14. Time to Take a Stand

Chapter fourteen

Time to Take a Stand

*ARDEN*

I 'm still reeling in everything that happened yesterday. For the first time in a long while, I had a relaxing sleep and woke up refreshed, looking forward to meeting my mate. Aurelia, who wants me despite knowing I can't hear well, who didn't ask any intrusive questions like others usually do. How did it happen? Why can't your lycan hear? Why didn't he heal you?

Why? How? When?

She showed interest and let me explain things at my own pace, just asking questions here and there to understand everything better. Yet, I realize I wouldn't mind telling her everything. She can ask any question she wants, and I wouldn't hesitate to answer them.

I get up early the next morning and, to my surprise, bump right into my brother when I‘m on the way to the dining hall. Our father is nowhere around, so I assume he is with his new affair partner. Not that I care.

"Arden!" Vander basically jumps at me, beaming. "You came home late, and you were humming."

"What are you?" I mutter. "My stalker?"

"Almost." He grins. "I am your sibling."

"Alright, come." I wave for him to head back with me to my room. "I have something to tell you. I want you to be the first to know, anyway."

He eyes me curiously, closing the door behind him. "That has to be a good secret. Please don't tell me you made up with Coralie."

"Why would I?" I ask.

He shrugs. "You are nice, and while I don't know what she did to upset you, I know she is a weasel."

"Don't diss weasels," I say. "Weasels are cunning, but they are also smart and very skilled. Climbing, swimming, running, and they are territorial. So—"

"Are we really going to talk about weasels, now?" Vander interrupts me.

"No, and I did not make up with Coralie," I say before lowering my voice to a whisper. "I met my mate."

"WHAT!?"

"Vander, keep it low!"

"Then, don't hit me out of the blue with this news," he argues, but then he breaks into a bright smile. "This is amazing! It is, right? She is cool, and you like her, and that's good news?"

"It is," I reassure him.

Vander jumps forward and hugs me. "I'm so happy for you." He pauses. "Are you going to tell Dad?"

I completely forgot about that, suddenly remembering that Aurelia said she would pick me up today… at my pack. I completely forgot that I have my asshole father here. Oh shoot, I didn't even warn her! I'm sure my father won't pull any shit with a lycan princess, but you never know. He generally thinks he is above everything and everyone, especially she-wolves.

And in my joy yesterday, I didn't even get her number!

I guess I could call Prince Eric and make sure he warns her or maybe even accompanies her, or better yet, tells her to wait, and I will pick her up. While still in my thoughts, I can feel my father's aura approaching. He is somewhere in the pack house.

"Arden?" Vander asks.

"What's the time?"

He glances at his watch. "Seven a.m."

Oh fuck! "I have to leave," I blurt out. "She is coming here to pick me up. And Dad is here too."

"Wait!" Vander yells, dashing out of the door to follow me. "I'm coming, too."

My heart almost jumps out of my chest as I rush out of the alpha suite and downstairs towards the entrance hall of the pack house. Cato is on full alert, too, both of us taking in our father's alpha aura, but the tugging in us, getting stronger the closer we get, is the one thing truly worrying me. Her scent fills my nostrils, and I find myself jumping over the last couple of steps and skidding into the entrance hall.

Vander bumps into me only a moment later.

Right in front of us are Dad and Beta Jules, three warriors, and Aurelia.

"Alpha," one of the men says. "This she-wolf came to our borders and told the guards she is from the Council."

"He forgot to mention that I did, in fact, identify myself," Aurelia says calmly. "I did not just waltz in here."

Dad furrows his brows. "And what do you want here, girl?" he asks, annoyed.

I've heard enough and have certainly had enough time to collect myself from the shock, so I push past the warriors and towards Aurelia. Her lips tug into a smile when she sees me. "Isn't it obvious?" she asks while looking at me, her smile growing. "I'm here to pick up my mate for a date," she says while looking at me.

She is amazing. I'm starting to feel impressed by her fearlessness and her confidence. She knows her power and position in our world and isn't afraid to use it. But, my idiot father has no idea who he is talking to because, as usual, he doesn't bother to ask any questions.

His mouth drops open after her last words, though, his eyes narrowing to a glare. "Who do you think you are to say you are mated to an alpha's son!? If anything, I get to choose his mate, so he will get at least one thing right. It's bad enough I have a useless cripple as my son."

I growl at him for the first time, not remembering ever fighting back at him. It even makes me forget the shame I feel for how he talked about me in front of my mate. I don't care what he says about me, but he will not threaten or insult my mate!

