The Alpha's Ugly Mate

Chapter 7

ALPHA AXEL Pov

She was nowhere to be found. I bowed to the Queen before going to stand beside her to lead her to the throne seat that had been prepared for her. Everyone had left their dancing and drinking to gather around, yet I could not see her in the crowd.

Our mate bond must be very strong because I couldn’t help worrying about her. Her reaction had shown she expected a rejection which made it even harder for me to reject her. She was a good person, it just turned out she wasn’t beautiful. I am not that vain.

One of the perks of being a wolf and an Alpha was that no one could hide from me, least of all, my mate. Her scent would never leave my memory. Maybe it might be if I rejected her. But even before I tried to search for the trace of her scent, something hit my senses. It was a feeling I was familiar with except that this time, it wasn’t aimed at me. The hair behind my neck rose like trouble was near. Where the hell was Rachel?

My initial thought was that she had gone to attempt suicide, thinking I would reject her. I made my way outside; my legs automatically knew where to go. When I saw her sitting in front of the garden quietly, with her hands folded on that green dress, I couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

Then I heard a voice say, “I Don’t think you deserve that dress.” I saw two girls standing not far from her, the other picked a stone and gave a haughty laugh. “How about we ruin it?”

I waited for Rachel to say something women usually said when bullied, but when she kept quiet I knew this wasn’t the first time they had attempted to bully her, and she had never fought back in her life. The need to be the one to do that for her rose in me without any objections, the words escaped my lips by reflex as I stepped out of the shadow,

“Get your hands off my woman.”

The women looked very surprised as they saw me, and they bowed immediately. “Alpha.”

My wolf urged me to make them pay for attempting to bully his mate, but I didn’t want to cause a big scene. I have not decided if I would accept or reject her as my mate. The Pack didn’t need a Luna who would let people bully her just because she wasn’t pretty. Neither did they deserve a woman who would rather run and hide than face her problems head-on.

“LEAVE!” That single command was enough to make them run.

I turned to Rachel. “So, this is where you chose to hide?”

She fondled her hands and said, “I wasn’t hiding.”

“People love easy prey; you need to learn to fight back.” My voice went a bit high, it was annoying to see that the moon goddess had chosen such a weak woman for me. “I would not intervene if anyone tried to bully you again, now let’s get inside.”

“You can leave without me.”

I wasn’t leaving her alone here. “I thought you said you weren’t hiding.”

If I stayed here for one more minute, rumors would begin to fly. I made my way back into the hall with Rachel falling behind.

“I am not.”

“Then move.” My voice rose a little.

When I prayed for a mate, this was not what I had requested. “How do you think you could be a good mate and bring peace to a man when anyone can easily bully you? What Alpha would go to war with a Luna that couldn’t even fight back her fellow women but chose to be prey, Would I leave my pack in the hands of such a woman?”

I do not think somewhere the moon goddess would blame me if I rejected her. There must have been a mistake.

“I… I…” She stuttered.

“Go inside Rachel” thankfully she hadn’t burst into tears like I feared she would but obeyed.

I mentally checked that she returned safely beside her friend before taking my eyes off her. My mind didn’t leave her, instead thoughts of her plagued my mind. I wished I could put a name to why she looked like that, it would be easier to get rid of it that way.

No solution came to mind.

That left me no choice but to reject her.

To appease my wolf, I would find a replacement. Tonight.

The Queen stood up to address everyone. She was older than most wolves, but her voice wasn’t frail nor did she lack strength.

“I appreciate everyone that has left the comfort in their homes and has chosen to honor my invitation.” She began.

Everyone raised their drinks or bowed slightly.

Over the past years as the queen aged, many young men and women had challenged her authority and she had disciplined them personally. No one doubted her strength till date. Her husband was the Alpha before the Alpha whose authority I now hold, yet she had maintained Queen Rhianna had maintained her position, I respected her a lot for it.

“This is the moment we have all been waiting for, and now we will all gather before the full moon.”

She didn’t have to say the words literally, everyone dropped their drinks and cleaned their lips as they moved outside in a single file. It was a moment we appealed to the moon goddess while we stood directly under her moon.

Her gown had ribbons which she twirled around her hand as she walked to the middle so she could address everyone.

“Once again, we have gathered under the full moon to request help from our source of strength as wolves. Trouble has come but mind you, trouble does not come to bring us doom, only to remind us of where we get our strength.” She paused.

I saw Raymond approach. “What’s going on?”

He had been busy lately with his mate and was lacking in court information. What the Queen was saying might be new to some but not me.

“News had reached us from the north that wolves were dying, and a strange kind of disease had risen. No one could name its source and the only way we could fight it was with the powers of the moon goddess.” I explained.

“It has been decided that we would gather the 8 precious stones scattered around the world and bring them together, only with that would we be able to fight whatever curse was spreading before it wiped us out.”

Raymond nodded in understanding.

I have my guess that some witch was behind it. It would not be the first time those vile creatures did something evil

“Where is your mate?”

“Her name is Davina.” He replied. I wished I could be happy for him; I was too deep in my own mate problems.

“The purpose of our gathering was to honor the moon goddess and ask for her favor, which she would grant by choosing one among the people gathered here as her eyes and hands, to assist us and grant us favor and safety.” I changed the subject.

“And now we will plead to the moon goddess to open our eyes so that we may know the chosen one.” The queen commanded.

Werewolves do not pray with words. We howl.

Everyone was about to raise their sounds when something very white caught our eyes.

It was a White Phantom—the latest Rolls Royce. A girl with a very white and extremely flowing gown stepped out of it.

ATHENA.