I climb the steps to the pack house, I had left my bike at my aunts and walked the short distance. Nico glances up at me as I shut the door behind me and he smiles, he looks exhausted, his hair ruffled like he’s been running his fingers through it to disperse his stress. I nod at him before taking a seat while we wait for the rest of the group to show up.
“Listen, we have some disturbing news..” Nico starts as the last person sits down “a rogue was captured alive in the silver dawn pack shortly after we arrived. All interrogations in the past have left us empty handed but this wolf..” his eyes get dark “we broke him”
A murmur runs through our small group before he continues, “For the last 20 years this pack of rogues has been hell bent on bringing down all packs, wanting to destroy our hierarchy and bring about chaos. A large number of them have been kidnapping she-wolves” I can see the pain on his face and my stomach drops, “they’ve been taken so sporadically that no one noticed a pattern, but they have been using these she-wolves for breeding”
Collectively you could feel everyone still at this information, the silence was deafening as we sat and processed.
“It’s as bad as you’re imagining” he answers before anyone can ask, “the rogue didn’t have exact numbers but they’ve been growing in size because they’ve been creating their own army.. Even she-wolves that were rogue to begin with have been held captive and used..”
He met my gaze now, I could see so much rage and pain in his eyes, “they have thousands of warriors that they bred and have trained them from birth. A new wave of pups are being trained as we speak, pups as old as 9”
“The attacks 10 years ago? They took she-wolves?” I ask, the horror not hidden from my voice
“They did, the original collection of females they had were getting older.. The other Alphas I’ve been working with have agreed that we need to strike, there’s no waiting for the younger pups to mature and shift, starting tomorrow I’m sending the top 10 ranking wolves to train other packs, you will spend two weeks with a pack before traveling to another. As we are known for our warrior skills, we are obligated to aid other packs in preparation.”
I barely hear him, my ears ringing with shock of the news, the impending war, and despite my years of training, I am terrified.
“We have finally received word from the Blood Dawn pack” Nico says, this was a new pack that had risen in the last 5 years, they were stealthy and secretive and there had been speculation on whether or not they were rogue or in alliance with us. They seemed to have taken all the normal hierarchy approaches but their alpha refused to meet or form alliances. With the impending war, it seems he’s finally showing face.
“I will be flying to his pack and taking two of you with me, the rest please pack up and prepare for travel tomorrow, Liam will provide your travel schedules in the morning, and this goes without saying but just in case, everything you’ve heard here is to stay within these walls, we can’t risk it.”
I don’t stand with everyone else, I bite my lip and watch Nico, he looks like he’s on the verge of breaking down and I wait for everyone else to leave. He flops down onto the leather sofa, his head leaning back and brings a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. I move to sit beside him, placing a hand on his knee and squeezing gently in an effort to tell him that I am here for him.
“Jess..” he’s so quiet it’s nearly a whisper, “I have to take a mate before my birthday”
“I know-“
“I mean like now” his eyes are closed still, not wanting to face me, “I know I said we had until my birthday, that you had time to decide..”
“We can’t fight a war with you an unmated alpha” I whisper, “can.. can I think about it while I’m out training other packs?”
“Well you’ll be coming with me to Blood Dawn” he says lifting his head and looking at me, “but yeah, I can wait until after”
“Can I ask, who-“
“Who will it be if it’s not you?” He looks pained as he says it “my father has been making arrangements with other unmated females in neighboring packs, so i don’t even know”
I purse my lips, I hate knowing how much pressure he is under, and I know Nico and I would be good together, great honestly, but am I ready for this? “If-” I emphasize “I agree, I’ll still be fighting along side you..”
He lets out a huff of air and leans his head back again, “Jess..” he doesn’t want to say the words
“Nico, I need to know what all of this will entail if I’m going to even consider it”
“You’re going to hate it” he cringes “you’ll be expected to be.. carrying the next alpha, and with how soon the war is coming there’s no putting it off”
“Oh” i can’t breathe, an image of myself fat and pregnant, waving my mate off to war while I stay home and play a little housewife makes my skin crawl, but leaving Nico to mate an unknown she-wolf, leaving myself to potentially end up old and alone.. we have chemistry, but is it enough? I grind my teeth, angry at the moon goddess for the positions she put us in, “I need to pack” I stand before looking at him “I’ll let you know what I decide after Blood Dawn”
He nods solemnly at me before standing and pulling me into a hug, his arm wrapping around my waist while his other snakes it’s way up my back around the nape of my neck.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?” He asks as my face is buried in his chest, he smells like cedar and honey, I wrap my arms around him, I should really go home and clear my head but I know deep down that at the end of the next couple of weeks there’s a good chance I’ll say yes. I resign myself to spending time trying to come to terms with the only decision I feel I can make. I can’t abandon another friend.. I nod, “Ill grab my things and be right back”
“Fuck fuck fuck” I mutter as I toss workout clothes, pajamas, and a few outfits into my giant duffel bag, I don’t know what to expect on the trip so I pack a variety of things “fucking moon goddess and her bullshit” I’m whispering and trying to hold myself together. I feel like I can’t even breathe, I sit on the edge of my bed and bury my face into my hands, what the fuck am I going to do?‘Mm Nico isn’t bad, but he’s not mate’ Nya grumbles‘Massively fucking helpful, thanks’ I snap‘Maybe..’ She whines in pain ‘maybe mate was killed’ I almost let out a howl with her as the thought sends an ache of pain through me‘Will we be happy with Nico?’ I ask, avoiding the thought of our
Liam and Nico were stewing, we sat at the cafe near the Inn and sipped coffee after our lunch. We had been waiting on the alpha for 2 hours now, the streets were moderately busy especially for such a small looking town. I’d guess they were all finding a reason to catch a glimpse of the visitors, I wouldn’t be surprised to find someone vacuuming their porch just to have an excuse. I tapped my foot quietly, anxious for this exchange to be over, but also dreading the trip ending. I felt like there was no time to contemplate my choice on choosing Nico as a mate, but then maybe I already knew I’d have to choose him, was there really any point in dragging out the inevitable?‘Romantic’ Nya huffed in annoyance, we both wanted to wait for our mate, but at 26 with an impending war, a mating proposal, and the high possibility our true mate was dead, neither of us could really fight it.
