Chapter 3

In the calm deep waters of the mind,

the wolf waits.

Unknown author.

The evening reception was also a beautiful well organised affair. Everything was planned with military precision, Annie and Ben’s family were seated at an enormous table as family of the bride and groom which was and was  next to the table that was reserved for the Alpha’s, Beta’s, and their respective families. All the other guests were seated with their clansmen/women at huge round tables that were scattered around the marquee. The food was local fare and delicious, a choice of beef, boar or locally caught salmon. Dessert was a delicate dark and white chocolate mousse with gold powder sprinkled over the top. Bottles of wine were constantly replaced as soon they became empty by more omegas who seemed to float around effortlessly carrying more plates than Annie had ever seen one person carry. Patric stood up to make his speech and although clearly nervous, he carried himself wonderfully, controlling his emotions to give an impassioned speech about how he would miss her, but he could see how happy his little girl was and he could see how well she would be looked after by her new husband and his pack. He finished by thanking the Reiver Pack for their hospitality on behalf of all Annie’s family, for welcoming them onto their territory and making them feel very much at home. Annie hugged Amelie who was smiling and crying at the same time.

The first dance was announced and as tradition dictates, the bride and groom started the dancing and were joined by Amelie and Patric, Ben’s parents, Alpha Henri and Luna Betina, Alpha Armstrong, his Luna and then finally, everyone else. Jacques danced with Claire and then he dragged Annie onto the floor despite her protestations. Sabine was laughing at Annie’s reluctance, she had never been one for dancing and her shoes were not helping with her balance. Then she danced with Patric for a song as Amelie went to sit back down. Annie knew she had done that so she could dance with Patric, it wouldn’t do to dance with a mated wolf that was not from her family, werewolves are known for their incredible jealousy over their mates and as Alpha Henri had said, they were not here to start a war. Patric went to dance with Aimeè, so Annie made her way back the table and leaning over Amelie’s shoulder she made a suggestion.

“Would you like a sneaky whiskey?” she whispered in her sister’s ear. Amelie grinned her affirmative reply so Annie set off to find their omega. He was found by the drinks table so Annie asked him for the whiskey.

“I’m sure there’s a nice bottle of single malt around the back,” he grinned, “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared behind the bar in a flash.

Annie’s shoes were starting to hurt her feet, checking no one could see her she slipped them off and revelled in the feeling of the soft plush flooring under her feet. The omega came back with two glasses of amber liquid in crystal glasses and handed them to her with a smile. Annie had to tuck one shoe under each arm to carry the glasses, she thanked the omega and started to make her way back to the table at the other end of the vast marquee. Just as she was walking past the entrance, a breeze blew through the opening and a scent hit her like a wave, crashing over and engulfing her, it was like nothing she had ever smelt and it stopped her in her tracks. Cedar and sandalwood….the scent was musky and incredibly male. Sabine’s reaction nearly knocked her off balance, she jumped to back of Annie’s mind and lay there cowering.

Regaining control of herself and keeping her face impassive, Annie slowly scanned the people around her to see who the scent belonged to. She locked eyes with a handsome man who stood in the entrance of the marquee buttoning up his jacket. He was tall, muscular, with dark hair, slightly greying at the sides. It was cut noticeably short on the sides, longer on top and swept back off his forehead. His suit was pristine, black pinstripe with a white shirt open at the neck, no tie. The suit looked bespoke, and it crossed Annie’s mind that he filled it nicely.  

“Mate.” whispered Sabine, Annie could feel her shaking and Sabine’s fear became Annie’s fear.

“What? He can’t be, please Goddess, not again.” prayed Annie, her breath stuck in her throat. She was paralysed, unable to move, she couldn’t have run if she had wanted to.

He stared at Annie as Annie stared back for about ten seconds, then his face crumpled into horror, then disgust and then finally panic. He stared for a second longer then turned and left the tent at speed. Annie felt something inside herself snap as she just stood there, staring at the space where the man had been feeling crushed, her heart shattering. She slowly looked around wondering if anyone else had seen what just happened. No one seemed to have noticed so she slowly continued her walk, numb with shock. Putting Amelie’s glass down in front of her with shaky hands, Annie walked to her seat and sat down, not sure how long she could hold her composure. Dropping her shoes on the floor she took some deep breaths to calm herself. Sabine remained at the back of her mind, Annie called to her, but she was unreachable for the moment.

“Annie, what’s wrong?” demanded Amelie.

“Nothing, I’m fine, I’m just hot, I got a bit dizzy that’s all.”

