The Half Mutt Mate

Chapter 6: Thomas's PoV

Thomas's PoV:

I sat behind my desk, pinching the bridge of my nose. I couldn't believe the mess I was in. I let the Mutt escape and now there was hell to pay for it.

"Her name is Grace," my wolf growled.

"But she is a mutt," I replied.

I felt betrayed. How could she have kept this from me? How could she look herself in the eye every morning, knowing what she was? I couldn't understand it. 

There was a knock on my door and the soft voice of my beta Aaron came through. "Thomas," he said, knocking again.

"Come in," I said with a sigh. 

He entered the office, his head respectfully bowed as he walked in. He was holding a series of reports and papers which he held out to me. I nodded my thanks and took them, but he didn't leave.

Ever since the incident, as I liked to call it, Aaron had been far more respectful than before. He was acting more like a beta than a brother, even though he was both to me. When he didn't step back I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrows at him. Getting my message, he looked up and smiled apologetically. 

"I'm sorry to bother you, Thomas, But father has sent another message." 

I sighed. "What's he doing now?"

"Well, I don't know for certain, but I think he's the one organising the vigilante groups. The ones hunting down part-breeds." Aaron picked out a few of the documents he'd brought in and placed them on top of he pile. "As you can see, there have been more and more cases of wolves hunting down those they consider 'unpure'. People are scared about what a mutt could mean for wolves, and you know how  father feels about mutts."

I nodded. My father had always hated mutts; when I was much younger he had been the beta of our pack, but the old Alpha had become selfish and cruel after his human wife gave birth to a mutt. My father deposed him and took the role of Alpha, but he had always been suspicious of humans and 'part-breeds', as he called them, after that. He didn't want to risk another mutt being born.

"So what? We have to protect our own right now. We have to find the mutt. This is getting out of hand," I said.

My wolf, Nathan, growled as I spoke.

"Thomas, the entire wolf community is in uproar! They're demanding blood. That girl is the reason people are turning on each other, she's the reason why people are dying! By rejecting her you've shown that wolves won't accept mutts -- you've made us an enemy out of every single human, part breed and mutt out there!"

I stared at Aaron in shock, I didn't know how to respond. It was true, what he said -- the werewolf elite wanted Grace -- the mutt -- gone because the thought of a mutt as a Luna disgusted them. Meanwhile, everyone with a bit of human in them was scared that if we got rid of the mutt then we would be coming for them next. Perhaps they were right; there were many in the werewolf elite who were extreme enough to want to get rid of them.

"Show me some respect, Aaron," I said, eventually. "I am your Alpha." I stared down at him, watching my brother bow in submission. I couldn't let him disrespect me like that.

"I'm sorry, Thomas," he said, making eye contact with me even as he bowed. "But if you hadn't rejected her, if you hadn't let her escape then this wouldn't have happened."

"I know," I said quietly. "I should have kept her hidden, or pretended she didn't exist. Really, I should have killed her, but I couldn't do it, Aaron. I didn't have the strength to kill her."

Aaron reached over the table to put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to make that choice," he said, "but you made a mistake and now you have to clean it up."

I nodded. 

"When we found her, Thomas, at the Rogue's bunker, I acted badly. I'm sorry that I nearly attacked her, that I forced you to have to make a rash decision instead of deciding whether to hide her or kill her. I'm sorry."

I looked up in surprise. When I'd found Grace -- the mutt -- it had been one of the darkest days of my life. Rejecting her had been a reflex reaction; I couldn't have a mutt as a Luna, but at the time she was still my mate, so I couldn't get rid of her completely at the time. 

I had spent many hours looking back at that day in the months since it had passed, and wondered how it could have gone differently, if there was anyway that things could have gone better. Perhaps if the wolves around me weren't so angry, perhaps if I wasn't so angry, then I could have made a better decision and this whole mess would have been avoided. She was my mate at the time, so she was my responsibility. 

To keep or to kill? 

Making the decision was going to be much harder this time.

"You're forgiven," I told Aaron. "It wasn't your fault. The mutt is my responsibility."

He nodded and bowed his head again, preparing to leave the room. "Remember to read Father's letter," he said as he left. "He'll be mad if you don't."

I picked up the envelope sitting at the top of the pile. It was addressed to me and written in my Father's loopy cursive handwriting. With I sigh I opened it up, though I already knew what it was going to say. My Father was extreme when it came to mutts -- when I told him my mate was human he was disgusted. It took him a long while to get over it actually. 

Eventually, he realised that being my mate didn't necessarily mean being my partner, so he relented. When he stepped down as Alpha he handed over control to me under the condition that I would never marry Grace -- I was perfectly happy to agree to this, as I'd never wanted to marry her anyway. I had seen her as more of a little sister or a daughter, so she would have been my co-ruler, but not my partner. 

Of course, none of that was a problem anymore. Now my problems were much bigger. 

To keep or to kill? 

My wolf whined as I thought about it.

To keep or to kill?