The Beast's Blind Serenity

Part 1 – Alpha Summit, Chapter 6 – Mad Dog’s Mistake

Kane’s POV

I spent the next couple of hours doing work on my laptop while waiting for the Opening Moon Ball to start. According to the itinerary, there was a welcome lunch for all the visiting packs, but there was no way in Hades’ underworld that I was going to do that!

“AXEL!” I call out from my comfortable position on the oversized couch in the living room.

Resting my head on the back of the couch, I close my eyes, letting my mind clear, releasing all the responsibilities I am plagued with. It felt like years since I could sit and do nothing, even for just a few minutes. Strenuous training, running the pack, taking care of over 2500 pack members and 500 warriors was exhausting. I dealt with every complaint, every grievance, every high and every low. My body and mind were just tired. I had two Betas to help keep with the day to day, but I never liked putting my responsibilities on others. This was my job, to protect the pack.

“What’s up?” Axel walks out of his room in nothing but a towel. His hair was still damp from his shower.

“It’s been a few hours. Do you know where Graham went?”

Just then, the front door opens and a disheveled-looking Graham walks in.

“Where the hell have you been?” I ask, sitting up straight to get a good look at him. His shoulders slumped, and his face wore an unprecedented expression. Was that shock? No… More like horror? His face lost its carefree demeanor, replaced by a sickly green color. He plops himself down next to me, but he isn’t answering me nor looking at me. I take a deep sniff and only smell his usual scent of aftershave and stale s*x.

“I f****d up…” He finally speaks. Axel and I look at each other, then back at him, but he doesn’t give us more than that. “I… I met my mate.” Graham’s voice is barely a whisper. Well, s**t. I knew this day would come…

Axel’s eyes widen before shouting… “Be right back!!” He hastily leaves the living room, his towel slipping from his waist and landing on the floor, offering me an unintentional view of his ass. He returns just a minute later wearing a pair of basketball shorts and clutching his cellphone to his ear.

“Ok… Babes, I am putting you on speaker. Go ahead, Graham.” Did this fucker call Jasper? What are we? A bunch of gossiping chicks?

“I found my mate.” Graham says again. He rests his elbows on his knees and clutches his head. He is digging his nails into his hair; there’s a slight tremor to his fingers. Axel and I can see this is truly eating him up inside. What the hell happen?

“You know that Omega who helped with the luggage? Well, we found a quiet place to get acquainted. She pulled me into this room just outside the ballroom and we started going at it. I had her bent over this table… desk… I don’t know what to f*****g call it. The table/desk thing was covered with computer monitors and several laptops. Real high-end s**t. I have to admit, I was impressed with the setup.”

“Get to the point, Graham.” I say, hoping for a point to this story. He flicks me the middle finger but I just lift my eyebrow at him. Now was not the time to punch my distraught friend in the face for the open disrespect.

“Sorry…” He says when he glimpses my expression. “Well, suddenly, I smell the most intoxicating scent I could ever imagine. Like my mom’s Christmas cookies and we all know how good those cookies are…” We all look at each other and nod in agreement. “Then I hear a throat clear… I turned and there… standing at the door was the most beautiful, perfect goddess I have ever seen. She had deep chocolate eyes, perfect pouty lips, her long hair was black with a deep greenish blue color and one side shaved. A total heavy metal goddess of perfection!! Leather jacket. Probably has tattoos. I could tell she was a warrior too, just by the tone of her body. Gunner was going crazy in my mind, screaming, MATE!”

“That’s good, right?” Axel asks. “You found your mate!” He walks over and pats our friend on the shoulder in a congratulatory manner.

Graham shakes his head. “I was gonna go to her, but she held up a hand, so I stopped. Then she looked me up and down. There was such disgust on her beautiful face that I couldn’t move. I think I still had my d**k out. She opened up her purse and threw a package of antibacterial wipes at me. She said, make sure you wipe down everything after you’re done. I don’t want to work in a contaminated space.”

A loud roar of uncontrollable laughter, like a pack of hyenas, comes through the cellphone speaker, making me roll my eyes. The corners of Axel’s mouth twitch as he fiercely bites his lip, the laughter welling up in his chest. Jasper is gasping for air as he laughs his ass off. It took him a solid ten minutes to calm down.

“Ok, Ok, I’m… calm… Continue…” Jasper coughs through his laughter, trying to control his amusement at Graham’s misery.

