chapter 3

During the car ride, dad and I talked about things that had happened the last couple of years. I didn't want to tell him, but since he's the soon to be alpha he needs to know. We also talked about finding my mate. He told me people to try and avoid, and Alphas I should avoid also. His keyword was try, because I could be one of their mates and that be that and have no saying in it unless they reject me.

We arrived at the Moon Pack after a two hour drive, which went by surprisingly fast. There are hundreds of wolves going to be here tonight from over thirty different surrounding packs. The car came to a stop at the building where the gala was being held, Tara and Marissa were standing out by the front, causing me to roll my eyes in annoyance.

"It will soon be over Tessie." Dad said to me as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Hopefully." I said softly as my door opened.

I stepped out of the car, the usher with his hand out for me to grab to help me out of the car, in which I did. I feel like a newborn giraffe with these damn heels on. I heard Tara and Marissa gasp, knowing they saw me.

"That's not fair." Marissa pouted, I couldn't help but smirk

I looked over at them, Tara was pissed off, you could see it all over her face. Dad walked over to me.

"Take a deep breath alright, like I said they are not to talk to you." He said quietly, as Tara and Marissa walked over to us, as I nodded at him.

"Oh honey don't you look lovely." Tara said, snaking her arm around his as she avoided any eye contact with me.

"Thank you Tara." Dad said with absolutely no emotion. Marissa was glaring at me, she was mad, knowing the attention would be on me and not her for once.

"Let's go find our table, before it starts." Dad said as he winked at me. I already knew why he was, people were staring at me already.

I walked behind the three of them Tara and Marissa in front of dad in the middle and I'm behind dad. We walked into the building, it was huge, a giant room encased in gold and marble. The grand staircases that lead to a balcony that overlooked the entire room, In the middle of the room was a dance area and tables surrounded it. There was a stage between the stairs under the balcony, where the Alpha and his Luna sit along with their Beta or Beta's, if they have more than one.

After finding the table, Marissa disappeared, Tara went to see her father. Dad had other Alpha's come up and greet him and congratulate him on taking on the Alpha position for the pack. I sat down at the table, I looked around the room. So many people. I had some come up to me telling me I looked like my mother, and some who asked why they hadn't seen me at previous galas and so on. I knew this is how it would be.

Alex was bored,and I was right there with her. The gala had started, music was playing, people dancing, chattering among each other. I decided to get up and get a drink.

"I walked through the groups of people, some unmated females growling as I would pass by, because males were staring at me. Why did they stare? I don't know, maybe it's because my hair almost looks white. I don't see myself as pretty or anything, just normal but others think otherwise.

I made it to the table where the refreshments were, and grabbed a glass of red wine. Unlike the human drinking age which I believe is twenty-one, my kind can drink at sixteen after your first shift.

I sipped on the wine, and looked around, Alex was becoming excited over something, probably from the wine, since it's been awhile since I've had some. I shrugged it off, and made my way back through the sea of people.

"Excuse me miss, would you like to dance with me." A man stood in front of me, he was tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Oh thank you, but I don't dance, I'm sorry thank you for the offer though." I smiled sweetly to him, feeling uncomfortable.

The look of irritation on his face when I denied him. "Oh come on, it will be fun." He growled a bit and grabbed my wrist and started to pull me to the dance floor.

I resisted and tried to pull my arm back. "Sir I said no, now let go of me please."

"You need to let loose and just dance." He growled again, pulling me into him, grabbing my face. "Submit to me now." his breath smelled of alcohol.

"Let go of me." I growled and shoved him off of me, as he caught my arm.

"Playing hard to get I see, I like playing games." he pulled at my arm again. Tightening his grip on my arm, his fingers digging into my arms.

"Damn it let go." I growled again as I pulled my arm away again and he let me go this time, making me fall back against somebody, two hands steadied me on either side of my arms, a strange electric feeling went through my body. Everyone around us went silent. The sound of my glass shattering on the floor.

"The lady told you no, did she not." A deep voice said, a look of fear came over the man's face. I looked down at the ground, afraid to see who this man is behind me

"Alpha Braden, I-I was just trying to get her to enjoy herself if all." The guy said, his voice shaking. Alpha Braden was one of the Alpha's dad told me to try and avoid but here I am, Alex is howling, yelling our mate is here.

Great... here i am backed against a man who has his hands on my arms still.

"Doesn't matter." Alpha Braden growled "trying to force her to submit to you, is blasphemy."

"I-I'm sorry Ma'am, I'll be taking my leave now." The guy said and bolted through the crowd.

"Tessa?" I heard my dad call out as he appeared in front of me. "Alpha Braden, good to see you again, what happened."

