I single tear made its way down my cheek. "But I thought..." I trailed off not knowing what to say. What did I think? That Dan would just drop all of those girls and mate with me? That I deserved a happily ever after, like Nick and Alysha had and like the fairy tales? That Dan would love me and we would be happily mated with pups? Of course that wouldn't happen to me, I didn't deserve it. Nothing good ever happened to me.
Nick looked at me, as if he was trying to figure out what to say. "You were expecting another?"
I nodded my head not trusting my voice. Nick came round the desk and pulled me into his arms while I cried. Why did this always happen to me? Nick rubbed my back, whispering soothing words to me. I would have to mate with Caleb, I knew that. You could never turn down an Alphas request and I knew that Nick needed to have an alliance with Caleb's pack.
*****
I paced while waiting for Maddi to come out of Nick's office. I knew what he was asking her to do and she wouldn't have a choice but to accept. I couldn't help but remember what had happened last night, I shouldn't have done it. It was selfish of me but I needed to know what it would be like to have a mate because I knew that I wouldn't be able to mate with anyone accept Maddi.
My wolf growled, trying to break free. He wanted to fight for his mate, but I knew that I couldn't do that. It would mean challenging an Alpha, don't get me wrong I could probably win the fight, but it would mean leaving my home. I couldn't do that. I sighed, if only I had got her to realise what we were sooner. Would she want to mate with me then? Probably not, it was every she wolfs dream to be mated to an Alpha.
I remembered the way Maddi felt in my arms as I carried her upstairs to bed. She was perfect for him, she always had been. She had fallen asleep against his chest, he could have stayed like that forever, listening to her deep breathing. When I had laid her in her bed she had reached out for me, it broke my heart when I had to step away from her reaching hands. I watched her sleep until the light of dawn started filtering in through the open curtains.
Once Nick was done speaking to Maddi he called me through the pack link wanting to talk to me. When I walked into his office he was stood looking out of the window, watching his mate play with Katie, one of the packs pups. Nick looked regretful and torn when he turned to look at him.
"I don't know if I done the right thing." He said while pouring himself a brandy. "She was happy, the happiest I've seen her since my father died. She was crying and laughing and so full of love." His heart dropped at that, knowing that she was happy about her mating to Caleb and not upset knowing that it wasn't him. He would never have her now, she obviously didn't feel the same. Last night he was certain that she loved him. "She thought that she was being mated to someone else, Dan. It kills me to know that she has finally found her true mate and I'm taking her away from him. She will never have the love that me and Alysha have." He sighed and looked out the window again. "I wish that she had told me. I wonder who he is, any ideas?"
I quickly shook my head, I should tell him but I couldn't. I was sad that she would never be happy but at the same time I was happy that she didn't want to mate with Caleb. "I've never seen her interested in anyone, I thought she didn't want to find her mate." It had killed him when she had told him that, he had already known then that she was his mate and that they would never be more than friends.
Nick sighed. "Your right, maybe she hasn't found her mate but had hoped that someone else would ask her to be his."
I agreed and changed the topic to pack business. I didn't want to keep talking about how my mate would soon be mated to someone else.
*****
I managed to corner Dan and ask him why he hadn't talked to me. He tried but failed to walk passed me and ended up taking my arm and dragging me into the living room, after closing the door he turned to me.
"Last night was fun, Maddi, that's all it was. If I'm honest you weren't even that good and why should I just stick with you when I have more experienced people that I could be with?"
I felt crushed, tears came to my eyes and I let them fall. Why was he doing this? I was his mate and he should love me. The sadness of what he said passed and anger rose from within me. "Well luckily for you I'll be out of your way soon enough because I'm to be mated with Caleb. You know the Alpha?" I snapped.
Dan just laughed which hurt me more. "Is this some way to make me jealous?"
"You love me!" I shouted at him, the tears falling faster.
He laughed again. "If you thought what we done last night was out of love, you are deadly wrong. I've had tones of girls and haven't loved any of them, so why should you be any different?"
I couldn't take it anymore. I stormed out of the room and collapsed on my bed, crying myself to sleep.
Chapter Six
It has been a month since Nick told me I was to be mated with Caleb. I had been busy because Caleb wanted the mating ceremony to be sooner rather than later. Today was the day though, today was the day that I was to be mated with Caleb. I hadn't seen Dan since that night a month ago when he told me that he didn't love me. I couldn't believe that it had been that long.
I hadn't seen Caleb in a month either, he had gone back to his pack and he was to bring some of them down for the ceremony. I rolled over in bed, I hardly knew my new mate. I still dreamed that it would be Dan instead of Caleb that I would be mating with. Caleb wouldn't want me soon enough though.
I put my hand on my stomach, rubbing it lovingly while fighting off waves of nausea. I still couldn't believe it, but I knew that I was. No one else had noticed but I could tell that there was a change in my sent. My wolf knew that she was carrying a pup as well. I smiled at the though of a little Dan running around, but then wanted to cry when I though that he would never know his child. Dan could never find out that I was with child and neither could Caleb.
