Tyler

I had been invited to the mating ball in the Rosewood Pack. However, it was purely out of the politeness of my host, Alpha Willem. I was here for diplomatic reasons-- to establish better relations with the wolves of this pack. Being an Alpha of the biggest and most powerful pack on the continent, that is, meant that I had to maintain stable relations with other packs at all times, lest they feel threatened.

Coming to this ball was a decision made by that male part of me, the one that so desperately wished to find my mate. Though I suppose it was also because of my duty to continue the line. I could marry, of course, but I should at least try to find the female I’d been destined to spend the rest of my life with.

As I entered the ballroom, I immediately noticed how fancily it’d been decorated. The tiles resembled wood and were so clean I could see the blazing lights’ reflection in them very clearly. Indeed, the chandeliers hung about twenty feet from the ceiling and would surely blind whoever stared at them for too long. I tore my gaze away from them to look around the room. The floor-to-ceiling windows adorned with periwinkle curtains and golden strings glittered just as beautifully as the lights, whose reflections could also be seen in them.

Looking around me more carefully, I could see many of the females here, in their elaborate gowns and intricately done hairstyles, were all staring at me and the two males walking but a step behind me. James and Kai, my Beta and Gamma, had been serving me loyally ever since I ascended to power just over two years ago, following my father’s death.

All three of us still mateless; we were just the right target for the no doubt vicious females here.

Yet I looked up instead of straight ahead-- some invisible force compelling me to do so. Several balconies dotted the windowless walls, and in one of the booths stood two people-- a male and a female by the looks of it.

The wolf inside me howled.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back,” I said quietly to my friends. They nodded their agreement, and I strode off to the nearest staircase that would lead me to the balcony.

The walk up the stairs seemed longer than it should’ve been. But, at last, I reached the top, where a corridor connecting all of the balconies on this wall showed me the way to the one I felt so drawn toward.

As I neared the terrace entrance, I could hear voices-- the two people murmuring to each other. I quieted my steps and decided it’d be better if I didn’t reveal myself just yet. Pressing myself against the wall, I strained my ears to catch any snippets of the pair’s conversation.

“You should sit down,” the male was saying.

“I’m fine.” The female snapped back.

“Your leg is shaking. You know it grows stronger as you grow weaker.”

“Oh, please. I know these things better than anyone.”

I chanced a glance at the pair. The female leaned on the rail, sipping from what looked like a glass of wine. The male was with his back to the crowd, his arms crossed as he added a tad softer;

“We’re all alone here. You needn’t put up a show for anyone.”

The female laughed. It was perhaps the most musical sound I’d ever heard.

“If only we were,” she said. “As you well know, my senses are… sharper than most. I can pick up on sounds others simply do not hear. That’s how I know that Alpha Tyler of Silver Lake has been standing behind that wall for the last couple of minutes.”

I froze. How had she heard me? Some wolves possessed more observant hearing than most, that was well known, but to recognize my scent when we’d never met before… such a thing should not be possible.

Since there appeared to be no point in hiding anymore, I stepped onto the balcony. The male stood up straighter, looking me up and down-- considering whether or not I was a threat. I did the same. His dark brown hair held a similar shade to my black hair. But while his was a faux hawk, mine was an undercut. He wore a grey sweater that fit the chilly weather of mid-January.

Finally, the female turned to us. She was gorgeous. Her light blonde hair loosely half braided back and half running down her shoulders and over the cream-white sweater she wore. Her sapphire blue eyes widened as they met mine.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

That voice inside me repeated over and over.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

She realized it too. I could tell as much from the terror and fear that filled her gaze. She blinked, and it was gone. Her face yet again blank and emotionless. She gripped the rail so tightly it’d probably leave a handprint there.

The male glanced between us, understood what was going on, and stepped back a few paces-- a sign he lay no claim on my mate.

Looking away from me, my mate walked over to the couch nearby. I noticed the heavy limp in her left leg right away.

That wolf inside me howled in rage to see our mate hurt.

She sat down, and I could’ve sworn she sighed in pure relief, throwing her legs over the couch’s arm as she poured herself another glass of wine using the bottle left open on the low lying table.

Snapping from my stupor, I joined her on the couch, sitting opposite her. She stared me dead in the eyes, all the while sipping from her drink. Utterly unafraid of me. I admired the bravery. Not many foreign pack males, let alone females, dared do so without knowing I’d let them live.

She held her glass between her middle and ring fingers. From this angle, a small symbol on her ring finger’s middle phalanx could be seen. I couldn’t quite make out what it was from here. It looked like a tattoo. A matching one was on her pointer finger's middle phalanx.

“Is there anything you need, Alpha?”

My gaze met hers at the snide way she said my title.

“Your name would be a good start,” I said.

She smirked. “Celine. Celine Dawn.” she took another sip of her wine.

