White Fur

Chapter 17

Kanto’s POV

“Hey baby, I didn’t think you’d be so happy to see me.” My grin instantly disappeared at Jasmine’s words and appearance in my office. She sauntered towards my desk obviously trying her hardest to look sexy. She had on a skin tight short purple ‘dress’. There wasn’t enough fabric for it to be called a dress in my opinion but I think that’s what she’s pretending it is. Her stilettos clicked on the hardwood floor until she reached the rug. Her face was caked with makeup which her bleach blonde hair was in big curls.

“What do you need Jasmine?” I tried to hold back the annoyance in my voice while Zenith scolded me on the back of my mind. In the past, I was frustrated that I hadn’t found my mate and stressed out from my new alpha position. This led to me sleeping around a bit, Jasmine being one of the people I slept with. But once I finally felt adjusted to my role and realized that only my mate would make me feel better, I stopped messing around and focused on work. But Jasmine as well as some others still haven’t caught on. And since they think I’m unmated they still try to get me to take them as my mate. Zenith never lets me live down how dumb I was.

Jasmine walked around my office twirling a strand of her hair looking around. “It’s been a while. Just wanted to ask if you need me to relieve any tensions, Alpha.” As if on cue, the strap to her purple dress slipped off her shoulder.

I swear if you don’t get her out of here, I’ll remove her for you. Zenith was never a fan of Jasmine and would constantly yell at me for my decisions. And now that we found Skyler he was even more agitated.

“No, you can go Jasmine.” I tried to hold back Zenith’s anger but a low growl still escaped. I stood up to try to leave my office.

Jasmine turned towards me an put a pout on her face. She walked in front of me to block my way to the exit. “Awww baby, don’t be like that. We used to have so much fun in the past.”

She then put her hands on my chest and whispered “I know you liked it.” Then started to slide her hands down.

I quickly grabbed both of her hands and forced her back. “Don’t ever approach me about this topic again.” I growled out in my alpha tone, staring her down to get my warning across. My warning shook the whole room but it got the message across. She cowered and bowed her head before quickly running out of my office leaving the door wide open for the next person to see me today.

“Really, Kanto? Jasmine again?” A disapproving scowl was written all across her face.

“Hello mom.” I let out a sigh. It always irritated and embarrassed me that my mom knew about Jasmine and the few other girls that tried to fill the mate position for me.

My mother crossed her arms and walked further into my office. She stared at me and then back to the guest chairs in front of my desk meaning that I should take a seat. I sat down and prepared myself for the lecture that I was now going to get.

“Kanto, you are the Alpha of this pack you need to be more responsible and stop fooling around with random she-wolves.” I was going to speak up but I knew better than to interrupt her when she was scolding me. “Alphas are supposed to be leaders with good morals and wise decision making skills. I know it’s been tough because you haven’t found your mate. But you are 28 years old, you need to act like a respectable alpha. Now I’m not saying to jump into the counsel’s wish of having Iliana, of course I still hope that you find you destined mate. But it doesn’t look good when the Alpha is busy messing around with random girls and slacking on their responsibilities.”

She paused in her lecture, usually this was to give me time to think about my actions before she would continue. My mom would always tell it to me straight, which I really relied on when I became Alpha. She was still the Luna of this pack since I hadn’t found my mate yet. I counted on her wisdom over the years and have always held her in high respect, the whole pack respected her. Even when my father died, she was able to put aside her feelings and help me take over the role of Alpha. She’s always put this pack and me first, that’s why I’m very excited to see the look on her face when I tell her about Skyler.

A small grin must have crept onto my face because my mother squinted her eyes at me. “This is serious. What has been going on with you lately?”

“Mom, I can assure you I’m not messing around with any random she-wolves. Jasmine came in here and I quickly dismissed her.”

A wave of relief washed over my mom’s face but it was still serious. “Then why have you been slacking off on your duties, it’s not like you.”

I couldn’t help it, my small grin turned into a big smile. I didn’t even have to say anything after that. My mom gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide with excitement. Soon her eyes were brimming with tears. “Really?”

“Yes mom, I found her. I found my mate.” She moved her hands from her mouth and wrapped me in a big hug which I returned.

After standing there for a bit my mother released her grip and took a step back. She grabbed a tissue from my desk and wiped her eyes of the tears she shed. “So what’s her name? Where is she? When is she coming here?”

