Chapter 7

Zoe woke on early as usual and went for a run. When she came back, she went to the training grounds and started training. She spent an hour and a half training. She missed her friends so much, by now Mason would be teasing her and provoking her until she agrees to spar with him. They would go on while Lizzy played the couch, a bias one at that and she would always win. Then go to her home or Lizzy’s for breakfast before going on patrol.

Oh, how she missed doing patrols at the borders of her pack, alpha Zane, and how friendly he is. He also missed their cook and her food. She missed everything about her pack and could not wait to go back. this place was draining her energy, but it was better now that the devil alpha was not around, at least the remaining people were not that bad, JP as well was not as bad as she thought he was when she first met him.

After training, Zoe went back to the packhouse to take a well-deserved shower then went to the kitchen to start breakfast. This morning Liza was already there when she came in. “Morning Liza.” She greeted cheerfully making Liza stop what she was doing and look at her. “Morning, you seem happy.” She commented and Zoe shrugged. “I am, not fully but I am trying not to be negative.” She told her. “Does your mood have anything to do with the alpha not being around?” asked Liza.

“I won’t deny that I feel uncomfortable around him and yes I do feel a little lighter now that he is not here.” She admitted as she helped Liza with the ingredients. “He is not that bad you know, yes he did have a rough childhood, well, I am not sure the kind of childhood any child could have in the jungle alone, but he is not a bad person, he cares about this pack, and I believe that he would never hurt any of us and that includes you,” Liza told her.

“I don’t know Liza, all I know is that I don’t want to be here, next week is my birthday and I was hoping to spend it with my friend and family.” She told her and Liza nodded. “How old you will be?” she asked. “Eighteen.” Liza squealed startling Zoe and she laughed. “Am sorry but am so excited for you, this is the time you will be able to meet your mate.” She told her and Zoe nodded. “Yes, but I am not looking forward to finding my mate, especially if he is not from my pack.” He told her.

“Why?” she did not understand, a mate is a werewolf’s better half, the one they can not live without literally, the one that is meant to love only them and no one else. Mates are connected by the strongest bond, a pull that makes them want to be together all the time, a werewolf’s love for their mate is one that humans could never imagine, it was that of the purest king, one with no conditions. That is why Liza did not understand why Zoe did not want that.

“I don’t want to live home Liza, I have already left home, and I feel lost,” Zoe told her. “You only feel lost because you are not here with your mate, it will be different with your mate, wherever he will be your home and you would not want to leave his side. Leaving your home to be with him will not be as difficult as it was this time. You will be happy to leave and that will be because of your mate.” Liza told her thinking about her own mate and the time she left her own pack and family to be with him.

“I can’t imagine myself feeling that way, tell me, Liza, where is your mate?” she asked, and Liza’s heart sank. She kept quiet for a while without answering, Zoe did not see the change in her emotions as she was busy frying eggs on the stove with her back on Liza. “He died; our former alpha killed him.” Zoe stiffened then turned slowly to look at Liza. “Am sorry Liza, I didn’t know.” Liza sighed. “It’s alright, it happened a long time ago.” She assured her with a smile.

Zoe nodded then finished off what she was doing and went to lay the table and take some of the food out. Beta JP came in just as they were placing the last of the food on the table. “I hope you are taking notes Liza because I am not going back to eating differently when she leaves. By the way good morning.” He said taking his seat at the table and taking a piece of bacon taking a bite of it. “Good morning beta JP and yes, I am taking notes, but I can’t promise that I will be as good as she is by the time she leaves,” Liza answered.

More pack members came in and took their seats. The lead warrior came in last; he was a tall and big wolf with broad shoulders and huge arms that looked like they would rip every shirt he wore. He took his seat next to PJ but his eyes were fixed on Zoe, he followed every movement she made with his eyes, he was staring to a point that others noticed, even JP. ‘Stop staring at her this much, you will make her uncomfortable.’ JP mixed linked the warrior.

‘I can’t help it; I think I like her.’ he told him still looking at Zoe. ‘Since when are you interested in women?’ asked JP. ‘Since now, she could be my mate you know.’ Answered the warrior making JP look at him. ‘Are you sure? Because I think she might be the alpha’s mate, he seems to like her for some odd reason and even trained with her yesterday.’ JP told him and only then did the warrior’s eyes left Zoe looking at JP.

“Are you sure? Is he even sure?” now the warrior did not bother with the mind l**k, he was shocked, his alpha was like him in a lot of ways, he didn’t entertain women and they even wondered if he had a mate out there or not. And if he did how would he treat her? “No, he is not but this is first you know what that he showed interest in, I mean he did take her from her home and brought her here for no reason at all. He must feel something for her,” he said making the warrior think.

“I am not sure how I feel but what I know is that when I saw her, I could not take my eyes off her, you know that I have been busy and have not seen her since she arrived. I have heard of her cooking skills from the others, and I thought I should make time to come today. But when I got here the food was the last thing on my mind, he captured me.” He told PJ and he nodded in understanding. “I hear you, any way I don’t think she is off age yet, so there is still time.” He told him then focused on his food.

If he were being honest, he did not want her to be mated to the head warrior, he wanted her to be with his alpha, something about him changes when he is around her, he does things he has never done with anyone, Luka never trained anyone, he would go to the training grounds but would only supervise and give pointers here and there. Even with him as his beta, they never trained together, Luka preferred his morning runs and training then by the time everyone goes to the training grounds he is leaving.

Part of that is the fact that his warriors feared him when he first arrived at the pack and killed his father. So, training early and leaving when they arrive is something he did back then, but he never stopped. But he did not leave her, he trained with her and even sparred with her. that was unlike Luka. He also knew that Zoe was afraid of Luka, she would shake in fear the moment she hears his voice and would continue to shake until he is gone.

Her fear of him is so strong that you could smell it, yet Luka was gentler with her, took time to do things with her, and even took her from her pack under false pretenses. Something he would never do, but he did it for her and JP felt like she was good for him and if they were mates, she could change Luka for the better and she could learn to stop fearing him. He believed that the mate bond was strong enough to deal with the fear she had of him and they could lead the pack together.