Chapter 4

Maddox looked down at Aylin as she slept. Sweat was trailing down her breast. His bites and claw marks were evident on her body. He was sure. Very sure, she would get pregnant that time. There was no doubt in his mind she would. 

He felt the way her womb descended and gripped onto his knot. ‘Willingly’ and 'desperately.' This time, both he and Bane took part in it. There was no way they wouldn’t turn out fine.

He grabbed a loose pair of sweatpants that hung on his waist. From his drawer, he grabbed a Cohiba and a lighter. Looking at Aylin’s sleepy and spent form, he pressed a kiss on her temple, covering her fully before jumping off his window and landing smoothly on the grass. 

Lighting the tobacco, he took a long drag and walked the ground of his pack.

The Blackcrest Claws had been in his family generation for as long as his mother could remember. She would always tell him of the greatness of his ancestors. And how the moon goddess was good to her and blessed her with a great and mighty son like her.

She had told him how joyous the pack had been when she had given birth to a lycan. She said it wasn’t an easy birth, and she was very grateful to bring back the bloodline that was supposedly lost in his father's family.

The pack was his. 

Not the elders.

He had the final say.

Not the elders.

Aylin Woods was his mate… Not Connie Sterling. 

He knew it from the moment he felt her. She was shocked at the fact she was his mate. She had risen from the ‘bottom’ of the ladder to the top. 

“But now…”

“But now?” A voice called from his front. 

It was his beta and best friend, Toby.

“Alpha.” He greeted, baring his neck to him. Maddox hummed while walking past him. 

“Walk with me.”

Toby did as commanded. 

“Are you on shift?” 

“Yeah. Just making the rounds.”

Maddox shoved his left hand into his pocket as he took a drag from his tobacco. 

“What do you think of the situation?" he finally asked. Pausing at this feat, he looked up at the bright silver moon. The Luna goddess had blessed them again with a beautiful sight.

“Between Luna Aylin and Connie.”

Maddox hummed a reply. 

An alpha of few words.   

Or a man of few words. 

Since Toby had known him since they were kids, he knew Maddox would rather ignore or remain silent to most things. Only triggering things gets him riled up.

After all, he was both physically bigger and stronger than most males. One could call it restraint.

“Before that… Do you want a response from your beta or your best friend?"

“Which one is beneficial to me?”

Toby chuckled at his words, as he knew what he meant by 'beneficial' to him.

“Well, I guess, the best friend's advice.”

“I see.” Smoke came out from both his nose and mouth.

“Give me both," he finally opted for a sensible option.

“As your Beta, since there is proof and fact… Connie. As an alpha, you need an heir. Anything can happen to you. You might be a lycan, but you don’t know who is planning your death.”

He knew that; he fucking knew that. He knew he needed an heir, and soon. It would be different if he didn’t have a mate; it would be calmer. But he did. He had a mate, and the mate couldn’t bear him a child.

At some point he began worrying if it were from him and not her.

"After all, lycans are rare. I mean, how many generations had passed before the past luna, your mother—may her soul rest in peace—bore you? And she couldn’t give birth again after you.” 

He moved the tobacco from one side of his lips to another. 

“But as a friend?”

“As a friend? Stay with Aylin; I can see the effect she has on you. A typical and normal one you have with your mate.” Toby had a distant look in his eyes. The desire to find your mate is the desire of most wolves.

“It’s clear she completes you.” He continued as he quickly brushed his own issue to the side. “But alas, you are an alpha, and you have—you think with your head and not your heart.”

“Perhaps I should just pick Aylin up, and we could run away."

“Don’t even joke about that in the slightest," Toby answered sharply. An alpha turned rogue? Not a funny joke, not one bit.

But even at his words, Maddox didn’t laugh, almost looking like he wasn’t joking about his words to run away with Aylin.

“Hey!! Maddox, don’t even joke about that!!! Do you know what would happen if you did that?”

“I would live in peace with my mate?”

“And the pack? The pack your ancestors built and kept on their back?”

“I will appease their grave once a while.”

The men had a glarring match, and it soon slipped to Maddox seeing Toby’s eyes as a challenge.                                                                                                   

In their heated argument, their sharp ears got the sound of something. Connie stepped out of the clearing before the titled wolves. 

“It’s lights out. You should be sleeping.”

She rubbed her hands before meeting Maddox's eyes even though it was Toby who just spooked her. 

“Well, I couldn’t sleep. I was thinking of doing that since the Alpha doesn't want his heir.”

“HOW DARE YOU?!” Toby blazed at her words. It was as though she were calling Alpha Maddox a deadbeat wolf dad.

“Toby, leave us; let's talk.” The tobacco had been exhausted; he turned it off with the bottom of his bare feet.

Connie stared at the floor; Maddox stared at her until Tob left. 

“Care to explain…"

“What? You don’t remember? We shared a night together at the event, and that’s what happened. I don’t understand. Alpha, do you know how it had been to be bathed alone, change alone, just because I didn't want anyone to see the markings?"

She looked up at the clear sky, the moon reflecting on her chocolate brown hair. 

“Then the moon goddess blessed you and blessed us. With a child.” She placed her hand on her belly and stared at him.

“This is your only heir and you—”

His ears twitched at a shuffle. Someone was here. It didn’t smell like a wolf.

Looking at Connie, she had a coy look on her face as something leaped out from her shadow.

“What are you—” He groaned once a gust of powder was blown at his face, quickly blurring his vision.

Connie stepped close to him, cupping his face in her hands as she stared into his eyes. The eyes that indicated his lycan.

It slowly dimmed until it had a distant, blank look in it. The hairs on his body reduced, and his claws and fangs withdrew. They had successfully subdued the lycan.

“And you… will be mine.” She completed her previous words. With Maddox's human eye looking at her, she leaned down and kissed him, his eye color slowly changing.