Her Second Chance

Chapter 7

Brent Serrano's POV

"Brent, are you even listening to me?!" The banshee that calls itself my wife shrieked at me.

I stared at her blankly, wondering what I ever saw in her. Her Alpha blood was the biggest draw to me. Ainslee is the daughter of Julian DeBuys, one of the most v*****t and feared Alphas among our kind. It made perfect sense for me to marry her for the alliance alone. Ainslee isn't bad looking either, a blonde with light brown eyes. In the beginning, she reminded me somewhat of the Omega I had rejected back at Fire Moon. That wore off too fast within the first couple of months of our marriage. Ainslee is a spoiled, selfish woman who cares nothing about this pack or helping me run it.

I have never stopped thinking about Tessa Morse. Her blue eyes are always with me, the resignation in them as she accepted my rejection. For an Omega, she carried herself with grace and didn't shed one tear or make a scene. The moment I turned my back and left her standing in that hallway, I almost took the rejection back right then. But it had to be done.

Omegas are weak. I wanted my pack to be strong and I wanted my authority as Alpha to be unquestionable. I couldn't take a chance Tessa's Omega bloodline weakness would come through and give me a weak Luna.

But I ended up with a simpering, almost childlike wife as my Luna anyway. The Moon Goddess really hit me with karma there.

"Brent I swear to Goddess..."

"I heard you, wife! Yes, you can go ahead and buy the damn drapes or whatever else you were babbling on about. Now leave me alone!" I shouted at her. My head was pounding and I just wanted her out of my face.

"You are such an a**hole!" I was out of my chair in a flash and in Ainslee's face.

"I thought the last time you stepped out of place was a good enough reminder not to cross me. Need I remind you again?" I muttered to her through gritted teeth.

"You reminded me enough the last time, when my father had to come here. Perhaps we should call him?" She taunted me.

"Why when I can just send you to the dungeons before he gets here?" I snapped back, making her eyes widen in fear. It wouldn't be the first time Ainslee has spent hours in the dungeon. The last time she was there all night for acting stupid with me, and she knows I won't hesitate to put her a** back in there. I try not to put my hands on Ainslee at all. The one and only time I did was years ago when I caught her in bed with one of the guards.

Ainslee and I only slept together twice in the beginning of our marriage. I had to drink excessive amounts of alcohol both times to even stand it. When I caught her with the guard, I went ballistic and slapped her. She gave it right back to me then went crying to her father. Julian came to Midnight Moon the next morning and probably would've killed me on the spot, had the guard not told him to his face that Ainslee had seduced him. But Ainslee spun a story when confronted about the guard that she was reacting because she had learned I was cheating on her too.

Ainslee packed her bags and Julian took her back home, but the next day she called me wanting to work things out in counseling. I had no interest in working things out with her and told her I would just to get her back to the pack and keep my alliance with DeBuys intact. But when she got home, I pulled her into my office and told her I didn't give two f***s who she carried on with as long as she was discreet. In return, I would be discreet as well and we would remain married. And that's what has worked for us since, though I'm so wrapped up with being an Alpha that I haven't been laid in a couple of years now.

Ainslee's brown eyes met mine, rage brimming from them. "I wish I'd never met you!" She spat at me.

"Trust me the feeling is mutual. Get the f*** out of here." I turned my back on her and she stormed out of my office. I sat down shaking my head in disgust.

I'm a shell of the man I once was. Here I am 27 years old, I should be in the prime of my life. Running my pack with a Luna who will give me heirs to carry on after me. But there will be no heirs because I can't stomach even touching the Luna I chose. Plus Ainslee avoids me like the plague and has made it clear she doesn't want children.

Tessa and I would've made beautiful children. Rejecting her was the biggest mistake of my life.

I have silently been keeping track of her all these years. She never left Fire Moon and worked her way up to being a female trainer. I found a picture of her by accident last week on the Council page and for the first time in years, my libido went wild. All that night I had dreams about her that still had me in sweats the following morning. My obsession with her shows no signs of letting up.

I have to get Tessa back. But how? She accepted my rejection. All these years she's thought I moved on and has moved on with her life.

We need to find a way! I want my true mate! My wolf Zeus roared in my head.

And if she has a second chance? I shot back.

