Chapter 2 - Mason

I sat at my desk with the laptop open in front of me, there were hundreds of tasks waiting for me but I couldn’t bring myself to do any of them. Looking after my pack and growing my businesses has been enough for me for the first few years after I took over as alpha but that was no longer the case. The missing part of my soul left a dull ache that nothing could block out and believe me I had tried everything. The one thing that would make me feel better was the one thing I could never have, a mate. 

I was born human. Not a wolf-less werewolf, a full human. Nobody knew why I was born the way I was, my parents spent years taking me to doctors hoping to find a reason or a cure. In the end they turned to magic. They found a witch who was able to create a wolf and bind it to me. The wolf she created for me was the strongest and most powerful wolf ever seen but all magic has a price. In my case that price was that my wolf was without a fated mate.

At first it didn’t seem like a huge deal, I was free to have as much fun as I wanted with as many she-wolves as I wanted. That was fun for a while but as I got older the emptiness grew and now my pain is so strong that it is starting to affect the whole pack. Without the grounding influence of a mate my wolf was becoming more erratic and aggressive. If I didn’t solve this problem soon the pack would fall to pieces and I would probably go insane. I let out a large sigh as I ran my fingers through my long dark hair. 

“What you need is a mate,” Rowan said. 

I winced, his words felt like a knife had been plunged directly into my heart. Rowan is my beta and my best friend. We have known each other our whole lives, he knows everything about me which is why his words cut me so deeply.

“I don’t have a mate, you know this,” I replied. 

“That isn’t what I mean. You should claim a chosen mate and I think I know just the wolf for you.” A huge grin crossed his face as he spoke. 

“Tell me more,” I replied, trying to be polite. 

I knew better than to believe that he had a solution for my particular problem, after all this wasn’t the first time I had looked for a mate. I spent years searching the neighbouring packs for a suitable mate. There were loads of women who would love to be picked as my mate, the issue was that those were also the women least qualified to fill the position. A luna needed to be loving, caring and generous. That was basically the opposite of the type of woman who would reject their fated mate to be with someone they didn’t love just to gain more power for themselves.

“Brianna Kennedy,” Rowan declared, as though that was meant to be some kind of profound revelation. 

“I know of her, she is the future alpha of the neighbouring pack.” I replied. I shared a large portion of my border with her pack and I had seen her a couple of times at various functions over the years.

“She hasn't found her mate yet and her parents are looking for a suitable mate to claim her.” He placed a letter on the desk in front of me. I was already intrigued, nobody I knew sent letters anymore, I guess she must come from one of these more traditional packs who shied away from technology. 

I picked it up and quickly skim read through it. The situation was mostly as Rowan had described. It sounded as though Brianna’s parents were traditionalists as I suspected, they thought that a woman couldn’t lead a pack. They were looking for a strong alpha to accept her as his luna and in return they would merge the packs together. 

The whole thing made me feel very uncomfortable. They were writing about their own daughter like she was a commodity they could trade, it was disgusting. They had even included her measurements and a selection of photographs. As I flicked through the photos I felt sorry for her. She seemed so happy and energetic and yet she was being sold to the highest bidder, no woman deserved to be treated that way. 

If I took her as my mate she would be loved and treated like a princess. I knew that the same couldn’t be said if she was claimed by some of the other nearby alphas. I pretend to be ruthless to protect my pack but with them the ruthlessness and cruelty was one hundred percent genuine. 

‘We have to save her. She is going to be the love of our life, I can feel it.’ My wolf Flint said. I was sure that it was just desperation on his part, we had been alone for a long time and he wanted someone to call his. Even if it was desperation we had to try, I was pretty desperate myself. 

I picked up my phone and dialled the number on the letter. The phone rang a couple of times before the alpha of the Kennedy pack picked up the phone. I recognised his voice before he even told me his name, he had a very rough voice more so than any other alpha I had met. I didn’t have much business with his pack but I had been to a few of the same parties and meetings as him.

“Hi, this is alpha Dalton. I am calling about your letter.” I told him once he had finished his greeting. 

“Alpha Dalton, I am so glad you called. My daughter would make a perfect mate for you, she is beautiful and she will bear you many children.” He replied. My wolf was purring like an idiot but I wasn’t so easy to win over. Something about this whole situation seemed wrong to me. I hadn’t even told him what I thought about her or his letter and yet he was already planning my life with her. 

“You seem very sure about this. What if Brianna choses one of the other alphas?” I asked. 

“You don’t need to worry about that. I haven’t sent any other letters yet, I wanted to give you a chance to respond first. I know your history and your reputation so I was hoping that you would claim her.” My anger started to rise, what did he mean by that. Was this some kind of insult on my character, it certainly sounded that way coming from him.

“What do you mean by my reputation?” I asked. 

“I will be honest with you, my daughter is a little unruly. She doesn’t know her place and what she really needs is a mate who will teach her how to submit and keep her in line. We might not know each other well but I think you are the right man for the job.” He said, he actually sounded happy about his own daughter being treated like a breeder. This guy is seriously sick.

“I see,” I replied.

“If you can’t do it then let me know, I am sure alpha Green is ready for a new mate,” he said. Now I knew he was exaggerating to get my agrement. Nobody would want their daughter to be alpha Green’s mate knowing how his first luna ended up.

Flint growled in my head. He was already starting to feel possessive over this girl even though he hadn’t officially claimed her yet. He hated the idea of someone claiming her, in his head she was already his. 

“I can take care of her,” I replied. I would make him think I was the controlling ass that he clearly wanted his daughter mated to but once my teeth penetrated her neck things would change. I would worship the ground she walked on. 

“There is a party in two days, you can officially claim her there. I would like you to have her luna ceremony completed and the packs merged within the next couple of weeks.” He told me before hanging up my phone. 

“I guess congratulations are in order.” Rowan smiled at me, visibly excited that I was finally getting my luna. 

I wasn’t quite as optimistic as he was. I was going to have to treat her poorly at the beginning of our relationship. Starting with forcibly claiming her then making her think she was destined to serve my needs for the rest of her life. It was going to take a lot of work on my part to get her to trust me again after that. It was a good job that we had the rest of our lives to figure it out.