CHAPTER FIVE.
NOLAN’s POV“Are you okay baby?” I ask Mia whose eyes seem to be watery. I hate that she is always around to witness the drama between Catania and I. I can only imagine how bad she feels, because if I were in her shoes, I would feel the same. Having someone else try to claim your mate before your eyes is a very vexatious thing to witness."Uh…yeah…" She stammers and the pain in her voice is inevitable. "Yeah, I'm good. You know, I'm actually used to this by now""No baby, don't get used to this. I promise everything will be fine soon. I promise!""Ah… yeah. I know everything will be fine, Alpha. But what I actually meant was that I'm used to my sister always trying to steal what's mine. You see, while growing up, she never wanted me to have anything nice. If our parents bought something good for me, she would steal it and hide or destroy it so I won't have it anymore. That's why right now I'm not surprised that she wants to take you away from me" She elucidates sadly and my heart almost bursts with empathy.She must have gone through hell in the hands of that selfish sister of hers and for that reason, I won't take it easy on her.Catania Gabriella Collins, I'm going to make sure you pay for all the times you maltreated my mate."Don't you worry baby, henceforth, things are going to be different.""Thank you""For nothing, love." I twirl to the two maids who are standing before us with their heads bowed down. "Please take Miss Mia to my bedroom and make sure to serve her properly. Give her whatever she wants, is that understood?""Yes, Alpha Nolan" The two maids respond in unison."To your bedroom?" Mia asks dumbfounded and I smile as I turn to look at her once more. The look on her face is priceless and you have no idea how much I'm fighting the urge to laugh.Of course she is going to be in my bedroom. I've waited for her all these years and now that I have found her, there's no way I'll let her stay in another bedroom other than mine.Just no way!"Yes, love. Now please go with the maids. I will be joining you shortly""Okay, see you later""Yeah" I give her one more kiss on her forehead before she walks away with the maids. I stand on the spot and look at her until her figure disappears into the castle, before turning to face my Beta, Nigel, who looks confused, dumbfounded, happy and angry at the same time. I'm sure he is dying to know what is going on."Nolan, it would do us both good if you'd start explaining what's going on.""Come with me" I instruct with an enthusiastic smile as I start walking into the castle. He follows closely without uttering a single word.Once we get into my office, I walk straight to my wine bar where I take out a bottle of scotch and serve myself a shot. Without any hesitation, I take the shot down in one go and once the urge to take another gets over me, I don't resist. I gulp down another shot and I'm about to pour the third when I hear the sound of Nigel clearing his throat behind me.I know what that means.I quietly set down the glass and do a hundred and eighty degree turn to face him.He looks like he is about to die of impatience."Sorry" I apologize as I take conscious steps towards him. "The past eighteen hours have been accompanied with overwhelming discoveries and it's making me go nuts""You can start from wherever you want""Sure" I walk past him to my work table where I sit on it.One bad habit of mine."So I arrive at the Crescent Moon Pack and the first thing Ander tells me, is that my mate is in that pack and I have to find her. I do my best to keep him abey and ride on with my mission. At nightfall, during the banquet hosted at Alpha Chase's castle, I perceive the smell of sweet caramel, mixed with honey and chocolate. Totally captivating. Ander tells me that is our mate's pheromone, but he doesn't say it's our mate. So I go to meet the girl and she is just perfect. The most perfect girl in the world, or so I thought. I made her understand that she's mine and will be leaving with me the next day and she had absolutely no problem with that. I then go to meet Alpha Chase who told me we had something to discuss and when I do, he tells me something mind wrecking. He tells me there's a stealer in his pack who could be used to redeem my brother Kai. You do know what a stealer is, Don't you?""Yes, I do""Good. So you know what I mean when I say that she can be used to redeem Kai""Yes, I do""Perfect! I did not agree to that idea at first because of apparent reasons. I hate the Alpha, I don't trust him and so on. Just in the middle of that discussion, I perceive the same smell, caramel mixed with honey and chocolate, but this time around, the smell is stronger and I cannot resist it! So I rise up from my seat and look into the crowd, hoping to see the girl I saw earlier, but she is out of sight. Instead, I see two guards dragging a weak girl into the castle and as they approach, the smell only gets stronger. Ander immediately screams the word "mate" in my mind and that gets me mystified because I know I saw my mate earlier. The guards come to a halt before me and when she perks up to me, the word "mate'' escapes both our lips at once. Goosebumps all over my body, my heart starts somersaulting. Everything feels right and when I touch her hair, I feel sparks! Just when I'm about to accept her, the girl I met earlier, Mia, walks in and makes me understand that the girl standing before me is not my mate, but the stealer. Alpha Chase confirms and that's when I realize that I'm attracted to her only because of her identity. Everything goes down the drain. I approve Alpha Chase's proposal, so here we are, with my mate and a rebound for my brother, Kai." I conclude as I rub my palms together. Nigel heaves out a heavy sigh of… I don't know and takes slow, calculated steps around the office, probably thinking critically."What is her