The Alpha's Choice

ChapterFive

I stared at her. She was even more beautiful up close. If I’d been just two years younger, I would already be having ideas of how to get her in bed. Right now, I was still charmed, but also wary.

“Hello,” I said. “Did you follow me here?”

The girl let out a laugh. “Of course not. How self-centered are you, alpha of the new moon pack?”

“Well, you do know my name,” I responded, adjusting my shirt. “And you wouldn’t be the first girl to follow me outside.”

“And humble too,” she mused. “I suppose it fits you, given how you look.”

“And how do I look?” I asked, just to play along with her. She seemed to want something. I just couldn’t understand what. Allison hadn’t gotten to the part of why I should stay away from her, and I hadn’t managed to get the gist from Opal either.

“Gorgeous, of course.” She smiled. Then, her expression turned curious. “Though sad, too.”

I blinked; a bit taken aback. I suppose I’d been obvious when I walked out of the party. Still, I was suddenly hit by the realization of the kind of people that were here. People that had lost their mates. Most of them had died in tragic accidents. Unrecoverable by any means. Even now, I couldn’t imagine how I’d react if Claire died. That day at the cliff had been hard enough. If Claire really died…

“Isn’t everyone in this party sad?” I asked. Then, I stared at her. “Aren’t you?”

She took a step back. Her eyes showed surprise. Pain filtered through for a second, raw and frightening. It’d been a while since I saw eyes like that. Then, blankness. “Well, that’s an easy guess.”

“I apologize if that was too insensitive,” I said, allowing her space. “I can’t imagine what it’s like.”

She made a humming noise, deep in her throat. “You are kinder than I imagined.”

“I’ve been getting that a lot.” I made a worried face. “Are the rumors that bad?”

“Well, we are special kind of judges when it comes to mates in these parties.” She walked in circles around me, a playful smile in her face. She really was beautiful. “You can imagine how much a lot of people here would pay to get their mate back. So, it really is surprising when someone simply refuses the bond. It isn’t only you who we judge. It’s her, too.”

I frowned. “She doesn’t deserve your judgment.”

“Hm.” She placed a finger to her chin. “So, you still love her. She is the issue. Is what you did so bad?”

I looked away. Thinking of what I’d done in the past always filled me with guilt. Any time I tried to move past it, it came back to me in my dreams. “Maybe it was.”

“Color me shocked,” she said.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You are terrible at making a guy feel better.”

She fake gasped. “Really? Did that not help?”

I snorted. “Not at all. What’s your name anyway?”

“Rude to ask a girl for her name without giving me yours first.” She placed her hands behind her back. I raised my brow at her. She clearly knew my name already. “It’s Sadie.”

“Sadie,” I repeated. “My name is Jake.”

“Nice to meet you, Alpha Jake.” She bowed her head at me. “I must admit I didn’t expect you to talk to me.”

I tilted my head at her. “How come?”

“You were with Allison,” she said. Her tone wasn’t fully bitter, but there seemed to be some bad blood between the two. I wondered if either of them would tell me why. “A guy who is with Allison in this event hardly looks at another girl after. She is the main prize here.”

“Allison and I don’t get along well enough for you to think that,” I told her, making a face. “Besides, you seem like a price yourself.”

Sadie smiled. “Aren’t you the charmer? Careful, keep complimenting me and I might do something indecent.”

“Maybe I want you to,” I said. It’d been a bit since I had last been with a girl. Maybe Allison’s warnings meant something, but I wasn’t pursuing her seriously. It couldn’t be that bad.

“Pfft.” She started laughing. “You are terrible.”

“Perhaps.” I stepped closer to her. “Want to find out just how terrible though?”

She bit her lip, her eyes meeting mine slowly. It was an incredibly sexy move. I felt myself leaning closer…

“Alpha Jake.” Sadie and I broke apart in an instant. I looked at the source of the voice. It was the girl from earlier, Opal. It seemed she had followed me.

“Hey,” I said, faking a smile. Her timing was honestly terrible. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Opal said, but her eyes weren’t on me right now. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

It took me a minute to realize the question wasn’t for me. Sadie took the question with barely any reaction. “Why would I be? Weren’t you planning on doing the same?”

“You know exactly why.” Opal glared at her. “You can’t act as if you and I are the same.”

“Well, we are not exactly the same I’d say,” Sadie agreed. “I was always prettier than you.”

Opal made a face. It looked weird on her. She seemed like such a sweet girl before. I hadn’t imagined that kind of venom could come from her. “You are a disgrace to this event. Why don’t you head back to Kieran’s lap where you belong?”

Sadie stepped away from me and closer to Opal. “Why am I such a disgrace for wanting what everyone else here wants?”

“You know why,” Opal spat. “The moon goddess won’t even take you for what you did. Everyone here knows it.”

Sadie finally seemed to react to that. She slapped her hard across the face. Her expression looked livid, nostrils flared with fury. I wonder what Opal had meant with that. She seemed so angry. Beneath that, though, I felt like she was afraid.

“You guys don’t know anything.” She turned back to me. “My apologies, Alpha. It seems my mood is ruined. I’ll see you around.”

I thought of following her, but I decided against it. I had enough troubles of my own. I didn’t need to go digging into another person’s troubles, even if that person was as beautiful as Sadie.

“She is just angry because she knows it’s true,” Opal whispered, holding her check. “She is a terrible person. Everyone in that pack is.”

I frowned. “Why is that, Opal?”

“It’s no coincidence that a lot of the people that come to this event are from Kieran’s pack,” Opal said. “They are always seeking new talent. A great way to gain it is through mating.”

I nodded. “Allison told me that. They are a dying pack, are they not?”

“Until recently, yes,” Opal said. “But they’ve been recruiting more people. Gaining allies. This event is a main part of how they do that.”

“I admit that’s a bit underhanded,” I told her. “But it’s still hardly grounds for calling her and the rest of her people horrible names. Sometimes strategies used to keep a pack alive aren’t pretty.”

I should know. Even if our pack was as big and strong as it is, we still struggled a lot following my parent’s death. I couldn’t fault a fellow alpha for taking desperate means to keep his people safe. Though I myself wouldn’t try any of that.

“You still don’t get it,” Opal said, shaking her head. “Not a lot of people do. Most of those who attend don’t know. I’ve just been one of the lucky ones to find out.”

“Find out what?” I asked. I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy. Still, Sadie didn’t seem horrible. I had just met her, but I could tell as much. My judgment wasn’t so bad.

“Why do you think there are so many of them here, alpha?” She asked, incredulous. “Having a mate die is a rare event. It doesn’t happen to a lot of people. That’s why there is only one event in a small building. Not many are as unlucky as us. Do you think they are just really unlucky to have so many pack members whose mates died under mysterious circumstances?”

I stared at her, trying to process what she just said. I could see where she was getting at with it, but it hardly seemed believable. Ashley told me what having a dead mate felt like. Who would put themselves through that willingly?

“Are you trying to say that…”

“Yes, Alpha.” Opal didn’t seem to care much for using my title properly, but I didn’t mind enough at the moment. “They kill their mates. All of them do. And those that don’t comply. Pretty Sadie, there, who you just met. She kills them too.”