“If he wasn’t already dead, I’d find the son of a bitch and kill him myself...” I bellowed while standing from the couch, grabbing hold of the coffee table, and effortlessly launching it into the air. My dad watched; his face unchanging as the table smashed into the wall.
“Fuck!” I screamed. My fists clenched tighter than I’d thought possible. If they got any tighter, I was sure I’d break every tiny bone inside them.
“Son, you need to calm down. She isn’t worth your anger, or your pain. There are more Scions in the world,” his voice was deep and commanding.
“I don’t want another Scion. I want Aubrey!” I yelled at him, then slumped back onto the couch. “Dad, I know you hate her, but can’t you understand? I’m completely in love with the girl.”
I fell forward, covering my face with my hands. I needed to breathe, keep my emotions in check. There was no way in hell I could let my father see me cry. It took me years to convince him that I was strong enough to challenge Jesse for the Alpha position. If he thought Aubrey had made me soft, there would be no chance in hell that he’d accept her.
Not that it matters now.
I felt the couch sink beside me as my father took a seat. Draping his arm over my shoulders he pulled my head into his chest.
“Son, you need to let her go. She was never meant to be yours.”
I wanted to argue with him. Convince him that she was my one. But I couldn’t. I knew he was right. Deep down I hoped that in time she could love me the same way she loved Jesse, but I didn’t have the strength to wait. I couldn’t spend my life watching her pine after my dead cousin.
Every time we got close; would she be wishing I was him? I couldn’t live with that paranoia, that constant pain and jealousy. Leaving her broke my heart, but I knew that staying would kill me.
“So, what now? The proposal... Shit. The wedding?” I pulled away from my dad and slumped back into the couch again.
“Don’t worry about all that. Your mother is sending everyone cancellation emails now. She’s trying to busy herself. She doesn’t know how to fix this, and you know how she likes to fix things.”
A slight smile reached my lips. I was lucky to have my parents; they did everything they could to protect and support me. I glanced up at my father. “Look, I know the timing isn’t perfect, but we can still put my plan into action.”
I turned away from him in thought. He came to me months ago with his plan, when Aubrey wasn’t responding to my advances. He told me that an acquaintance of his had reached out for help. It was the Alpha from the Soulcrest pack. He was getting older, and he needed a future Alpha for his Scion daughter.
When my father came to me with the plan, I stopped him in his tracks, I wasn’t interested. Aubrey was already the focus of all my attention. I knew Jesse had been sniffing around, but that didn’t bother me. The day he gave up the future Alpha position, was the day that he lost all claims to any Scion’s that crossed into our territory.
If things had been different, Aubrey would have been off-limits for me. I would have focused on finding a werewolf girl to settle with, like Cassidy. But I was an Alpha, it was my responsibility to find a Scion and carry on my family bloodline. The moment I saw Aubrey, I knew I had found my one, so my father’s plan wasn’t of interest.
“So, what was the plan?” I asked in hushed curiosity.
I didn’t want anyone else, I wanted Aubrey, but she didn’t want me, and I still had a duty to my pack. Maybe I could learn to love this new Scion?
“Okay, so Charles and Theia Stonefeather were only blessed with one child. A daughter named Olivia,” he explained.
Nice name.
“She has been reluctant to find an Alpha. Her parents don’t understand why she is stalling, but every time they bring up the subject, she throws a hissy fit.”
Oh great, a drama queen, I thought with an eye roll. The last thing I needed right now was another high maintenance woman in my life. But I couldn’t go back to Aubrey, I just couldn’t.
“Anyway, Charles is fed up of negotiating with his daughter. He feels it’s about time that she sucked it up and put her pack first. Now, I know this means you’ll have to challenge her father for his Alpha position, once you defeat your uncle, but this is a chance to make our pack the largest in the country.”
I glanced up at him, his face was lit up with excitement. I replied with my own soft smile. I didn’t want to do this in the slightest, but I couldn’t lie, the idea of ruling over the largest pack in the country did sound impressive. If I couldn’t have Aubrey, then at least I could go down in history as the greatest Alpha, ever.
“Okay, tell me everything,” I demanded, pulling a smug grin from my father’s face.
