Tristan 's POV
"Alpha, you... the person you sent yesterday has already left."
I knew it. I shouldn't have listened to Viggo, rushing to the hospital first thing in the morning without even having breakfast, making it seem as if I cared about her.
I quickly clarified, "No, I'm not here for her. My sister Rosie wasn't home early this morning, and I came to see if she was here."
The nurse then had a realization and said, "I see, we haven't seen her this morning; maybe you could give her a call."
"Right," I said and turned to leave when a voice stopped me.
"Alpha," I turned to see it was the doctor who treated her yesterday.
What does he want? He doesn't think I'm here to check on Zoey, does he?
The doctor smiled and said, "Alpha, Zoey still owes our hospital a significant debt. She just left yesterday, and we..."
I was confused and asked, "Debt? Didn't I already pay for yesterday's medical expenses?"
And even if I hadn't, my meddlesome sister would surely not let it go. How could she have accumulated such a debt in so short a time?!
The doctor looked troubled and said, "Oh, it's not about yesterday's fees. It's about the medical care costs over the past half year, and the amount is quite substantial."
What does he mean? She's been receiving regular care at this hospital, yet she didn't seem like someone who needed care with her fierce demeanor yesterday.
But the doctor's words once again made Viggo halt his thoughts and exclaim, "See! She really needs the money!"
"Enough!" I cut him off and asked the doctor, "Are you sure it's her?"
"Sure, Zoey Carter, that's the only name in the system," the doctor affirmed.
Is she really sick?
"She..."
No, I can't ask. Why do I care? Why does everyone have to tell me about her?
"I understand." I said and turned to leave quickly.
It was also because I didn't inquire further that Viggo was very dissatisfied, "You should have asked clearly!"
I wouldn't ask. I don't want to know anything about her. If it weren't for Viggo losing his mind and going crazy early in the morning, I wouldn't even be here!
But Viggo wasn't about to let it go, continuously repeating, "We should accept her, help her..."
Right now, I just wanted to leave quickly, choosing the best method - ignoring him.
I just reached the door and opened the car when another red car stopped in front of me, and someone got out from the passenger side before the car even fully stopped, and the driver's window rolled down.
Damn it, I'd forgotten them - it was Mason and Nico.
Nico, sitting in the driver's seat with a hint of a smile, said to Mason rushing towards me, "See, I told you he'd definitely come to check on Zoey."
This offended me, "I did not!"
Mason, however, got even angrier at this remark, his voice laden with fury, "Don't you have anything to explain?"
What do I have to explain?! Is he questioning me?
"You!" I was just about to give him a piece of my mind when I turned to see people whispering and glancing over in small groups.
Fine, we can't argue here.
"Alright, let's go back to the office and talk." I said and got into the car, heading straight to the office, giving myself some time to think about how to face these two.
***
I just went into the office and they followed me right away.
"Just tell me why?" Mason asks me, pissed off.
"Because it was my business and had nothing to do with you." I tell him, but Mason scoffs in disbelief.
"I am your beta, Mr. Alpha!" Mason says even more pissed off. "Finding your Luna affects our pack and you should have told us!"
"What the hell is wrong with you? It is his OWN problem if he wants to accept her or not." Nicholas says seeing that Mason crossed the line again.
And changing the subject he looks at me,"I believe that this madness of finding a surrogate needs to stop man. "
He made a fair point; those women were gold-diggers, foolishly thinking that bearing my child would make them my luna. I certainly wouldn't want my child to carry any foolish genes.
I nodded in agreement and said, "Hmm, then let's not look for anyone else for now."
"Fuck, man!" Mason cursed and getting on his feet he kicked the chair he was sitting, breaking it in pieces. "Is it because of that bitch?"
What exactly caused Mason to misunderstand, making him repeatedly so rude to me? Regardless of my reasons, should I really need to explain myself to him?!
With a stern face and a slight lift of my eyes to meet his, I suppressed my anger and said, "No, I don't want her."
But he continued to get his way, "Are you kidding me? You don't want her? So just reject her! Don't you see that she is playing with your mind?"
"Mason, just shut up!" Nico says, trying to calm the spirits.
"No. Just look at him. He looks and acts like an idiot. I want my best friend back!" and the moment he said that Viggo surfaced and grabbed Mason by his throat.
"Do you have a death wish, Mason Reynolds?" Viggo growls at him, as he pins Mason on the wall.
