10. THEO

Chapter 10

THEO

She doesn’t believe me.

She doesn’t believe me!

Kicking the potted plant on the porch with frustration, the ceramic pot splits in half. As it crumbles to the floor, the heap of soil it once carried spills out. The plant itself is covered in dirt now, the entire fixture ruined.

Great!

“Son?”

Mother’s voice is gentle and calming, yet it has alarm bells of its own attached to it. The potted plant was something Mother carved herself and placed strategically outside the front door.

Grimacing when she opens that door to the horror of the crime I’d just committed, I say nothing. She looks up with eyes growing wide, green depths searching my soul for answers.

“What in the Moon Goddess’s name…?” she murmurs, lifting a hand to cup her mouth as she gapes in shock.

This is definitely not the homecoming I should be giving her. Heck! I hadn’t even planned a welcome for my parents.

And this right here isn’t going to work.

“Mom, I’m–”

“Don’t,” Mom shakes her head, dismissing any excuse with a hand in the air. Imitating Mia’s rejection of the truth, I’m reminded why I’d lost my temper in the first place.

It’s uncalled for – I know that much. I also know that I can’t be angry at either woman. It’s unfair of me. I’d just ruined Mother’s favorite potted plant.

And I’d also singlehandedly disrupted Mia’s entire existence.

Mother looks at the broken pot while shaking her head in disappointment. Soon, Anastasia and my father join us outside on the porch.

A flurry of questions comes crashing on me. All three of my family members prod me for a valid reason for my outburst.

And I have no intention of answering their questions. Angrily huffing a breath, I spin on my heels and make my way back toward the forest.

The invitation of the hooting owls in the treetops is accepted as I shift into wolf form to escape.

Not that it helps my dilemma. In fact, it makes it much worse. The heightened senses of the Alpha wolf raging through my veins only serve as a reminder that I am no longer on my own.

I form one half of two parts that make a whole. Forged from the great fires of the Moon Goddess’s source energy, this orb of energy that powers my being was once twice its size.

And the other half exists in Mia’s being.

Together, our two polarized energy fields make a whole. The fated mate bond binds us through lifetimes. This current timeline is where I exist as Alpha Theo Marrock. And she, Mia Alverez.

Our paths crossed by fate itself, as if Destiny tied the loose ends together and had us meeting on opposite sides of the river. The destination my paws seek now as I tread through the forest.

A faint signal enters my mind, but it’s barely audible enough to make out. It’s like the connection isn’t strong enough to carry the message over. Frowning, I slow down my jog and try to focus.

‘Theo! Please!’

I freeze on the spot immediately, hearing Mia’s mental communication for the first time. If there ever was confirmation for the mate bond, it’s this. The mind link that is only ever shared between members of the same pack.

It’s a form of communication that extends to fated mates of different packs.

‘I need you!’

It’s those three words that spur me into action. I’m bolting out ahead, sprinting forward as quickly as my paws can take me. Crushing stones and dead leaves beneath my cushioned soles without remorse.

‘Where are you?’ I ask urgently through the mind link, though I’m running on pure instinct. Cutting through the forest as I make my way toward the direction where I’d left her in the woods.

‘The river…’ Her mind-link response comes as a whisper. She’s afraid. I can feel the tension rising through the hairs standing at attention on the back of my head. Like a radar, it signals that she’s in grave danger.

And every step that takes me forward fuels my need to protect her. Rushing out from under the fallen willow, I burst through the air with a magnificent roar.

The sound is enough to startle the perpetrators who stand across the river. I knock into both, sending them hurtling into the nearby trees.

A thunderous roar belts from deep within my chest as a warning to the men wielding weapons.

Weapons they struggle to get a grip on as I smack my head against one’s arm. The other reaches for the shotgun on the ground, but I’m quick to grab it between my sharp canines.

Crushing the weapon is like child’s play before turning to the man with a venomous snarl. My lips peel back to flash him my distended canines, ready to puncture him to the bone.

Panicked screams fill the empty expanse between the river and the forest. Using the slightest power, a flick of my head knocks the men out cold.

When they’re taken care of, I exhale deeply before lifting my head. I’d crossed over the Nightwalker border to fight the humans who now lie unconscious. And now that the danger is gone, I search for Mia.

She emerges from behind a bush, appearing ruffled up. Her eyes are teary, fear flashing across the brown depths as her knees quiver.

Much like the first time I met her – only more frightened.

‘Mia…’ I breathe in relief as I rush forward. Crossing the river and ignoring how drenched I am, I climb up the riverbed to where she awaits me.

‘You h-heard me?’ her voice quivers as she takes a trembling step forward. I get closer too, pressing my nuzzle to hers.

