Chapter 7

My finger was tapping my desk. While I told Ricky I would take care of it, it didn’t mean I was happy about it. Looking at the two in front of me, you could tell they were mates. Other than the glaring mate mark on May’s neck, if either of them moved, so did the other. They just sat down in the office after Scott let them in and he was looking at me with a surprised expression. Taking a deep breath, I looked down at the paperwork in front of me.

“So you’re a soldier for the Alpha King. What are you doing in my territory pup?”

The man sat up and looked away from May’s hand which he was holding. “I was out visiting my grandmother. Ariel Stone.”

I knew Ariel. I also knew she doted on Ricky and I wondered what she would think of May’s behavior. May looked everywhere but at me and I knew why.

“Are you proceeding with a divorce then May?” I asked her directly and she snapped her eyes to me.

Her mate looked at her, confused. “What do you mean divorce?”

May looked at him, her smile looked at little off. “It’s nothing, dear.”

“It is something. May, you are legally married to my Gamma. Have been for the past twelve years. What makes you think a single paper requesting a transfer would be enough?”

“You’ve been married for twelve years?” Her mate slipped his hand out of hers.

I was having trouble holding back my smile. Apparently, May had not been truthful to her mate. If she was going to make my brother suffer, then I was going to let her feel a little taste of pain herself. She looked from me angrily to her mate worriedly.

“I had a chosen mate since I was eighteen. We were high school sweethearts. That’s all. Nothing that was meant to be like you and I.” She glared at me. “You don’t know what it’s like to finally find you mate after all this time, Alpha. You would just sign the transfer papers if you did.”

I stood up, my eyes blazing with anger. “May, I have changed your diapers. I watched you date my Gamma and watched the love grow between the two of you. You’re lucky I already spoke to Ricky in regards to this because for that comment, your mate would be lucky if he was headed home in one piece and it would have definitely been without you.” I growled and she shrunk in her seat. Even her mate looked fearful.

Scott opened the door to the office and stood in the doorway, ready to intervene.

“While I may not know what it’s like to find my mate after all this time, I do know what it means to have a chosen mate and how much more love it takes to decide on being with them, over the mate bond’s biological pull. So don’t you dare toss away my brother like he meant nothing to you.” My hands leaned on the desk and I was glaring at her.

“Alpha.” Scott warned from behind their chairs.

Both May and the Alpha King’s soldier looked back at him and then to me. I took a deep breath and stood up. I tried to control my Alpha presence as it lashed out at the two of them.

“You will get off my territory.” I looked at the soldier. “I don’t want you on this territory ever again. You may say goodbye to your grandmother but I will speak with Ariel directly in regards to why you are not allowed in the territory anymore.”

He nodded, not saying a word.

“You, May, are the biggest disappointment. I will approve your transfer once you provide me with the documentation of your divorce. Once that document is in my hands, you are free to follow your mate.”

“Alpha! That could take months! My heat could come…”

I growled. “You should have thought about that before you received your mark. Thought about the repercussions this has on your family and your pack. Now you will suffer the consequences of that. Welcome to the real world, May. Ricky has been kind enough to save you from most of it but I will not.”

She growled at me and I lashed out at her with my Alpha authority. “You are still part of my pack May and you will not bare your teeth at me unless you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole of how I truly handle punishment.”

With her neck bared, she whimpered. Her mate was too scared and too shocked at me to even help her. I scoffed inwardly. Some mate bond. He wouldn’t even protect her while she was in danger.

“Leave. Now.”

The two of them scurried off and I pinched the bridge of my nose. A couple deep breaths later and I controlled my inner wolf. He was raring to come out since this morning when Ricky told me but it would have been bad for everyone. I keep him on lockdown at all times. Only a few people knew exactly how dangerous a wolf I had been gifted by the moon goddess. Scott was one of them, which is why he still stood in the doorway as I took controlled breaths.

“That was lenient of you, Alpha.”

I nodded. “Ricky asked me to let them go. He didn’t want to run into them on the territory.”

“Well, I mean, you didn’t exactly let them go.”

I scoffed. “He knew I wouldn’t let her off that easy. How could she just do that to him?”

“Honestly, I think May had been searching for something more. She was too sheltered by him and just like a selfish child, she wanted to see if the grass is actually greener on the other side.”

I shook my head. “Well, good riddance then. He can present her to the Alpha King and they can fuck their first night and then move on.”

Scott turned to me, horrified. “You’re joking right?”

I looked at him, deadpan. “When’s the last time you heard me joke Scott?”

“Shit. Whelp, there is the rude awakening to the real world. She thought it was going to be you.” Scott shook his head.

