Runaway Mate

Chapter 18

Axel

It was late evening and Axel was sitting in the passenger seat of the car with his arms crossed and lips pressed tightly together. Oscar was behind the wheel driving through the streets carefully, his eyes narrowed as he tried to read the street signs.

Axel huffed to himself as he stared out of the window. They had made it to Warrior Harpe and had been there all of one day before Oscar had started bitching and moaning about needing a night out to relax and let go. Axel was furious with him and had told him to shut up and behave himself a number of times throughout the day as they were guided around the pack lands by Duncan and his Luna Eloise. But the dumbass just kept on going, acting like a spoiled toddler.

Unfortunately, that evening after dinner, Duncan had suggested that they explore the city's nightlife like Oscar had been begging for. Axel had gone to refuse. After all, they were here to help Duncan and assist him with his rogue problems, but he told them he had a meeting that was likely to take the rest of the evening and tonight was probably the best night for them.

Axel caved and agreed to go; Oscar had looked like Christmas had just come early and called out with joy. Ray was smart enough to suggest he stay behind just in case and managed to worm his way out of the evening in the city. Axel wished he had thought of the same and even tried to convince Duncan that he might need Axel at whatever meeting he was having, but Duncan quickly shot him down and wished him an eventful and fun-filled evening, the bastard!

It took Axel all of five minutes to get dressed in dark jeans and a black button-down shirt. Oscar, on the other hand, took forever.

While he had waited for Oscar, Axel had asked Duncan who his meeting was with and was shocked by the answer. Duncan explained that he was having a meeting with a representative of the Ring Master, the mysterious ruler of the nearby city. When he asked why the Alpha of Warrior Harpe was having such a meeting, Duncan explained that he was considering making a deal with the Master in return for protection and extra manpower against the increasing rogues. Axel was cautious about such a sudden and extreme decision, but Duncan had assured him that nothing had been finalised and that he was only meeting with the representative to discuss the proposal and that he really didn’t need Axel there at the meeting.

Axel was reluctant to go, knowing such a meeting was taking place, but before he could further argue that his presence could be useful, Oscar had appeared and dragged him through the door and out to a night he was supposedly never going to forget. Before they were completely out the door, Axel noticed Oscar running back and asking Duncan something in hushed tones and whatever it was, made Duncan look quite amused before he gave a very animated answer and Oscar raced back and basically shoved Axel into the passenger seat of the car before hopping into the driver’s seat and screeching away from the pack house, as though they were being chased or something.

They had made it to Andromeda City with no trouble and had now been driving around for half an hour without stopping once. Axel had seen a number of bars and clubs that seemed adequate for a few drinks, but for some reason Oscar refused to stop at them. Axel suspected that Oscar had a particular place in mind to spend their evening but didn’t bother asking and instead stared out of his window.

He noticed a lot of young women flocking towards the clubs they had passed and watching them made his heart clench. If he were still a young university student, he would have leapt from the car and followed them to whichever bar or club they were headed for and he would have happily danced and hung out with them for the whole night with the hopes of taking one of them back to bed later that night. But after finding and losing his mate, they just no longer appealed to him.

He didn’t want anyone else; he wanted to see his mate. To spot her and run to her and then whisk her back with him and never let her out of his sight ever again. They would spend days in bed ‘reacquainting’ themselves with each other. He would love everything that she loved and hate everything that she hated. He would hold her tight in his embrace and bury his face in the crook of her neck; inhaling her sweet, sweet smell, the smell which haunted him and he had dreamed of finally smelling again. She would be his everything and he would never let her go again.

“Here it is!” Oscar suddenly yelled out, snapping Axel from his enticing thoughts and bringing him back to reality.

Oscar parked the car and they both climbed out. He pointed to a building and Axel couldn’t help but scrutinise the building and honestly think that Oscar was having a laugh.

The building that Oscar was pointing to looked old and decrepit, there were boards over the windows which had been smashed in. The paint was peeling away and even the sign that read: Department of Motor Vehicles, was crooked and hanging on by only one nail.

“Seriously Oscar!? This is the place you want us to have a night out in?” Axel asked incredulously, gesturing to the crumbling building before him.

“I’m sure this is the place…Duncan said it was here…” Oscar mumbled, rubbing his chin before reaching into his wallet for something.

“Well, clearly Duncan has played some kind of joke on you.” Axel sighed, rubbing his temples to release the stress his friend caused. “Now, I’m sure if we head back this way we can find a bar and get some drinks.”

But Oscar didn’t move. He stood rooted to the spot analysing something he had produced from his wallet.

“What is that?” Axel asked, curious to see what he was holding.

“It is a VIP card.” Oscar grinned at him before turning back to the small rectangular card. “I swiped it from Fi before we left…” He added absentmindedly.

“You stole from my sister?” Axel asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“I borrowed it.” Oscar replied, waving him off and clearly not afraid of his Alpha’s wrath. “Normally I would never, but this intrigued me and I knew if I asked she’d avoid answering.”

