Mated Before Love

Chapter 3 - Alex

Alex’s POV

‘Are we there yet’ my wolf Damon groaned in my head ‘Soon buddy’ I responded, also annoyed at how long we’ve been in the car. After nearly 2 years myself Reece and Chase are finally heading home from our elite training school. This used to be purely for young Alphas but recently they’ve opened it up to Gammas and Betas from only the most powerful and influential packs. Although Emerald Crescent pack aren’t close to being the largest, we have vast territory and strong pack members and relations with other packs. Myself and Reece were being trained in different techniques and in a different facility then Chase but we communicated daily and used the time to learn from others in our ranks.

An elder Gamma arrived there one day and was talking to me about the roles of a Gamma. Even though this is stuff I already knew he did add insight to connections to the Luna. He mentioned now that I had my wolf I would always be drawn to my Luna, find myself always near her even if unintentional. He also mentioned that my Alpha would also find himself around her, he would be drawn to areas she would happen to be without realising it. The elder also mentioned that stubborn Alphas will never admit they don’t know why they are going certain places and random times. I guess we’ll have to see just how stubborn Chase is.

“Are you okay?” Reece asked me, he knows I don’t like to be in a car for this long, I go nuts. “Please tell me I can get out and walk or something” I pleaded I hated the car and knew we had just crossed out territory. “You can but it’s 5km. To get there on time your going to have to run pretty damn fast.” Reece joked “I know. Do you wanna race?” I asked a challenge gleaming in my eyes. I know Reece can’t resist, and when the smirk came across his face I knew it was gonna be a good one. “Will you two cut it out?!” Chase groaned out from the front seat, in the last two years the bastards gotten grumpier and more like his father. Which in terms of being an Alpha is good, however his attitude about Omegas and lower ranking wolves is on a downwards track. For her sake I hope our Luna is of a good rank. Although he’s not aggressive towards them,he is quite indifferent towards them. From last we were here our pack respects each other, well everyone but one pack member.

“No sleep last night Alpha” I teased him as I knew he hated being called Alpha by Reece and I. “f**k off Alex” he grunted out in his shitty attitude “Maybe you shouldn’t have let Crystal keep you up all night knowing you’d be coming home so early today.” This one copped me a slap to the head from Reece ‘I know we’re on edge but he is too. Let’s just lay off’ my Wolf Damon tried to reason with me as I tease Chase further. “I will drag you out of this car and beat your ass Alex”. Clearly not in the mood and dragging ours down we remained in silence the rest of the drive.

When we arrived back at the pack house we all split up to be with our families, all of them waiting for our arrival with a few of the elite families and warriors. “Oh my son” my mum was the first to rush up to me with tears going down her face, it’s not like we were in danger we just only ever came home for the special holidays, well except for Chase. “Mum it’s not like I was in danger you don’t have to cry” this teasing copped me a slap on the head from her “I’ve only seen you a handful of times in two years. Forgive your loving mother” she pretended to be offended by my words but knew we were joking. “Ah let him breathe honey you know he hates long car rides” my father joined in saving me from more public embarrassment. “It’s good to see you son. Now let’s eat” straight to the point which I appreciated because I was starving at this point. My family and Reece’s all went and had breakfast with some of the families joining us, Chase and his family were in the Alpha’s office with a few of the elite warriors and their families having their own welcome breakfast. ‘Finally some food’ Damon piped up in my head, me and him are alike that way if there’s good food count on we’ll be there. I decided to link to Reece about our little challenge earlier ‘Hey Reece, still want that race’ I was still wanting to beat him, he had his head up his ass for a week now and needs some fun. ‘We just got back to our families and you want to go for a race. Are you serious?!’ He replied annoyed at my eagerness to have some fun. ‘The Alphas making us go back to school anyway may as well have fun on the way’ I tried to reason with him, none of us knew why we had to go back, Chase said we needed the diploma, even though we got one at the other campus. ‘Rumour is that there’s conflicts between the ranks within the school yard’ Reece linked, this could be the reason, the Alpha wanting peace in the ranks so that the elders won’t interfere with his ruling. ‘Trying to change the subject Reece. Must know you’d never be able to beat me in a race’ I looked up at him as I mind linked him this and watched as the smirk appeared on his face ‘Your on!’

About 15minutes later both myself and Reece were outside the school grounds “Feeling a bit slow today Alex?” Reece was baiting me into firing at him after having just lost the race “Nah man, I have a weird feeling about today. As we got closer here it feels like the stomach is flipping” I responded to him, being completely honest about why I was running a bit slower. “Nah your just jealous you’ll never beat me in a race” the cocky bastard replied smirking at me. “Maybe you feel the mate bond” Chase pipes up from behind us. Despite his permanent scowl lately he still has a sense of humour. “Isla wouldn’t like that” Reece replied back to him both of them getting a rise out of me “Just remember Chase my loyalties will switch to your Luna. She can have all your secrets” I sparked up at Chase knowing full well he’s going to give up the conversation at this “Your loyalty lies with me. I’ll most likely have a chosen mate, can’t risk unsavoury wolves being Luna”. Both myself and Reece stopped at the tone in his voice, usually when he talks about his Luna there is never this much disdain towards her rank. ‘Dude what’s up his ass?’ I opened a link to Reece who was watching after where our friend had just left ‘I don’t know, but for now we should probably not mention mates.’ ‘Your probably right. Where’s he off to anyway?’ I replied to him now curious to where our friend went without us ‘Meeting with principal and teachers about our arrival and new arrangements’ as he finished his sentence our link was cut by our concentration being pulled to a commotion between two she-wolves.

