Chapter 8

(Alpha Daniel’s POV)

“What?” Chase exclaimed before turning to face me. I could see the concern etched on his face.

“Dad!” he exclaimed, and I nodded and held up my hand.

“Well, this just got more complicated,” I said and Alrik scoffed.

“Complicated doesn’t cover it.” he said, and I glared at him before carrying on.

“At least we know where to find her,” Seth offered, and I grimaced. At least there was that, but I knew that group. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t disappear at the first available chance, and then Chase would be frantic with worry. And rightly so, the poor girl wasn’t just in danger from the damn curse, but also whatever had been chasing her pack her whole life. “Wait,” Chase’s eyes suddenly lit up with excitement, “You’re saying Kaeleigh is from the Scarlet Circle pack?” and Jensen nodded. Chase looked at me.

“That’s the first pack you took me too, right?” he asked, and I nodded. I remember how that was the first time he had taken an interest in pack business, I had forced him to come along to one of the alliance meetings and it was only when we had got there that he had suddenly been very interested in the alliance. “That’s right, son.” He seemed more excited than I expected. “Did Kaeleigh mention what rank she was?” he asked, and I could see Jensen thinking about it.

“Well, she said that her Gamma rank was her last connection to her parents,” he said.

“Mouse!” He had the biggest grin on his face, and Jensen looked at him in shock. “Whoa!” he exclaimed before breaking into a grin himself. “What’s going on?” I asked, confused. “What’s Mouse?” Alrik started laughing too. “Well I’ll be damned!” he said. “Ok.” I was clearly missing something. “Someone explain.”

“Dad!” Chase grinned at me. “Think back: mouse, the little redhead kid who would follow me around when we were there. I called her mouse because she barely spoke and I found her annoying. And she would puff her chest out and say she wasn’t a mouse, she was a fierce wolf.” I looked at him in disbelief. “Ha! Found her annoying,” Jensen laughed. “You used to encourage her all the time.” Chase blushed, and I started to remember back to the meetings, to Chase complaining about the little kid but then seeing him carrying her around too. “Kaeleigh is Mouse,” he declared, and I couldn’t believe it. There were rumours that the mate bond could be felt from a young age, but I hadn’t seen any solid evidence of it before. But to think that all this time I had been working with Ezra and my son’s mate had been there.

“Wow!” I said, shaking my head. I looked over at Alrik and he grinned at me. Chase and Jensen were grinning at each other, too. 

“Nonetheless,” I said, sobering up, “We need to approach this with caution. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to disappear again.” 

“We need to stop them dad,” Chase said, dropping his own grin. “We need to get Kaeleigh in the pack now, so that she is safe.” 

“Ha!” Jensen scoffed. “Good luck with that one,” and Chase growled at him. I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my hand. I understood him being more sensitive than normal, given the situation, but Chase was letting his emotions get the better of him and that was just the thing that would complicate matters such as this.

“What do you mean by that?” Chase glared at Jensen.

“Kae hates packs, everything about them,” Jensen replied. “Something about not having a good experience with them. 

My mind flashed back to a few years ago when Alrik and I had gone into that pack with Ezra. He had called and said that one of his kids had got messed up with them and he couldn’t get her out. Given the age, I bet it was Kaeleigh that we had gone into the rescue. The pack Alpha had the place set up like some sort of dictatorship. He had his she-wolves basically working as whores for visiting supernaturals, and I remember the state some of those girls were in when we had shut them down. 

“Son,” I said, and he turned to me, his eyes gold with his wolf, 

“First off, calm yourself down,” I snapped when I saw how much he was allowing himself to lose control. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths before opening them again and looking at me, the look of guilt on his face.

“We need to be careful,” I said. “I think if we go in demanding that she join the pack she will jump and be in the wind before we have a chance to say anything else.” I hesitated before the next part.

“I actually think that Jensen would be the best person to approach her right now,” Chase growled low in his throat. 

“Why does it have to be him?” he said with a sideways glance at Jensen, who just rolled his eyes “Because she knows and to some point trusts him,” I said and Chase glared at me.

