36

36

(Tyler’s POV)

I hurried to my room, not because I was naked, but I wanted to get dressed and get back to Kate. The moment I shut her door was the same moment I wanted to open it and go back in to be with her.

Instead of a shower I washed up in the sink to save time. After putting on some casual clothes I headed back.to Kate's room. I was expecting her to be ready too, I was wrong. She was just getting out of the shower.

“Take your time getting ready, I will meet you in the kitchen for the morning meal,” I told her as I kissed her lips.

She was all smiles, “I will see you soon.” She kissed me back.

I headed down the stairs. I was wondering how everyone was going to react to me marking Kate. She was my true mate, but she was also human. We are not the only couple in the pack with one of the partners being human. Our problem was that I am the Alpha, mating a human would make me look weak in some people’s eyes.

It was easy to tell that people already knew of the mating by the look on their face when I walked into the common room. Everyone was very quiet, they seemed to be in shock. I just nodded and continued to the kitchen. The first one to greet me was Betty.

She hugged me and kissed my cheek, “Oh my, Alpha, I am so happy for you. You found your true mate. Miss Kathryn is a wonderful woman.”

“Thank you, Betty,” I responded as I hugged her back.

Camerin walked in the room and stopped next to me. He sniffed the air before he spoke, “You did it, I can’t believe you actually did it.”

“It had to be done, I needed to get my senses back in order and she needed to be able to heal quickly,” I justified my reasoning behind marking my mate.

“Now we have to hope the pack will understand. Mating with a human, especially a tiny human, might make you look weak in their eyes.” Camerin wasn’t trying to put a damper on the good news, but he didn’t want to sugar coat the situation either.

“Then we are going to have to show them that Kate is not weak,” I replied. I sipped the coffee that Betty placed on the counter next to me. “She is going to have to spar with some of the warriors. If you or I keep sparring with her, they will think that we are pulling punches. She can handle herself as long as they stay in their human form.”

“What happens if they change to their wolf form?” Camerin asked.

“I will step in, just like anyone would do when their mate is in danger,” I snapped. “As for teaching her how to fight a wolf, it will be done by Micah, you or myself. I don’t trust anyone else not to cross the line and try to kill her.”

“I agree,” Camerin added.

Kate walked into the room and she seemed to have a lot on her mind instead of the happy self she was minutes before. “Is something wrong?” I asked her.

“I walked down the stairs and everyone in the common room just stared at me. They didn’t look very happy,” she answered. She seemed very concerned about the people.

I took her in my arms and gave her a big hug. “They are just surprised. They didn’t know I had found my true mate and planned on marking her so soon. Everything will be fine once they realize they have a new Luna.” I kissed her on the lips “A Luna they are going to love as much as I do.”

“Breakfast is ready,” Betty smiled as she placed the plates full of food onto the table. She pulled out a chair next to me. “You can sit here, Luna.”

“Thank you, Betty,” Kate smiled back at her.

Everyone sat down at the table and not a word was said once we started to eat. I finally broke the silence after about ten minutes into the meal.

“So Kate, are you feeling up to doing some sparring today?” I casually asked her.

“I haven’t felt this great in years, I would love to spar today,” she answered. “Would I be sparring against you?”

I chuckled, “Not this time. We need to show the warriors that you are capable of taking care of yourself.”

“I thought we did that yesterday,” she seemed to be confused.

“Since I marked you, the warriors might think that the sparring you did with Camerin yesterday might have been staged. We need to prove to them that it wasn’t. You are the real deal and can take any of them in a fight.”

“Fine, I will fight anyone you tell me to, but I refuse to hold back anymore. From now on I am going to go all out,” Kate declared.

Camerin stopped eating, “What do you mean you were holding back?” Kate just smiled and continued to eat her breakfast. “Ridiculous, I almost believed you. No tiny human is good enough to beat me in a fight,” he grumbled. I almost choked on my food from laughing so much.

Micah interrupted the breakfast conversation with a mindlink. “Alpha, word is going around that you marked the human as your mate. I am just checking to see if that was true or should I stop the conversation from spreading any further?”

“It’s true, I marked her last night,” I replied. Micah was quiet for a moment.

“I am at Sherry’s cafe and you seem to be the topic of discussion. Unfortunately, Jaxson’s beta is here listening to the whole conversation.” Micah wanted to know how to proceed.

“Understood. Thanks for the heads up. How are our people taking the news?” I asked him.

“Most are happy that you finally found someone, but surprised it was a human. Others are keeping their mouths shut and not saying what they want to say since I am here,” Micah assessed the mood of the crowd.

“She is going to spar again today, hopefully she will put the neigh sayers in their place,” I added.

“I will see you at the training today,” Micah cut off the conversation.

I smiled at Kate, “Would you like to go for a run before we train today?”

“That would be great, a good way to loosen up,” she smiled back.

“Let's finish up and go get ready,” not another word was said while they finished their meal.

(Jaxson’s POV)

“It's been almost a week and my boys are still prisoners of that mad man! Who knows if they are even still alive! I want them back Jaxson!”” the woman pounded her hand on my desk.

I held up my hand, “Alpha MCComb will send back the boys when they are no longer of any use to him. If they were dead, he would have already dumped their bodies. He knows they are my nephews so he is holding them for leverage.”

“I don’t care! You need to go get them!” she continued to yell.

“Layla, dear sister, calm down. They will be home soon.” I had more to deal with than worry about two of my men who got themselves captured.

“Uggg, you are useless,” she stormed out of the room.

Sometimes I wished that I was an only child. I looked at the stack of papers on my desk. I needed to finish it before my council meeting this evening. There was a knock on the door, “What now? Come in.” My trusted beta walked in, maybe I could convince him to help me with this work.

“Alpha, are you busy?” he asked. He didn’t look very happy. Something was bothering him.

“Besides this stack of papers, I have nothing to do,” I sarcastically answered.

“I won’t take up much of your time,” he said as he only took one step inside the room. “I have some news for you that I’m sure you are not going to like.”

I put my pen down, “What is it?”

“I was at Sherry’s Cafe for breakfast when the news came in,” he hesitated for a moment. “Alpha McComb marked a mate last night.” he stopped again as if he was afraid to finish, “He marked the human female, Kathryn Stevens.”

I just stared at him, not sure what to say, “Why would Tyler make himself weak by mating with a human?”

“I don’t know, everyone is saying that she is his true mate.”

“I can use this information to my advantage, the longer they are together the weaker he will become. I can challenge him for his pack. Then I will own all the lands in this area.” This was good news.

“Alpha, what about the human’s land? They are mated, the land now belongs to Alpha McCombs.” my beta always knew how to destroy my good mood.

I stood up because my anger was starting to boil over. “I didn't kill that old woman so Tyler could swoop in and take the land from me. I want Tyler and his slut of a mate killed.”

“Sir, I don't think…” my beta wanted to challenge my order.

I reached down and grabbed hold of the edge of my desk. With all my strength I flipped the desk and sent it flying across the room. “I don’t care how you do it, but by the end of this year, I want them dead!”

“Yes Sir!” was all he said as he rushed out of the room. “Damn you, Tyler! You ruined everything.” I looked at the mess of the smashed desk and just shook my head as I stormed out of my office.