’s time for dinner and then movies.” Anna clapped her hands. All of them agreed enthusiastically. While Anna and Alexandra started to move away already Selena handed the frame to Olivia and they both made eye contact. Olivia had a soft smile on her face, like she knew something. Selena smiled back a little and they joined the others.

***

Dinner was a feast, it was loud and funny and the tacos were delicious. Afterwards it took them ages to decide which movie to watch, which they didn’t end up following anyway because they couldn’t stop chatting.

“I have a special surprise for our sleep over. It’s a little pre-birthday gift for you Olivia.” Alexandra said out of the blue while all of them were sitting on the floor in Olivia’s room. Alexandra had a little wicked smile on her face and went to her bag. She did some digging and eventually pulled out a bottle of champagne. Suddenly everyone was cheering and laughing.

“Alexandra Hernandez, I thought I knew you well. But you still manage to surprise me! Alcohol coming from you? We are underage.” Anna smiled excitedly and pretended to be shocked. They all laughed. Alexandra tried to open the bottle quietly but failed miserably. Olivia had to help and finally they drank the bubbly liquid out of plastic cups.

“So Olivia” Alexandra sounded like she wanted to interrogate someone, and in this case Olivia “Tell us the truth. Tomorrow you will turn eighteen. Are you nervous? Excited to meet your mate?” Her face turned into a big grin.

“I don’t know-“ Olivia started mumbling but was interrupted by Anna.

“Oh I know. Maybe it is someone from our pack? What if it’s Diego? He will be Beta one day. It would fit, don’t you think?”

“What was the boys name again, you kissed a year ago at Nicolas party?” Alexandra added. “Selena, what about you? You are eighteen already, have you met your mate?”

Selena turned red she didn’t really know what to answer, but then Anna asked another question. “Do you have a Boy at home maybe?” And all eyes were on her, she didn’t like that so many questions were asked.

“I used to have one, sure. But as long as we don’t meet our mates, we don’t take the relationship very seriously.” Selena didn’t want to mention that she thought he might be also dead.

“So you are telling us, she-wolves in Europe like to fool around like the males?” Alex asked with her typical analytical mind.

“Of course, why shouldn’t they. And when you meet your mate it ends automatically. I mean why would you want to see someone else if you met your soulmate.” Selena thought she sounded like a hypocrite saying these words.

“Life must be so liberal in Europe. We just stay at one place, wait for our mates to appear so that something exciting finally happens to us. Or worse, we wait for him to show up and be rescued from our miserable lives.” Anna took a sip of her cup and laid her head down and turned from her stomach to her back and stared at the ceiling.

“It’s not as shiny as you think it is.” Selena replied quietly. She noticed Olivia had been quiet the whole time. “Olivia are you alright?”

“To be honest, I don’t want to meet my mate yet. I still want to have my freedom, experience things. I want to get a degree. I want to be a lawyer.” Olivia’s head sank and she looked into her plastic cup as if it had answers for her. She had a sad smile on her face.

“But you can do both.” All heads snapped towards Selena. “I mean, you can have a mate and still go to college. You can have a mate and still travel a bit around. Maybe even together with him. Why not?” Selena looked from one girl to the other, all of them with surprised faces.

“Is that a normal thing in Europe?” Alexandra asked staring at Selena with big eyes.

“Of course. I mean what is wrong with education? And I know wolves don’t really feel safe outside their packs, but this way you can build new alliances or strengthen the old ones.”

“This sounds like an interesting idea.” A velvety voice came from the door. All heads turned and the girls saw William leaning by the entrance, arms crossed. He smiled and kept staring shamelessly at Selena who turned red and she blamed it on the alcohol. Why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut with her liberal European mindset, she thought. Now he must think she is a liberal hippie and criticised the way this pack lived. She was a guest at this house and this pack and shouldn’t make anyone upset.

“I just wanted to say happy birthday to our birthday girl.” He turned his head and started to walk to his sister.

“It’s midnight already? We almost missed it.” Anna shouted out. Everybody got up and wanted to be the first to congratulate, but William was the fastest. He hugged her tight and said something in Spanish, what Selena could only assume were best wishes. As he let go of her and let Anna and Alexandra hug her and congratulate her, he stood next to Selena and their fingers touched briefly. Sparks tingled up her arm and she winced slightly. Selena gave him a side eye and hoped the others didn’t notice a thing. But while she looked at him, she couldn’t help but admire his flawless profile. William noticed Selena couldn’t keep her eyes off him and a little smirk formed on his lips.

