CHAPTER 4: FATED MEET

TRAVIS 

13 YEARS LATER

“She is here again,” Mark says as she barges into my office at the company. 

“Who?” I ask as I look up from the computer in the desk.

“Selene, that witch,” he answers with a snarl and I let out a groan 

He means that literally.

Selene, is an actual witch.

One who for some goddess forsaken reason, has set her sights on me.

Ever since I became alpha of the Tryst pack and took over the family company, she has been relentless in her pursuit and has no desire to hear the word no.

Suffice to say, everyone in my inner circle hates her.

“Tell her I am not available,” I tell him just as the door slams open.

“Too late,” the witch in person sings out loud as she strolls into my office with Clara, my human secretary who rushed in with her.

“I am sorry, Mr. Raid,” she says with an apologetic look on her face. “She wouldn't listen-”

“It is fine, Clara,” I say. “You can go back.”

She gives me a nod and sends a black look to Selene before she walks away.

“You know,” Selene begins as she makes her way to my desk. “I am starting to have a sneaking suspicion that you don't like me.”

“Just a suspicion?” I ask with a touch of sarcasm.

“It can't be real of course,” she continues. “Why wouldn't you like me? I am perfect.”

And vain.

And irritating 

And unnervingly evil.

“What do you want, Selene? I am a busy man,” I ask as I turn back to my computer and from the corner of my eye, I see Mark sneaking out of the office.

Traitor.

“I have an event -”

“No.”

“What?”

“I said no.”

“You haven't even heard why I have to say-”

“It doesn't matter what you have to say, Selene,” I retort as I look up at her. “I don't want to have anything to do with you. When will you get that through your muffled skull?”

“I don't appreciate that tone with me,” she says as her icy blue eyes flash with actual lightning.

“And I don't appreciate you barging into my office without an appointment and disrespecting my subordinates,” I reply with a low growl of my own, very aware that my eyes are glowing gold.

For a moment, we remain like that in the staring match before a small pout claims her lips and she looks away.

“Honestly, Travis. Who hurt you like this?”

“What?”

“I mean someone had to have hurt you for you to be this cold to me. Who is that woman that will not let me have a place in your heart.”

“I don't need a woman to keep you out of my heart, Selene. You never had a chance. You never will. So, while I am asking nicely, please leave.”

She glares at me for a moment before she flings an invitation card on my desk and storms out of my office.

I, on the other hand, don't even bother to look at the card before I fling it into the shredder.

What do I have to do to get away from that woman?

Still… her words do hit a sour spot in me.

Many people think that I am cold and keep away from women because I am still waiting for my mate.

Which in a part… is true.

I am still waiting for my mate.

I want to meet her 

But more than that… it's Louisa that I ache for.

The girl I had spent one wondrous night with and who had vanished in the morning and away forever.

I figured I would be able to get I touch with her through Tammy but she took had shown her worry when Louisa hadn't responded to her messages 

Apparently she had come from the Blood Moon pack and that alone would have sent me into a nervous breakdown if her mother hadn't told Tammy that she had escaped.

Left the pack for some reason and no one knows where she might be, up till today.

And no matter what I do, no matter how much I have matured since then, I can't shake her away from my thoughts.

And now, that wretched witch had to bring her up again.

“Bitch,” I mutter as I shut down my computer and get to my feet before leaving the office.

“Closing early?” Mark asks as he catches me by the elevator 

“Hmm. Selene ruined my mood.”

“Yeah, she does that.”

                                 *****

“What's going on?” I ask as the car begins to slow down as we enter the pack territory.

“There is a crowd in front of the mansion,” Mark says as he reaches for the door handle.

Together we alight from the car and make our way to the crowd which immediately past the moment they sense us.

In the center are two kids- twins and from the looks of it they should be around the ages 13-15- and they are also rogues.

“What is going on here?” I demand and my voice carries .

“Alpha,” one of the patrol wolves, begins with a bowed head. “We found them not too long ago. They had already breached the east border of the territory.”

“Breached? How? They are kids.”

“That is the problem, Alpha,” another speaks up. “There is a division of opinions. Some think that they are just kids who dared themselves a little too much, others believe that they are spies and that their leader is waiting for feedback. That group is determined to have the desired law carried out. Not everyone is on board with that.”

By werewolf laws, any rogue trespassing on a pack's territory without permission should be killed immediately unless said otherwise by the Alpha.

For the past years, I have had zero qualms in upholding that rule… until today 

“They are kids,” I repeat. “You want to kill kids?”

“They might be spies!”

“Or just silly children!”

“You don't know that!”

“Neither do you!”

And like that, another lod quarrel breaks out giving me a headache.

Something I don't need right now.

“Enough!” I snap and it is enough to bring instant silence. “Have the kids put in the prison cells. Do not lay a finger on them. I will handle this later,” I say as I make my way into the mansion.

I need a fucking nap 

                                       *****

DRIIIIIIING!

The alarm is enough to have me jumping out of bed, alert.

Thanks to my sensitive hearing, I can already hear the wolves responding to the alarm, running and making formations as required.

We have a trespasser in the territory.

Again.

I rush out and make my way towards the exit when Mark rushes up to me.

“Where did it come from?” I demand

“From the East border,” he replies, his voice sharp 

“Again?’

“Yeah,” he says with a grim look. “Except this time, the alarm was rung late.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the patrol wolf just rung the alarm, after waking up from unconsciousness.”

“You mean he was knocked out?”

“Yeah.”

“Which means whoever did so, has been in the pack for a while.”

“Exactly. We are still trying to figure where they might have gone -”

“The prison,” I say with certainty. “They would go to the prison.”

I guess they were right.

Those kids did have someone with them.

By the time we reach the prison cells, chaos has had already spread and I can't help but look around in shock

The bodies of my wolves are all around on the floor, all knocked unconscious.

“How many people broke in?!” I snarl as I rush past the bodies.

“No idea!”

We hurry over to the where the kids are being held and as we do so, I can hear sounds of grunting and gasps.

They are fighting.

We round the corner and I just can't believe my eyes.

All those bodies… able bodies, well trained wolves all knocked unconscious… not by a group of rogues but just one.

A woman.

My wolves were beaten up by a woman.

“What the hell?” Mark mutters beside me in shock as we see her handle three men, each of them at least twice her size and she is kicking ass.

She gives an uppercut to one of the wolves while delivering a roundhouse kick to another and is just about to take on the third when I move into action.

I rush at her, claws extended and slam into her, hard against the wall.

But she doesn't go down.

Instead, she uses the momentum to twist us around and nearly had me in a chokehold before I head butt her which disorients her

It gives me enough time to grab her arms and lock it beside me, allowing me to see her face clearly.

“You!” I

gasp in shock. 

It is Louisa.

Of all the ways I had imagined seeing her again, this was not it.

“What are you doing here?” I ask in surprise to which she opens her mouth in a snarl

“Let my children go!”

Wait, what?!