Mated, But Not Marked

Chapter Five: At Odds with My Wolf

“Outside of that awkward situation with Alpha Kaden in the first meeting block, this actually turned about to be somewhat interesting!” Clara exclaimed, surprise evident in her tone.

Our work day was almost over and I was more than ready to return to my hotel room and process what happened. I was hanging on by a thread. Lucky for me, I was good at putting myself in auto pilot, but my block weakened as I had been using all my strength to ignore my thoughts and focus on the conference.

Arayla was quick to enter my internal dialogue. Myla, Kaden and his wolf belong to us. The Moon Goddess paired us to him for a reason. We need to talk to him. He needs to accept us. We are meant for greatness together, we are stronger together.- She begged in my head.

Arayla, what about Evan? What about Leah? He has a Luna, he has a son, the future heir to his pack. We made promises to Evan and to Sea Moon. The Moon Goddess must have made a mistake pairing us together. It’s a sick joke. There is no future there for either of us. We need to reject him as our mate so that we can all move forward with our own responsibilities. – I tried to reason with her while I processed pain, panic, and guilt in my head.

Arayla immediately growled at my plan and blocked me off in my mind so that I couldn’t communicate with her. She rarely did this except in times where she was truly upset with me.

This also left me alone to my thoughts which I was honestly afraid to be alone with at this moment. I needed to also get distance from Clara, otherwise she would suspect something was really wrong.

“I’m taking a nap!” I called over to Clara who was getting ready for a shower. I quickly pulled up the covers to my head.

“That’s fine! I’m going to rinse off and then I’m going to mingle with some of the males and find out what we can do around here before we leave in the morning! I’ll wake you up in an hour so that we can get ready to party it up!”

“We’ll see.” I faked a yawn for effect as I closed my eyes, hoping it would eventually overtake me.

“Get up! We are going out and you need to get ready Luna!”

I opened one eye as Clara stood over me, pillow in hand, ready to smack me with it. I groaned in frustration. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about Kaden. His eyes. His body. His lips. I brushed my bottom lip with my finger, wondering what his lips would feel like on mine….stop it Myla! I scolded myself internally. I had to keep interrupting these dangerous thoughts. I could almost see Arayla’s ears perk up at my train of thought.

“You have ten minutes and then we are meeting some of the pack members from the neighboring territories. The Beta of one of them even promised to give us a personal tour of Chicago’s premiere nightclub Eclipse.” She wagged her eyebrows and winked suggestively.

This did not surprise me in the slightest. Clara could charm any guy into giving her whatever she wants. She could charm anyone really in order to get her way. That definitely worked in our favor as Future Beta.

“Clara, I literally only have work clothes with me and gym clothes for training. I’m not prepared to go out to a club. Besides, I don’t know if Evan would be okay with it, I’d have to ask…”

“Myla, shut up. You are going. You need a break. You can wear this” She tossed one of her outfits my way. “Clearly, the stress is getting to you after seeing how you were acting today. Call Evan and let him know, but either way, we are going!”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one calling the shots?” – I joked sarcastically.

“Yes, for pack stuff. But in your personal life, I know what’s best for you, which means YOU’RE GOING!”- Her voice echoing in the bathroom as she put on her makeup.

I sighed, but I knew she was right. Maybe a little dancing and a few shots could take all of this off my mind for a little while.

I called Evan, partially hoping he would object. But, he completely agreed with Clara and encouraged me to take the night off and have some fun. Normally, Alphas are extremely possessive and would freak out at the thought of their mates going out around random wolves, but Evan was trusting and understanding. Knowing how much he trusted me made me immediately feel guilty for having feelings for someone else, even if I couldn’t help it due to the stupid mate pull.

I was even more surprised when he didn’t ask for any of our pack members who accompanied us on the trip to join us, but he seemed really distracted with other things while we were talking. I used it as an opportunity to dismiss the other warriors for the night so that they could let loose and enjoy themselves.

We got off the phone and I decided to try to get in the spirit. My only intentions for tonight were to relax, and be a good wingwoman to Clara, who seemed to take a liking to the Beta from whatever pack territory we were heading to.

I probably should know whose pack territories were nearby, but my mind was so scrambled at this point that I didn’t even think to pay attention to it. I need to pay more attention to pack territory lines and histories when we get back, I made a mental note to myself.

We got on the elevators and stepped into the lobby when I smelled fresh balsam and bermagot*. Kaden.

“Beta Aaron!” Clara waved excitedly as she strutted over to who I assumed was Kaden’s Beta.

“Myla, this is Alpha Kaden’s brother and beta, Aaron. He’ll be escorting us around tonight” She batted her eyelashes at him suggestively.

“Clara, we are going with them? Are you kidding me?” – I linked her in a panic.

I could practically feel Clara rolling her eyes in her head. “Oh relax. Yes, of course. This is right next to their territory Myla. Don’t you pay attention? It’s conference tradition that the ranked members of the local territory take out the visiting ones who want to sightsee. And tonight, I want to sightsee all over Aaron’s body!”

I could hear her laugh as she cut off her link so that we could catch up with the group and pay attention. Kaden’s eyes darkened as he looked me over, surprise on his face when he realized I would be joining them as well. I saw his eyes scan me up and down my body, taking me in entirely and it felt so intimate and personal, I could feel myself getting aroused. I wanted him.

Ahh! I groaned and mentally facepalmed myself.

It looks like our mate wants us as well. He’s practically undressing us with his eyes. Arayla observed.

I immediately cut her off from my thoughts so I could stay focused even though my heart started beating faster with anticipation, or maybe hope. Calm down Myla, he can hear your heart racing, Arayla reprimanded. If he did, luckily, he showed no indication of it and I sighed with relief.

It seemed there were a few other visiting wolves with us as well. I also met Kaden’s gamma, Andris, and Andris’s mate. There were also wolves here from Crescent Moon pack, Red Eclipse, and more that I couldn’t recall.

Moon Goddess, please don’t let me make a fool out of myself! Let me be brave. I silently prayed to her. It was Arayla who answered me. Myla, just be yourself. This is probably one of our only chances to spend time with our mate before we have to reject him. She paused to whimper letting that thought sink in as she acknowledged what I said earlier. Let’s spend time with him while we can.

I felt my wolf’s pain and it hurt me to know I was hurting her more than I was hurting myself. You’re right Arayla, let’s spend time with our mate, even if it’s at a distance.