Chapter 06.

Kane.

Tiny.

I didn’t expect my mate to be her.

    The second my eyes locked on Rune’s, I knew she was my mate even before my wolf, Ky, growled and ached to claim her. There she was, sitting on the ground, her tempting curved lips slightly parted as she stared at me. She was the perfect image of a cry for help, one that I desperately wanted to respond to but couldn’t due to our surroundings. 

For a moment there, I thought she had figured out I was her mate when she didn’t take her innocent brown eyes off me to bow like everyone else. As a wave of disappointment hit me when she exited her trance and bowed, it was quickly replaced with a sweet sensation when I picked up her scent. 

She smelled of peaches, with a subtle hint of jasmine, like a fine summer afternoon in a garden. So sweet and aphrodisiacal. I wrestled with Ky for control. 

“MINE!” Ky barked uncontrollably while a flood of anger wrecked me at the situation she was in. 

I knew she would be subjected to mistreatment when I ordered her demotion, but at the time, I didn’t care because all she was was the daughter of a traitor and not my mate, but seeing her in that position, beaten up and helpless, it took all my self-control to not whip her into my arms to the pack house to tend to her wounds. I never tended to wounds, not even mine, when I incurred some from battles. Ky was fervid. It was as though seeing her was the best thing that ever happened to him.

  I sank into the coffee brown chair in my dimly lit office, and a sigh exited my lips. 

   I had given up on the search for my mate long ago. Not because I grew tired or bored of searching but because it became a chore, a luxury I could no longer afford. I had passed the werewolf prime for finding a mate, and Shadow Moon was not safe. Battles were fought almost every year, sometimes multiple times in a year, because Shadow Moon was the largest of all the packs, and the other Alphas convinced themselves they’d be capable of taking my pack, my territory, from me. 

I had focused on making sure the pack was safe for all, but despite my efforts, the pack officials were not satisfied; they claimed I needed my mate as much as the pack needed a Luna. I didn’t think so, but I agreed to the Elect Ritual they suggested in the morning —which was a ritual done under the full moon, where we appealed to the moon goddess to assign a mate for a wolf without one— just to get them off my back. 

I should’ve told them I had found her, but I couldn’t, especially not with the situation surrounding her.

Luke Leeder was a traitor, a failed warrior who bargained with the enemy for scrapes, and when he got caught, he fled like a coward. Despite his being a coward, Luke was a good mate and father. He loved his family more than life itself, especially Rune, since she looked exactly like him. It was no news that he loved her dearly, and so I knew that he’d be back to take them away. 

Usually, when a traitor is found in a family, they’re sentenced to death. The oldest member of the family would then be demoted to a servant while the other members were sentenced to life imprisonment, but because I knew Luke would return if he ever heard that his beloved daughter was taking the heat of his bad decisions, I demoted her instead of her mother. It was a perfectly prepared trap, one that had turned against me in the worst way possible.

  A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. 

“Come in,” I called out, and Ky groaned when Jett pushed the door open and entered. 

“Alpha,” Jett bowed and took a seat in front of me. He watched me closely but said nothing. 

“Are you going to sit there and stare at me all night?”

“It depends on if you plan on staying locked in here all night,” his witty response pulled a smile out of me. Dubbed my twin, Jett was the only one I could tolerate since we were little. His father had been a third-degree warrior who came from a line of powerful wolves that always aided my ancestors, and every wolf knew it. Regardless of this fact, appointing him as Beta of the pack was a war on its own, as the current Beta at the time wanted his weak son to take up the position as was customary. Changing the line of succession in the hierarchy was severely frowned upon, but there was no one better for the role than he was. 

“Say your piece,”

“What is your plan? I’ve gathered you don’t want them to know about her,” I nodded. 

“They can’t know about her. At least not yet,” 

“You should’ve thought about that before making a scene at the medical house. Twice, might I add,” he narrowed his eyes, and I let out a humorless laugh. If only I had been thinking. My whole being was full of her; I was very aware of her presence, and it didn’t leave room for other thoughts. Hell! I went as far as marking her due to Ky’s excitement. If I had spent even another second in that room, I would have ravished her, which would’ve put my plans at risk.

“What are you going to do about her?” 

“No more than I’ve already done,” Jett raised a brow. 

“She’s Luke’s daughter. Nothing good can come out of this union, especially when he’s still on the run. You know this,” Jett nodded. 

“Do you want me to take care of her?” 

“No!” My voice came out more forced than I intended, and Jett passed me a knowing smile, which he quickly wiped from his face as I shot him a glare. 

“I’ve decided to keep her here, to watch her closely for when Luke will come out of hiding,” 

“Then don’t you think you should tell her he’s alive?”

“There’s no need to tell her that. When she sees him, he’ll be dead anyway. I only need her to capture him,” He sighed but nodded.

“Does this mean you’ll carry on with the Elect Ritual?” I didn’t need to think of my answer.

“Yes, I will never let the daughter of a traitor rule beside me.”