“She know’s Zack too,” he said. “Plus, it’s his duty to protect her as my Gamma. It doesn’t matter about Jensen,” and Zack sat up straight, until Jensen glared at him. 

“She won’t listen to Zack,” he said. “Face it dude, I’m your best bet to protecting her,” Jensen said. Chase’s growling started again. 

“And does protecting her require sticking your dick in her?” I rolled my eyes at him. And Jensen sighed. “Dude, I didn’t know,” Jensen said. “I swear I know she is yours now.” Chase glared at him. 

“Can you say you don’t have feelings for my mate?” He really pronounced the mate part, and Jensen cast his eyes down. “After you told me last week,  you wanted to take her as your chosen?” he snarled. Jensen shot up out of his chair and it went flying back. “Yeah I love her, ok!” he shouted. “Is that what you wanna hear? I love my best friend’s mate and I hate myself for it.” Chase shot up out of his seat and had his hand around Jensen’s throat. And before any of us could stop him, he lifted Jensen and threw him against the wall. I was around the desk in seconds and it took both me and Alrik to hold Chase back. Jensen sat on the floor in obvious pain. 

“Think about it from my side Chase,” he glared. “I met an amazing woman, someone who made me feel like I could actually settle down, someone who had me thinking of only her, who I wanted to bond with, not just someone I loved but who I am in love with…” Chase growled at that.

“Jensen,” Alrik hissed at him. We were already struggling to hold Chase, but Jensen ignored his dad and kept his eyes on Chase. 

“... then I find out that the woman I love is fated to my best friend and my Alpha, and not only did my world come crashing down the moment you threw me into the bedroom wall, but I also realised that as your mate, Kaeleigh is now in constant danger.” Chase suddenly stopped struggling and stared at Jensen. “She is in danger because she is fated to love you. And you can put Zack to guard her, and you can put the whole fucking elite warrior guard on her, but if you think that I am going to stand down from looking out for her, then you can think again.” He had struggled up to a standing position. “You can throw me into as many walls and kick the shit out of me as many times as you want, but I refuse to allow Kaeleigh to end up like Iris,” he spat. “So don’t you dare tell me that I don’t matter.” With that, he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. 

We all stared at the door in shock. Easy going Jensen had never lost his temper before. He was always the level headed guy. Alrik looked at me with concern and I nodded.

“Go,” I ordered, and he set off after his son. I looked at the others in the room and nodded.

“The rest of you can go too. I’ll issue the next actions once I know for certain and have spoken with Alrik.” One by one, the three of them left, leaving just Chase and I alone in the room. Chase sat in the chair again with his head in his hands. “He’s right” he said. “Kaeleigh’s safety is paramount.” I looked at him in sympathy. I couldn’t even imagine the guilt he felt over Iris and to think that the same thing could happen to his mate made me feel sick. “We’ll put a full guard on her, son,” I said. “But I think Jensen is right. She needs to feel safe, and that means something familiar.” Chase sighed and looked up at me. I could see the worry and pain in his eyes. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said, and sighed again. I hated seeing my son with so much on his shoulders. 

“I suppose I better go and apologise to Jensen,” he said standing up and then he laughed, “Geez, I hope he’s ready to work double time with his calming aura, I have a feeling I am going to need it.” Chase then looked at me.

“Does it ever get easier?” he asked, and I furrowed my eyebrows at him

“Does what get easier?” I asked, and he smiled

“The possessive feeling around your mate?” he said, and I smiled and shook my head.

“Not as far as I have found out,” I said, and he nodded. He started out the door, but I called after him.

“Son” “Yeah, Dad?” “Don’t do anything with Kaeleigh just yet. Give me time to figure out the best course of action.” He nodded. “Sure, I can do that.” He looked like he was thinking. “Dad?” “Yeah, son?” “I don’t want Kaeleigh to know about the curse just yet, ok?” He smiled. “I want her to want to be with me because she loves me, not because of that stupid curse,” “Sure, son.” With that, he left the room.

I bent down and picked up the fallen chair and then went to sit behind my desk. I sighed to myself. The life of an Alpha was never simple. There was a knock at the door and in walked my beautiful mate Elise with a smile. 

Never simple, but still worth it.