Amelie looked at her with concern. “Do you want to get some air?” asked Amelie getting up.

“No, no…I’m fine.” replied Annie faking a smile, motioning her sister to sit.

The last place Annie wanted to go was in the same direction the man went so she spent the next hour trying to breathe slowly to calm herself. She kept trying reach her wolf without success, Sabine was broken and Annie was not sure she could recover this time. Why did this keep happening to her? It wasn’t fair, she’d done nothing wrong, why would the Goddess do this to her again?

Annie spent the rest of the reception faking smiles while she felt like she was slowly dying inside. The turmoil in her head and heart was like a storm, threatening to overwhelm her, dragging her into the maelstrom before dashing her to pieces on the ground. Annie knew she needed to keep her head above the water, not allowing the crushing grief to pull her under until she drowned. She had done this before, she could do it again.

“We’ve been through worse, and we came through it,” she said to her wolf. “We will survive, we will survive.” she repeated like a mantra, trying to hold back the tears and keep her breathing steady.

Jacques came over and asked her to dance, not taking no for answer he once again pulled her onto the dance floor.  As soon as they started to dance, Jacques knew something was wrong. Annie started to hyperventilate, the tears she had been holding back were pricking her eyes threatening to overflow, she couldn’t tread water any longer and she felt like she was going under.

“What’s happened Annie?” he asked gently.

She couldn’t hold back any longer.

“It’s happened again Jac, I need to go home.” she whispered.

Jacques looked at her in shock, he knew that look, he had seen it before. How could this keep happening to his lovely sister, she deserved none of this. He had a quick word with Claire and Amelie, collected Annie’s shoes and whisked her out of the marquee. He was angry, really angry Annie could tell. She shot glances in all directions as they exited the marquee in case the man was still out there. Thankfully, she couldn’t spot or smell him anywhere as she scurried back across the lawn to the pack house. When they reached her room Annie’s composure failed her, like a dam breaking the tears came in a colossal flood. Jacques looked like he wanted to kill somebody, his eyes were black, his wolf pushing him to violence.

“Did he reject you, do you know who he is?” spat Jacques, fighting to control his wolf.

Annie, unable to speak or breathe properly just shook her head, through the sobs she managed to tell him what happened.

“I need to leave Jac, I need to go home.” Annie sobbed.

Jacques started to look up train times on his phone.

“There’s nothing until tomorrow morning,” he sighed after a few minutes. I will drive you to the station myself first thing, ok?”

Annie nodded, starting to regain control of her emotions as Jacques pulled her into a hug.

“If he hasn’t rejected you the pull will only grow stronger, do you think you can handle that again?” said Jacques as an after- thought. It was one thing getting her away from this idiot, but another thing to make it worse for her.

“It will be easier to deal with if I know for sure I won’t see him again.” Annie nodded.

“Ok, will you be ok if I go back to Claire and the girls, there are a lot of unmated wolves sniffing around my daughters tonight. I can stay if you want?” he said hesitatingly.

“No go, I’ll be fine, thank you for everything Jac.” Annie forced a smile unsure if she was doing the right thing, running away, again.

Hugh Crozier Saturday 22.00

Hugh knew he was going to miss this wedding even though he had promised his daughter he would make it, unfortunately Alpha Armstrong was a tough taskmaster. An investment deal in the lowlands needed signing that day and as the pack’s accountant, he had no choice but to drive to the city and back to seal the deal. He pulled over when he heard his phone buzzing, damn, three missed calls from his daughter. He sent her a quick text to say he was half an hour away and set off again deciding to go straight there instead of calling home to get changed. Hugh mused it would be nice to see what the money he had released for this wedding had been spent on. Ben Johnson was a member of the Beta’s family, part of the top tier of Reiver society so therefore he was entitled to have his wedding paid for out of pack funds. Alpha Armstrong had instructed him to release £20,000 for the wedding and so he had.

  He could see the wolves running patrol in the woods as he neared the Reiver territory, they would recognise his car so he didn’t expect to be stopped. He swung through the gates and gunned his car up the drive, swinging into the first parking slot he could find behind the pack house. He jumped out of the car trying to smooth his wrinkled shirt and grabbed his suit jacket from the back seat. He slipped his jacket on as he hurried around the side of the pack house buttoning it up as he reached the entrance to the marquee. He stepped inside while scanning the crowd looking for his daughter when the most wonderful intoxicating scent he had ever encountered hit his nose, washing over him and bringing him to a standstill. All sounds or any sense of his surroundings left him as he scanned the marquee trying to find the source of the alluring scent. His wolf, Knox was on high alert, pushing Hugh to find the source quickly. Hugh closed his eyes and let his nose do the tracking, he slowly opened his eyes and found them locked on a woman in a dark blue dress, bare footed with a shoe under each arm and a drink in each hand. Her brown hair trailed around her face softening her features. She stared at him blankly, her soft blue eyes locked on his, her expression flat with no recognition registering on her face.