Before Dad can do anything, Aurelia laughs. "So that's how it is?" she muses. "Not happening," she continues. "You can whine and complain all you want. Arden and I are mates, and nothing is going to change that."

My father is fuming. Behind him, I can see Vander scooting closer, but I toss him a gaze that hopefully will tell him he should stand back. The last thing I need is my brother getting in the crossfire of this here. "You heard her," I say. "She is my mate. And we have accepted each other."

We have not done that, yet, but there is no doubt in me that I will.

Aurelia looks at me, her eyes softening. "Yes," she says, grabbing my face between her hands. I can feel her voice coming through. Never before have I been so thankful for being part of the Council. It means she and I can share a link without being part of the same pack, and without having accepted each other as mates.

I forgot to do it yesterday, Aurelia says. But I, Aurelia Alcott, accept you, Arden…

Shoal-Dupont

… Shoal-Dupont, my amazing prodigy, as my mate.

I gaze into her beautiful blue eyes. And I accept you, Aurelia Alcott, as my mate. My beautiful alpha.

I hear a growl next to us, pulling us out of our little lovey-dovey stare-off. Fortunately, my father has no idea what we just did, but me gazing at my mate like a lovesick pup proved to him that she is indeed my mate.

I can see surprise in his eyes, anger, and also resentment.

"Reject her," he bellows, using his alpha command on me.

I feel my mind aching, my whole body shaking at his command trying to come through. Cato projects an image into my mind, and with trembling fingers, I do as he says, switching off my hearing aid. Silence engulfs me. My father's still saying something while my mind searches for the information I need. Like flashbacks, I see them in front of me, everything I have ever read or heard of. It's like a palace I built in my mind to never forget anything.

A palace only I can enter. I know it's there somewhere. My fingers brush over the hundreds of book spines in my mind before I find it.

I read a book when I was a teen, I link Cato. I will project it for you. Do as it instructs.

It's a book with a small collection of protective spells that the witches at the Council wrote. I was a teen back then and resided there for them to check my loss of hearing. I was bored and read. And read. Everything I could find.

I can feel Cato's doubt.

We are of alpha blood, I tell him. No matter what Dad says, we are still of alpha blood. We are strong enough to protect our minds. The silence will only block him out for a while before he uses the mind link on me. I pause. She is our mate. She won't accept the rejection even if we try to. But do we want that? What kind of alpha are we if we don't fight his command!

Cato growls, his eyes narrowed to slits, and there is new determination in his eyes. Aurelia and Maxima are everything to him, and he would never give up on them. I can feel his power enhancing while he focuses on the spell I'm showing him. It's less a spell and more a meditation technique, helping ranked wolves keep a strong mind in tense situations. I focus on my mind, too, on Cato, Aurelia, and Maxima, a hint of her presence suddenly seeping into my mind.

A welcoming presence.

It helps Cato to focus further, step by step, building up a wall around our mind.

The spell is working, I mutter.

No, it isn't, Maxima says. It's your gift. Your mind is your gift. I can easily tell.

I swallow thickly. Eric said it all the time, repeating it over and over again, that while I lack bodily strength and don't have any visible gifts, he is sure there is something not easily detectable by our eyes that's sleeping in me.

My mind is getting calmer all of a sudden, and I take a deep breath, switching on the hearing aid again.

Focusing back on my surroundings. I notice Vander lying on the ground, a bruise forming beneath his left eye. He must have tried to stop Dad, and while he didn't fully stop him, he distracted him enough for Cato and me to strengthen our minds.

My own father hates me so much he wants to force me to reject my mate. What did I ever do to him? The accident wasn't my fault, and my hearing loss was just a consequence of said accident. His rejection of me back then hurt my heart more than anything could. I was a child back then, yet I understood what was happening.

The healers at the Council came up with excuses as to why my father wasn't visiting, why he couldn't, but even back then, my mind wouldn't allow me a moment of peace. I just knew. I put the puzzle pieces together and knew he didn't want to see me.

It was the only logical explanation.

And I was right.

Since then, I have locked myself inside my head. I studied and read and kept the silence around me, unless it was for Vander. I made it through school that way, and through the bullying of my schoolmates. Gustave's face flashes in front of my eyes, remembering how his friends would empty a bucket with white color over me. He was there, too, laughing. They would steal my books and break into my locker until I learned to hide my stuff.

They would insult me and mock me, then I blocked their voices and refused to hear them.

The silence was a gift at these moments.

I feel tingles on my hand, glancing downwards to notice Aurelia has taken my hand. I have her approval and Vander's. I don't need anyone else. Family is who I choose.

"No," I say, glaring at my father. "I won't reject her."