name? I mean, the stealer" He asks quietly. He is supposed to be asking for my mate's name, not the stealer."Catania. Catania Gabriella Collins" I answer anyway."Beautiful name." He compliments and I give him a hard glare."Seriously! She's a stealer!""So what? She's a beautiful stealer.""Moron!""You said when you saw Mia, your wolf Ander identified her smell as that of your mate's" He asks cautioussly and I give him a queer look.He is at it again.If he's asking this kind of detail, it means there's something off about all that I just explained to him."Yes""How did Mia react when she first saw you?""Well… just normal, I mean she even seemed surprised when I told her we were mates. She looked so dumbfounded and that baffled me because she was supposed to know at first sight!""Exactly!" He takes two steps closer to me. "However, Catania knew at first sight. You two even pronounced the word "mate" in unison. You said her smell was way stronger than Mia's, is that right?""Yeah" I say with a slight nod as I try to figure out where he's heading with all these details."And that Ander chanted the word "mate" over and over again""He does that every time I see her""Alpha Nolan..""Nolan!" I interject.I hate it when he addresses me as Alpha, it makes me feel old."Sorry, Nolan. There is a loophole in this entire charade and if you don't find it and make the right decisions right now, then you will live a big lie that will destroy you in the future.""I… I… don't understand""I'm your friend and Beta and it is my duty to tell you the truth no matter how absurd it is. It is my duty to make sure you are making the right decisions, not only for the pack, but for yourself as well. I accept the fact that Catania has the identity of the stealer, but I don't accept the fact Mia is your mate. There is a mix up somewhere"I look at him with my eyes flickering red and anger rising in my chest. I grit my teeth and clench my fists as I walk closer to him, breathing hard. I will not condone all what he just said about my mate."How dare you! How dare you say such a thing about my mate" I ask in anger but he doesn't bulge or feel afraid. A tiny smile forms at the side of his lips as he locks our gazes."My advice is for you to carry out a proper investigation about this whole issue and know the entire story, because it is not clear at all. Two she-wolves can never emit the same pheromone!""Did you not hear the part where I said she is a Stealer ?""I heard you, clearly. My question is, why would a stealer emit the same pheromone as your mate?""Are you dumb? She's a stealer and whatever her pheromone is, it changes once it hits my nostrils to that of my mate's. Every other widowed and unmated werewolf perceives their mate's pheromone on her, that's why they go crazy!" I explain in fury and he exhales in frustration."And how do you explain the fact that hers is stronger? That Ander told you she was your mate?""Stealer!!" I insist and he shakes his head."I smell something fishy, Nolan. Something is just not right. But then, it's your matter to handle. Who am I to get into your mate affairs? Now that I know what happened, I'd love to report to my post""You may leave""Thank you""Uh… one more thing""What's that?" He asks as he looks over his shoulders."I'm inviting you and Melissa over for dinner. I want her to meet Mia""Sure. See you at dinner then" Then he exits the office, closing the door behind him.I shake my head and walk over to my wine bar to ride on with my drinking spree.Nigel has no idea what he is talking about.Mia is my mate and Catania is just a stealer. There's nothing fishy about that.But then … point of interest, why does Ander stay silent every time I'm around Mia, but goes crazy when I'm with Catania?Why?CHAPTER FIVE.CATANIA'S POVAll my life I have been unloved, but I have never felt so ridiculed. How can my mate deliberately refuse to accept me, but offer himself to Mia who isn't his mate. She is the imposter here!I have always known Mia to be a sly fox, but I didn't think she was up to this level. How did she even succeed to do this? How did she know I was his mate? How did she pick up my smell? How on earth did she manage to convince my mate?She must have said and done something!She must have said something to turn my mate against me and I have to find out. All my life, Mia has been stealing my spotlight. She always made me feel like a lesser bring every time she went out and I let her have her way with me all this time, but right now, I won't!This is my mate we are talking about, my happiness, my future, my life as a whole. I cannot let her steal it from me.I can't.I have to find Alpha Nolan so we can have a one on one talk.Maybe after I have explained things to him ,he w
CHAPTER SEVENNOLAN'S POV"How is she?" I ask Alex who's standing by Catania's room door.Trust me, even I myself do not know why I have come here. I tried to get her off my mind, to stop thinking about how unsafe she feels right now, but I couldn't, so I made a rash decision to come and check up on her. Absurd thing is, I'm not even thinking about it's mate who is in my bedroom right now, prolly waiting for me to come to her. I'm not thinking about her at all, but here I am, obsessing about Catania's safety and comfort.There's something fundamentally wrong with me."Well, she hasn't screamed or broken things or cried, she should be fine""Oh…" I gently open the door and peek in. Ander sprints up on my mind when I see her petite frame lying on the bed, probably asleep. The smell Caramel mixed with honey and chocolate fills my nostrils and I close my eyes and sniff in a long deep breath. All my nerves and senses go in total disarray and my entire body feels giddy.There's this weird