“Mate, MATE, MATE!” yelled Knox in his head.

Hugh was vaguely aware of Knox running around and jumping up and down with excitement, but Hugh was horror struck. He felt his face drop, this could not be happening, he wasn’t ready for this, he would never be ready for this, what would his children think? No, NO! He would not allow this. Hugh started to panic, his breathing shallow, he felt like he was suffocating. He dragged his eyes away from those beautiful blue orbs and rushed out of the marquee. Knox was screaming at him trying to force him back but Hugh for once was stronger.

“She is our mate, go back, we must claim her, Hugh no, stop go back.”

Knox pleaded, but Hugh could barely hear him. He realised he didn’t know where he was going, all he knew was that he couldn’t breathe and that he needed to get away. He had a choice, car or pack house, he decided on the car as at least he could drive away from that scent. He fumbled with his keys trying to unlock the car, then he threw himself in the driver’s seat slamming the door behind him. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white, eyes closed, desperately trying to breathe. He became aware that Knox was still screaming at him but Hugh pushed him to the back of his mind. He silently apologised to Knox, but he needed quiet, he needed to think. After calming himself he managed to get the keys in the ignition when a knock on the car window made him jump out of his skin. It wasn’t often anyone got the drop on him and he turned dreading he was going to see the women with the blue eyes, but he huffed a sigh of relief when he saw his daughter Lyall’s concerned face looking at him through the window. She motioned him to wind the window down, he briefly considered driving off, he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now but that would only leave him more explaining to do. He took a deep breath and reluctantly he pressed the window button with no idea what he was going to say to his daughter.

“Dad, I saw you come in and then run out, are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine, I need to….I need to…” he couldn’t think, speak, he felt like he was drowning, “I need to go”. With that he turned the key and sped off, leaving Lyall standing alone, mouth agape. Hugh drove as fast as he dared out of the pack house pointing the car towards his own property. The country lanes flew past while he stared straight ahead, hands gripping the wheel. Knox was still howling but Hugh ignored him gunning the car even faster.

Three miles from the pack house was the surprisingly modern house that Hugh owned, the house he had brought his children up in, the one he had built when he had met their mother. Not only did he take care of the pack’s finances, but he had also done the same with his own and he had done very well out of it too. He skidded into the driveway, abandoning the car at the front of the house with the car door left open. His valet met him at the door and opened his mouth to speak but Hugh just handed him the car keys as he strode past, mounted the stairs two at a time and kept walking until he reached his office. Once inside he locked the door behind him, walked directly to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a large single malt. After knocking it back in one swallow, he poured another before moving to his desk, taking the bottle with him and sinking down into his chair, still shaking. Knox was still howling so Hugh shut him off completely, promising himself he would apologise to him tomorrow when he could think more clearly. He felt someone trying to mind link him but he ignored it then he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, pulling it out he had even more missed calls from Lyall, two from Lennox his son, and a text message.

Hey dad, you ok?

Please call me.

Hugh put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. How was he going to deal with this? The guilt of his lost mate was already eating him from the inside out, he had made a promise to himself that she was his one and only, and for the sake of his pups, that was a promise he wanted to keep. Knocking the second drink back and pouring another he picked up his phone. He was in no shape to speak to anyone so he decided to text Lennox back as if anything, it would stop him and his sister turning up here tonight. He lit the screen up and clicked on Lennox’s text to reply.

I’m fine.

I’ll speak to you tomorrow.

Hugh pressed send and then switched his phone off. He needed to think. Leaning forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees he pressed his fingers to his temples. He wondered why he ran when he had never retreated from anything, ever. He should have rejected her there and then, this pull to her was only going to grow stronger until he did. Hugh was conflicted, he was very aware that the Goddess rarely gave second chances and as Reivers were followers of the old religion, he was brought up to believe in the absoluteness of the mate bond. But why now, after all this time did the Goddess have to do this to him, what if his children saw this as some sort of betrayal to their mother, did they even remember their mother? Hugh sank another whiskey. Knox pushed an image of the beautiful women into his head, he could even smell her scent, apple blossom and summer meadows.

“For the love of the Goddess.” he groaned out loud, sinking another drink.