Chapter 6 - Mate Bond Tampering

“Please I need the new set of lingerie in black, the one on sale. Can I get it in my size?” I asked, still checking my watch as I counted down the minutes to when I needed to be at my third job that day. 

“Yeah sure Mara, I’d get it for you.” The shop attendant in the lingerie shop said, 

The store I worked at was right next door, staff met out front for lunch and most times we talked. 

I never shared my own story though, a little here and there. It was better that way. 

I straightened my uniform as she came out, with a box. I opened it, it was a simple black lace bralette and matching underwear. Definitely the kind of thing that could make me feel like a woman again, not a tired old mother. 

I closed it just as a customer spoke to Jenna. I stretched out my card. 

Most of my pay from my odd jobs had already disappeared into the mortgage, utilities and Aiden’s debt I still hadn’t finished paying off. It was like he basically did nothing but here I was using all that was left to buy new lingerie so he could be attracted to me. 

“Can I get that same lingerie in my size,” the lady asked. 

“Oh! I’m sorry. That’s the last in that size.” Jenna retorted. 

“So why are you giving it to her then? Good, she hasn’t paid.” The woman stretched out her card. 

Jenna looked at me and slightly shook her head. “Ma’am I’m sorry but she has already paid, I’m just trying to get her receipt.” 

“Don’t lie, she hasn’t paid, I saw her give you her card. Listen, I’d pay double for it and add a nice tip. Just give it to me, it’s my anniversary weekend and I need something new for my boat cruise.” The woman said. 

I couldn’t even, here I was trying to save my marriage from burning when a woman just the same size as me was going on boat cruises for her anniversary weekend. 

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do, I can’t inconvenience another customer.” Jenna retorted, her jaw tight. 

I stared at my watch. Shit! Almost late for my shift, just a couple minutes left. 

“Customer?” the lady spat as she sized me up and down. “Judging from her looks, I’d say she can’t even afford it. She’s just another shop attendant…” She read my name tag. “Mara, is it? Listen I’d pay you a week.. two weeks worth of work for that lingerie and still give your friend here a tip, just hand it over. You can get another one with the money.”

Maybe I could but there was something about her condescending attitude that made me already dislike her. 

“No thank you. I’ve already paid for the set and I believe you can get any other set with your money.” I gave Jenna a curt nod, a signal that I’d return to pay after the customer left. 

As I stepped out, this lady followed, reeking of ego. 

I stepped into the store where I worked and she continued speaking. 

“Excuse me, don’t walk out. I’m making you an offer, why is it that these cheap omegas don’t ever understand their place these days.” 

I stopped in my tracks. 

She just called me a cheap omega, I was a beta, a warrior for my pack, a pack she belonged to. If I hadn’t been dismissed, she would bow in curtsy when I walked past. 

Before I could react, the air shifted. I smelt something different, it was like a higher specie of wolf was with us. The kind of presence that didn’t walk in—it claimed the space.

“Is there a problem here?” The voice was smooth, dragging along my spine like silk over a blade. The scent of him swallowed me whole—leather, musk, and something deeper, darker. A scent that curled low in my gut and screamed of dominance.

The woman gave me a scowl as she looked behind me. Her eyes twinkled as she tried to make out her words. “No. No. None at all.” 

She quickly stepped out of the store. 

I turned around and the breath was almost knocked out of me. 

There he was. 

Alpha Damon Cullen

I’d seen him before, he was younger and it had been from a distance. He had given a memorial speech after the rogue massacre just when he had taken up his title as Alpha.

 He was the youngest Alpha in all five surrounding packs, far younger than any Alpha I’ve known, but he had grown since then… he was now the most promising leader and it seemed like the years I had been out of the army, he’d been carved by the best werewolves. 

There was this raw potential he carried—every inch of him spoke of a future pack legend. I shouldn’t be gawking like a curious recruit…but I couldn't help it.

His body was taut and toned, he looked like he was created by the moon Goddess herself, a temptation to the eyes of the mated and a dream for the girls who hadn’t found their mates. 

He stood tall and sharp in our store. 

I stood there frozen, the bag in my hand crinkling slightly. Somehow I couldn’t find my words right. 

“Good after… evening.” I stammered. 

Damon’s eyes were on me. Steady like he knew something about me but that wasn’t why I stammered, close proximity with him felt like I was unraveling, burning hot for some reason. I couldn’t explain it. 

He was so much younger, and yet so promising. My pulse raced and I couldn’t tell if it was admiration or something I shouldn’t have felt.

“Are you the store manager?” He asked. 

My brain scrambled, “No.. no, I just stock and… and I sell to cust…” I couldn’t make out a single sentence with his eyes on me. 

He cut in smoothly. “It doesn’t matter, I’d like you to help me anyway, you seem attentive.” 

Other workers were staring starry eyed from behind the counter. 

“Why her? I heard he hardly speaks to female wolves” 

“He’s speaking to Mara, I want him to speak to me too.”  

“Shouldn’t he be speaking to us? Who knows? Maybe I’d get to be his mate.”

“He hasn’t found his mate yet, but there are rumors that he doesn’t even try. He’s so busy being Alpha, he’s always on distant missions to bettering the pack.” 

“That makes him even more sexy, Girls like us can only dream.”

I tried to ignore them but I was thinking the same thing, I followed him to the counter, where an older beta with broad shoulders and graying hair stood beside him. 

The beta reminded me of my father. 

“We heard this store deals in some rare and magical items like props,” Damon said, casually scanning a row of boxes with fake hand charms. “I’m looking for something specific.” 

“Of course,” I said quickly, trying to keep my voice steady. “What kind of item are you looking for exactly?” 

He smiled and looked at the staff now huddled at the counter. The smile made my heart skip, I had seen handsomeness in Aiden, he was what I thought was the standard but Alpha Damon transcended that standard by far. 

The beta cleared his throat. The girls scampered in different directions, busying themselves doing nothing.  

“I’m looking for something to block the mate bond,” he replied. “Specifically it’s emotional influence.” 

My heart clenched, there was no such thing, and why would anyone want that?

“I’ve.. I’ve never heard of something like that,” I said. 

He tilted his head, his expression blank as he tried to figure out if I was lying. 

“Why would anyone want something like that?” 

He smirked. “Are you curious?” 

The older Beta spoke. “We’re investigating illegal enchanted items circulating across packs, dangerous items. Alpha Cullen is tracking the source, we’d appreciate your help if you happen to come across anything… unusual in your stock.” 

I nodded quickly. “Of course.”

Just then, the girl behind the counter Sylvia, leaned over the counter. 

“Actually,” she whispered. “There was someone, a very handsome man, who came in a couple of months ago, asking for something like that… a pendant, I think? He was convinced that particular pendant could hide one from a mate bond. We told him we only sold magical props, nothing real but he went straight for it. Like he knew what it was.” 

Damon’s eyes sharpened. “Did he leave his contact information?”

As his eyes sharpened on Sylvia, it was like she was also stunned by him. 

Sylvia hesitated. “Well, I kind of poached his number from the boss, but I haven’t had the courage to call him since.” 

She searched her phone and wrote the number on a small piece of paper. As she wrote my eyes followed the numbers. 

I didn’t mean to but it felt like I knew the digit she’d write after each one. 

My heart dropped to the floor. 

It was Aiden’s number.