CHAPTER EIGHT.NOLAN'S POVThe events occuring today are overwhelming. Catania is unbelievably stubborn and her pheromone is making me think and say things I'm not supposed to say and Nigel is not making matters any better by slipping into his black list mood with me.This is the moment I need him the most, not as a beta, but as my best friend, but he has decided to shun me away.Stubborn as hell.The only person who can help me out of this stress is my mate, Mia, that is why I'm walking to my bedroom right now to see her. It's been a whole lot of hours and I miss her very much. I miss the smell of her sweet pheromone and also her very charming smile.I have to mark her tonight!I have to make her mine…"Mate!" Ander screams in my mind the moment I'm done ascending the staircase. I look over to the West Wing where Catania's bedroom is located and I can perceive her pheromone from here. Damn!It's sharp and hypnotizing. I close my eyes and huff heavily as I take the right wing where
CHAPTER NINE.CATANIA'S POVI can bet my life that Alpha Nolan was here a while ago. When I woke from my siesta, I could perceive his scent in the entire bedroom, but he was nowhere to be found.He must have definitely come to reprimand me after the news of me roaming around got to him. Poor me.I have been in this bedroom for hours now, waiting for that door to open up and for soldiers to drag me to Alpha Kai so he can devour me.I have never seen Alpha Kai before. According to the rumours, he used to be the good brother, but when his mate died, everything went down the drain for him. I have never really known whether he is way older than his little brother or not. Whatever be the case, I hope his face is at least lookable. I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life sleeping with a man I can barely even look at.Sweet Moon goddess, please hear me out.The sound of my room door opening snaps me out of my thoughts and when I look up, I roll my eyes hard when I see my evil, treache
CHAPTER TEN."What's going on here?" The question flies out of my mouth the moment I walk in and see Mia holding both cheeks and she looks like she is about to burst into tears. I heard the sound of a smack as I opened the now and now that I'm in this room and looking at the two girls, I think I understand what happened.Catania just smacked Mia.The audacity of this girl!I feel a growl mold in my throat as I walk closer to both girls."What do you think you are doing?" I hear Ander ask from within and I halt on my tracks."Can't you see that the stealer girl just hurt our mate?" I reply in my mind and Ander lets out an angry growl. "Mia is not our mate. I'm warning you Nolan, do not hurt our mate, Catania! Don't you dare!" He warns and I immediately shut him out without a second thought.I understand why he is acting that way, it's all because of Catania's stealer pheromone. It's making him say things he is not supposed to say. I had a similar experience yesterday and even right now
CHAPTER ELEVEN.CATANIA'S POV.I don't know for how long I've been crying, but I know I have cried past my limit. My tear glands must be exhausted and my heart is pumping hard. I don't even want to talk about what's going on in my chest right now. My heart is definitely going to stop beating soon.Watching Alpha Nolan behave like a bewitched fool is heart wrenching!I die ten times every time he takes Mia's side in an argument. He has no idea the kind of person Mia is.She is manipulative and mean. She hates me to the core and she will do everything in her power to make my life miserable. Why can't he see her?I know Mia is a gorgeous girl, but then, that's not enough reason for him to choose her over me.I am his mate for goodness sake! Why can't he just accept it?Honestly, I don't think I can live like this. I thought I would be at peace when I finally mate with Alpha Kai, but I don't think I will.I die everytime I see Mia and Nolan together. I mean he is my mate and I long for hi
CHAPTER TWELVE.CATANIA'S POVRight now I'm in a dilemma. I don't know whether to run away, or to stay and try my luck to make Alpha Nolan understand that I am his mate. It's so confusing and I would cry right now, my tear glands seem to be having a malfunction. The only thing I can do is overthink the issue.It's already nightfall, and the wall clock reads seven pm. I hope I get some sleep tonight, but I doubt I will.My life it so pathetic that it makes me laugh. First I was adopted and raised by people who showed me no love and rught, I have been rejected by my mate. My very own mate has chosen to be with my sister, the same sister who assisted in making my life miserable in the past. I swear if ever the the tables turn and I have to get my revenge on Mia, I will kill her with my bare hands and not regret it.She is worse than a monster and only the moon goddess knows how much I hate her.The sound of my door opening snaps me out of my thoughts and I quickly rise from my bed, hopin
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.NOLAN'S POVI don't know whose tears make me feel miserable right now, Catania's or Mia's. Both girls are crying and my heart aches, but I have no idea whose pain is making my heart ache.I was I'm my office, signing some documents when a sharp pain coursed through my heart. I could feel that my mate was being hurt somewhere and immediately, a guard barged into my office, panting and telling me that the two girls went to Kai's chamber. I immediately abandoned what I was doing and rushed here to see for myself and what I saw shattered my heart into a million pieces.Kai was going to kill them both if I had not intervened.What were they even thinking?Or what was Catania thinking bringing her sister here?"She's lying!" Catania's sobbing voice comes through and I give her a deadly look. I'm so mad at her right now that I don't even know what to do with her. She is so annoying and stubborn!I know the pain I felt in my heart a while ago was because Mia got hurt. She's