"Knock, knock." Alysha said opening the door and walking in. A look of concern came across her face when she saw me. "Wedding nerves?"
I nodded, glad that she had giving me a way out of telling her the truth. "I was like that when it was the morning of my ceremony too." She said.
I smiled at her, I had been trying my best to make it up to her lately. I hated the way that I acted after I found out that my dad was dead. I was horrible to her and was glad that we were back to the way things were before. My mum was to attend today's ceremony as well, much to my displeasure. Nick had sent off an invitation to her behind my back when I had purposely kept her off my list. She had arrived last night and had tried to act like everything was fine, but I pushed her away and refused to even look at her.
I let Alysha help me into my gown and sat at the dresser while she curled my hair. She then stuck pins in it to keep it up. She added a small amount of make up before telling me that I could look in the mirror.
"Oh my..." I trailed off looking at the girl in the mirror. She was beautiful, her long blonde hair was piled high on her head with perl pins, her blue eyes were wide and stood out against the dark blue eye shadow and the back mascara. Her lips were red and she had a slight blush. The dress she was wearing was white with crystal like beads covering the top half, it then flowed out around her and came down to her ankles, to show off white heeled shoes. She was wearing a beautiful perl necklace and earrings.
It didn't look anything like me, I couldn't believe that I could ever look this beautiful. Tears brimmed my eyes. "Don't you dare mess up that make up, missy." Alysha scolded. I laughed and blinked them back.
"I never knew that I could look like this." I said, still staring in the mirror.
She clasped her hands with glee before guiding me down the stairs. As good as the heels looked, I couldn't walk in them to save my life. I must have twisted my ankles about sixty times, I was grabbing on to Alysha for dear life by the time we got out into the garden.
*****
I should be there, I know I should, but I coul
dn't stand to see my mate be mated to someone else. My absence would look strange but I didn't care, I would deal with the drama of it all later, after she's gone. My wolf wanted to charge into the ceremony and demand what was his, but I kept him on a tight leash. Running seemed to help me take my mind off what was happening at the moment.
I had no one to blame but myself, Maddi was a beautiful and intelligent girl and everyone wanted her. Those who she thought were just her friends would stare at her with longing, the only reason that they would never act out on it was because she was part of the Alphas family. I was glad of that at the same time that I hated it.
I shook my head before phasing and running into the woods. I breathed in the sent of the damp ground and the sent of the recent rainfall. The ground was damp and my paws were soothed by it. I scented the air again, looking for a trail that would take me to food. Soon I found the sent of a deer and followed it. I ran without a care in the world, until I heard the gun shot.
I whined as a bullet flew passed my head. I turned around and came face to face with a hunter, he was an odd one though because he had a mask covering his face. This led me to believe that this was no ordinary hunter. I breathed in, but he had a human sent.
"You're gonna wish that you never set eyes on Caleb's mate. Me brother tried 'ard to scare 'er so that she would be willing to mate with 'im." I watched as the hunter reloaded his shot gun, a poor choice really but it could still kill me. "But 'e was killed instead. So you're gonna pay."
A shot rang out as I jumped on him, taking him with me to the ground. The hunter used the gun as a bat and started hitting me with it, his arms were blocking his neck so I couldn't go for an easy kill. I bit down on his arm hard and pulled, smiling with satisfaction as I heard it become dislocated, it lay by his side limply. I had a clear sight of his neck now but he kept hitting my head and I was starting to lost consensus over that and the fact that my blood was pouring out of me. I bit down into his neck and watched as the life faded out of him, I then collapsed beside him, my world going black. My last thoughts were of Maddi and the danger that she was in.
Chapter Seven
The ceremony was long and boring, all I wanted to do was sit down, these heels were killing me. I waited while Caleb said his vows, I wasn't listening to a word he was saying, all I could think about was why Dan wasn't here. I thought that he would be happy to have me out of hair. I had expected for him to be singing with joy, but he hadn't even showed up.
Nick had to walk me down the isle and I knew that we were both thinking about how our father would have wanted the honour of doing it. I had gone to the cliff earlier in the day and was happy that Nick had asked if he could accompany me. It felt special having him by my side while I talked to my dad. We had raced back and it had reminded me of our time when we were kids.
I repeated my vows to Caleb in monotone, not taking notice of what I was saying. I thought of what Dan had said to me the last time we saw each other and I wanted to cry. I wonder what he would say if he knew that I was carrying his child? Most likely he wouldn't care. I was going to have to pass it off as Caleb's anyway. I would just have to say that the baby was born a month early.