We talked for a few hours, he told me everything I needed to know about the plan and Olivia's pack. To be honest, having something else to focus on helped a lot. The more I thought about the merging of our packs, the less I thought about my broken heart. If I kept it like a business transaction, stayed disconnected, strong and focused, then I would be able to make it through.
This was the best thing for me and my pack. Aubrey had made it clear who she wanted, and although he wasn’t ever coming back, I didn’t deserve to be second best. I’d feel like she only settled for me because she couldn’t have him, and I was worth more than that.
Sure, I’d made mistakes in my life. I’d made the wrong choices, slept around, and hurt people, but it was time for me to grow up. Time to take control of my life, quit being so selfish, and become the Alpha that my pack deserved. My first step, get myself a Scion.
“So, when do we leave?” I asked my father once we'd finished discussing all the details.
“First thing in the morning. I’ll call Charles now and set up a meeting.” He stood from the couch, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and began to walk away. “Son?”
“Yeah?” I replied, glancing over at him.
“This really is the best thing for our family and the pack. I’m so proud of you.” He gave me a small smile, then walked away, “Charlie. Hi, I have great news...”
I got off of the couch and headed up the stairs and toward my old room. Arabella and I stayed over occasionally, so our rooms were kept how we liked them. I made my way into my room and headed into the bathroom for a shower. Once showered and changed, I jumped into my bed. As soon as my eyes closed, pictures of Aubrey flooded every inch of the darkness.
I could hear my phone vibrating on the nightstand beside me. I sighed while opening my eyes, reached over to the bedside table and picked up my phone. There were dozens of missed calls and texts from Aubrey, Arabella, Bear, and even Payton. I deleted all of them, I didn’t want to talk, to explain what happened, I just wanted to forget about Brie for a while.
I scrolled down to Connor’s text. It was just him asking if I was okay. I replied, letting him know that I was going ahead with my father’s plan, and that I would be radio silent for a while. He texted back asking what he should do about Aubrey. I just replied ‘Nothing’.
I knew that once I was gone, my uncle wouldn’t sign off on extra protection from the pack. If she wasn’t a future mate of mine, she didn’t matter to the pack in his eyes. The thought scared me, knowing that without the protection of the pack, a Sire, King, or Alpha could easily get to her. As much as that thought killed me, this was her choice, her decision. She didn’t want my pack protecting her anyway. She had no one to blame but Herself!
We were in my dad’s car heading towards the Soulcrest pack. I’d asked my dad to stop off at a mall on the way so I could buy a new phone. Aubrey and Bella had been blowing mine up all night, so the thing went for a swim in the toilet. I needed to focus on the plan. It was about time I started acting like an Alpha, not a lovesick teenager.I’d bought a new cell and texted Connor. He was the only one I could trust with anything. Arabella made it clear that her loyalty laid with Aubrey. I understood, it was the way of the werewolf sorority. Werewolf girls needed to stick together. When any of them went into heat, it was brutal. Male werewolves from miles around became aggressive and fights broke out regularly.The sorority was set up many generations ago. It was a safe haven for all un-bonded she-wolves in the territory. They all stuck together and had plans in place to hide away the she-wolves while they went through their heat. Without complete trust a
Once my laughter ceased, I glanced up at Olivia. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips and a completely unimpressed look on her face. I sat upright and composed myself.“What’s so damn funny?” She snapped at me, and I found it hard not to chuckle again.I decided to wind her up, I couldn’t help it, she looked like such a cute little angry woman.“What if I don’t want to?”“Huh?” She asked in confusion.I stood up and strolled towards her. I slipped my hand around her waist, resting it on the small of her back, before yanking her body close to mine. With my other hand I swept her long blonde hair behind her ear as I leaned in. As my breath brushed against her cheek, I could hear her heart speeding up, her breathing became labored, and I knew she was attracted to me on some level.I made sure my voice was low and smooth as I said,“What if I say no. What reason co
All three of us had changed into our pajamas. If someone walked in right now, I’m sure they'd assume we were some sort of throuple. Olivia had booked the penthouse suite, so we had two bedrooms a living room, little kitchen, and two bathrooms. I swear it was bigger than most people’s apartments. Not that I was complaining. We ordered in Chinese and sat down to discuss their lives and my plan.They told me how they met, how they fell in love, and although it warmed my heart, it made me miss Aubrey even more. I sat there noticing every little giggle, or look that they gave each other, every delicate touch, they were so in love. I tried to remember if Aubrey ever acted like that with me, and I couldn’t remember a single time.She'd never looked at me like that, sure she'd blush or bite her lip, but that was more sexual chemistry. What these guys had was pure love. While Claudia and Olivia were chatting, I stood up and made my way toward the kitchen. I op