“I think it’s your turn.” He turned his face towards her.

“What?”

“Don’t you want to congratulate Olivia?” He said and all eyes were on Selena.

“Yes right. Of course.” Selena made her way to Olivia and hugged her tight. “Happy birthday my dear friend. I wish you all the best and a wonderful year ahead. I’m so thankful to have met you. And thank you for being so persistent and not taking a no from me. You really make my life better around here.” Every word was genuine, she didn’t think she could ever repay the friendship. Selena let go and the both girls were looking smiling at each other.

“Thank you, Selena. I’m glad to have met you too.” Olivia had an intense stare on her face. Anna passed them their cups again and they toasted all together.

“I will leave you now, senoritas.” William made his way to the door.

“Already?” Olivia pleaded him to stay.

“Yes. You should go to bed. Your big party is only coming up now and you have to be fit for it. I demand a dance of all of you. And unfortunately I have to go to the office again, we still have a few things to discuss about the pack.” He smiled at everyone and winked. “Good night.”

“He is a really good dancer.” Anna kept on watching the empty doorframe. Selena couldn’t help but feel her blood boil over Anna drooling over her mate.

“He is. But as far as I know him he will be busy talking to other pack leaders. He is just not able to relax. The pack comes always first.” Olivia stated. “But he is right let’s get to bed soon.”

***

After the girls finally decided to turn off the light Selena wasn’t able to fall asleep. Olivia’s words about her brother were stuck in her mind. If for him the pack really came always first and rogues were so hated around here, it was a dangerous place for her and Elara to stay. Even with the prospect of finding out something about her own pack. They had to find another way then. It was more important to stay alive. She tossed and turned but couldn’t sleep. Eventually she got up and wanted to go to the kitchen and get some milk. Quietly she walked in the dark hallway and saw a light coming out of one room. As far as she could remember it had to be the office. The door was slightly open and she heard voices, three or four men, one of them definitely William, and also Maria, Olivia’s mother.

“How is it possible?” Maria asked. “It was one of the strongest packs in Europe.”

Selena froze. She took a few steps closer and leaned her back against the wall to eavesdrop.

“We have no idea.” Said one voice.

“All we know it was a big attack at night. Almost the whole pack is gone. As far as we know all the leaders of the pack died. The rest is scattered around.”

“Rogues?” Asked another voice.

“Doesn’t sound like rogues. It sounds more like an inside job.” This was Williams voice. An inside job, what was that suppose to mean? Selenas head started spinning, her thoughts were spiralling out of control.

“Most likely. It’s a tragedy. We will send our condolences to the European council and wait what happens next. That’s it everyone. Let’s go to bed. We have a party to attend to in a few hours.” That must have been William’s dad, the Alpha.

Everyone started to move to get outside of the room. Selena had a problem. Her heart started pumping, where should she go? She had to be quiet to get away, and this quickly. Panic came over her because she didn’t know her way around. The door widened and the first person who appeared was William. Their eyes locked and he reacted in an instant. With big steps he reached her, grabbed her wrists and dragged her further till he pushed her into a dark room and closed the door behind her. She could feel her heart pounding and her head racing. What would he do now? There were words on the other side of the door that she couldn’t make out. The door opened again, and she could feel William’s presence. He turned on a little light and she noticed she stood in the middle of something like a library.

“Have you heard enough?” His golden-brown eyes were piercing her, his voice was husky, quiet but stern. He was definitely upset but tried to stay calm.

“I – I wasn’t listening. Not intentionally anyway.” Selena couldn’t help but to hold her head down. He took a step closer to her, he tilted his head a little, she felt his breath fanning her ear.

“Do you know something about the pack in Europe?” The words were like a sharp knife making its way into Selena’s heart.

“I don’t know anything about any pack. Now would you please let me go?” This came out harsher than intended. Selena wanted to move but William grabbed her by the shoulder and for a second they both stood still. Time froze and only the tingles of their touch seemed to move. He took a deep breath and inhaled her scent with his eyes closed. Once he opened them again, they turned pitch black with l**t. She didn’t like to admit it, but the same l**t flushed over her, too. In an intensity she had never experienced before. Overwhelmed by the situation Selena forced herself away from his grip and escaped back to her room and bed.