His Warrior Alpha

Unrequited Love

Melody’s POV

Reed’s father stared at me, not saying a word. What had the proposal been that he was so nervous to tell me? I wanted to trust his family, but I needed to know everything so we could put our plan together. After a few minutes in silence, he looked around the room once more before finally speaking.

“It’s a long story. Before I tell you, I need to tell you what happened before any of this started. Let me get some tea and sit in the living room.” Martin pointed towards Ryan to get the tea as Reed, Quinn, and I followed his lead to the living room. We all took our seats and got comfortable as Ryan came in and out of the room to bring cups, sugar, and tea packets while waiting for the water to heat up. Finally, we all heard the whining of the tea kettle, signaling it was ready. A moment later, Ryan came back to the room holding a silver tea kettle, pouring water into everyone's cups before setting it on a pot holder in the center of the coffee table.

I swirled my tea bag in my cup, watching the liquid turn darker. A week ago, I’d never believed I would be sitting in Beta's house, let alone that he’d be my mate, but nevertheless, here I was. I wondered if I’d always have ended up here eventually, sitting next to my fated mate. Would life have turned out differently if my pack hadn’t been attacked 10 years ago? If that had never happened, would Malcolm be taking over for our father about now and would I eventually become the Beta’s wife for the Black River pack?

Martin cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “So I think it would help if I started at the beginning. This actually goes back before me or Alpha was even born. Close to 70 years ago, the Great Lycan War took place, resulting in the death of the last Lycans. After this happened, a werewolf who was a distant cousin of the Lycan king and Alpha, one of the largest packs at the time, took over as King as there were no remaining Lycans to do so. Or so everyone thought.”

“I thought we were going to talk about the proposal you made to my parents?” I asked, confused at why we were talking about something that happened so many years ago.

“I promise we will get to that, but first, you need some history of your family and its connection to the Black River pack.” Martin paused, waiting for me.

“Alright then, I know about the Lycan War. We learned about them from the history teacher. She was from the Silver Mount pack.”

“Yes, but what you may not know is that the Lycans did not fully die out. There were still a few that escaped and went into hiding in different places. One of them was your grandmother, who was originally from the Black River pack. “

“Wait, my grandmother was a Lycan?”

“Yes, she was and she, prior to finding your grandfather was her mate, she was dating Alpha’s father.”

“What?” I yelled out in surprise. I couldn’t believe my grandmother had once associated with anyone in the Jackson bloodline.

“Before she discovered your grandfather, she was engaged to Alpha Jackson. They were supposedly very happy and excited to take one another as chosen mates, until he told her that after they were married he wanted to challenge the current King for his title as he saw your grandmother as the rightful Queen. She not only had her lycan form, but she also was the 2nd cousin of the Last Lycan King. When he told her this, she was against it and at first tried to convince him that it was better just to make their own pack strong and refused to challenge the current King. That only made things worse though, and Alpha Jackson locked her away for it. He wanted to keep her locked away until she gave him a pup so he could challenge the King himself.”

“How did she find my grandfather then?”

“One day there was a meeting of the Alpha’s, it was held in the Black River pack as a central location for all of the Northeast Province. It was to establish delegates for the Alpha Council that the King was creating. While the meeting was being held, the omega who attended to your grandmother let her out of her cell and told her to run. At the same time, the meeting had taken a short break as well and she ran right into the arms of your grandfather, who instantly recognized him as her mate. She told him they had to leave there, but he insisted that she would be safe as he was the Alpha of River Mist, and the King had called a meeting there. He insisted she come with him to the meeting as the future Luna and she couldn’t object without exposing herself as a Lycan.”

“But what about Alpha Jackson? What did he do?”

“Well, what could he do? If he had, claimed her or said anything, then he would not only be admitting treason against the King, but also that he falsely imprisoned a pack member.He had no choice but to let Alpha Stanton take his fated mate. That started the bad blood between the two packs. Alpha Jackson was still hungry for power and he passed that hunger to Alpha Jacob. He instilled in him his whole life that he had to take Margaret as his mate one day in hopes his grandchild might carry the Lycan gene. On her 18th birthday, there was a coming of age ball held. As soon as he laid eyes on Margaret, it further drove his desire to take her as his mate. Your mother embodied the elegance of a Luna and her beauty had both Alpha Jacob and another Alpha putting their name in the ring as a chosen mate.”