At the party that night Dan still didn't turn up. It was weird knowing that this would be the last night that I would spend with my pack. That soon I would be leaving everything that I knew, and for what? To keep my brother happy? To give Dan what he wants? I didn't tell Nick that I would mate with Caleb until after Dan said that he didn't love me, if he had said that he did, I would have said no to Nick. It was too late now though.
If I had known that I was carrying Dan's child then, I would have told Nick no. Even if it meant staying in a pack with a mate that didn't love me, maybe in time he would have though. I danced with Nick and all of my friends, I still ignored my mum even when she said that my dad would have been proud of me.
I was dancing with Caleb when I heard someone scream, I tuned around and saw Alysha bent over in pain. I rushed over to her and saw that there was water on the floor.
"The baby," she gasped. "it's coming." I understood then and started shouting orders. She gripped my arm painfully and I guided her over to a chair telling her to take deep breaths. Nick came barreling into the room and was at him mates side in moments.
Everything happened so fast then. Alysha was taken up to her room and Doctor Nelson was called to deliver the baby. The pack waited in suspense and you could hear the screams of Alysha as she pushed the baby out. Then Nick came back into the room with a wide boyish grin on his face, holding a bundle of towels. I walked over to him and inside was a baby girl, she had dark hair like Nick and she was sleeping peacefully in her daddy's arms.
"It's a girl." Nick announced with pride. "Chloe."
I smiled and took the baby as he went up to see his mate. She was beautiful and I couldn't help but wish that I could see that look on Dan's face when our baby is born. I nuzzled the baby close and inhaled her baby sent. It was wonderful, holding this precious new life in my arms.
"I can't wait until we have one." Caleb said from behind me, peering over my shoulder at the baby and wrapping his arms around my waist.
I smiled at him. If only he knew how fast we would be having one. We left an hour after the baby was born and I was on my way to my new life and pack.
*****
My new pack were different. Stiff is the only word I can use to describe them. There were no smiles, no laughs and no noise. I would have thought it was a ghost town if I didn't see the members of the pack. Caleb showed me around his home with pride. It was strange though, everyone was on edge, especially those in the main house. The walls were all dull colours as well, I would need to add some colour into this house.
When one of the new pack mates tried to kiss my hand, Caleb growled in warning before phasing and killing the man. I stared at him shocked, I couldn't believe what he had just done. Now I understood why his pack were like they were. I watched as his mate tried to hold back her anger and I looked at her with sympathy.
"You didn't have to do that, Caleb. He was only being friendly."
"He touched what was mine. Anyone who touches you will see the same fate. You. Are. Mine." He growled and I took a step back. I couldn't believe I was mated to someone like this, he was nice yesterday. Talk about a personality disorder.
I didn't think that it could get any worse, but it did. Over the months I felt the life being drained out of me, I felt trapped and lifeless. If I didn't do something right I would take a beating, I had to be perfect. When I started showing signs of my pregnancy, Caleb stopped beating me when I done something wrong. He instead would beat one of the other pack members. I wanted to kill him! How could anyone be so cruel?
I was six months pregnant and I wish that I wasn't. I wish that I didn't have to bring my child into this cruel world, the baby didn't deserve it. Since I have been with this pack, ten members have been killed. Caleb just doesn't stop. I have only been here for five months. I knew that something wasn't right with him, it would explain why packs haven't been invited here since the last Alpha passed away.
I knew that I needed to leave, not just for my sake but for the baby's. Members of the pack have already told me that they would help me, but I was afraid of what would happen to them once I left. I couldn't talk to my brother about anything because Caleb wouldn't let me leave the house, never mind use a phone or write a letter.
Chapter Eight
I blinked, trying to clear my blurry vision away. My head was pounding and I groaned. What happened? I felt like I had drank five bottles of vodka and then two bottles of brandy. I tried to roll over but my body wouldn't corporate with my brain.
"Is he awake?" Asked a delicate female voice. Was is Maddi? No it couldn't be, Maddi was somewhere. Where was she? I tried hard to think about where she was and about what had happened, but sleep was pulling me back under.
Epilogue
Two months had passed since Dan killed Caleb, two months since our baby boy was born. After Dan had got released from the hospital we went and visited my dads grave, we took Kade with us so that they could officially meet. I was happy that I could tell him how much of a warrior and hero his grandfather was. I was glad that he will live through the stories so that mine and Nick’s children will know that their grandfather was amazing and that he would have done anything for family.
My mother moved to the new pack with me and Dan, she helped out with Kade and cooked and cleaned while I sat back and relaxed. I was happy that she was moving on and she had even met someone from the pack that she got along with, Fred’s mate was killed by Caleb before I moved there and he was glad that Dan won the challenge. Fred was Dan’s second, which was good because the pack trusted Fred and Fred trusted Dan so the pack did too.
Dan and I had been mated a couple of weeks after he heeled and were finally bonded. It was strange to be able to float around his mind, which Caleb kept me blocked from. I finally felt complete, like I had everything that I ever wanted. I was at peace with my fathers death too.