FOUR

The cars rolled in through thick green gates with wild weed growing all over it and into the large compound with an even larger fountain in the middle of it.

Elara kicked against the man on a buzz cut holding her as she was dragged out of the car.

“Let her go,” Kael ordered as he got down from his car and walked to Elara. The man let her go and walked to where Harry was standing near Kael’s car. The driver had gone to park the car they came in at the garage.

“You are a sick man!” Elara spat at Kael as he reached her.

“Welcome home, Elara.” Kael turned slightly and looked around him. “Take your time to look around you, this will become your home for the rest of your life.”

Elara shifted her eyes from Kael to the large building that stood before her. It was as she had seen in magazines and the tabloids before. The stone structure stood tall at about 25 feet tall covering about half the kingdom’s land size. High window peeked back at Elara from different angles, she was sure there was about a million rooms in that house.

“Have you no shame?” Elara turned her attention back to Kael as tears began clouding her eyes again. “How can you buy a person, a person and have the guts to stand there and tell me this is my home.”

Kael tsked. “Well, technically, your parents gave you to me. I didn’t exactly buy you.”

“You took me in exchange for what they owe you!” Spittle flew out of Elara’s lips as she yelled into Kael’s face.

Kael stood still, unmoving. “And now I own you. I’d advise you to get comfortable, you’re not leaving this place. Ever.”

“I will have your head first before I would ever work as your slave.” Elara muttered in a low voice.

“Is that a threat?” Kael closed the distance between them. The scent he perceived on Elara a few hours ago was gone and was replaced by the murky stench of sweat and a faint smell of shampoo. “Do you know what happens to people who threaten the Alpha of The Amarok Hegemony?”

Elara gritted her teeth as her pupils dilated. Her shoulders fell slightly in defeat. The Amarok Hegemony was made of only the best warriors who only continued to breed the best warriors in the three packs. They were purebred and specially gifted but the moon goddess. Elara stood no chance with them.

“Good. Follow me, I will show you to your room.” Kael said and led the way to the house.

~>~

Kael poured a good amount of whiskey in his glass and down it again in one go. He winced and reached for his bottle again, only this time, he drank straight from the bottle.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Harry, who had been seated in the office observing Kael, finally spoke. “You have been acting a bit…off since the night started.

Kael jerked his head towards the open window in his study. The night had cleared up and the sun was starting to rise. The trip back to the pack had lasted hours.

“You have been acting a bit off since last night and drinking straight from your bottle? I know it’s not good.” Kael sighed as he corked his whiskey bottle and moved away from his makeshift bar. He paced for some seconds before dropping into his seat across from Harry.

Kael sighed again. “When you found Genny, how did you know she was your mate?” Harry adjusted himself in his seat and kept his eyes on Kael.

“What is this about? We have discussed this before and how we would navigate it. You heard what the healer said-”

“Forget the healer, Harry, and answer my question. How did you know Genny was the one?”

Harry sucked in a deep breath and exhaled deeply. “I was twenty-three, she was eighteen; her coming out ceremony. I shifted at apparently the same time she did, I felt this pull calling me into a particular place and somehow I knew where to go. So I went, it was, as you know, the green lake, I found her there, waiting for me. Our souls clicked, our wolves too and just like that, we knew we were fated.”

Harry sank back into his seat, “why? Do you want to go down this rabbit hole of your spiraling about your ‘mate issue’?”

Kael ran his palm down his face and rubbed his eyes. “ If I were to have a mate, do you think it’s possible she is in another pack? Like the daughter to an Alpha or beta or just a random girl in that pack? Even an omega.”

“Kael!” Harry leaned closer and gritted his teeth. “If not that you are away from my reach I would have punched you in the face.” Kael rolled his eyes. “We are purebred wolves with pure blood, we don’t mix with people from other packs.”

“There could be a possibility.”

“You have made peace with the fact that you didn’t have a mate, Kael. The healer said the goddess didn’t give you one, I am only telling you in case you have forgotten. And the plan, the plan was to search through the pack and find you a lady without who is fit to rule as Luna. Did you forget that?”

“I think I have found my mate.” Kael blurted. Harry leaned back slowly into his seat. Confusion lined his face as he searched Kael’s for any hint of amusement.

“This is not the time for jokes, Kael.”

Kael scoffed, “you think I am joking? I am legit going crazy from the questions running through my mind and you think I am joking.” He jerked up from his seat, forcefully pushing the chair back ti it hit the bookshelf behind it.

Kael began pacing again. Harry stood up and stood before him, stopping his movements.

“Tell me exactly what you are talking about. The details, I want to hear all of it.” Harry folded his arms across his chest as Kael popped his button, exposing his chest. Blond streaks of hair peeled out and glinted against the dim light.

“Leoric called to her. I smelt her too, it was…the scent on her was faint, too faint, I almost could perceive it. It was like she is an-”

“Omega.” Harry completed for Kael. Kael nodded. He intentionally left out the part where he was almost suffocated from her scent when she was far away but lost it when she was near. He didn’t understand it yet so he didn’t know how to explain it.

“Who?” Harry asked and clenched his teeth.

Kael fisted his palms by his side. “Elara.”

“The slave upstairs?” Kael nodded and Harry nodded once. “It can’t be. You don’t have a mate, Alpha Kael and if we were to find out there was one, it wouldn’t be an omega from Grimblood Pack.”

Kael scoffed again. “It happened and she is here. In this house. An omega.”

“We will kill her.” Harry quipped.

“What? No, I want to figure out what that was about. You said you can always smell Genny at all times but since we got here, I haven’t had any whiff of her. Maybe it was a false call but until I clear everything out, she stays alive.”

“ And if we find out she is really your mate?”

“We will talk to the healer.”

“No. We will kill her.”

“Harry.”

“No, Kael, we will kill her. You are the Alpha of his pack, you can’t be with her; a common omega. We will follow the plan that has been mapped out, we will find you a lady and you will be with her. Nothing can ever work out with the slave. Nobody will even come looking for her, after all, she is now nothing but your slave.”