"Maybe my human will allow you to offend him, but keep that in your mind. Don't piss me off, or I am breaking you! Am I clear?"
Mason is in shock.
It is the first time Viggo does something like this.
I've always refrained from distancing myself from them just because I became the Alpha.
So, I've been suppressing the urge to teach Mason a lesson, but today, I no longer wish to hold back.
He must be made to understand what respect is!
"Am I clear?" Viggo growls so loud that Mason turns his head, fearing that he will end up skinned alive.
"Yes." he said almost in a whisper. He never saw this side of my wolf.
"Viggo," Nico says calmly. "Let him go. He won't do that again."
"He never listens!" Viggo says through his clenched teeth.
"Because he didn't understand what happened. But now he will never act this way." and with the same calmly voice he says, "Send Tristan back. I need to tell him something."
Viggo pushes Mason in the wall and giving him a last growl he lets me return to control.
Mason just stares at me, but he doesn't dare to say something else .
Very well, just like that.
"Alpha, the other women won't do, but there's one exception," Nico says.
I turn to look at him, knowing what he's about to suggest.
I walk back to my desk and lean against my chair, saying, "You are wrong. She is the last option. Anyone but not her."
"And here you are wrong." and Nico defies me directly.
"You can kill me, you can let Viggo break my legs but watch me, Tristan. She was right. And you are upset exactly because she was right."
"She came here breaking the walls you build around you to protect you from her. You ignored her for a whole year thinking that you are fine. But you are not fine."
"Do you want a pup? She is your best option."
Mason looks at Nico in horror. He would like to put him in a corner and strangle him, kill Nico in an instant, but after what Viggo did that is not an option anymore.
I'm just looking at Nico. There is a difference between Nico and Mason.
He is a scoundrel sometimes, but he is the one who tells them when they are crossing the line. Nico is the most cerebral of them all.
He saw that neither of us said anything and continued to try to convince me, "I'm not asking you to accept her. But she is the best surrogate for you. After she offers you a hire, reject her, ban her. Do whatever you want."
Hmm? That seems like a good idea.
Zoey's POVEven if my heart hurts like hell I forced myself to act as if nothing happened."Rosie is a beautiful grown up woman now" Nana says coming into the kitchen , where I prepare the lunch for us. A simple boiled pasta with tomato juice, but at least we won't starve. I really need to get out of this pack and find a job."I wonder how Tristan is." Nana says again and I stop from mixing the pasta and look at her.He is a jerk, that's what came directly into my mind, but I suppress that impulse and smiling at Nana, I say, "He is very busy ,Nana. I suppose that the Alpha ‘s duties are way too difficult."But Nana waves her hand in the air, suggesting that that's bullshit."I don't know why he changed so much. I raised him to be a brave young man and yet he became arrogant. I failed as his nanny."No, Nana. He is cruel. You don't become cruel in an instant. That evil was placed in his heart from the beginning, waiting for him to let it out.But I can't tell her that, so I place the p
Zoey's POV"The lightning?" Nana asks and looks at me in horror as she just figured it out that yesterday I faced Tristan and that's why I was looking like crap."Zoey, look at me" she said in a commanding voice, even though her voice was calm and full of love, I knew that she won't let me escape without being sincere with her."Did I say the lightning?" I asked back, trying to change the subject but she stared at me with that serious face , giving me no chance to escape."What is going on between you and Tristan Mayer, Zoey. And I want the truth." she says visibly affected.What truth ,Nana? You already know what is going on between us. You have a sixth sense. I was never able to hide anything from you."Zoey Carter! Do you recognize me as your godmother?" Nana says almost growling at me."Tell me the truth!" and my poor Nana starts to shiver.Oh my goddess, I am going to put her in a grave sooner at this pace!"Nana, please, calm down" I say with teary eyes."I am sorry, I didn't in
I went to the pack's shop where I bought something new to wear. I am going to do as Nana said but I don't want to make her more sad than I already did because of my scoundrel mate.So I have no other option but to listen to her.Sincerely, I have no idea why Tristan asked me to come to the packhouse.Maybe he wants to punish me for telling Nicholas and Mason that we are mates, but difficult times call for extraordinary solutions.The only goal in this life is to save Nana. Nothing else counts.Now that she doesn't want to leave the Crescent Moon Pack, I need to follow her wish and make Tristan come around so he could choose me as his surrogate."Tilly!" I growl at my wolf. "Stop wagging your fucking tail! I can sense your stupid happiness. This is not going to end well.""It doesn't matter," Tilly tells me with a sick excitement. "At least , until the baby appears he will not push us away."And holy shit, I just died!If I will be his surrogate, I hope that he will not force me to sta