Our eyelids close in unison as we keep our lips pressed as one, breathing in each other’s scents. It’s heady and intoxicating.

‘Of course, I heard you, mate of mine. I heard you.’

But most of all, it’s relieving to feel her presence enveloped in mine. Her aura – so petite and vulnerable – immersed by the protection the Alpha provides.

Because that’s all I was created to do. I was placed here by The Moon Goddess’s own hand to protect my fated mate.

Mia Alverez, who demands my undivided attention, is the fated mate I will protect and serve until my last breath. Even if it scares her.

Truthfully, it scares me too. A huge responsibility is attached to the fated mate bond. Unwavering loyalty is what the rest of my life will consist of.

With that inner acknowledgment of my duties, I shift into human form. It’s as if Mia reads my mind – which is quite possible – and shifts into her human.

When my arms can wrap around her, I pull her close. Chest to chest, flesh to flesh. Our heartbeats flow as one living entity as my lips seek her kisses.

Soft and slow, it’s a perfect vow for the rest of our lives. Like sealing a contract between two souls already tethered by fate itself.

Holding Mia in my arms, I make a heartfelt mental prayer to the Moon Goddess for keeping her safe in my absence. Now that I’m here at last, I’ll never allow anything to harm her.

“They’re humans…?” Jarrod makes the obvious observation as he leans into one’s face. As if inspecting him like he’d never seen a human before.

“No shit, dude!” Liam playfully slaps Jarrod’s arm on his way into the dungeon.

Having brought the hunters to the dungeon under the pack bunker, we’ve been on high alert. An additional crew had been sent out to patrol the perimeter. While a group of new recruits guards the surveillance screens upstairs.

“The real question is…” I begin as I inspect the arm of the man who wielded a crossbow. Just beneath his leather sleeve, he has a tattoo of a pistol with the number “78” inked across his wrist.

I check the other man, discovering the same thing.

“It’s a symbol for a group of them,” I say as I drop his hand on the ground. Getting to my feet, I turn to my two right-hand men and nod. “Find out if it belongs to a gang of some sort.”

My Beta and Delta both nod, Liam placing his hand on his temple when he receives a mind link.

He opens his eyes then and sets his darkened eyes on me.

“The ammo was all silver,” he informs me.

A shiver runs down my spine as all the possibilities come to the surface. If a silver bullet touched Mia–

I gulp to swallow the anger that threatens to boil over. Instead, I curl my fists and turn to the human hunters I found at the river. ‘Hunters’, because they carried ammunition meant to harm us.

Unlike humans, ordinary ammunition doesn't pierce our skin. Our fur protects us from this. It's only silver that can pierce the protective layer.

They came prepared. To hurt our kind.

That means they know of our existence. We have to do something.

“We need to call a meeting with Cyrus Savage,” I decide on the spot. “We need that alliance.”

Liam clears his throat and coughs, “What about Ana, Theo?”

I stare at him forlornly. “She'll have to be forsaken. We can't survive these threats if we're not allied.”

Liam gulps hard, slowly nodding his head as he processes the magnitude of my dilemma.

It's not what I want to do. It's what I have to do. My sister will understand. Goddess! I pray she'll understand.

If Cyrus agrees that Mia can be my bride in exchange for the alliance... But she's an Omega, and he'd care less if I took her. The alliance needs to be stronger than that.

Ana would have to forsake her happiness for the sake of the pack. It's something I'd have to do, but is falling on her now.

I'd get my happiness. Anastasia won't. How can I live with that?

I feel powerless without choices.

“Just let me take care of the rest. I'll figure something out. For now, the alliance is a priority.”

“On it, Alpha,” Jarrod agrees with a salute.

I turn to Liam with a raised brow. He relents with a sigh, and salutes reluctantly.

“I trust you, Theo,” he says as he turns to leave.

I place a hand on his shoulder. It's dominant, commanding him to hear the Alpha when it says, “I will do whatever it's in the best interests of the pack.”

“Naturally,” he concedes with a nod before proceeding to leave the facility.

When I'm alone with the hunters in the dungeon, I have a moment to think. We need them as collateral, we’ll keep them here. At least, until Cyrus arrives.

It will give me the upper hand. That way, he might accept a different Nightwalker she-wolf instead of Ana.

It's my only hope.

Hope that seems to be fizzing out like the end of a wave. I know Cyrus has ulterior motives.

So how far is he willing to go?

It's a waiting game right now. In the meantime, I'll spend every waking minute with my fated mate. And if fate pulls us apart through the alliance, at least I felt it.

The fated mate bond.