"A wolf was trying to force her to submit to him and make her dance. Till I stepped in." Braden said. Goddess his voice. "I'm guessing this is your daughter." I could hear the curiosity in his voice as he finally let go of my arms.

"Yes, this is my daughter Tessa. Thank you for stepping in and stopping the situation" My dad said as he introduced me, i walked over to my dad keeping my head down avoiding eye contact afraid to see the man that was in front of me.

"Nice to meet you Tessa, I'm Alpha Braden of the Starlight Pack." His voice was deep, almost sounding lustful. I could feel him staring at me.

"Tessa, look at him when he's talking to you." My dad whispered to me.

"Thank you for helping me, and It's nice to meet you..." I looked up at him not being able to finish my sentence, Alex howled Mate as we locked eyes.

"Mate." we both said in unison. The crowd around us cheered, for an Alpha finally found his mate.

Goddess this man towered over me, his jet black hair, bright amber colored eyes, the smirk on his face when he said mate. He's like the character out of a book.

My dad was stunned and didn't know what to say. This was a person he told me to avoid, and now he's my mate. The Alpha of the biggest pack in the Eastern side of the US.

"Interesting." Braden said as he looked me up and down.

I was stunned, I didn't expect to find my mate so quickly, and he's the one who saved me, from that other wolf. I couldn't look away from him.

"Alpha Matt, congratulations on becoming the new Alpha at Silver Moon, you've deserved it." Braden said, turning to my dad.

"Thank you Braden, I will now leave you two, so you may talk." Dad said and walked away.

"Ashton, Jay leave us for now, and for you little wolf, how about we get out of the crowd and go out to the garden area to talk." he said as he reached his hand out to me with his two Beta's leaving, everyone clapping and cheering still.

I took a deep breath and took his hand, and nodded. The feeling of electricity going through my hand again as we touched.

"Good girl." His voice was lustful.

Branden began to walk slowly, guessing so I could keep up with him. He had to be at least six foot four, compared to me being about five foot five. We stayed quiet till we reached the garden area, which was lit up by fairy lights. In the middle was a giant fountain. Braden led me over to a bench. He motioned me to sit down.

I sat down and he sat next to me. "So Tessa, tell me what were your intentions on being here tonight." He asked me as he let go of my hand.

"To hopefully find my mate." I said softly, looking down at my hands in my lap.

"Really now?" He sounded amused. "I will say this did come as a surprise to me. I had given up on finding my mate."

"Oh." I was surprised to say the least. A little saddened by the fact he had given up. I looked up at him, his amber eyes locking on with mine. He was studying me. I felt my cheeks turn red

"How old are you?" He asked, his voice making me melt honestly. The look of amusement on his face.

"Eighteen, I turn Nineteen next week on the eighteenth." I spoke softly "You?"

"Twenty-five." He answered, as he looked me up and down. "Relax, little wolf, you are tense for no reason."

He was right, I didn't notice how tense I was. I relaxed a bit. "Sorry, I'm just not used to this."

"It's alright, I only brought you out here to get away from the crowd to get to know you a little bit is all." he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear causing me to blush slightly.

"So innocent." he whispered. "So tell me what exactly did I wonder about in there.

"I went and got me a glass of wine, when I went to sit back down at my table he stopped me and asked me to dance, and I told him I was flattered but I didn't want to dance. He got annoyed then grabbed me and started pulling me and I tried to pull away but he wouldn't let go of me." He looked irritated when I started explaining. "Well you know the rest."

Braden didn't say anything but he grabbed my hand and looked at my wrist where there was a bruise forming from where the wolf grabbed me he then kissed my wrist where the bruising was, causing me to gasp at the sudden gesture.

"Do you accept me as your mate Tessa?" He asked as he brought his face close to mine.

I blushed hard and covered my face with my hands. Feeling embarrassed. "Y-Yes." I said softly, as he removed my hands from my face. "Do you accept me Alpha Braden?"

"One, do not cover your face from me, two, you can call me Braden. And three yes I do, If I didn't why would I ask you if you accept me?"

"Yes sir." I blushed harder. "And I don't know, I've always been afraid of finding my mate thinking that they would reject me."

"Sir huh." He said the look of amusement on his face.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"Oh nothing. Why do you think you'd be rejected?"

"It's nothing important." I said softly looking around the garden. Afraid of rejection, because the last five years I have been nothing but treated as a maid, beaten, locked up, lied to and my dad had no idea about it. If Braden was to find out he'd want to reject me at that point. The daughter of a beta being treated as an omega.

"I will not force you to tell me, I do hope you will tell me within time however. In the meantime, I do hope you will come back with me to my pack. I want to take the time and get to know you, and let the bond grow."