“Like f**k your Chase’s mate. The goddess wouldn’t arrange a w***e for a Luna” We heard Isla scream at a she-wolf who had been boasting about being Chase’s mate. “I’ll have you know it’s only a matter of time before he realises it. He would be a fool to let all this go to waste in the ranks” Tessa replied to Isla attempting to show off any possible attributes she may have. Without any thought to what I was going on my wolf took over at this moment “You Tessa will never be Luna, as a Gamma wolf I feel no interest or loyalty’s to as such. Your a f*****g tramp and we will not have a w***e as a Luna” he announced with finality ‘Dude why the outburst?’ Reece’s voice suddenly appeared in my head as I was storming off away from the fiasco. ‘Just Tessa. There’s something not right about her and that whole family’ I replied with a certainty that this was not the end we would hear of this. ‘Whatever you say brother. Chase linked me before and asked to meet in the library ready to go?’ I was a bit confused at this as we would not be getting our own lunch/meeting room now that we were back which would be completely private ‘Yeah let’s go.’

“Dude will you shut up?!” Reece asked me furiously as I couldn’t help myself from laughing at him for falling on the floor when trying to pick up some she-wolf. “Ha ha ha ‘Hi Vaness-Aahhhhh’. Smooth moves Reece” I mocked him between my hysterics. Right as I was gaining composure Chase walked into the library drawing my attention towards him, in the split second I was watching him Reece tackled me into a rack of shelving. A heap of books came crashing down on the other side followed by a small yelp. “Oh s**t I think they hit someone” I turned to Reece in a panic, surprised that there was anyone even in here to begin with let alone in this dank corner. “I don’t know what your talking about, no one will be there” Reece said to me also with the understanding that no one else should be in here “I should look” I more said to myself but since it was out loud Reece assumed I was talking to him. “Bro it’ll be fine” He tried to reason with me but I couldn’t shake the feeling I had “No I have a feeling trust me” persisting anyway I rounded the corner, at first only seeing a pile of books then I noticed quite a small she-wolf trapped under the books. As I rounded the corner she was already in a bowed position and I couldn’t see her face from how I was angled from it “Are you okay?” I was quick to ask her without completely assessing the situation at first. “Ga-Gamma Alex” her voice was laced with fear as she realised who I was, speaking barely audibly. ‘I don’t remember her from the big pack welcome this morning’ Damon spoke the words in my mind ‘I know, to be honest I don’t think I recognise her at all like this’ we had our small conversation to ourselves, then I realised I still hadn’t apologised to her “I’m sorry I got you with the books, let me help you” I spoke out quickly feeling ashamed for what I did to this poor girl. “Th-theres no need Gamma Alex, it was my fault I’m sorry” she said to me so quietly that if I hadn’t had wolf hearing I wouldn’t hear it, keeping her head bowed which I originally thought was respect but now thinking it’s fear. “Seriously let me help” Damon starting to get anxious about what we’ve done to this girl. “I-it’s o-okay” she stuttered out to me confirming to me she was indeed petrified of me in this moment. ‘Why is she so afraid of us. What have you done to her.’ Damon bristled at me about her reaction to us. ‘I don’t know, I don’t recognise her’ this made me feel worse about the situation as a Gamma I should recognise all she-wolves in the pack. “Alex, who is it?” Reece called out to me from the other side of the shelving breaking my thoughts and conversation with with Damon. “It’s a young she-wolf” I replied to him drawing my attention to my friend who was coming around the corner ‘She shouldn’t even be in here Alex’ not wanting to upset the young girl further he mind-linked me this. ‘Maybe she didn’t know the Alpha, Beta and Gamma would be in here’ I tried to reason with him ‘Doesn’t matter Alex, Chase will be here soon. You saw how he was this morning, you don’t want him to catch her here’ As I was about to reply to him some slight shuffling caught our attention. “Are you stuck?” Reece roughly asked the girl “N-No Beta” she stuttered back to him, clearly lying. ‘How dare she lie to her Beta?’ He linked to me clearly annoyed at the count of disrespect. ‘Cut her some slack Reece she’s clearly upset. It’s not like she smacked you in the face’ I tried to reason to him. ‘Doesn’t matter if it’s a white lie or she stabbed me, she has disrespected me as her Beta and that should not go unpunished’. I rolled my eyes at his remark and cut him off instantly, she is clearly upset and it is my fault.

“Please let me help you” I begged the young girl, feeling that it was the least I could do. As expected she refused my help and attempted to back away subtly. “What’s going on back here” ‘Here we go’ Damon’s thoughts matched mine to our Alphas sudden outburst. Both myself and Reece stood aside for our Alpha “Reece, Alex what are you two doing back here?” Before either of us could explain what happened he was going off at the she-wolf. “What kind of messes are you making over here Omega?” Both myself and Reece knew not to go against our Alpha, but an Alpha should not show this much distance for a wolf based on there rank. We know him better then most people but even we heard the hate towards her. “I’m sorry Alpha, I didn’t mean too” she whispered to her Alpha, neck bared to him with no risk of lifting herself from the bow, I couldn’t take it anymore “Chase it was my fault not hers” I tried reasoning with my best friend, trying to help him gain control of his Alpha wolf. ‘Shut your mouth Alex!’ Chase all but yelled at me though the mind link ‘It’s just a low ranked she-wolf’ he would not let reason through ‘She has no wolf’ and with his disgust ending our chat I was left with more questions than answers. “Clean this up, filthy Omega” he demanded of the young wolf with his Alpha tone powering through. “yes Alpha” she meekly replied bowing so low her nose was on the ground at my feet. With that Chase stormed off in a fit, Reece followed closely behind to check on our friend while I stayed back with the girl. “I really am sorry” I said to her as gently as I could whilst reaching to help her up. But she flinched away ‘She’s petrified of us’ Damon sulked in my head ‘Yes she is, a pack should be united no matter what. With that I walked off to chase down Chase and Reece.