“Whoa mom calm down.” I interrupted before she could ask anymore questions. I let my mom take a deep breath before I continued. “Her name is Skyler McCarthy. She lives in the city, not far away from the office building.”

“How long ago did you find her? When is she coming here, she needs to join our pack.” My mom was still very excited.

“That’s the tricky part.” This is the part I was nervous about. “We met just about a week ago, but Skyler is human.”

My mom’s face went serious and contemplative. “Oh I see how that could be a problem. Humans definitely do stuff differently than we do. Does she know about you being a werewolf?”

“Yes but she doesn’t know much more than that and I don’t want to overwhelm her.” There is still so much I need to tell Skyler, I haven’t even told her that I’m Alpha yet. She barely knows the basics of our mate bond, I need to make sure she understands and accepts the basics of werewolf life before adding on more special cases.

We should tell mate soon though, it would be better and she is strong. Zenith commented.

You’re right, but I still want her to get to know us a bit more first. I explained to my wolf. I want her to see me as me before she sees me as Alpha.

“Son, I don’t want you to think my concern is of disapproval.” My mother said after I was quiet for a while. “I’m happy you found your mate and I don’t care that’s she’s human, if anything I’m happy she is. But I do share your concern for her being overwhelmed. It’s a whole new world that she just learned about, not to mention she’ll be the leader of this pack. And I bet you are worried about what others are going to think of her.”

“I don’t care what others thinks, she’s my mate she belongs by my side.” I said firmly. “But I am worried about how others will treat her when I’m not around.”

My mother gave me a gentle smile. “If she’s your mate, she’s going to be as tough as nails and just as sharp. A force to be reckoned with. She’ll make an amazing Luna. Just know that I will always be on your side and hers. And no more slacking on your responsibilities, tell me so I can help.”

My mother bowed her head slightly before heading to the door. “Mom, do you mind keeping her a secret for now? I’m working on how to tell the pack and to deal with the council. But for her safety, I’m trying to keep this quiet.”

She chuckled as if she already knew I would say that. “Of course Alpha. But hurry up and bring her here so I can spoil her rotten.” With that, she smiled and left my office.

A sense of relief washed over me at the fact my mother knew about Skyler and supported her, but it also made me sad. My mother rarely calls me Alpha, she only does it when she’s intensely proud of me. I’ve never asked her why she saves it for those special moments but I believe it has something to do with my father. The love she still has for my father after all these years, it’s bittersweet. But I’m happy my mother is so accepting of Skyler already. Now I just have to worry about getting the rest of the pack to accept her.

They won’t question her right to be Luna, she is our mate and belongs by our side. Zenith said.

That doesn’t mean that some pack members won’t resent her. Not all the pack members like humans, let alone have one as their Luna. I reasoned. We need to be careful about this.

If anyone dares to be cruel to our mate, I’ll rip their heads off. Zenith growled.

Which is why we need to be careful. I scolded back. It also doesn’t help that we haven’t been here in a while. We need a plan.

Zenith grumbled a little before retreating back into my mind. What am I ever going to do about him. I glanced over at the clock on the wall and sighed at the time. Being at the pack house without Skyler was miserable. Really being anywhere without Skyler was miserable. I turned to look at the clock on the wall, hoping the day was almost over. I need a break from work, maybe I’ll go train for a bit.

I left my office and climbed the couple flights of stairs to get to my room. I walked across the suite and grabbed a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt from the dresser. I changed out of my work clothes and quickly threw on the new outfit, after tying up my shoes I headed back downstairs. I still felt a little annoyed that I couldn’t be with Skyler but training always made me feel a bit better when I was in a bad mood. When I made it to the ground floor, I headed towards the back door it was quicker the walking all the way around the pack house. As I walked through pack members bowed their heads to me or would say hi. I would return the greeting with a quick head nod as I passed them. I hope that my pack treats Skyler with the same respect they treat me.

Before I even made it to the training grounds I could hear Brett’s obnoxious laugh. He must have won his sparring match, he always did like to show off. As I finally came up to the training grounds I saw that my prediction was right, one of the newer warriors was getting up from the ground with Brett’s help.

“Aren’t you supposed to play nice with the new recruits?” I yelled over to my Beta jokingly.

“Alpha, I didn’t expect you to grace us with your presence.” He smiled as he bowed his head along with everyone else. “Besides that was me being nice.”