"Go back with you?" I was surprised, I honestly have no idea what I am doing honestly. I sit here and see this man in front of me who is intimidating, yet he speaks to me so gently.

"If you would like to." He grabbed my chin and made me look at him.

I blushed, as our eyes locked. His amber eyes are captivating, unique. His skin slightly tanned, his black hair. He reminds me of a character from a book I once read.

"What is your answer, little wolf?"

"Yes" I said softly, finally my escape from hell to what seems like a fantasy.

"I'll have my Beta's find your father to meet us out here, to let him know the plan. And tomorrow we will fetch your things from your pack if your father is okay with it."

"Okay," I said softly, I couldn't look away from him. I've also wondered how all this has gone somewhat smoothly, without Marissa trying to intervene and start shit.

"What's bothering you?" Braden asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Ah, um well I was just thinking how grateful I am that my dreaded step-sister hadn't tried to ruin anything tonight.

"Ah Marissa, she tried throwing herself at me when I arrived, she was desperate. She kept asking if any one had seen her servant, and was telling other wolves that you'd let them do anything to you. Reason why you were singled out by the wolf tonight."

I growled slightly, how am I not surprised, she's not allowed to talk to me yet she goes around and spreads lies.

Braden chuckled "No one truly believes her, besides the drunk unmated males in there. Rumor has it your father is getting rid of them when he fully takes over as the Alpha, because of what they had done to you."

"How does everyone know that?"

"Word gets around fast. No one knows exactly what they've done, however I hope you will tell me eventually."

"Maybe.. Dad doesn't even know all of it. It's not really important honestly." I said as he released my chin and stood up.

"We will finish this conversation later." He said that only I could hear him. "Ah Alpha Matt." I stood up and there was my dad with Braden's beta's.

"Alpha Braden, hope my daughter is to your liking." My dad said as he shook hands with Braden.

"We have both accepted each other, and we have talked and she would go ahead and like to come back with me to my pack tonight, and tomorrow or the next couple of days if we may come to your pack and retrieve her belongings."

"If that is what she would like, then that is perfectly fine to me, and the two of you are always welcome to the pack anytime, and I hope that we can continue to have the alliance that we already have." My dad smiled at me, I could tell he was nervous. Everyone seems to be nervous around Braden and I wonder why.

"Of course Matt, I hope we can grow our friendship also, due to these events." Braden said as I watched him look over at me. "I will let you talk too, I will get Ashton to fetch the car, and you two can meet me up front okay."

I watched Braden walk away, and Alex whined. I looked over at my dad, and I hugged him tightly. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

His words caught me by surprise. "What no, he was nothing but respectful and nice to me. Why does everyone seem nervous around him?"

"His pack is the biggest pack on this side of the US, he's also known as the alpha with the most bloodshed, at the age of twenty-five. The stories that have been told about him are gruesome."

"Keyword is stories, guess that's why you said avoid him if possible."

"Yeah, but not much that I can do about it now. As long as he treats you right, makes you happy and keeps you safe, that's all I can ask for." he said as he offered me his arm and intertwined it with my arm as we began to walk.

"Honestly I don't think you have anything to worry about dad. You saw how he intervened in the situation earlier and he didn't even know we were mates or anything at the time."

"Very true, just know you are always welcome back to the pack to come and see me. I'll find your stuff and pack it up for you and put it at the pack house so that you and Braden don't have to go to the house."

"Thank you dad, I was going to ask you to do that anyway." I giggled. "Yet you beat me to it."

"Please come visit me, so I can see you," Dad said, his voice sad.

"I will dad, I promise you."

Dad nodded as our walk came to an end, as Braden came into sight, as he was leaning up against the hood of the car, she-wolfs gawking at him as he stood there. When Braden saw me, there was a small smile on his face, he got out of the car and walked over to me and dad.

"Braden, I told Tessa that you two can pick her things up at the pack house, just let me

know when you two will be arriving." My dad said to him as I let go of his arm.

"Okay, we should be there tomorrow if nothing comes up, if something does I will let you know and we will be there as soon as possible." Braden said to him as he grabbed my hand gently. "Now we must get going, it is getting quite late, and we have an hour drive to my place."

I nodded and waved at my dad. "I'll see you soon."

"I love you Tessie." My dad said, hugging me quickly.

"Love you too dad." I said softly, as Braden tugged on my hand slightly.

Braden led me to the car and opened the back door for me. I climbed in , and buckled up as he walked around the car and sat in the back with me, as Jay and Ashton got into the front.

"Just relax, and go to sleep, I'll wake you up when we arrive." Braden said in a whisper as the car began to move.

I nodded and laid my head back against the headrest, I was tired, I guess he was able to tell. It wasn't long till I felt my eyes get heavy, and I drifted off into darkness.