Chapter 7 - Mason

When I walked into the room Brianna’s parents were whispering amongst themselves. Her father was wearing his usual stern expression but her mother looked to be almost distraught, she was quietly begging her mate for something. They broke up their conversation abruptly upon noticing me. It was clear what they were talking about but the interaction left me wondering about a lot of things.

I had always assumed that alpha Kennedy’s reputation was a fabrication, just like mine. He had a mate and a daughter and I couldn’t see how anyone with two important women in their life could be so heartless. That was until I heard the way he spoke about his daughter, seeing the indifference with which he dealt with his own mate was just another confirmation of this. 

“You seem to be getting along well with my daughter,” alpha Kennedy stated with a smirk on his face. 

“She is a lovely woman,” I replied.

That smirk made me want to deny his statement but that would have been counterproductive. I needed a mate desperately and Brianna needed to get away from her father. She was already attracted to me, her arousal was so thick in the air while I was kissing her neck that I was sure she was seconds away from begging me to take her. In the end I had to drag myself away from here so that my wolf didn’t get carried away and mark her.

“She is lovely.” Her mother mumbled whilst scowling at me. The clear implication behind her words was that she thought her daughter was much too good for the likes of me. I wasn’t offended, I had worked hard to get a strong reputation and keep my pack safe. In time she would know that I would never harm her daughter, but now wasn’t the time to let my guard down.

Alpha Kennedy scowled at his mate, he was probably saying something about her attitude towards me over mindlink. I know that I had a reputation to uphold but it didn’t sit well with me to have him berating his mate right in front of me. 

“I thought you wanted to talk to me while I was here. Are you going to tell me what you wanted to discuss or should I wait in my car for my new mate?” I grumbled. 

“You like to get straight down to business don’t you? I appreciate that in an alpha. I have never liked these new age packs who want to talk for hours on even the smallest issue.” 

He indicated for me to sit down beside him on the sofa while pouring me a cup of coffee. I accepted his hospitality, taking a long sip of coffee while I waited for him to stop blowing smoke up my ass and get to some kind of point. I had never realised that alpha Kennedy could talk so much shit. 

“I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind letting me stay on as alpha for a few years after you merge the packs together. I will defer any major decisions to you of course but I just don’t feel ready to retire yet.” 

I had thought it strange that he had offered me his pack so willingly but now things were starting to make more sense. He had no intention of merging the packs, he was just offering me something that he thought I wanted to make sure I accepted his daughter. Unlike him I couldn’t care less about gaining more power or land. There were only a few things I wanted and none of those could be bought.

I couldn’t help wondering what would happen if I didn’t accept his proposal. Would he try to take Brianna away from me or would he be more assertive and fight me if I tried to take over the pack. His reputation led me to believe it would be the second option but he was much older than me, he had to know that he wouldn’t stand a chance in a fair fight. 

“That is fine by me, it will be a few years before I will be ready to take over the land.” I replied. 

Alpha Kennedy smiled in response but I could feel the tension in the air dissipate, he had expected me to react badly but now he was just relieved. He took a long drink of coffee before changing the subject completely to talk about the party that I would be throwing in Brianna’s honour. He had originally wanted to hold the party here, it took a lot of convincing for him to let me hold it at my house and even then he made it clear that he didn’t trust me with the task. 

I spent the next few minutes telling him about the arrangements I had made and answering his questions whilst waiting for Brianna to rescue me. I was incredibly relieved when she eventually stepped into the room with a suitcase by her feet and a backpack slung over one shoulder. Much to my disappointment, she had changed out of her form fitting outfit from earlier and into oversized workout clothes. 

“Are you going to stare at me all night or are we going to get going?” There was a small smirk on her face that told me she had caught me checking her out and she was going to use it against me later. 

‘I doesn’t matter, I would throw myself to my knees at her feet if she would let me touch that body of hers.’ Flint purred. 

I cleared my throat to cover the laugh that threatened to break out of me then quickly made our excuses to leave. Brianna’s father wanted us to stay longer but I cut him off. I couldn’t deal with any more of his nonsense today without losing my temper and say something that I would later regret. Or worse, give away the fact that I was nowhere near as vicious as my reputation made out. 

Grabbing Brianna’s suitcase I rushed over to where I had parked my car, Brianna followed me with a scowl on her face. She couldn’t make it more clear that she was only coming with me under duress. My first instinct was to be upset by her reaction but, the more rational side of me knew I had to be patient with her. Her dad had forced her into this and it would take time for her to trust me. 

“It’s not going to be so bad being my luna, I will love you and always treat you with respect.” I told her once she got into the car beside me. 

“You keep saying that but if you were such a good guy then you wouldn’t have to abduct a bride.” 

I tried to hide how much her words hurt me but judging from the look of victory that he gave me, I didn’t do a very good job of it. It wasn’t a long journey back to my pack but it still wasn’t a comfortable one. Brianna spent the whole time scowling and looking out of the window. I tried to open up a conversation with her a couple of times only to get single word responses. 

My frustration was building by the second but I managed to swallow it down and bury it until I had shown Brianna to her temporary room. Then I stormed into my office and took out my frustrations on some innocent pillows, shredding them to a million pieces within just a few seconds. 

I hated the way she looked at me. I knew that her opinion towards me would change completely once I marked her as mine but that didn’t sit well with me. I wanted her to want me, to agree to be mine of her own free will. There had to be some way to make her fall for me, I was charming and handsome, all the women I spoke to told me so. 

‘That is because they would say anything for a chance to become your luna,’ I could practically see my wolf rolling his eyes at me within my mind. Traitor. 

“What the heck happened here?” 

Rowan was standing in the doorway to my office looking horrified. I wasn’t usually the kind of alpha who lost his temper and trashed his office at the slightest inconvenience. He was probably worried that I had finally lost control of my wolf and he was going on some kind of rampage. It was something he had been worried about for a while, ever since I told him that my wolf was struggling with his lack of a mate. 

“Brianna hates me. I need a mate but I can’t force her to be with me, it isn’t right. I need to find some way of making her accept me as her mate willingly.”

Rowan raised one of his eyebrows at me. He watched my confusion for a moment before opening his mouth to explain. “You’re not seriously asking me for advice are you? Because if you are then you are in more trouble than I thought.” 

Oh. Sometimes I forgot how badly my beta had messed up with his own mate and how his rejection of her meant that he would likely never get a second chance mate. He doesn’t talk about it much but I know he still regrets the way he treated her. 

I sunk down to the floor, resting my head in my hands. What was I going to do? I was meant to be announcing her as my luna this evening but it was going to be clear to everyone that saw us together how much she hated me. My pack would probably think of me as a monster for forcing a woman to be with me, and they would be right on all counts. 

“I might not be an expert on women, but maybe you should start by taking her on a date?” Rowan suggested.