My wounds sting considerably more in human form, I’m curled in the fetal position but push myself up to sit, drawing my legs closer to my body and wincing as my bloody feet scrape the ground. Wrapping my arms around my knees I glare at Jensen as he stands a few feet away.“Maybe it’s just you I’m always needing to run from” I spat at him“Noted” his eyes darken “but don’t be fooled kitten, I’ll always find you if I want to”I scoff at him, “I’m not the same pathetic little girl you knew” I raise my chin and he quirks an eyebrow at my position, ragged and bleeding on the forest floor“Funny, you’re still clinging to that pathetic alpha all these years later”
Having spent my entire life solely focused on being a good girl and stressing about my true mate, I finally felt like I could breathe around Nico. I felt sure in my choice of him, this whole fated mate thing was way more hyped up. Sure I was drawn to Jensen in a magnetic way, there was no denying that, his scent made my head do weird things and lit up my body, but I could definitely avoid the pull, and I would certainly be able to keep away from him when I saw him again. Nya had retreated and was locking herself away, but she would come around, the mate thing was harder for her than me. I was okay, I was hurt, but I was going to be happy if it fucking killed me..Of course fate loves to slap you when you’re feeling confident. Nico had insisted we go out for a nice dinner, dragging a hilariously awkward Liam along who pointedly refused to discuss mates and instead found any other topic, including weather, hum
The crunch of gravel fills the air as we pull into the pack house driveway, it wasn’t far from the inn but we decided against walking. Liam had begrudgingly come along, it may or may not have taken an alpha command on Nico’s part, reminding him that we came here for a reason and a little awkwardness between the pack alpha and myself was no reason to lose our heads. I had refrained from requesting to stay, not only did I want details, but I wanted to face this situation and stop running, I refused to give Jensen the satisfaction.. that and as much as I denied it to myself I couldn’t resist a chance to be around him. Damn mate bond.The pack house was beautiful in a rustic way, it backed a large lake, the moonlight shimmering off the surface of the water. The house itself was large, two story, green shudders on the windows, beautiful flowers around the foundation and trailed along the path leading
Jensen is silent for a few moments, he stares at the fire, before turning back to face us, “I was a rogue, after my pack was killed” his eyes meet mine briefly “I was a hostage who was trained, and beaten, and kept in the dark about what was going on. But about a year after they took me in, a group of us escaped, the rogues have a madness taking over, not the normal rogue behavior, but they are actually losing their minds. They seem to believe that packs have banded together with witches to wipe out all rogues.” He let out a sigh and sat back “we spent a year rescuing those we could, which is where the first of our numbers began and where we were able to piece together information. The rogues have been planning for years, this madness is some sort of disease spreading through them, it’s creating and fueling paranoia and violence. They have witches hostage, and have been creating an army, I have kept my pack as hidden as
I’m sprawled naked on the couch in the packhouse, empty bottles of liquor littering the room around me. The sun is rising to ruin my sleep, piercing my eyes and splitting my head into a deep ache.“She felt it you know” John’s voice fills the room“Felt what?” I groan“Your little tryst with Alliana” the statement stabs my swirling gut. I sit up and clutch my head in my hands, I was running on very little sleep, heavy alcohol ingestion, and raging blue balls.“Fuck, I forgot about the bond”“She was nearly sick in my car, I had the good sense to wait to bring her back to the alpha” he was disapproving, but that didn’t matter, I didn’t need his comments to know I had
“You could have killed him” Nico rubs his face“I couldn’t have, mate bond” I point out, none of my attacks were deadly, my wolf wouldn’t let me anyways“It looked like you were gonna kill him” Liam chuckled and I had to fight from laughing with him“That’s not the point, you can’t do that in his territory, he could have you killed for attempting to take his pack”“He started it” I growled, my amusement fading rapidly‘He deserved it’ Nya said to me, she was feeling smug with how the fight had turned out, preening with proud energy“Let’s just get through this training and get home” he meets m