Chapter 2 hard headed

Lucas POV 

It’s been years since I’ve been to one of these balls. I felt as if they weren't important anymore. I've been going to them for 10 years since I turned 16. In hopes that I would find my mate. I stopped going two years ago. But as alpha of the pack  I’m incharge of finding my pack Luna or alpha and you can say I still have a little hope in finding my mate. I put off the last two years as they were held here in my pack. Knowing she or he isn't here there was just no need in my presence. Well no more than just to welcome everyone who came. As I get dressed I put my hair back into a bun. Freshly shaving my beard. Can’t find my Luna or Alpha looking like a caveman, the females of my pack wouldn’t let me leave knowing I’d have no luck if I didn’t do anything with myself. Yes , I said alpha, it isn't uncommon to be mated with the same gender even though I've never been with a man. I'll keep an open mind. I put on a pair of blue slacks and loafers, buttoned up white shirts rolling up my sleeves. No I’m not wearing a tie, all the mated females in my pack have insisted I wear a suit but they’ve never been my thing. Plus I never learned how to tie one of those damn things so why waste time now ,better to go as myself then anything else right. As I got dressed for the evening I couldn’t shake the feeling of hope that I got for tonight. My mother always told me never to give up, that the moon goddess would present my mate when she thought I was ready for them. Ready for them? This is like pure torture making me wait this long.

I clenched my jaw looking at myself in the mirror hoping to ease my nerves. I’ll admit I was a little nervous but I wasn’t going to show it to anyone. What alpha would I be if I showed I was worried about how tonight would go.With my last strain of hope I’ve decided to attend the ball tonight, if I don't find him or her I'm convinced they don't want to be found. I’ve gone to every mate ball I could attend over the years, coming up completely useless as a mate has never shown up. I was beginning to think the moon goddess hadn't fated me with one. Sucking in one last huff picking up my head, I followed my beta out the packhouse to head to the ball. The ride there was silent, leaving me to dwell in my thoughts.

As I arrived at the ball I stepped out of the Black BMW. I rolled my eyes at my beta smirking at me  and began walking up the steps.  Every unmated female tries to cling to me. Rolling my eyes, I make my way through not giving them another glance. Leo my gamma on the other hand loved all the attention and took them off my hands. I’m in no means a saint, I've had my fair share of women since I turned 16 and took over the pack as alpha but no way in hell have I giving anyone more than a quick fuck any of my attention. Something like that I’ve kept for the day I met my mate. I’ve never had a woman in my room either. I’ve always done the deed in hers or in the bathroom of the club or bar. I'm not proud of it but my bed is too intimate. Walking into the building, I looked around at the crowd of people dancing and chatting. Chatter and annoying ballroom music filled the room.  I looked toward the pool seeing people playing beer pong.

“If I'm going to be here I might as well enjoy it.”I thought to myself.

 Right when I opened the second set of  glass doors, a young lady ran right into me. I stumbled backwards to catch both of our balances. She was small, my height had two feet against hers. Her bright green eyes looked at me in embarrassment as she tried to regain her balance.  

“ MATE” my wolf yells at me

No fucking way! And to think I was thinking about skipping the ball again this year. And here she stood in my arms. The tingling from her touch made my skin crawl. Everything in me wanted nothing but to pull her in closer, to inhale her scent. Taking in a deep breath she smelled like a mixture of watermelon and vanilla, a smell I've never come across before and one I never want to forget.

In shock all I could do was stare at her. She had the most beautiful bright green eyes I could ever imagine.Yet they seem to hold fear and anger. I look at her with concern. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and protect her from whatever she seemed to be running from. Her scent was so  sweet and her honey toned skin glowed under the moonlight. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun and her cheeks had warmed into a bright red. I tried saying something. But words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. 

“ What is wrong with me??!” I thought 

“ speak  Luca, tell her she looks absolutely breathtaking.” My wolf shouted at me but nothing was coming out. He purred at the heat of warmth we got from holding her.

Before I could come back to reality she was dashing out of my arms. 

“ uhhh hey come back!” I stuttered trying to shout. But she was too far gone to of heard me 

“ Sir what’s the matter?” My beta Markus said running up to me. 

“ Sir? Who was that woman, Alpha Luca?” 

“ She’s my mate Markus. I think I frighten her in some way.” I told him in a low voice. 

“ Do you want us to go after her sir?” 

I thought about it for a second but she had to run away for a reason and I wanted to know why. 

“ No but find out  what pack she’s a part of. Set me up a meeting with the alpha immediately.” 

“ Yes sir.” 

