CHAPTER 15

THADDEUS

Hazel. The name echoed in my mind, a relentless drumbeat for days now

I had woken up thinking about Hazel again, just like every day for the last three days. The night of her transformation, it wasn't just me who'd whispered "Mate." Sparrow and Thea had too. Their voices, raw and charged, had echoed the truth we all didn't know.

‘She isn't my mate’ I tell myself. ‘She is just like any other mate the moon goddess has given you, she means nothing,’ I assure myself.

I know that there are more important things at stake here. Pack security mission, meetings, workload and so many tasks that needed to be handled. Other reasonable items I needed to focus on right now. 

But yet…

I can't seem to shake the vision of that dark haired beauty from my head ever since she transformed into her human form. Her stunning face had been engraved in my memory and I loathed it. 

Fuck.

I pulled my duvet over my face, determined to forget her but that only made the craving even far worse than before. It's like she is hunting me, her fertile features was so goddess like that I'm questioning my own sanity right this fucking moment. 

‘she’s not our mate,’ 

Maybe it was her petite frame and banging body that has my whole body pulsing with this new foreign need. 

I pulled off the duvet from my face and rubbed my temple, wishing I could somehow erase this female from my head and mind. But it's impossible. She is been lingering in my thought all fucking three days in a row. Appearing in my dream wasn't even enough but she still managed to linger around my mind during working hours. 

I had even mentioned her name twice in an important meeting. That is how bad the situation had gone.

I wince my fingers already curling into a ball fist. ‘It happens whenever I'm frustrated.’

“Why can't I get her out of my head?” I mutter to myself in frustration. It's like I can already feel her fingers under my pants stroking my cock, and her lips imprinting themselves on my neck, face, lips, and her teeth sinking into my skin.

‘shit, I was going crazy’ That is the only way to explain my thoughts. 

‘She's not mine. She is not Hawla.' I try to reassure myself. ‘No fucking way was I going to accept her, she isn't my fucking mate.'

My eyes Instantly flashes red in response, overtaking the black hues and allowing my Alpha trait to shine through. I can almost hear a purr rumbling to life, my animal threatening to take over in excitement.

‘She is ours, to claim, own and devour.’ My animal kept pressuring. 

My teeth grind together as I fight the urge and again tell myself that ‘she isn't mine.’

Three endless days. I yearn to see her eyes, to hear her voice. A hunger gnaws at me, an insatiable desire to know the woman laying on that bed. Yet that seems to be enough to scatter my instinct and send me into a mating frenzy. 

“This is fuvking ridiculous,” I mutter, shaking my head and shoving the duvet away from my body. 

‘I'm hard as a rock.’

Because of course I'm fucking going insane just thinking about ‘HER’. All I wanted to do right now was to stroke myself to a complete exhaustion while thinking about her. 

With thoughts of that woman staring up at me with her seductive eyes. Taking my cock between her plump lips, sucking me all the way to my knot until I eventually spread her legs and fuck her until her legs can't stand straight for days. 

A groan strangled my throat as my palm landed on the bed in annoyance. “Enough,” I yelled at myself. 

I was desperate to extinguish the embers of desire, to prove to myself that this woman was as transient as the moon's fickle phases, another face in the endless procession of the goddess's gifts.

‘A gift I didn't want.’

But my beast is growling in excitement, loving that she is our mate, he wants to sniff her and drag her beneath him. He wants to bite her. Not very hard, just enough to claim her for the world to see that she was ours.

10:50PM

The insistent buzz of my phone cut through my thoughts. I snatched it up, irritation flaring. It was a message from Kara, a terse reminder of the upcoming mission we had to carry out for my father. I forced myself to focus on the task at hand, pushing the thoughts of Hazel to the back of my mind.

My finger hovered over the speed dial, a cold dread settling over me.

When her voice filled the room on the first ring, I barely managed to choke out before hissing, "I don't understand this new mission, Kara." 

"Your father's orders," she replied, her voice low and ominous. "Dress your best. This mission...it's different."

"Dress my best?" I scoffed, "For what, a tea party with the enemy?"

"You know how I hate to run a mission without any hint. Why can't he just tell me what's going on? Why the secrecy?"

"Because sometimes, less information is better," she replied, her voice firm. "Just do as he says, and don't ask questions."

I clenched my fist, the urge to rebel strong. But I knew better than to defy my father. With a heavy sigh, I conceded, "Fine. I'll do it."

"Good," Kara said, relief evident in her voice. "Now, get dressed. You've got a long night ahead of you."

"And Hazel__" I cut her off sharply. 

"Can we not talk about that right now? I appreciate you bringing that up, but I'm not in the right headspace to talk about it now." I halted whatever she had to say because I knew that it would only ignite conversation I didn't want to have right now..

The next few hours were a blur of preparation. I donned my finest suit, a tailored ensemble that exuded both power and elegance. As I adjusted my tie, I couldn't shake the feeling of unease. Something about this mission felt different, more sini

ster.

But while I prepared to leave,

Hazel still roamed around my mind yet again.

I knew that I couldn't ignore the truth any longer. She was my mate, a part of us. And as much as I resisted it, I craved her, body and soul.