Alpha and Omega

What an intoxicating scent...

I was shown to the stage over looking the seats where the guests were already seated and waiting for the graduates to arrive and I could feel the hundreds of sets of eyes boring into me, watching me, staring and pointing and whispering.  Catherine had already nudged me twice, telling me to smile, be friendly, pretend like I was happy to be there, but I couldn't.  Everything I had learned in the past 24 hours made me question if I even needed to be here for the graduation, because if I had anything to say about it, the boy Alpha graduating tonight would not be Alpha of anything.

His father refused to allow any of his pack members to leave the pack and it wasn't a shock they were trying to leave, being a rogue was better then what was going on here.  The pack members were being charged outrageous fees just to live on pack lands and then being threatened with imprisonment or even death if they dared to leave.  Alpha Neo was using his power as Alpha to completely rob his pack members and no one was allowed to say anything  It had been a miracle I was even able to get this info seeing as how we were not allowed anywhere without a pack warrior for a guard.  Despite the fact that I brought my own guards. We'd sedated the 'guard' and spoken to the pack members without his interference, what we had learned enraged me.

Jaxon walked back onto the stage just after the processional music began, as he walked past me the most intoxicating scent of orange blossoms and vanilla wafted to me.  Enthralling my sense I leaned closer to him as he sat down beside me and drew the incredible scent deeper into my lungs.  When I looked up into his wide eyes I cleared my throat and sat up, back straight, dusting my hands down my suit jacket anxiously.

"That scent is delicious...I want more of it."  My wolf, Loki purred in my mind.  It was rare for him to speak, and I had never in my life heard him purr; but he was right, that scent was delicious. 

"What was that Gideon?"  Jaxon asked with a chuckle, pulling his jacket up and taking a sniff of him self, I watched, wondering if he'd smell it as well, but instead he just shrugged and dropped the cloth back to his shoulder.  "I do not smell bad."

"No, you do not, but you have the most... interesting scent clinging to you."  I looked out among the theater as the graduates began entering in sets of two, Knox and his girlfriend leading the line.  Knox was grinning like a damned i***t and waving to everyone, though oddly enough with one had tucked up to his chest, but his girlfriend looked less then thrilled, her smile being forced and her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"What do you mean by interesting, Gideon?"  Catherine asked from my other side, a look in her eyes that had me questioning my sanity for a moment, but I just stared at her, confused by her interest.

"Just a scent that smells intriguing, orange blossoms and vanilla.  He most likely just walked through a woman's cloud of perfume is all."  I tried to shrug it off but Catherine and Jaxon shared a knowing look and a grin before they both looked at me with secret smiles.  "What?  Is there something in my teeth?"  I asked feeling a little worried by their actions.

"Who were you near Jax?  Is she in here now?  Can you point her out?"  Catherine was whispering across me as she looked around the massive room, scanning the faces for someone in particular.

"Only an Omega who was graduating,  I saw the Alpha pup Knox with his hand on her and tried to intervene but she handled it her self."  Jaxon's voice was laced with pride, this had me glancing at him again in question.

"An Omega stood up to an Alpha?  Whew... I would have paid to see that."  Catherine was now impressed as well and I was still sitting there, my eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them wondering what hell they were talking about.

"Hello?  I am still here you two, what are you talking about?  What girl?  Why is she important?"  Catherine started giggling behind her hand and Jaxon chuckled before he placed a hand on my shoulder and drew my attention.

"Your mate."  He said, watching as my expression changed from shocked to excited and finally landed on anxious.

"My mate... I mean, are you sure?  Loki is acting calm, I thought your wolf went ballistic in your head?"  Now I was with Catherine, my eyes skimming the face's of every person in the room, even as the graduates continued to proceed into the auditorium in sets of two.

"Remember you have to experience 3 of the 6 senses to feel the bond and your wolf to be sure."  Catherine piped in as she watched the graduates walking in.  Each new set was a face she hadn't searched yet.

"Wait, you said Knox had his hand on her."  Glaring at him I felt anger rise in my blood, jealousy over another male having touched what was mine, having possibly hurt her. 

"Yes..."  My Beta trailed off as a spark of realization lit up in his eyes making him frown.  "Shit... she already has a mate."

"What?  That is not possible!  The scent is calling to him, that means she is Gideon's."  Catherine threw in, her hand going to my arm, the heat of her palm seeping through my jacket and helping to keep me calm.

"Knox said she was his mate, right after she fractured his wrist."  I felt simultaneously like grinning and growling.  My possible mate had guts and strength, two things she'd need if she were to rule beside me and Knox had dared to push her so far she'd broken a bone of his, he'd touched my mate.  Possible mate.

"Mate."  Loki growled through my mind.

"If she is mine then I will declare it so, if Knox challenges me then I will have the pleasure of wiping out the Alpha line for this pack."  Loki was in agreement with this statement, and every word of it was the truth.  I wasn't worried about another male claiming my mate as theirs, because I'd simply remove them from the equation.