Whoever you are, I will find you. 

Alice POV 

I shifted into my wolf  and ran all the way home. No one was home yet due to not knowing I even left. Mia  was enjoying the run but hated the fact that I made us run from our mate. She growled and huffed in the back of my head, I rolled my eyes at her, I agree with her I can feel the pull of wanting to be next to him. But I’m too afraid, having a mate is dangerous. When I arrived home I shifted back and grabbed a robe from the closet next to the door. We keep them handy in every room in case someone changes.It’s white and cotton soft against my skin, tying the rope around my waist I walk to the kitchen making a hot cup of tea. Once it’s done I make myself a sandwich and head up to my room in hopes that when I wake up in the morning this will all go away and seem like a crazy messed up dream. 

Sleep didn’t come easy. All I could do was toss and turn, still unable to get his face out of my mind or his scent. He smelled absolutely delicious, and Mia didn’t help much, putting dirty images in my head of him and me, horny little wolf. I pushed her to the back of my mind in hopes to get some kind of sleep. Eventually sleep overcame me. 

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 I woke up from the sun shining through the curtains. Rubbing my eyes I blink a couple times, opening them slowly trying to get them to adjust to the light. I pulled the blanket over my head wanting to sleep longer. Wanting to escape from the memories of last night. A mate? pfft How could I possibly be right for a mate? I’m everything but what a Luna should be.and the moon  goddess goes off and pairs me with an alpha? Before my mom died she tried teaching me from the moment I could talk about everything I needed to know about being a mate and the possibility of being a Luna. I did everything in my power not to listen to her or take what she said seriously. I don’t believe in someone being created to be a perfect fit for you right from the start. I didn’t believe in submitting myself to a man and bowing down to his every word . In my pack every mated female must do everything the male says without any argument or complaint. I however, disagreed with that, i wanted to be my own person, voice my own opinion. My dads been shoving the pack's traditions down my throat since my mother died. He told me she thought the same way I did at first but “learned her place” But being quiet is what got her killed. But now I would give anything for her to be here. I curled up even closer to the covers, holding on to the warmth that coated me, never wanting it to escape.  But the grumbling of my stomach had a different plan. I groaned and shifted around my bed for a minute, trying to decide if eating was the best idea.

“ Man, get your grumpy ass up out of this bed and get some food. You want me to have the energy and strength to protect us from the big bad wolfman you are whining about then we need to eat.” she huffed and smirked at me.

Oh now she wants to protect us from him but last night she was all for getting into the bed with him. 

“Woman, he is hotter than a cup of hot chocolate and you can't deny that. But you’re right we will not submit to him and be his “pet” that does whatever he wants us to do. You are strong in human form but I’m stronger. We are very powerful together but unless you get your lazy ass up out of that bed. I'm not helping you when it comes to him at all. And you're gonna need it.” rolling her eyes at me 

Frowning at her words, I finally rolled out of bed. I opened the curtains letting in all the sunshine. I blinked a couple times giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the shining bright light, I looked out to the field and lake in the backyard.  sighed rubbing the back of my neck with my right hand, knowing I’m soon going to leave this place without even having a say about it made my stomach turn with excitement and fear . I could reject my mate but something so serious as rejecting him could cost me my wolf and my life if I’m not lucky. 

“Don’t you even think about doing that to us.” Mia huffed at the thought of us rejecting him.

“Oh don’t get your tail in a twist im not that stupid”

When I finally decided to get dressed I hopped in the shower. I’ll admit the hot water hitting my skin felt so amazing I didn’t want to get out. Staying in there till  before the water turned too cold to handle. Stepping out, placing my feet on what now feels like a cold bathroom floor, I grabbed the towel I hung on the hook by the shower and wrapped the white cotton soft fabric around me and looked in the mirror. The dark circles under my eyes were becoming more noticeable. Sleep has been stressful due to the nightmares of that night playing over and over in my head. The bright pink scars still stuck out on the back of my shoulder. Staring at them caused a shiver to run down my spine. They blinded enough with my hiney tan skin that you don’t notice them unless you are really trying too. After washing my face and putting on a light amount of makeup just enough to cover how tired I am. I walked into my room and searched my dresser for comfy clothes. Slipping on red silk underwear and a black sports bra, I put on an oversized but fitting plain, grey hoodie and a pair of red athletic shorts that came low enough to cover the important parts. I pulled my wet hair into a messy bun and slipped on socks and my black shoes before opening my door and heading down stairs to the kitchen. The food smelled amazing, I walked through the living room and opened two doubled doors that lead to the kitchen. 