That was my mom alright, elegant and beautiful. I had always been excited about learning to be a future luna from her as a child, but I had only ever received warrior training as I insisted on learning with Malcolm. I wondered if my mom had a 3rd form or not. I hadn’t even known that my grandmother was a Lycan. I didn’t know why they wouldn’t have told Malcolm and I about our blood. Maybe they didn’t say anything as they were trying to protect us and just hoped that neither of us had a third form. I didn’t have a third form, so it was unlikely Malcolm had one either.

“Your grandfather refused to make a decision for your mother, and insisted she be allowed to take her fated mate one day if she chose. He had always kept a distance from the Black River pack after finding your grandmother, but nothing was ever made public about what Alpha Jackson had done. This didn’t deter Alpha Jacob though, he spoke of Margaret constantly, saying how he was certain they would be fated mates when she became of age. She was his obsession and he talked constantly about how she would one day be his and they would rule over the largest pack together. We used to be best friends, having grown up so close, but the older we got, the more I realized what kind of person he was. On Margaret's 20th birthday, Alpha Jacob, who had taken over for his father at this point, headed to the boundaries between the River Mist and our pack insisting that Margaret be brought there so she could sense him as his mate or he would invade the River Mist pack to see her. Your grandfather held his ground and called in his alliances with the packs around River Mist. They had a standoff that lasted two days while Alpha Jacob got more impatient. Nothing could deter him from his goal.”

Martin paused for a moment, drinking from his cup. Everyone remained silent, anticipating what happened next. We knew how the story ended but not how we had gotten to the point of the River Mist pack being attacked under the false narrative of a broken alliance. “Even if we have the story after this, we will have to prove that this happened. The only thing we have right now is Martin’s words. I don’t think the Queen will believe us even if he comes forward. He would be considered biased as you are his son's mate. He has a stake in this with his son being a potential Alpha if Alpha Jacob has his title revoked.” It was true, but there had to be some evidence somewhere. Maybe they could get a chance to visit the River Mist pack area or maybe Gamma Derrick had found something that would help before he passed away. “-I know. But we need to know the story first so we know what to look for.-”

“I tried to talk him out of it, I really did. He wouldn’t listen and became more agitated by the hour. Then Margaret did something neither side expected. She said she would meet with him, and if he was her fated mate she would leave with him. If not, he had to leave peacefully. Her father agreed as it was her decision. His only term was that he came with only his ranked officials. The rest of his warriors had to go back to the Black River pack. Alpha Jacob agreed, certain he would be leaving with Margaret. We met at the border where Blue Ridge officials led Alpha Jacob, Gamma Derrick, and Delta John over the pack border to a tent that had been set up with a table and chairs. We were directed to sit down and a few minutes later Margaret came in. Alpha Jacob went to run to her but was held back by members of the River Mist pack. She hadn't scented him though and there was no mate bond.”

“Did he leave peacefully like they agreed?” I asked and Martin responded by shaking his head no.

“He was convinced that Alpha Stanton had hired a witch to hide their bond. Everyone pointed out that the only witches who would have the power to hide a Goddess bond were the high priestesses of Hel. Their location is thought to be somewhere north in the frozen tundra of Canada and there was no way they could have been contracted that easily in just 2 days, but logic didn’t matter to Alpha Jacob, Margaret was his obsession. We were given the ultimatum to leave or be taken out. Alpha Jacob had just enough sense to leave because he didn’t want to die, he vowed though that he would get Margaret alone one day so he could mark her and break the spell he assumed she was under.”

“How did you get from almost being at war to Alpha Jacob forming an alliance with the man who married Margaret?” It was Reed that asked a question this time.

“I’m getting there. So, next time he saw, Margaret was at the ball. I was supposed to be watching him but I was distracted.”

“Oh yeah! You told us this, you met mom at the ball for the Southern Prince and Eastern Princess.” Ryan interjected.

“Yes, I did meet your mom there and Alpha Jacob slipped away to find Margaret while I was distracted. I was supposed to keep an eye on him so he didn't cause any issues with River Mist as they had allies that could take out our pack.. At the same time, Alpha Frederick and Margaret had found each other. I thought Margaret finally finding her fated mate would allow him to move on but it didn’t. Instead, he threw himself into training to be the strongest, certain he would win her hand one day.”