I enter Tristan's office and I can cut the tension in the air.He passes me and walks to his desk and I thought that he would take a seat, but he motioned me to come close.Oh goddess, give me strength to survive this day and I promise you that I'll never make such stupid plans again.I had a lot of good intentions ,but this is already too much!Help me goddess, and I will be your most submissive child you ever seen."You know that I don't like to repeat myself!" Tristan says in a commanding voice, that makes my heart skip a beat. If he wouldn't be so arrogant and cruel he would be so damned perfect, but he is a jerk.I am watching him directly into his eyes and while I am coming in his direction I answer back, "And until now, Alpha Mayer, you should know that I hate being forced."I take a seat on the visitor chair , right in front of him.I have no idea why he asked me to come here, but I am a little bit nervous.Not as nervous as I was when I left the house, because now I am more c
Tristan Mayer's POV"Do it, man!" Viggo growls in my mind, making me lose my focus.Since I started to flirt with the idea of making Zoey my surrogate he's acting like a desperate. How the hell am I going to handle this mess?It's been only one day since she made that grand entrance in my office, ruining my inner balance and here I am today waiting for her.This is not right at all. This is why I commanded her to stay away from me."Inner balance my ass!" I hear Viggo mocking me."You are like a walking dead for years, feeling nothing. Your so-called inner balance is something so damned discompassionately macabre, as if you are leading the pack without the slightest regard for our pack members' lives. Firstly, remember why the hell we need a pup." and I would want to contradict him, but here he is right.Everyone who knows me is describing me as a cruel and arrogant Alpha.So what? I have a history able to justify my actions.I lost everything in this life and I was forced to become a
Zoey’s POV.“Zoey?” Nana mindlinks me “Are you awake?” she asks me.I just stared at the ceiling .I didn't sleep at all last night. How was I supposed to do it after everything that happened recently?Last evening I ran out of the packhouse as if its walls were infected with leprosy, I would have done anything to teleport myself as far as possible from Tristan Mayer and his pack but as I was leaving the area a loud growl echoed from behind.Mason!I turned around and faced him, coming in my direction in military steps, ready to knock me down. I am so sick of him. In the last few years he acted like a stalker, and I feel his eyes checking on me wherever I go. He gives me a bad feeling and makes me feel insecure wherever he is around. I know that he hates me. I know that it was his father who found me in the woods with my dead family. Whatever is related to the Reynolds family gives me an unpleasant vibe.“What the hell do you want, Mason?” I asked him full of rage. He looks like crap
I practically hid myself since my last discussion with Nana. Everything it was needed for us to survive I bought it online so I won't face anyone. Tristan didn’t ask for my presence so I am fine. The thing is that I took pills to delay the heat, but now, If I agreed to be Tristan’s surrogate I can’t take them anymore because they are working like some birth control pills. The heat will hit me in all its glory, because that’s how our life is going on. You find your mate and one or two weeks later the heat appears.The thing is that I am not claimed, I am still a virgin and the moment the heat will come I need to hide myself from everyone or I will become a target for all the unmated males in our pack. I need to get pregnant soon or this will end badly.Nana is as horrified as I am and she looks at me with pity. The first cycle is spontaneous. You have no idea when it will come. We are just like the real wolves. Wolves go into heat once a year anytime between January to April and it onl
Tristan’s POV.“You should send someone to watch over Zoey,” Viggo tells me. He had me up all night yapping about Zoey’s safety, about her being alone in that remote location but I ignored him.“She might be frightened by this storm, man!” he tells me again. “You’ve heard Nana. She was afraid that Zoey would freak out about thunder and lightning.”Sincerely, I had no idea that she was so weak. With that loud mouth of her and that sassy attitude she looked like nothing can stand against her, and yet she poops in her pants because of a storm?“Fuck you, Tristan Mayer!” Viggo scolds me and seeing that I am not intending to look after Zoey he closes the mindlinks with me.And why should I look for her?In half an hour I will meet her at the hospital. She will come because she is so damned egger to take my money, so I enter the dressing room and grab a shirt and some black jeans. I also take a cardigan and wrap it around my shoulders, because the weather outside is still cold.I went down