“Why?” Axel enquired, watching Oscar carefully.

“Because it says Andromeda City on it, near the bottom.” He grinned wickedly.

Axel thought about this for a moment.

“When was Fi here?” He asked, confused. He hadn’t sent her here or to Warrior Harpe and Duncan hadn’t mentioned her visit.

“Exactly! As far as I know, she shouldn’t have been anywhere near here! So why would she have a VIP card for a club here? I knew she wouldn’t tell me, so I swiped it to see why she was being all secretive!” He replied with a grin, turning the card over in his hand.

“But, this isn’t a club. It is an abandoned DMV building.” Axel pointed out.

“Meh, looks can be deceiving. There’ll be some trick to it or something, I asked Duncan and this is where he said it was! What I want to know is why Fidelia didn’t tell us about it?” He held the card up to the light to better examine it. “I personally think she might have found her mate but she’s ashamed of them or something, so she visits them here…Or maybe she’s joined a cult…or, holy s**t!” His eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

“What!?” Axel spun around looking for signs of danger but there was nothing, the street was as void of life as it had been since they had arrived.

“I see it!” Oscar breathed, staring at the DMV building.

“See what?” Axel questioned. He was starting to think his Beta was going a bit mad.

“Look, look through the little window!” He rushed over to Axel, shoving the card into his hand and pointing to the corner.

Axel was sure he was having him on, but knew that the faster he played along the faster they could get out of here and actually get on with the evening, he was being forced to go on. He picked up the card, closed one eye and used his open eye to look through the small, see through window in the corner. What he saw nearly made him drop the card and he felt his own mouth fall open. He pulled the card away from his eyes and looked up at where the DMV building had been standing.

The street suddenly became brighter as lights all around the building flashed and moved. It was no longer decrepit and sad looking, it had suddenly transformed into a magnificent building, with windows full of light and life. A queue of people had appeared from nowhere, lined up behind a red velvet rope awaiting entrance to the building and two burly looking security guards stood guarding the entrance.

“What the…how…” Axel gasped as he looked at the large and lush building. It had to be the biggest club he had ever seen, but it looked like a mansion instead of a standard dank club.

“It must have had a glamour cast on it!” Oscar cheered excitedly. “To keep it from mortals!”

Axel only had a few more seconds to admire the majesty of the building in front of him before Oscar had grabbed his arm and was dragging him towards the entrance. Once they got to the door, Oscar ignored the queue of people, one of the burly guards looked them up and down before grunting at them.

“Back of the line!” He ordered.

Axel didn’t like being given orders; it was in his blood to give orders and not to take them from anyone else. He glared back at the guard and was about to say something, when Oscar jumped in, grabbing the card from Axel’s hand.

“We’ve got VIP access!” He sang gleefully, showing the card to the guard who scrutinised it for a very long time.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he grunted and nodded his head at the card in Oscar’s hand and granted them access, holding the door open for them.

“Wow, VIP access and no waiting in the queue. Wonder how Fi managed to swing something this sweet.” Oscar whistled once they had entered the building.

“So do I!” Axel murmured, looking around.

They had entered a front room that was lavishly decorated with marble floors and walls, fancy rugs lay out every few feet on the marble floors, walls draped in silks and expensive-looking artwork and chandeliers of crystal and gold hanging from the ceilings.

Why had Fidelia come here? He wondered. She hadn’t been sent anywhere near here by him for pack duties and last time she had left, she’d gone to visit their grandparents in the West and that was over a year ago.

‘Or did she?’ Leon asked in his mind.

This startled Axel, as it had been a long time since he had last heard from his wolf. He’d made himself as scarce as possible since they had lost their mate.

‘What do you mean?’ Axel asked, almost afraid of scaring him away again and unsure what it was that had made him re-surface in the first place.

‘She may have told you she went West because she knew you wouldn’t check up on her when she was coming here the entire time!’ He replied.

‘But why? Why does she not want us to know she’s been here?’ He asked, confused again. Why would Fidelia hide her visit here?

‘Maybe she didn’t want us to know why she was here.’ Leon suggested.

Axel thought about this for a moment. What could she possibly be doing here that she didn’t want him to know about? Perhaps Oscar was right and Fi had found her mate here and didn’t want him to know…but that shouldn’t matter. No matter who her mate turned out to be, Axel would accept them because they were the other half of Fidelia. He had learned a hard lesson from his own mate to not judge anyone before actually getting to know them. A lesson he so dearly wished he had learned a lot sooner before he had caused himself so much unnecessary pain.

“Good evening…” An angelic voice suddenly snapped him from his thoughts and made both wolves jump as they turned to look at the source.

Stood behind a podium was a young woman; she was tall, thin and pale. She was wearing a body tight black dress that ended mid-thigh and black heels to match. Her hair was long and scarlet red and her eyes were blue like the ocean. She looked over at them curiously before a small smile curled on her thin lips.

“Welcome to Club Runagate!” She greeted them, keeping a careful eye on Axel. “How may I be of service?”