4

“I’m not sure it’s good to see you Arnold” Tamlin spat with malicious intent.

“It’s Alpha Arnold to you” The man corrected, his position upright as he stood right behind me.

Tamlin let out a cruel laugh, trying too hard to sound like he was in control. “I hadn’t realized you were coronated,” he sneered. “I guess the invitation was lost in the pile of unimportant things we receive every day.”

Aaron, standing at his side, echoed the laugh, but it was empty, forced. Nothing about this moment was amusing to this strange man.

Instead, He pulled his right hand from his pocket,

“Give the girl back to us” Aaron requested, his brows knotted with his lashes.

Arnold didn’t move. Didn’t even acknowledge him. It was as if Aaron didn’t exist, as if he were no more than dust floating in the corner.

Aaron’s face twisted with fury, lips curling back. He hated being ignored, hated being dismissed. His anger shook through his words. “Did you hear me?” he barked.

“Give us the girl and we will leave” Tamlin chirped in. His look on me was scornful, threatening.

“Don’t make me repeat myself” Arnold spoke.

I lifted my head for the first time since collapsing. My gaze climbed up to meet his, and in that single second, his eyes lowered, catching me in their pull. There was something in them I hadn’t seen before, not from anyone. Not desire, not pity, something stronger. Attraction.

“She is the Alpha’s mate,” the man beside him added, stepping forward like a declaration.

“That’s not possible because she is my mate, tell her Alora” Tamlin inquired of me.

I couldn’t. My lips refused. My throat closed. I turned my eyes away, anywhere but him, anywhere but that face that had betrayed me.

He screamed my name. “Alora!”

And then—softly, my name again. “Alora.”

But not from Tamlin.

From Arnold.

He rolled my name across his tongue like it was treasure, not a burden. His voice softened around it, tasting it, savoring it. “That’s a beautiful name,” he said, and then he did something no one had ever done. He held his hand out to me.

I stared at it, frozen. A hesitation clawed at me. He was an Alpha, I was nothing. A leftover. Why would someone like him ever mean it? Why would he ever want me?

But his hand waited, The moment my skin touched his, something burst inside me, a jolt of electricity rushing through my veins, lighting me from the inside out. His grip was warm, grounding, alive. He pulled me gently, but with strength, lifting me from the ground like I weighed nothing.

“Alora, come back here right now. Your mate is commanding you” Tamlin yelled.

It didn’t mean anything to me. I have never defied Tamlin in all my life, as the Alpha’s son, he had his dominance over me and it became worse when I found out he was my mate.

I found myself doing anything he requested of me, like I was a robot forced to do his bidding’s.

But now, I felt nothing, nothing but warm hands squeezing mine.

It was possible to have more than one mate but it was rare, specially meant for people with much higher status.

Looking at this tall man beside me, I didn’t feel the mate bond, not the way I felt for Tamlin.

Not sure if he is lying that I was his mate, but then why would he need to lie.

To save me? I was a nobody to him, my life was just as irrelevant as the omegas in his pack.

There was nothing special about me, everyone made me realize that.

“Alora” Tamlin snapped me out of my thoughts. I raised my head to look at him, he was pissed, his eyes darkened.

“She is not going anywhere with you” Arnold stated, he pushed me behind him and towards the other man who took a protective stance in front of me.

Tamlin was barely visible to me.

“Arnold, you realize…”

“Alpha Arnold” He cut Tamlin off.

Tamlin let out of a grunt of exasperation before he spoke, “You realize that you are breaking the treaty we have” he twisted his lips waiting for a response but there was nothing, then he sighed, “Alpha Arnold”

Only then did he respond to him, “I know very well of the treaty, I wrote it”

“Then you know that if any object or human from Riverdale pack stumbles upon yours, then it is your duty to return it or her” His head tilted toward me, that cruel little smirk still playing at his lips. He thought he had me, even now.

Arnold chuckled, “impressive of you to remember, but did you forget that if something of mine stumbles into your pack, it is my duty to retrieve it.”

“She is my mate and she stumbled into your pack, it is your duty to return her” Tamlin corrected.

“I will not give my mate back to you, that is final.” Arnold stated.

Tamlin blew off, steam erupting from his ears, he took two steps into the border when Aaron got struck. A spear had struck him clean through the shoulder, blood spurting as he staggered, his face pale with shock.

“You take one more step and your useless Beta will be dead” Arnold warned.

Tamlin had no choice than to move back.

There was silence between the men except the screams of Aaron, as he yanked the spear free, his blood pooling on the ground.

“You are overstepping your boundaries, you know that means war”

Arnold didn’t flinch. His eyes were fire, his grip tightening on my hand. “If it is war you want, then war you shall have. But from this day forward, Alora belongs to me. You are to forget her.” Arnold gave his words and grabbed my hand again, then turned, leading me away.

“Kill him if he dares step across our border,” He ordered his men without looking back.

“ALORA! THIS IS NOT OVER!” Tamlin screamed from a distance.