Chap-4*The Two Troubled Mates*

Alpha King Aramis' POV:

It was weird how I felt a mate bond with someone who is my brother's mate as well.

"Phoenix Hart!" I grunted while reaching the foyer after I have dressed up for the big lunch with my brother.

"Good Afternoon Alpha King!" Aunt Jocelina greeted me after she too had worn her iconic black dress to accompany me and my brother.

She had been my nanny for as long as I can remember. After my parents were no longer alive to take care of us, she stepped in and embraced us.

"You look impeccable," she was 50, well-dressed and trendy. I never treated her like a nanny after my parent’s demise, she was more like a family and had been given all the luxuries a royal member of the family deserves, “Why don’t you find yourself a mate?” as usual, she brought up the topic of the mate. Every time she would watch me wear a suit, her compliment will follow the same topic repeatedly.

“Those things are evil,” I stated without a shadow of doubt, “It is Moon Goddess’ way of trapping the innocent souls with the evil thing called a mate bond, and then you are obliged to do everything to get accepted by your mate. And in the end, the mate hurts you the most because every little painful action by your mate brings you more agony due to the stupid mate bond. I am very happy being myself. My job is to keep the packs’ safe and I will do just that,” the topic itself was just a mood destroyer. The thought of being accepted or rejected by your mate has been just foolish and ridiculous.

“Then what about your bloodline? How will it carry on?” Jocelina had her own reason to bug me on this subject. She had expressed her desire to marry her daughter to me many times.

She had a daughter of her own, Morgana Tete, 18-year-old with nothing better to do but wander around me all the time.

“Are you forgetting Tanner? He has found a mate---,” I paused to push the flashback of feeling a mate bond with her and that idea just disgusted me. “she is powerful and so is he, you should have seen them in the battle ground. They are impeccable, they will make powerful babies,” I finished and expected her to not talk about it for the next few days, but before that, I had to tell her, “Aunt Jocelina! You should marry Morgana to someone who she feels a mate bond with. Just because I don’t like the whole concept of mate bond, doesn’t mean your daughter has to follow the same rule,” I have only finished voicing out an advice to her when her daughter appeared before us.

"Hi," Morgana peeped from behind her mother, dolled up in a blue dress and a lot of makeups.

"Aunt Jocelina! Tanner will be arriving in a few minutes. Make sure everything is ready and perfect. I don't want my brother to think his arrival back in the pack is not cherished." I paced ahead of them whilst they followed me, briskly walking to match up with my pace.

"All the food items are ready," Aunt Jocelina murmured, "As soon as he steps in, the hot bathtub will be prepared for his comfort as well," she was listing the number of things I've warned her to not mess up with.

My baby brother was arriving after years; the preparations must lack nothing.

"Great!" I finally stopped and somebody bumped into my back. I didn't have to turn around to see who it was.

"Oops!" Morgana snickered from behind, making me roll my eyes.

"Prince Tanner!" Before I could even react to Morgana, we were made aware of the advent of Tanner.

His arrival wasn't received with cheers and hurray! The shape he had booked into the mansion wasn't what we were expecting from him.

My heart skipped a beat at my baby brother's messy condition. A small yelp managed to heave across the other's lips whilst I stood there with a stiffening posture in bewilderment for a moment.

Tanner has sprinted and tripped inside the mansion all clapped-out and disheveled.

Even the roof of the mansion didn't seem to bring comfort to his perturbed soul, he rushed instead and tripped once again.

I ran over to prevent him from face planting before us. As I spread my arms, instead of going to the ground, he landed on my chest.

Covering him from whatever harm was chasing him, I hugged him tightly. My arms felt his raced heart from the back of his body, and I grasped that he was in some sort of fear that almost unmanned him.

He raised his face after breaking the hug and revealed his misty-eyes to me. That sight was nothing less than a horrifying moment in my life. I hate seeing my brother cry. It reminded me of those nights when he would cry the night away while blaming himself for the sins he had never committed.

“I didn’t do an---ything,” he shook his head, grabbing my collars to give his body enough support to remain standing on his feet.

It was at that moment that I acknowledged that he had been triggered.

“What? who told you did something?” I grabbed his arms and shook his body to get him into reality. He was zoning out and it wasn’t supposed to happen.

After years of therapy, something has triggered him back to the state where he can no longer be recognized as a beta of the pack.

He was looking weak, petrified, and,

Guilty!

“They sai---d----I was just helpi----ng her,” he was shaking in his body and sobbing, crumbling my heart into million little pieces.

“Tanner! Tell me who had brought this discomfort to you?” I tried hiding the clenching of my jaw and look as calm as I could be for him, but it was impossible. Whoever hurt my brother will face the consequences of their actions.

“They said i--- ki----lled her, I whas whal---king and---saw a ---ghirl---and---,” he broke down into tears once he started yammering some incoherent sentences.

“Bring him some water,” I turned my face to Jocelina and shouted at her for standing irresponsive ever since he had arrived. Everybody looked concerned, but that wasn’t going to help Tanner, was it?

Tanner dropped to his knees once he demanded I don’t touch him. It killed me to see him like this and having no idea what had distraught him. I knelt down with him because if he wasn’t on his feet, I won’t be too. I was trying to hold the tears in. I had to stay strong for him.

“Alpha King Aramis!” a guard stole my attention when he arrived at the door and lifted a letter with a green seal on it.

The green seal represented The Dark Autumn Pack.

Before I could get up on my feet and grab the letter out of the hands of my guard, Tanner sped up. I didn’t expect him to react this way. It was almost like he was expecting it.

He grabbed the letter and then backed away from us. His eyes were at us while he held the letter close to his chest.

“Tanner! Let me read it,” I offered, stretching my arm out for him, but he steadily shook his head. It was recommended that he stay away from any bad news when he was triggered, so whatever this letter held, he knew it was for him.

He tore open the letter and started reading it. I had two options: either let him read him or snatch it out of his hands, which will lead him into more agony.

He was going to read the letter anyway, so I let him.

I wish I hadn’t.

“Th---is can’t be true,” he shook his head in disbelief, “She cannot do this to me,” he whimpered in front of his pack members.

“Tanner! Who did what?” I inquired, but the tears falling down his eyes compelled a gasp out of my lips.

“She rejected me, she rejected me via sealed letter,”

Those words from his lips felt like many silver daggers being stabbed into my chest.

A bitch’s rejection has caused my brother agony.