Her Fated Family

Chapter 5

Dominic

I laid in bed early the next morning still seething over Maggie’s words. I couldn’t believe that she had walked out on me after declaring that us being mates was a mistake.

‘Dude. What did you expect?’ Gemini growled. ‘I told you not to be an ass and you didn’t listen.’ He wasn’t wrong there. I hadn’t exactly acted thrilled to see her.

It’s not that Maggie wasn’t beautiful, because she was. Her pale skin, bright blue eyes and the light dusting of freckles across her nose made her look permanently mischievous. She was tall and slender, with curves exactly where they needed to be. Her hair was a wild mess of auburn curls and many times when she showed up for her tutoring sessions with DJ I had wondered if she had even taken time to brush it.

‘If you find our mate so attractive then where is the issue?’ Gemini’s question pulled me from my thoughts.

‘She’s a baby Gem. She’s 23.’

‘And you were 20 when you took over as Alpha so I’m not sure what your point is. Maggie and Echo are perfect. You need to give them a chance.’

‘What I need to do is reject them,’ I snapped back at him. ‘And I’m going to do that right now.’ I pushed him out of my mind and got out of bed to get dressed.

I threw on a pair of grey pants and a black polo shirt from my closet. I splashed some water on my face and ran a comb through my hair.

Before leaving, I walked down the hallway and popped my head in to check on my pups who were both still sleeping. I linked Nanny Rose, as the pups called our housekeeper/nanny, to let her know that I was heading out for a bit. After she assured me she would look after them, I set off towards Maggie’s house.

It was roughly a ten minute walk across the pack property to the house she shared with her friend Rayna Stone. The air was cool for the mid-June morning and I passed several of my warriors on their way to training.

Dammit. This girl already had me forgetting my responsibilities. I linked Lance letting him know that I would be late to training but to go ahead and start with the usual warmups and sparring matches.

Maggie’s house was a quaint one story cottage with light blue shutters. Pink flowers were planted along the sidewalk that led me to her front door.

I knocked loudly, trying to ignore the scent of raspberries and vanilla that was coming from the house, and readied myself to make this rejection kindly but quickly.

The door flung open and a very grouchy Maggie peered out at me. Her eyes widened when she saw me standing there, obviously the last person she expected.

“Hello my little mate.” I said gruffly.

“What the eff are you doing here?!” she blurted out. I tried to stop the laughter that threatened to come out over her wording.

“What the eff?” I repeated. She blushed.

“It’s a lot less rude than saying the whole word,” She shot back at me, glancing nervously around behind me. I turned to see a few warriors heading in the direction of the training grounds. I waved at them and suddenly felt sparks shoot up my arm as Maggie grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.

“Are you insane?!” She snapped at me. “Someone’s gonna see you here! Now what do you want?”

Again with the boldness! I ignored her question, just to irritate her further, and looked around her living room. A box of cereal and a can of pop were sitting on her coffee table and a woman was screaming on the tv while some guy in a mask chased her around with a knife.

“Interesting breakfast routine you have here,” I teased her. She slipped past me and grabbed the tv remote, thankfully putting an end to the woman’s screams.

“Again, Alpha Dominic, why are you here? What do you want?” She crossed her arms in front of her. “If you’re here to reject me, awesome. Let’s get on with it already. I’ve got things to do.”

Gemini howled sadly in my head as I just stood there dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe her straightforward attitude. It was kind of refreshing, I had to admit.

“Okay then. I’m glad to see we are both on the same page here Maggie. I’m sorry it has to be this way.” She rolled her eyes and I held back a growl.

“I, Dominic James Owen, Alpha of the Shadow Moon Pack -“

Suddenly I was interrupted by a loud knocking from the front door.

“Hold that thought,” Maggie said, rolling her eyes again. She went to the front door, opening it to reveal a tall, blonde male standing on the other side. I growled. Who was this guy and why was he visiting my mate??

“Todd!” she exclaimed nervously. “Uhhh… what are you doing here?!”

“Hey babe! You rushed off the other morning and I didn’t get to say goodbye!” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, making her blush. He pulled her into a hug and gave me a cold stare behind her back. Gemini and I both growled, causing Maggie to jump back out of his arms. I could have sworn that Todd’s eyes briefly flashed black before returning to their empty dull brown.

Who the hell was this guy??

I walked up to Maggie, placing my hand on the small of her back. “We can finish this conversation later my dear.” I kissed her on her other cheek, earning another glare from Todd. I returned the look before I stormed out of the house, slamming her door behind me.

‘Way to go i***t,’ Gemini howled in amusement. ‘For someone who was just about to reject our mate you sure pulled out the jealousy fast.’

‘Shut it Gemini. Did you not catch anything that just happened there? That guy had no smell.’ I told him gruffly. Aside from his plastic, pretty-boy appearance it was the first thing I noticed. This Todd character wasn’t from our pack or I would have known him. He wasn’t a human, of that I was certain. Whatever he was though, he had his scent masked.

‘Why did you leave her there alone with him?!’ Gemini began freaking out.

‘Calm down Gem,’ I tried to reassure him. ‘They obviously know each other. But whatever he is, if he’s masking his scent he can’t be up to anything good.’

As much as I wanted to get this rejection out of the way, I knew I couldn’t do so until I figured out Todd’s real identity and most importantly, made sure that Maggie was safe.