WE KILL HIM! I WANT OUR MATE!

Chill out. We'll think of something that doesn't involve m****r. Though I'm not below that. The guard that I caught Ainslee met his end. Not so much because he screwed my wife, but he dared to cross me!

Absentmindedly, I poured myself a tall glass of bourbon, got on my laptop and clicked on an email from the Council. Once a month, the Elders send the Alphas a newsletter on recent arrests and prisoners who are being detained in Boise and awaiting trial. I look forward to this newsletter for some weird reason. I don't get much entertainment around here. Everyone is too scared of me and my father to try anything.

My father is another reason I'm miserable with my life. He still thinks he runs this pack and we butt heads constantly. He is on my a** constantly about Ainslee, the pack finances, repairs and more recently , having children. How much I wanted to blurt at him one day that had I not rejected my true mate I'd have had them!

But my father doesn't know about Tessa. I lied to Tessa that day when I had said he was forcing me to reject her. At the time, I already had my eyes on Ainslee and wanted the alliance with her father to have his power backing my pack.

I really f****d up there.

So seeing idiots get busted by the council is my outlet from my misery. I found a beautiful woman's mugshot and almost spit my drink out on the laptop screen.

"Lena Phillips, 20, former female Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack of Colorado, escaped from custody Thursday November 1st. She was sentenced to permanent solitary confinement for multiple atrocities including abuse of a child, abuse of power as an Alpha, and suspicion of attempted murder and two counts of murder. She is believed to have been assisted by a human by the name of David Bradshaw who was being detained. If you have any information, please notify the Council of Werewolves immediately."

I doubled over laughing staring at Lena's mugshot. She looked crazy as all hell. I scrolled down and my eyes widened at the familiar face on the screen.

"Terrence Barlow, 26, of the Valdosta Pack of Georgia, is being held for distributing a dangerous substance. If you know anyone who has any information or who was affected by this substance, please notify the Council of Werewolves immediately."

Now this piqued my interest. I went to Alpha training in Georgia just before I met Ainslee and knew Terrence. He and I ran with a couple of other wolves. Terrence was studying to be a chemist and made some potent concoctions. He is a homely looking guy, the son of a Gamma somewhere in Florida. He's not exactly the kind of guy women look twice at, so I'm not surprised he made something to help him out. I wondered what exactly he made to get busted by the Council and decided to find out.

I called my friend Wren Parrish, the Alpha of a small pack outside of Valdosta right in the swamps.

"Wren, how's it going man!"

"It's going Brent, did you hear about Terrence's dumba**?"

"I'm just now reading about him! What exactly did he make!?"

"You're not going to believe this one. That mother f*****r came up with some lotion he laced with hormones or some s**t and used it to pick up women!"

I started losing it. "That's bad, but that can't be the reason the council busted him!"

"From what I heard from a few around here, he used it on some wolf who already had a mate and thought Terrence was her real mate. She rejected her true mate dude! It worked out once the lotion wore off and the guy took her back, but still. So the Council hauled his a** in because of how dangerous that lotion is to mate bonds."

I sat there stunned, slowly thinking.

"Wren, we know Terrence probably sold this lotion to other wolves or gave it to someone to hold on to for him. The question is who is keeping it until the heat from the Council dies down?" A plan is already forming in my head.

"I guess the Council will figure it out before they take him to trial. I don't want to know Brent. How many she-wolves did Terrence use that s**t on who got confused and their mate bonds got messed up or ruined altogether!?"

And that's exactly why I want that lotion, though I don't tell Wren that.

"It's why it needs to be found immediately." I pretended to agree with him. I have a sneaking suspicion who may know about that lotion. And if I'm right, that lotion will be pretty easy to get.

"I need to go I have a situation I'm dealing with here Wren. I'll catch up later. Let me know if you hear anything more." I hung up, excitement making it hard for me to breathe.

That lotion could just make mine and Tessa's mate bond whole again. And if she already has a second chance, it can take care of that too. I can finally have Tessa, be free of this b***h I married and be the Alpha I am meant to be.

It's not like I'm going to use it like that i***t Terrence did, though I may experiment to test the product.

Tessa Morse was mine nine years ago, and she will be mine when I go to claim her. The lotion is just going to make it easier for her to remember that.