Celine. The name seemed to suit her, somehow. But--

At my raised brows, she added, “I’m the Beta’s daughter. I go by my mother's name.”

That made me frown slightly.

“The Beta’s daughter? I thought he had a son.” I’d forced myself to memorize all the names of Rosewood’s most influential members and their families. Yet, there hadn’t been any mention of someone named Celine.

Celine looked at me, unimpressed. She said, “I am, and he does.” She gestured to the male still standing at the balcony, and I looked over at him just as he came up to us, sitting down next to my mate. I watched him carefully. “Nate, meet my dear mate, the esteemed Alpha Tyler. Alpha Tyler, meet my lovely brother Nathaniel Einar.”

I looked between the two of them. Celine was obviously the younger sibling, no older than twenty. Her brother, on the other hand, could be close to thirty, if not so already.

“You look nothing alike,” I finally said.

“Well, we aren’t twins. There’s no reason why we should.”

“Why weren’t you at the ball?” the question escaped me before I could think better of it.

Celine’s gaze hardened. “I don’t like that kind of shit. People tend to stare at me, not to mention, the limp doesn’t help the case. And technically, I am at the ball, as per Father’s insistence, he never said I couldn’t be above it.”

I’d been told that asking women their age was considered rude, if not outright inappropriate, though perhaps it was only a human custom, but I couldn’t help myself and my curiosity, so I asked, “how old are you?”

She drank from her wine deeply, then said, “I turned twenty just a few weeks ago. And you are twenty-two.”

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“You seem to know quite a lot about me, and yet I know next to nothing about you,” I mused aloud.

“Unlike me, you are a rather well-known persona here. Plus, I make it my personal business to find who exactly is visiting us. I’ve been told I’m very good at what I do.” Her eyes glittered with a challenge. Like she wanted me to come to find out all the things she could do. It sent a thrill through me.

The beep of a notification sounded, and Nathaniel took out his phone, looked at it for a few seconds, then turned to his sister and said, “Hey, Lin, Mara says the berries arrived. She put them in the freezer as you asked.”

“Oh, thank the fucking goddess,” she breathed. She rubbed at her calf as though to ease an ache.

I didn’t mind people swearing, but it still unsettled me a little to hear it come from my mate so casually.

I grimaced, and she shot me a look. “I don’t think the Moon Goddess would appreciate you cursing her name.”

Rolling her eyes, my mate huffed a breath and said, “To be honest, I don’t particularly care what she thinks. She has screwed up my life enough as it.”

She moved to stand, but I was already there, helping her up. She snarled at me in response. “I don’t need your help, Alpha,” Celine hissed at me. Her eyes simmered with unrestrained rage. No, not rage. Blue flames.

“You’re hurt,” I told her matter of factly, then added, “I will not let you go out there by yourself. Someone might try something.” My voice nothing but raw command; I let all of my Alpha dominance show, expecting my mate to back down, to obey. Instead, she snarled at me again, allowing all of her dominance to show.

“Someone? You mean the males. What would those males possibly try? Rape me? Kill me?” She chuckled. There was no humor gracing the sound. “They can certainly try. They will lose their heads before they can so much as touch me.”

The look on her face suggested she would love nothing more than to prove herself right.

“I will walk you home, end of discussion. After that, feel free to do what you wish.”

She freed herself of my grip and stalked off, gripping the wall for support. Nathaniel looked at me sympathetically and, following his sister, said quietly, “If you ever wanted yourself a submissive mate, Alpha, you have just gotten the exact opposite.”

Yeah, no kidding.

Celine wrapped an arm around her brother’s shoulders and he around her waist, helping her walk. I wondered absentmindedly how she’d received such a bad wound she couldn’t walk properly on her own.

James and Kai were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. They looked my companions over, the former said, “New friends of yours, I presume?”

I shrugged and explained, “Celine is my mate. Nathaniel is her brother. They’re Rosewood’s Beta’s children.”

Kai lowered his head in either mocking or respect. Perhaps both. “It’s nice to meet you, Luna. I look forward to getting to know you.” I knew my friends would demand each and every detail when we found ourselves alone. The look on Kai’s face was more than enough to prove it.

She waved him off and continued walking-- or limping, I supposed.

James frowned after her, most likely wondering the same thing I did only moments ago.

The people we passed toward the exit parted to let my mate pass, their scents starting to reek of fear. It disturbed me a little that such was their reaction to Celine walking by.

The walk to Celine and Nate’s house-- I’d learned they didn’t live in the Pack House with the Alpha and the rest of the officials, where I, James, and Kai had rooms-- passed by in silence. With the occasional pained whimper from my mate. Which she tried her best to hide, not wanting me to see her weaknesses.

By the time we reached the front porch, her leg was practically dragging in the ground behind her.

She looked back at me. I waited for her to tell me to be gone, but to my surprise, she said softly, “You can come inside if you want,”

I nodded and entered the house, holding the door to my mate and her brother.

