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“Why would I be angry at her? Did you expect me to get jealous? Is that the reaction you were hoping for? I haven’t got the time or the energy to feel anything for you,” I tell him before turning on my heel and walking out.
Macey and Zoe are waiting by the door as I walk out. Macey moves to touch me, but I hold up my hand. She knows instantly not to touch me; she knows I'll break.
“Go, we'll handle this,” they tell me.
I rush out the door, heading for one of the apartments out the back that Zoe and I share together. I run through the gardens and up the steps before unlocking the door. The moment I close it, I fall apart.
ChapterTwenty
Valen
I'm not proud of my actions almost immediately after leaving the hotel and my mate. Ashley won’t stop crying and demanding to know who Everly is to me, but I know if I tell her right now, it will be all over the city by the end of the day; the last thing I want is the media hunting Everly down and harassing her. So, I remained quiet the entire drive until I pull up in front of her house. Ashley reaches for me and I pull away.
I can’t stand her touch; it repulses me, and my entire body is pulling me back in the direction of my mate. I know I need to figure something out fast. I don’t know how my father survived my mother dying. This is agony, and I've only been away from her for five minutes.
“Get out!” My voice escapes as more of a growl. Startled by it, Ashley jumps, looking at me nervously, frozen in her seat.
“Get out,” I repeat at her. The Command rolls over her, and her hand reaches for the door handle before hastily getting out.
“And Ashley?” I start as she climbs out of the car. She stops with her hand still on the open door and looks back in at me.
“Don’t come looking for me. Stay the fuck away from me, or you will find yourself living with the rest of the forsaken.”
She gasps; I've never banished anyone from the city before. We usually try to avoid forsaking wolves, but she just made finding my mate an entirely new struggle when she couldn’t remain in the damned car like I asked. Her puffy, red eyes blink at me in shock at my words before she nods and slams my door shut.
I start the drive home with a sigh, wanting nothing more than to return to the Mountainview Hotel and retrieve my mate. I can’t understand why she didn’t want me. Wasn’t that all she-wolves wanted—to be mated to an Alpha? Yet, she tossed me aside like she felt nothing for me. And she's a damn rogue. She should be jumping for joy!
The chances of an Alpha being bonded to a rogue are rare. It isn’t like it's never happened, but most Alphas are bonded to other Alphas. I only know of two other Alphas in the country mated to someone of lower rank. But Everly is the first rogue I've heard of being bonded to an Alpha.
However, I don’t care; I just want her. I've always wanted my mate. She could have been a freaking unicorn for all I care. I trusted the Moon Goddess to make the right choice for me, and after seeing her, I can’t imagine being with anyone else. My mind is entirely consumed with her, her scent, the tingles that rushed over me when she touched me.
But something is off—right on the tip of my tongue. I have this weird sense of déjà vu, which I know is insane. I definitely would have recognized my mate had I seen her before, but even her name… I swear I've heard that name before. Why can’t I place it? Was it in a dream?
One thing I do know is that I have to find a way to win her over. Technically, I could mark her forcefully. It's allowed by our laws, as Alphas can be weakened without their mates. It's considered unacceptable for an Alpha to be debilitated because they were longing for their Luna.
If the Alpha is limited by his mate, the entire pack is put at risk, and I can’t allow that. I need her, and she needs me. She will feel the pull; it's inevitable. She's good at pretending I don’t affect her, but her heart rate said otherwise, the way her breathing increased at my proximity. But no one can live without their mate, or so I hoped, and she would be mine.
Pulling back into the parking lot of my hotel, I groan when I see my father’s car still parked where it was. I was hoping Marcus could get rid of him while I was gone, but what intrigues me is the car parked beside it. A growl escapes me when I see Alpha John’s car parked in my reserved parking spot beside my father’s. What the fuck is he doing here?
The valet rushes over when I stop the car, toss my door open, and stalk inside, leaving the vehicle running.
The receptionist jumps at the growl that escapes me, echoing off the marble floors and making the windows vibrate.
“Where is he?” I snap at her.
“Conference room one, Alpha, with your father and Beta.”
I nod, heading for the stairs instead of the elevator, not willing to wait. I take the stairs on the left and race up to the first floor.
This side of the first floor is mainly office buildings and off-limits to patrons; the other half is sectioned off and all restaurant and bar areas. When I reach the door, I swipe my card to let myself in; the lock clicks before the door swings inward to a corridor. Walking past a few open doors, I can see pack members look out at me nervously. It is no secret that Alpha John and I don’t get along.
We are constantly in the media, and a few public incidents recently have the entire city on edge that a war is coming. Honestly, it's inevitable; Alpha John has been overstepping. He wants part of my pack’s border and is willing to try to get it by any means necessary, regardless of who he's hurting in the end.
Since the main street and the streets behind it are neutral territories, he can’t stake a claim to the land. But that doesn’t stop him from driving out those living or owning businesses there. He recently had a few of the smaller pack businesses shut down, burnt out, or even robbed.
Alpha John is a sneaky bastard, never doing his own dirty work—there have even been rumors he's getting help from the higher-ups in the human cities. Unfortunately, without proof—and no one wanting to get involved—there isn’t much anyone can do; he has them running scared.
This is really not the time to be having a war in our own city—not when so many people have gone missing recently. We've kept track of how many she-wolves, and even a few forsaken wolves, have gone missing. Talk of hunters coming back has the entire city worried already. The last thing we need right now is for our city to look divided; it would make it easier for the city’s human communities to pick us off.
