My Best Friend's Alpha

13.

Lana

The sight of Nial lavishing Meela with the affection he used to show me makes the bile rise up from the pit of my stomach. The anger rages inside me as he whispers sweet nothings into her ear. Meela's flirtatious giggles echo throughout the hall. My chair scrapes along the floor as I push myself away from the table to escape, I refuse to sit here any longer while everyone acts like it is perfectly normal for them to shove their blossoming relationship in my face. The hall falls silent as each pack member cranes their necks to watch me storm out in a huff. How can anyone expect me to be okay with this? Meela's voice rang out, stopping me in my tracks as I raced down the stairs.

'Lana wait, please' her voice sounding remorseful.

I turned to see the anguish in her face and decided to hear her out, she was once like a sister to me afterall.

'Wait for what Meela? Wait to watch more of you and my boyfriend all over each other? No thanks' I scoffed.

Her eyes opened wider in shock.

'I, I just... Lana, I'm so sorry' she mustered, defeated.

'What do you want from me Meela? If you want me to be okay with this then tough because I'm not'

She sighed heavily and began descending the steps.

'I just miss you Lana, I want my best friend back. You must realise that I didn't choose for this to happen. I have no control over who the moon goddess pairs me with'

A stray tear betrays my strong facade. I'm still angry, but I'm also upset because I know deep down that she's right, still I'm not ready to admit that yet or let Nial go. She reaches for my arm but I pull it away.

'There's something you should know' I quietly mutter, contemplating whether I should say it or not. Her annoying innocent doe-eyed bambi face persuades me to continue. 'I'm pregnant with Nial's pup' the words tumble out colder than I intended and her face instantly drops. I stalk off leaving her dumbfounded, a surge of adrenaline rushes through me as I smirk happily to myself. There is a guard stationed outside my cabin as I approach, he allows me to enter but remains outside the doorway once I'm inside. Curling up into a ball on my bed I sob at the person I am becoming, eventually convincing myself that any girl in my position would do the same to keep her man.

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Nial

I can sense the consternation radiating off of Meela before I reach her. As I join her outside she is rooted to the spot like a rabbit caught in headlights. Her caramel eyes are petrified and her bottom lip is quivering.

'Meela, sweetheart, what's wrong?'

Wrapping her in my arms, it takes a minute for her to respond before she sobs uncontrollably into my chest.

'Meela, you're really worrying me now, talk to me'

She tried turning her head away when I lifted her chin to look into her eyes.

'Meela, please' I begged, my heart breaking at the sight of her so upset.

'When were you going to tell me?' she snapped, anger flashed in her tear soaked eyes.

'What are you talking about, tell you what?' my eyebrows furrow together in confusion.

'Don't play dumb, I wasn't born yesterday' she snarled, rolling her eyes.

'Meela, I'm being serious, I don't know what you mean' I step back shrugging my shoulders up.

'About Lana and the pup she's carrying' she persisted.

My shoulders drop and my jaw swings open.

'Wh.. What?' I swallowed hard, trying to compose myself but my palms are beginning to sweat. What was she on about?

'Oh' she mutters as her eyes widen again in surprise, the penny finally drops that I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about. She grabs hold of my arm

'Woah there' she shrieks, steadying me as I obliviously sway back and forth.

'Lana's just told me she's pregnant' she whispers 'with your pup'. She averts her gaze, clearly uncomfortable with being the one to break it to me.

I feel dizzy, this can't be real. Sitting down before I fall down, I place my head in my hands. Meela sits beside me in silence, rubbing circles on my back. Just her touch alone has a calming effect on me. I'm unaware of how much time has passed but the sky is visibly darker.

'This can't be happening' I groan 'I'm so sorry Meela, I promise I'll sort this out. I don't know how this happened'

She remains silent, I look up at her from my hands to see the vacant expression in her big beautiful eyes as she stares into the distance. I can practically hear the cogs turning in her head.

She sighs before standing up.

'You need to do the right thing Nial, I know it won't be easy' her voice catches in her throat 'but you have a responsibility to see this through.'

Shit. Is she breaking up with me?

I find my feet quickly. A tear rolls down her cheek, I catch it with my finger and wipe it away. She quickly moves my hand away from her face.

'I've got to go' she chokes as she turns on her heel to re-enter the hall. I grab her wrist to stop her from leaving, Alistair pining loudly in my head.

