She Eyed My Spot, My Alpha Let Her

Chapter 3: Change Of Heart?

Leia’s POV

I braced myself for the unknown, or perhaps the unbelievable and unimaginable discoveries. Drakah let go of my hands and looked into my eyes.

“Is there something wrong with me ma'am? Is mine and Pete's bond still intact? I came here to ask whether his behavior toward me lately was normal. Could something be off?” I fired out questions, feeling extremely anxious. At this point, I knew she knew everything. There was no need to mince words.

She shook her head. “That is what makes it strange. Your bond is intact and he is perfectly fine. Then I wonder why he hasn't arranged for the completion of your mating ceremony. Without his mark, you are as good as just his chosen lover. Why is he delaying?” Drakah said.

I was now confused. “Do you mean that there isn't anything wrong with our bond and there isn’t any external force influencing him to neglect and maltreat me?” I asked. “What? He also maltreats you? I knew about neglecting you because it is common gossip around the pack villagers, but maltreat? Pete isn't influenced by any dark source if that’s what you wanted to know, he is fine. Why would he suddenly change and even mistreat the mate he has prayed for since he was little?” Drakah asked, sounding very concerned and confused at the same time.

My head dropped, shoulders droopy. I was embarrassed. I felt like I failed to make my mate like me and didn't even know how to explain everything to Drakah. Voice low, I told her everything that had been happening. She shuddered. “So both of you hadn't even mated? This is unbelievable! No wonder your aura is still that of an omega,” she said, sounding very disappointed. I was too.

Pete and I had been intimate before but not sexually intimate. Before the mating ceremony, we had kissed, hugged and caressed and touched each other, but we wanted to leave out the s*x part for our mating night. We wanted to experience every magic we grew up hearing of on that night. All that has been forgotten since that attack.

Sharon was traumatized by her husband's passing and couldn't be left alone, apparently. She demanded that Pete be by her side during her mourning period. Now when I come to think about it, she probably wasn't even traumatized but was only being manipulative.

“You mean there's no spell, no charm used on him? So is he willingly neglecting our bond?” I asked, confused because we’ve been taught that all werewolves acted according to the mate bond, that only a few would rarely defy fate. How was it then that he was able to ignore its pull? I couldn’t resist it myself, that was why it felt like a knife was twisting my heart whenever I felt his rejection.

“Alphas have a strong will. The goddess sometimes makes them have the ability to harden their hearts in case they have to make drastic decisions such as executing a close member without hesitation,” she said. It made sense, but still I felt like a mate bond was higher than that and shouldn’t be easily tampered with.

I sat with Drakah in her living room after all that and just asked many questions about mating while drinking coffee with her. I didn’t want to believe our bond had reached a hopeless state, but I still had hope that we could fix things.

My phone rang as I was still listening to Drakah. She nodded for me to take it. The name on the screen was Pete. I hesitated to answer. Did he find out that I wasn’t home? Was he going to shout at me?

I pressed the answer button and put it to my ear. “Mate, please come by my office and get the money, I want you to get something for us,” he said. I was surprised by “for us.” A little hope crept in, and I almost got excited that he called me mate and that he said "us" but I remembered that “us” might not be me and him, but might be he and Sharon or everyone in the house. My face fell.

Tears were threatening to fall at that thought, but I pushed them back. “I’ve got to run, the Alpha wants to send me somewhere,” I told Drakah. She looked at me sympathetically, most probably because I called my own mate “The Alpha," showing the tension in my heart and the strain in what was supposed to be closeness between us as mates.

“Don’t be a stranger child, visit one of the days so we can finish that conversation,” she rubbed soothing circles on my back and hugged me at the door. I nodded and said goodbye.

The offices of the Whiteblood pack were immaculate and had been refurbished better than I used to know them. This was the first time Pete invited me to the office since I came back to this pack. I knocked on the Alpha’s office door and his husky voice boomed, “Come in.”

He was already standing at the door and somehow looked at me with pity. ‘Had he had a change of heart? Was he finally submitting to the mate bond or was he just feeling guilty?’ I wondered. I didn’t know how to react.

I just stood there, eyes on the floor. I no longer felt brave enough to look my childhood friend in the eyes without feeling as if I was challenging him. I jolted as I felt his fingers push my chin up. “Please look at me love!”

‘Love? Did I hear him right or am I too desperate to hear him say that?’ I wondered as my eyes searched for his own. It felt like I was hallucinating. “I’m sorry I’ve neglected you for this long, love. I hope you understand that I was only trying to please Sharon so she wouldn’t abandon the pack business and go back to her former pack. The pack survives on that business. If she leaves, we might struggle to get it running. Please do not hold it against me, my love. I will make it up to you,” he said, wrapping his hands around me.

I stiffened. The feeling was almost foreign. I listened to his heartbeat as if I would find the answer to my doubts. He released me, but I still couldn’t say anything. I was in a state of disbelief.

I guess he could tell that and didn’t question my silence. He pulled a chair for me and went around his big black oak table to sit on his chair. I cleared my throat. “You said I should go buy something for us?” I indeed wanted to know what I had to go buy, but most importantly I wanted to probe for who “us” meant.

He shook his head. “Yes my love, I remembered that your birthday is coming up in a week. Take this card and go to the mall in human territory and book a cake, buy a dress and any other thing needed for a party. I will send you with some guards for your protection,” Pete said.

My heart skipped a beat. Was this real or was I dreaming? This man has called me my love thrice since I came here. Was he genuinely changing or what? My eyes lit with hope. I took the card and went to the car prepared for me. I was just casually dressed, my blonde hair in a ponytail and I just looked simple. The look didn’t bother me, so I didn’t think there was a need to change. As the car drove off, Pete waved at me and blew a kiss. ‘Maybe there was hope for us after all…or was this the beginning of the end?’ I trembled at my thoughts.