Jaxon and Catherine both gave me a side eye, but they didn't appear to surprised.  I was a reserved person for the most part, I was not quick to anger and I believed in diplomatic solutions before taking things to a physical nature.  But all of that would be forgotten if another dared to attempt to claim my mate.

"Oh my Goddess, is that her?"  Catherine gasped as Jaxon and I turned to follow her line of sight. "That has to be her!"  She practically squealed.  

The breath left my lungs in a whoosh when my eyes landed on the girl Catherine was looking at.  It had to be her.  Standing almost half a foot above every other girl in the graduate procession and the same height if not taller then some of the males, with the deepest onyx colored hair I had ever seen, her bright blue eyes were a major contrast to her dark hair and complexion.  I couldn't tell what her body looked like under the graduation robe, and honestly I didn't care, she was perfect to me, but I could tell she was tall and willowy.  She walked with confidence with her head held eye and as I watched her I noticed something else as well... every other unmarked male in attendance was watching her in shocked amazement, including visiting Alphas who were there for diplomacy, much like me and my sister and Beta.

"Yes, that is her."  Chuckled Jaxon, seeing the reaction of the other males in the room the same as me.  She and the girl she'd been walking with were last in the line and once they joined the others at their seats right in front of the stage they all sat together.

"Omega my ass."  Said Catherine in awe, before slapping my arm with the back of her hand and whispering under her breath.  "Lucky you!  She's a goddess!"

Lucky me, indeed.

The rest of the ceremony flashed in such a blur that I wouldn't be able to tell anyone what had happened.  My eyes stayed on her the entire time, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull my gaze away if I wanted to, her blue eyes had flickered to mine a few times, blue and brown clashing, and I knew the heat in mine was why she kept looking away... but it was also why she kept looking back. 

When Jaxon elbowed me in the side I swung my head around to glare at him only to realize everyone on and off stage was staring at me and Alpha Neo was at the podium with diploma's in hand looking at me expectantly.  I was supposed to stand beside him and shake each graduates hand.  It's supposed to be an honor, but right now it felt like a nuisance.

"But we will get to touch her."   Loki whispered happily through my mind.  All I needed was one more sense, touching her skin or hearing her voice would be all I needed to know if I had really and truly found my mate.  "She is ours."  He growled possessively.

I stood from my seat, doing the buttons on my coat and pulling my sleeves down leisurely, as if this entire affair was above me, which in all honesty, it was.  I was a Crowned Prince of a country and my entire race, when I'd agreed to this I had been under the impression I would just attend this sordid affair, not have to participate.  No, that little gem had been dropped on me upon my arrival at this smelly and depressing place.

"If we had not come tonight, we would still be mate-less, stop being a sniveling, spoiled, little s**t, and get your ass up there to meet our mate."  Loki grumbled through my mind, anxious to officially declare her our mate. 

"Ouch, that actually stung you mutt."  I chuckled back to my wolf, even as my feet lead me to center stage, still keeping a wide breadth between me and the Alpha I was coming to hate.  "Besides, we don't have a mate yet, we suspect we do.  Besides she has a mate already, if we are her mate as well then she must choose... getting a little ahead of your self there."

"I do not care if the mate bond declares we are or not... she calls to me, her wolf is powerful and I want them both.  An excellent queen to be by our side."  Loki stated unwaveringly.

"Are you suggesting that if she is not our destined mate, we simply kill her fated mate and take her home with us?"  I asked in utter shock, as the first graduate stopped before me and held their hand out, a blushing girl with mousy brown hair and damp palms.  As she walked off I wiped my hand on my pants, but half a second later the next teenager was there, hand outstretched, this time a beaming boy standing inches below me.  Of course at 6'6" no one, except my father, was as tall as me.

"We do not have to kill the boy, just defeat him... though I would rather kill him if given the choice."  My wolf was as serious as a heart attack, apparently forgetting that we were to be the leader of our kind one day, going around killing boys and stealing their mates is not exactly the way to build a strong empire.  But if I was honest, as my eyes found her again in the line proceeding to the stage, I would be more then willing to kill to have her be mine.  I would risk it all.

Another student moved in front of me, this time a voice accompanied it and I tore my eyes off of my mate and locked eyes with the one boy who should be running miles from me at this moment... if he knew what my wolf had planned for him he'd be far away, not smiling as he held a hand out for me to shake.  Forcing a polite smile to my lips, I took his hand in mine and squeezed, hard enough for him to wince and his eyes go wide as he searched my own in question.  Pulling him a step closer I leaning down and close and whispered in his ear.

"She's mine... and if I hear of you touching her again, there won't be anything left of you to bury."  As I pulled back I kept the smile on my lips and found a little joy in the fear in his eyes as he yanked his hand out of mine and turned to hurry off the stage.

Now on to my mate.