As soon as she passed the threshold, she let go of her brother and stood up straighter, as though being here, in her home, allowed her to ignore the wound’s pain.

***

Celine

I sat on a small cushion and took off my black, thigh-high boots. It took me a while, but I untied the laces enough to delicately free my legs (the left one required more care due to my injury) of the boots.

Gods, the leg hurt like fucking hell.

I led Tyler to the kitchen, he too, had taken off his shoes. We were greeted halfway by Mara, Nate’s mate, and my good friend, despite our age difference. She gave me a light kiss on the cheek, a hi, and a suspicious glance toward Tyler. The male made a point not to stare at her for too long. I met her gaze; I’ll tell you later, I mind-linked her. She nodded

Mara hugged and then kissed Nate deeply and with passion, my brother tangling his hand in her curly red hair, tied up loosely, a few strands having escaped the ribbon. The other went to her waist to clutch the sky-blue nightgown, a relatively short nightgown, which showed plenty of her long legs. They parted rather swiftly. She whispered in his ear, “I’ll see you upstairs, babe.” and with that, went upstairs, swishing her hips at him. My brother made to follow her but turned to me, probably about to offer to chaperone or something, but I waved him off with a smile.

“Go, enjoy yourself, big bro.” he gave me a grateful smile.

Tyler was still looking away from my sister-in-law and followed me to the kitchen island instead. When I turned to him, his eyes were already on me, his gaze curious as he watched me take the ingredients I needed to prepare my tea.

“How is it that you could barely walk outside, and yet here you seem just fine?” He asked.

“I guess it’s warmer in here or something.” A lie, but my mate didn’t need to know that. I’d laid upon the house protective wards months ago. It seemed they were doing their job in negating dark energies very well.

I took a few cinnamon sticks, the elderberries I had dried a few days ago, and some honey. The last ingredient I needed was frozen Nightberry puree, so I took those out of the freezer and prepared to blend them in a blender.

I ignored the way Tyler’s eyes keenly followed my every move, as though it fascinated him to no end, as he asked, “what are you making?”

“A tea,” I replied, turning the blender on.

“Can I have some?” The question was halfhearted at best.

“No.” The answer came out harsher than how I’d intended it.

He stayed silent for the few moments it took the berries to turn into puree. After that was done, I started boiling the water.

He frowned. “Why not?”

I selected my next carefully. “It’s a… healing tea for my leg. You wouldn’t like it. It’s pretty bitter.” An understatement, really.

Putting all of the tea components in a heat-proof mug, one I added a powerful healing spell to before, I added the boiling water and a couple of dried yarrow leaves.

I gave it a moment to get soaked up before drinking deeply.

Grimacing, I resisted the urge to gag as Nate came back downstairs.

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“I think it might be even worse than last time,” I choked out.

“Last time?” My mate asked, bewildered.

It had shaken me to the very core when I realized the Alpha Tyler of the Silver Lake Pack was my mate. So many things had flashed in my mind when I looked into his eyes. I didn’t want to deal with this. With him. He’d demand answers; I just knew it. It would only be a matter of when. I had no desire whatsoever to give them to him.

“Yes. This poison’s a bitch,” The last bit came out without thinking, and Tyler’s eyes widened with pure Alpha Male rage.

“Poison?!” He demanded.

I rolled my eyes and couldn’t help but snap, “Yes, poison. Don’t be such a baby about it.” My mother had treated it last time; I learned most of what I knew from her. But she wasn’t here now.

“Who?” The Alpha snarled. “Who poisoned you?”

I let out a low chuckle, draining the rest of my tea, regardless of how hot and disgusting it was. “You needn’t worry about it, Alpha,” Grinning, I let that wickedness and blue fire in my eyes shine. “They are already dead. I took care of that myself.”

He at least had the decency to look surprised.

The antidote started working, making my legs sweat. I took off my socks and stood.

“Well, Alpha, you may begone on your merry way.”

“Excuse me? I’m not going anywhere. I want to make sure your leg is treated properly.”

I opened the door, walking him toward it. “You said it yourself ‘after that, feel free to do what you wish.’ Plus, I doubt you’d like to see what I’m about to do next.” I gave him a sardonic smile and ushered him outside. He could sleep on the porch for all I cared. His eyes momentarily darted to my feet, then back up to my face.

“Will I see you tomorrow at breakfast at the Pack House?” He almost seemed hopeful. Almost.

“Unfortunately for me, yes.”

“Would it be that bad to sit at the same table as me?”

“That’s not what I meant. As the Beta’s daughter, I’m obligated to be there. The problem is Father and me. It’s a rare day indeed when we have an argument that doesn’t end with one of us bloody or about to become so.”

He nodded, his frown deepening. “I’ll see you there then. Good night, and, get well.”

I slammed the door in his face instead of answering. I could’ve sworn he laughed. For some reason, it sent a chill up my spine.