“ Good morning,” I said, bouncing into the kitchen. 

Jace and dad were standing at the counter just staring at me.i scrunch my face weirded out by them both.

“ what?” I said pushing by them, grabbing a plate. 

“ Is there something you need to tell me, Alice?” My dad's voice sounded serious. “ No, why?” I looked at them confused, waiting for them to answer as I loaded my plate up with bacon, eggs, hash browns and some extra bacon. They both just stared at me with cold emotionless expressions on their faces. Trying to ignore them and the awkward silence they left from not answering my question I grab an ice coffee Gen our cook makes sure to bring for me every morning. After I bit her head off one morning for waking me up at 5am she always makes sure to keep one in the fridge just in case. Leaning against the counter taking a bite out of a piece of bacon my  thoughts were running wild but were interrupted when the kitchen doors swung open.

“ Alpha Mason, the Alpha of the green stone pack is here” my fathers beta said standing at the entrance. My body stiffened and my jaw clenched when the same scent of citrus and mint began to come towards the room.

There he was coming in right behind Frank my fathers beta, his scent hit my nose as if he was the only other person in the room. Just looking at him made the spot between my legs pulse. I squeezed them shut quickly looking away in hopes no one noticed my reaction.

“ I’m sorry, Alpha Mason for being late. But I had some urgent pack issues to take care of. Some rouges were caught trying to cross my territory early this morning.  Nice to see you again mate.” 

 I stood there stund. He winked at me when the word mate left his lips. Oh how I wanted to know what his lips tasted like. I licked my lips at the thought.

“Knock it off” I scolded myself. I had no idea what was happening  but I wasn’t going to stick around and find out. 

“ ummm dad I actually have some things to do so i'm going to go.” I barely even got one step forward before my brother Jace put his arm in front of me telling me to sit down. 

“SIT!” My dad used his alpha voice against me, practically commanding me.

I sighed. Telling myself I should have just stayed in bed today, regretting the decision of getting up we all sat in the office room. The table was big enough for all the Alpha leader meetings. I was next to my brother Jace and my father. However,  once he joined my brother moved, letting him sit next to me. I groaned at his thought that it was a good idea. Picking at the food that was on my plate in front of me I stayed silent wanting to be invisible just this once. 

“ So is this true Alice? Is Alpha Luca your mate? Why didn’t you tell me?” I started to get questions  from both of them. 

“ I… Um..” 

I hesitated because I didn’t know what to say. 

I didn’t want a mate let alone be mated to an alpha. He deserved someone worthy of the title. That person was not me. 

“ tell them that he’s your mate! And that we love him, Alice.” Mia shouted at me in excitement to just be next to him. 

Before I could open my mouth to say anything he finally spoke up. 

“She is my mate. We met last night at the mating ball. However I think I might have frightened her in some way because she ran off and didn’t return to the party.” 

He’s voice was so warm and protective. I could feel the sweet spot between my legs start to get wet. Why the hell does he have so much power over my body just by talking.  I cross my legs over squeezing them  trying not to show any reaction. I can tell he noticed because he looks at me with a smirk on his face. I can feel the blood rush to my face and by now my cheeks had to be the red shade of a tomato. He’s eyes burned into mine as if they were trying to read my soul. I didn’t remove eye contact because that would mean he won, and I didn’t want to seem weak.

“ Don’t submit to Alice, let him know we are equal.’’ Mia purred

“ Why did you run from me mate?” He spoke to me softly with his lips slightly pushed together. I wanted to answer him to tell him this isn’t what I wanted but no words came out.all i could do was look into those honey brown eyes of his in hopes to see if I can show any emotion in them to tell me how he's feeling right now. 

“ Alice,  answer his question” My father growled using his alpha voice. This earned him a small growl from Luca. my fathers eyes widened a bite but softened before saying;

 “ I’m sorry Luca, she's extremely stubborn.” They all laugh in agreement with my father.

Ew how dare he already agree with me being stubborn when I’ve not said a single word to him. Holding my breath I finally found the courage to speak up.

“ I don’t want a mate. It’s horrifying.” I whispered my voice coming out more weak than steady.

Luca looks at me with his eyes widened and runs his fingers against my leg as if he was hoping his touch would change my mind. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. 

“ I need to get out of here.” I thought. 

At that moment I stood up, and walked out. I shut off my mind-link so Jace nor my father could command me to come back and walked to the lake in the backyard sitting at the end of the deck. Taking a deep breath I sat down at the edge, placing  my head into my hands and brought my knees to my chest. Wanting nothing more than this to all be some dream that I’m ready to wake up from.

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