“I’m suddenly in the mood for a drink.”

Scott chucked. “It’s not even three yet.”

“Call it a birthday drink and I can drink it whenever I want.”

I walked over to the small globe I had in the corner of the room. Pulling it up, the globe opened to reveal six smaller glasses and two bottles of bourbon. I took out one of the bottles and held out the bottle for Scott.

“I mean, I can’t very well let my Alpha drink alone on his birthday now can I?” He smirked and came over, grabbing two of the glasses.

Holding them up for me, I poured a half a glass into each of them. With the bottle down and the globe closed, I took the glass from Scott and sat down in my chair. Putting my feet up on the desk, I leaned back and took a drink. The smooth bourbon made me smile and closed my eyes.

“Happy birthday, Desmond.”

“More like happy birthday, old man.”

He laughed. “I mean, like you said, until we can beat you we can’t say shit.”

I held my glass up to him and took another sip. “The only thing that would make this better would be a clove cigarette.”

Scott snorted. “You gave up smoking over fifteen years ago.”

“Giving up smoking doesn’t mean I don’t miss it, Scott. I would just rather not face the wrath of Helena if she found out and somehow she is as plugged into the pack gossip as much as my father.”

“Marcus would definitely find out.”

“Oh how sometimes I miss the high shifts of the old days.”

Scott shook his head. “Don’t get all reminiscent on me, old man. I’ll start bringing up shit you would rather not want to remember.”

I rolled my eyes. “Always the buzzkill. Now and back then too.”

“Alright bad boy, finish your drink and we can leave. The pack house is closed for the weekend.” Scott took his drink out with him to his office.

I laughed and sipped my glass slowly. The two of them had put such a bad taste in my mouth.

'How’s the patrol going today?'

'Sadly, missing naked human women showering but all is good.' Ricky replied instantly.

'Well, it’s better than going to jail as a predator.'

'Look at that, Alpha’s got jokes. What are you drinking?'

I opened my mouth, mock hurt. 'Are you saying I’m not funny?'

'Not sober.' His answer was so quick that even he cracked up.

I shook my head. 'You might still see May around. I told her before I would approve her transfer she needed to go through the divorce proceedings.'

'Alpha.' Ricky whined.

'I kicked the guy off the territory though. He’s an Alpha King soldier.'

'No!' Ricky screamed in my head and I winced. He knew what that meant without me telling him. Scott, I guess, hadn’t gotten the memo.

'She hadn’t told him she was married either, so I don’t know how well that’s going to go. But she’s going to end up getting a taste of the real world real quick.'

Ricky just whined over the link and I scowled, taking another sip of my drink. Truthfully, I hoped her mate would be honest with her and tell her what would happen but I knew it was not very likely. Especially not after she didn’t tell him she was married. In my mind she deserved it, but I knew Ricky loved her and my heart ached for him.

Tossing the last bit of drink down my throat, I got up and grabbed my jacket. I put it on and took the glass with me into the kitchen. Rinsing it out, I put it next to the sink and with Scott’s already rinsed glass.

“Ready to go Scott?”

“Yeah!” He came out of his office and closed the door.

I walked out of the pack house and held the door for him. Taking out my keys, I locked the door and turned around. My nose wrinkled.

“The fuck is that smell?”

“What smell?”

“It smells like someone just poured hibiscus tea all over the place.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “Your aversion is borderline neurotic. I hope you know that.”

“Oh, I know. I’m well aware. It’s only been in the last five years I don’t gag when I smell it.” I tried to take another breath but I grimaced.

“Well, maybe you can just drink it and see if that helps.”

I shook my head. “Tried that. It took a day to recover throwing it all up.”

“When did that happen?”

“I don’t know. Ten years ago? I did it by accident thinking it was the iced coffee and it was Helena’s leftover Five Point Coffee drink. I don’t think I’ve ever been so sick in my life. I nearly retired that day. I thought I wouldn’t recover.”

Scott shook his head. “Of all the things to be over dramatic about. If anyone caught wind of your absurd aversion, they could literally get more information out of you by feeding you that than pulling every single one of your toenails and fingernails.”

I chuckled. “Which is why I diligently worked to not throw up every time I smelled it.”

“No, you just get this ridiculous look on your face and get short tempered.”

We started walking toward my house and it started to lessen. I opened up the door to the hardware store but quickly covered my nose with my hand and slammed the door. I leaned over and tried to hold back the bile that was coming up through my throat. The store reeked of it. My eyes watered as I took deep breaths of the outside air. My heart hammered in my chest as I felt my stomach clenched. A throbbing started in my head and I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to take slow breaths to settle the feeling.

“What the fuck?”