'Meela, wait. Please just let me figure this out, don't leave me' my voice trails off into a weak whisper.

She stops and looks at me intently from over her shoulder, her golden eyes smouldering.

'Get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow' she instructed as she pulled her arm out of my grip.

'Meela'

She sighed and turned once more.

'I don't want anyone to know until I've spoken to her, please'

A small nod reassured me her lips were sealed as she disappeared through the door into the hall.

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Magnus

Mara, having returned to the table, sharply tugs on my arm after I instinctively stood from my chair to follow Meela out of the hall.

'Magnus, let her go, she needs to do this for herself' she insisted.

I look to Nial who is also itching to follow after her as he shifts uncomfortably in his chair. A minute passes before he can no longer resist, I watch as Nial leaves through the same door Lana and Meela did. Mara tuts in my ear.

'Young love' she sighs.

She tries to engage me in conversation about training schedules but I'm too distracted to concentrate. Tobias takes a seat at our table.

'Don't worry guys, there are guards surrounding the territory and a guard stationed outside our cabins, nothing will happen to Meela. Besides, my son would never let anything happen to her' Tobias spoke with such conviction that it put me somewhat at ease.

'Looking forward to retirement?' Mara joked.

Tobias raised an eyebrow.

'I can't believe the kids are 18 already' he wiped a hand over his face in disbelief. 'I mean, who am I if I'm not Alpha?' he shrugged.

Laughter rumbled from my chest 'You'll have to get a hobby, you could try golf' Mara nodded in agreement.

'Or gardening' she added.

We all burst out laughing at that suggestion which caught the attention of Deena who came sauntering over.

'And what's got you guys so tickled?' she mused.

'Tobias, gardening' Mara explained, gasping for breath before erupting into another fit of laughter joined by Deena who clutched at her sides. Tobias, now sulking, didn't see how the image of a big burly man in gardening gloves was so funny.

The laughter died down once we all heard the opening and closing of the hall door. I looked over to see a red nosed, tear stained Meela walking towards us. With no interjection from Mara, I stood up this time and moved over to meet her just as she reached the table.

'Honey, what's wrong?'

She throws her arms around me and squeezes me tightly.

'Why is nothing ever simple Daddy?' she sobs.

Gazing around the room I notice that neither Nial or Lana have returned.

As Tobias and I make eye contact, I realise he has also detected their absence and nods at me reassuringly before marching off to find them.

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Meela

Karmen was whimpering in a corner inside my head as I sat curled up on the sofa next to my mom. We arrived back at our cabin some time ago and she had made us all hot chocolate before bed.

'What happened tonight hun? Do you want to talk about it?' she asked softly.

I bit my lip anxiously. I so desperately wanted to talk to her about it, we had no secrets from each other, but Nial insisted I kept quiet for now. I sigh in frustration as my stomach churned into knots.

'You know you can tell me anything right? I thought we didn't keep secrets' my mom reminded me with a warm, encouraging smile.

'We don't, it's just that this secret isn't mine to tell' I confess, slumping my shoulders.

'I see' my mother continued 'but if I was to guess the secret, then maybe I could help you, guilt free' she enthused.

I groaned, there's no way she was letting this go.

'Right, so it must be something that involves Nial... Hmm... And it could also involve Lana?' she questioned, studying my face for clues. I tried to remain poker faced, but she can read me like a book.

She gasped in shock 'It does, doesn't it?'

She thought some more, tapping her finger on her chin, muttering the inner workings of her mind. I yawned, it was getting late.

'Good luck Mom, I'm heading to bed' I stifled through another yawn before plodding in the direction of my room, leaving my mother, entirely lost within her own thoughts. The phone rings, stopping us all in our tracks. My father snatches the handset with urgency. I study his face as he listens intently to voice at the other end, the commanding tone can only be that of Tobias. The conversation was brief but sounded important, he sighed as he set the handset back into it's cradle.

'Nial has gone missing' he explained.

My head started to spin with the blood rushing around my ears. My mother caught me before I passed out and walked me back to the sofa.

'I know you said you couldn't tell me Meela, but if something serious has happened, sweetheart, you need to tell us'

Two wide eyed faces stared at me curiously as panic rose into my throat. Nial trusted me with this secret, a secret that could lead to his own demise. I swallowed the large lump that had formed before sighing in defeat, desperately hoping Nial will forgive me for spilling all.