The newer warrior dusted himself off before bowing and finding another sparring partner. I stretched out a bit before getting into a fighting stance.

Alright, lover boy. Let’s see if you’ve gone soft. Brett mind linked me as he go into position.

A wicked smile came across my face. You are going to regret that. Then I charged.

After a couple rounds of beating up Brett, I took a step out of the ring to grab some water.

“Oh Alpha, you’re here.” Someone behind me said but I knew it was Iliana’s voice. I turned to face her. She was wearing a sports bra and shorts, her black hair was tied up into a small ponytail. “Are you here to train too? Or are you testing the new warriors?”

Zenith growled in my head at Ilianna, I stood there silent for a moment.

“Look, I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day.” Ilianna said before I could talk. “I just know how difficult being mateless is for you, especially being an Alpha. And I know the council has been hounding you about your mate and they’ve been pressuring me about it too so I just thought maybe I could make things easier. My behavior was out of line and I’m sorry.”

I took a moment to consider her words. The elder council has been trying to push Ilianna on me for years, I’d be a fool to think they were just pushing me. Her behavior was still over the line that day, but she has been a huge supporter of me being Alpha. “Your behavior was unacceptable, but I understand the stress the council has put you under. Just don’t do it again.”

“Understood Alpha.” She bowed her head and when she lifted it again there was a gentle smile on her face. Then her expression changed to one of determination. “So would you like to spar? We haven’t fought each other in a while and I think I can beat you this time.”

“I need to get back to work but you can spar with Jack or someone.” I offered having a memory pop back into my head. “Anyone but Brett, you know how you guys are when you train together.”

“I don’t want to train with that barbarian. He’s such a sore loser.” Ilianna rolled her eyes in disgust at my advice.

“Hey you haven’t beaten me once, so who’s really the sore loser.” Brett shouted from across the training ground.

Ilianna groaned and rolled her eyes again before turning back to me. “Mind link me if you need any help with work.” She turned back and walked over to one of the other female warriors who was taking a break. I started walking back towards the pack house.

You don’t really believe that crap right? Zenith growled at me, obviously still mad about Ilianna.

Look she’s been a loyal pack member and she’s never acted out like that before. I have to give her the benefit of the doubt. I explained.

Yea yea yea, whatever. Zenith grumbled.

I know she’s been eyeing the Luna position for a long time but she always kept it professional and didn’t cross the line. Since this is her first offense, I’m letting her off with a warning. Besides she hasn’t found her mate either and the council has been relentless with us, you can only imagine how annoying they’ve been to her. I knew Zenith understand the logic, he probably agreed with it, he’s just angry that another she-wolf was trying to make advances when I already have a mate. Would a run make you feel better?

I felt Zenith’s head perky up at the mention of a run, even his tail started to wag a bit.

The only condition is you have to stay in pack territory. I knew if I gave him complete control he would run straight to Skyler.

Fine, let’s go. He grumbled, I knew him too well.

I went to the edge of the forest and started to undress. The sun just disappeared behind the mountains, so it was getting dark but still light enough to see. I put my clothes in one of the hollow trees nearby and shifted into my wolf form. I stretched out and drifted to the back of my mind to let Zenith have control. I watched as he sprinted through the trees. I may have grown up in these woods but I never get tired of it, I always feel at peace here.

After a couple hours, Zenith went back to the tree where I put my clothes before shifting back and giving me control. I know I shouldn’t have been gone for so long but I think Zenith needed it. I headed back inside the pack house and went up to my room. I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I stripped off my clothes then hopped into the shower. The cool water flowing down my body felt good and relaxing. I stood there taking in the moment, but I knew I couldn’t be there for forever. I washed my hair and body before getting out. I wrapped the towel around my waist and walked back to the main part of my bedroom. That’s when I heard the small ping noise.

-Your day still going alright? It was so cute how Skyler checked in on me.

-Its going much better now that I’m talking to you. I sent back instantly realizing how cringey it sounded.

-Wow that’s so cheesy but adorable. I’m glad your day hasn’t been miserable. So what should we do on Saturday? She messaged.

-Oh you don’t worry about Saturday. I’m taking care of everything. Just be ready to go by 5. I had many plans ready for Saturday, I thought of several things I wanted to do with Skyler when I first found her. So I’m going to surprise her this weekend.

-What are we going to do? She texted.

My wicked smile crossed my face before I sent my reply.

-It’s a surprise. Just know that you’re all mine.