Graham gave an annoyed look, but continued, “Then she just walked out and closed the door behind her. Gunner was losing his s**t in my head, telling me to go after our mate, so I did. But it was like she vanished. I couldn’t find her anywhere and I didn’t even know her name or who she was. After I looked around for about a couple of hours, I went back to that room but found it completely empty. All the computer equipment was gone.” Graham ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “You should have seen the look on her face. Her beautiful, perfect face. She hates me…”

A heavy silence descended as we processed his words; even Jasper was quiet for a few minutes before voicing our collective thoughts. “So, what happened to the other chick?”

Graham looked up in confusion. “The other chick? Oh, no idea.”

Axel’s face contorting in a grimace while I roll my eyes and Jasper’s scoff comes through the phone. Graham’s insensitive stupidity is completely clear. However, it is a common reaction to the mate bond. It doesn’t take long for a werewolf to lose their minds completely over finding their mate. Graham went from a man-w***e with a trail of broken hearts to a lovesick puppy for one woman in a matter of seconds. The moon goddess is definitely laughing at her work right now.

“I even asked a few of the people milling around. No one knew her, so I am assuming she isn’t from this pack.”

“She’s probably just here for the Alpha Summit.” I say.

Axel smiles. “Don’t worry, you have five days to find her and talk to her. We will tell the warriors to keep an eye out as well. Plus, on a positive note, she didn’t outright reject you.” That seemed to have perked him up a bit. Good, I don’t need a sulking Second Beta in command right now. I need Mad Dog, not whatever THIS pansy is…

It didn’t take us long to get ready for the Moon Ball. We sat around the living room with a few of our high-ranking warriors chatting about mundane things for the next hour, waiting for the rest of the warriors to show up for tonight’s briefing. Just by looking at our attire, people would think we were part of death’s gangster army.

Axel wore a dark gray pinstripe classic suit with matching tie. A heavy gold chain hung from his pant pocket, undoubtedly attached to the five-year anniversary gentleman’s watch he got from his husband. His perfectly slicked-back brown hair and the smoothness of his freshly shaven jaw showed off what women and men swooned over. He is our pretty gay boy through and through.

I knew Graham would never wear a tux or suit. He came out of his room wearing tight black pants and a slightly unbuttoned black button-down dress shirt, revealing a glimpse of his thick white gold chain. His tall, powerful muscular silhouette and scary bad boy image earned him his nickname. He wore black leather suspenders that wrapped around his arms and across his back and shoulders. Engraved in the leather was “MAD DOG” across his back. His long blonde hair was pulled back into three Viking braids with the sides of his head freshly shaved.

I decided on black dress pants and a black button down with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows, showing off my full sleeve tattoos. I paired it with a simple dark gray vest.

“Let me guess…” Graham piped up when I walked into the living room. I raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to open his f*****g mouth. “Suits didn’t fit…”

I shrugged and my betas laughed. “What? Haven’t worn a full suit since the alpha king’s ceremony and that was over 10 years ago.”

Axel shakes his head but gives me a sympathetic look. “You should have gone shopping before the trip. I would have gone with you.”

Graham snorts, “Yeah man… You really do need other clothes besides our military uniform.”

“I don’t even want to be here!” I growled out my frustration at their pestering. f**k! Instinctively I run my hand over my face, touching my scars. The feeling of the deep discolored and rough lines on my skin is sickening. My father’s words ring in my head. How worthless I am. How unwanted I am. I can feel their eyes on me. Everyone looking at me like I am an abomination.

A sharp rap on the door shattered the room’s suffocating tension. A warrior opens the front door to let me know all the men are present. I shake the self-deprecating thoughts away. “Let’s just go.”

Grabbing my coat, I walk onto the porch to the crisp winter night air. The full moon is glimmering among a deep sky of scattered stars above the treetops. It actually is a nice night, nothing compared to the mountains, but nice none the less.

The unmated warriors are going to the ball with me as security detail. I looked at each of their attire for this evening. They did not disappoint me on the intimidation tactic. They all wore various shades of black or dark gray. Some have their tattoos showing, while others look like a dark romance’s wet dream. One of my younger warriors wore a tight-fitting skull mask while another warrior wore a black suit with a black leather steampunk mask over his nose and mouth.

We walk in our usual formation with me in the front, Axel and Graham slightly behind on either side of me and my warriors scattered around.

Guests rush to get out of our way as we walk towards the ballroom front entrance. Their nervous stares and the low murmur of their frightened whispers are a constant background noise. I steel my resolve, my features settling into a rigid, emotionless mask; my eyes reflecting only death and destruction for anyone who crosses me. I smirk with an evil glint in my eyes when the scent of fear hits my nostrils, making them flair in delight. Yeah, that’s right…. The BEAST of Devil’s Mountain is here.