Chapter 7 - Chosen Mates

Ciara's POV 

I look at them in shock. Then, my mouth moves before my brain can catch up to stop me. “Wait… Isn’t Alpha Mars… like ancient old?”

Behind me, I can hear Noah and James burst out laughing. “No! Muttonhead, he just turned 28 last month.” Noah pokes me in the back of the head.

“Well… The rumors make him sound like he’s been around the battlefield block a time or two. Plus, Hazel will just turn 18, so that’s a pretty significant age gap,” I say annoyed as I cross my arms in frustration at being called names. “And I’m not a muttonhead, you single-brain cell monkey.”

I whisper the last part because I don’t want our father hearing me, but no luck. Our father growls at us to stop acting childish. ‘You are 25 and 20 and you are the representatives of our Beta family. Act your age!’ He minds-links us privately. My mind instantly went to act your age not your shoe size, but this time I was smart enough not to sing that out loud.

“You know very well that werewolves treat age differently than humans. I’m 26. and my goddess-given mate, Lilly, is 19. I can’t be any happier. She’s perfect for me.” James reaches out and pats me on the head. I frantically wave his hand away from my hair.

‘Why does everyone treat us like some sort of house pet?’ Ember growls in my mind.

“OK but that’s Goddess-given mates, not chosen mates.” I say. “But still… This is some news…” I trail off, my mind swirling from the bomb that was just dropped. Of all the things they could have said I wasn’t expecting a mating contract between Mars and Hazel! Alpha Mars is considered one of the most ruthless, bloodthirsty Alphas in the last few centuries. He isn’t known as the future Alpha King of War for nothing. Heck! He probably eats rogue werewolf casserole for dinner!

‘He’s probably part vampire since he loves blood and killing so much.’ Ember snorts.

I mentally nod my head in agreement with her. No wonder Hazel was engrossed in all that Luna stuff while in the bar lounge. She’s always wanted to be the Luna of her very own pack, and now she’s going to be the Queen Luna? There’s no deflating that head of hers now. Queen Barbie Luna and her… What? King Ken? HA! HA! More like Little Red Riding Hood and the big bad bloodthirsty wolf!

The rumors about Alpha Mars are absolutely insane. One of the rumors is he eats the hearts of his victims, which can’t be sanitary. Another one is he rescues damsels in distress just to have sex with them and then pushes them off a cliff. To me, that seems like a lot of work just to get a lay in the hay, so I don’t believe that rumor.

Now that I think about all the different rumors about him, Hazel is a goner. Don’t get me wrong, I am on decent terms with Hazel, but I am pretty sure Alpha Mars is going to eat her for breakfast with a side of buttermilk pancakes. Or maybe he’s a waffles kind of guy… If that’s true what a shame that would be. I’m Team Pancakes!

I can’t help comparing Hazel and me since we have grown up together, but we are treated differently. Since I am usually either training, patrolling the border, running drills or working out, I don’t have a lot of time to mingle with people and be the picture-perfect popular girl like Hazel. She’s all model ready and I look like I rolled out of bed 10 minutes ago.

The pack knows me as Beta Leon’s adopted kid. No one ever tries to get to know me because they think I’m strange. To say it hurts my feelings is an understatement, even though I’m use to the strange looks, I still feel a small sting of resentment. They tolerate me because of my father, which I have unwillingly accepted.

“Hey! Muttonhead!” Noah breaks me from my mental conversation with myself. “You’re zoning out again.” He laughs, poking me again. I turn to glare at him just as our father growls in our direction and we both sit up straighter in our seats.

After a few minutes of silence, I finally speak what has been bugging me since the meeting started. “So… what does this have to do with me?” Hopefully we are getting to the anticlimactic scene of this awful sitcom called ‘Mars and Hazel, The Chosen Mates Show.’

Alpha Radar gives his Beta a knowing look. I can see they are mind-linking to each other. Must be about me again. No surprise there. Honestly, I always considered it rude to mind-link in front of others. Just text like normal people do.

“Dad. Just tell CJ.” James speaks up to his father.

With a heavy sigh, Alpha Radar gives me an unreadable expression. “As part of the official first meeting, the Blue Eclipse Pack will be bringing an entourage of pack members and warriors to join us to celebrate Hazel and to announce the union between the two packs. They will also be staying several weeks so they can participate in the Summer Moon Festival and Moonlight Run. We also decided that since this is no longer a pack-only party, we invited members of the Evergreen Alliance to join the festival as a sign of extending an olive branch of goodwill in hopes that many of their pack members will find their mates.”