That night at the hotel we talked for hours, going through plans, throwing ideas out there, and smoothing them out. We made our way back to Olivia's house the next day, after dropping Claudia off with her tribe. We convinced our parents that we wanted a courting period. It wasn’t an unusual request; a lot of Scions chose to date a potential mate for a while before making a permanent decision.Luckily for me, my parents had no reason to suspect anything, and Olivia's were just happy that she was finally showing an interest in a future Alpha. My parents went home, while I was moved into a spare room within the Stonefeather household. Claudia had agreed to stay away for a few weeks at least. In the early stages of this, we couldn’t risk any suspicion.A faint tap on my bedroom door stirred me a little. I groaned and rolled over in bed. It was a few seconds before another tap wrapped on the door. This time it was louder and more urgent. I sat up in bed and turn
“Chase? Chase, are you okay?” Olivia's faint voice called out to me.My head was thumping, like I had a hangover or something. I gradually opened my eyes and tried to sit up, but my body was weak. I barely lifted my head an inch off of the pillow before collapsing back down.“Hold his head up,” a woman’s voice ordered. I recognized her from the chanting.A hand slid under my neck and gently pulled my head up slightly. Someone placed a glass to my lips, and the stench of the liquid made me gag. I tried to pull my head away, but a set of strong hands held my head in place. Another hand pinched my nose closed as the disgusting liquid was poured into my mouth.I gulped and gagged as the thick sludge slipped down my throat. Once it was all gone, my head was rested back onto the pillow, but it didn’t stay there long. I twisted to the side and vomited all over the floor. As I coughed and spluttered, a fresh glass of water came
Six weeks went by and our plan to fool Olivia’s parents was going well. They had pretty much adopted me as their son. We had worked out a plan with the Tintagel triplets to be able to get Olivia and Claudia married, without implicating myself or my pack. We had a few more meetings scheduled so that we could run over the finer details some more.Today was one of those meetings. As far as Charles and Theia were aware, Olivia and I were heading off for a romantic long weekend. What we were really doing was going to the triplet’s house for the night, then Olivia and Claudia were going away for two days to celebrate their three-year anniversary. I’d be staying behind at Irene and her brother’s house until the girls got back.I had already packed my bag and had a shower. I got dressed and dried my hair. While styling it with some gel there was a tap in the door.“Come in.”“Oh my God, it smells like you’ve showere
After drinking way too much beer, eating way too much pizza, and watching a bunch of crappy horror films, I’d finally crawled down the hall towards my room. Olivia had gone to bed upstairs hours ago, but me and the guys stayed up. I must have fallen asleep at some point, and when I woke my body was aching from the strange position I’d fallen asleep in.Leaving the guys sleeping in the living room, I continued to make my way down the hall. As my hand grabbed hold of the door handle to my room a delicious and irresistible scent hit my nose. A growl began to rumble in my chest as my hand squeezed tightly around the door handle. I frantically sniffed at the air, and as I turned to follow it, I ripped the door handle clean off of the door.The noise must have woken the guys because when I began to sprint towards a door at the end of the hall, I heard chanting behind me. I took no notice and picked up my speed. I needed to get to that scent. It was like my body h
I spent all day asking Irene questions. Her brothers had long given up and headed to bed, and Olivia had left for her weekend with Claudia. It was just me and Irene, and I couldn’t deny that it felt so natural being around her. We'd ordered in some food, eaten it, and we now sat on the couch together having a drink.The triplet’s story was a dark one, to say the least. Irene explained that her mom was a young werewolf who had been kidnapped by a black magic coven. They were the worst of the worst in the magic community and kept themselves well hidden. They had a prophecy that said if they were able to impregnate a werewolf that was the seventh daughter of the seventh son, they would bring forth a litter of the strongest witches the world had ever seen.Needless to say, their plan worked, and Irene’s mom was soon pregnant. She went through the beginning of the pregnancy held captive by the coven, but then managed to escape. She found the protection of