3. Deceiver

Chapter 3

Deceiver

AIDEN

The throne room closed in on me and stole the very air from my lungs. I stood there and stared angrily at the door that shut behind my brother and my childhood friend.

Nika.

I hadn't seen her in nearly three years, since she left for school. After her parents passed away, there was no need for her to come back to the pack. I closed my eyes and imprinted that initial image in my memories. Her long, brown hair flowed down her back in a waterfall of loose curls. Her warm, honey eyes appeared almost golden in the lighting of the throne room. Her body made my own hum with excitement that I had never felt before as she confirmed what my father had long thought would come to pass. Nika was meant to be my mate. She was my mate.

When my father passed the Alpha crown to me, so to speak, it was because he knew Nika would come home to the pack soon to take her place by my side as my Luna. She was supposed to have another year of college, since she had only been gone for three. I was supposed to have another year to explore others and live a little. What good was being Alpha if you never got to enjoy life?

"Be good to her, Aiden." My father used to say to me whenever Nika was around, or someone brought her up.

"Be ready for her, Aiden." He told me before he left on this last trip. My father's Beta, Raiden, had been paired with the daughter of an Alpha from another pack. Trinity. Nika's mom was a beautiful wolf and rivaled my mother in poise and grace. The fact that Trinity descended from a strong Alpha line was why father always thought their daughter would one day be my Luna. If not mine, then definitely someone else's because Nika took after her mother in every way except that she was also a fierce warrior, thanks to her father's stalwart training.

My father had not been wrong. Nika was my mate. He hadn't warned me that she would be coming back from university early. "Did she even graduate?" I asked out loud.

"With honors." One of the men still in the room answered.

"How do you know that?"

"It was in the update your father sent two weeks ago. He asked that you attend Nika's mini graduation, since she no longer had family to do so."

My head snapped around. "I never received any such message." How in the hell had my pack mates received a message from my father that was meant for me, yet I didn't get it at all? Something didn't add up. A sick feeling unsettled my stomach as I thought about the fact that no one had been there for Nika to celebrate with her.

Then it finally sunk in that she had the mate dream. That meant she had gone through her final transition alone instead of being celebrated with the pack. Had she come home to do so, she still would have found out about my harem and there was no way she would have agreed with me keeping them while she went back to school. I hadn't even prepared or contacted her about the plans to be here for her final transition though. It was a rite of passage for all female shifters, and she missed out on it. As her Alpha, it was my job to insist that she be with the pack during that important milestone and I hadn't even remembered she existed until she showed up in the throne room.

"Aiden?" Kyla called out from behind me. She had been my first volunteer as a harem member. In fact, she was the female who put the idea in my head that a harem would be just the thing to revolutionize the pack, since my father left it to me before I found my mate. At first, I had balked at the idea, having heard too many stories about what it was like in generations past when females were forced to partake, and males fought for rights to the mates who were dishonoring them by being with another male.

The way Kyla put it, if I had volunteers, it was the female's choice to be with me. Years ago, when harems had been used, it was to keep alphas from going crazy after their mate died, or in the case that they didn't have a mate. It worked for many to keep the power base leveled out for low-to-mid-level packs, but with advancing technology and the ability to travel between packs to search out mates, the hardship didn't really exist any longer.

That didn't mean the thought of having a harem of women at my beck and call until my mate came back to the pack didn't appeal to me. The one thing I never thought through was the problems it might cause for my mate later on. She might have had a point about the respect thing. I could imagine Kyla, and maybe a couple other females, giving my Luna a hard time for usurping their place by my side. I glanced around with wary eyes at the people who still stood around the throne room.

How the hell had I not received a message from my father when the rest of my council had been sent the same one?

"Aiden!" Kyla's tone demanded that I give her my undivided attention. I spun and growled at her. She might be my highest ranked harem girl, but that didn't mean she got to tell me what to do in my own fucking throne room. In my own home. In my fucking pack.

"You were all asked if this was what you wanted," I growled as I took in each female who sat near the Alpha and Luna's thrones that had been placed in the room four generations ago.

"You didn't have a confirmed Luna then," Ashton spoke up. She was the female who had a pup to care for. Her mate had been killed while she was still carrying their young, and this was her way of feeling useful to the pack. She offered to warm my bed for me until I found my Luna.

"I still don't have a Luna," I argued.

Ashton shook her head back and forth while biting nervously into her bottom lip. "You do," she dared to disagree with me. "I don't understand how you could turn your moon-blessed mate away." A tear dripped down her cheek and fell to the floor. I could have sworn there was an audible sound to accompany it. "Every day, I wish for one more moment with my mate. Every night, I cry that he's missing from our den. You should go after her, Alpha. Don't let your chance at happiness slip away."

"I'm not letting my chance at happiness slip away," I argued. "That's why she's going to Mirage Island for a while. You can leave and go cry into your pillow for your lost mate, and don't bother to come back." It was an order, full of alpha magic, so Ashton didn't hesitate to leave in tears.

"Alpha!" The bark from over my shoulder came from our Delta, my Uncle Drayton.

I spun and glared at my father's younger brother. "Something to say?" I asked.

"Has the madness set in so quickly?" His face, pulled tight in anger, made him look so much like a younger version of my father that I had to do a double take. It felt like my father's judgment sat heavy on my chest.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me, boy."

How dare he disrespect me this way. Looking like my father or not, my uncle was out of line to question me, especially in front of other members of the pack.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Might as well be. I'd rather die today knowing that at least I spoke up about this nonsense, than to allow it to happen and not take a stand. The way you spoke to that woman, the one who lost her mate, was heartless and not becoming of any Alpha I want to serve under. But the way you spoke to your own mate was unforgivable. You think you only sent Nika away until YOU are ready to claim her , but she won't come back to you now. There were no lies extolled by the woman who should be our pack's revered Luna."

"Our Luna will change her mind in time," I sneered at my uncle.

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Because I am Alpha here, and I have a plan."

My uncle scoffed at me. The man looked dangerously close to losing his fucking head. "You have a plan to get a female to change her mind about being mated to a man who locked her up on a prison island, so he could fuck a harem of she-wolves who are so far beneath her they might as well be dirt?"

"Careful with your words, Uncle. Those females can still hear you and they are pack members."

"And all of them should know better than to be involved in this tainted display. The only one I didn't feel that way about was Ashton. As a widowed wolf, who told you that once you had a mate, she could no longer be a part of your harem, she was the only one who didn't set out to disrespect someone else's mate. You know, the same woman who left here in tears and only signed up to be a part of this monstrosity because she's desperate to care for her young. At least she has a reason to debase herself that isn't purely selfish."

Some of the females behind me began to cry in earnest at my uncle's chastisement. "Apologize!" I growled at him.

"I don't apologize for the truth, Aiden. You know that." He shook his head at me. The disappointment that dripped from his eyes nearly undid me. Then I remembered how Nika spoke to me, and I thought better of it. If nothing else, she deserved this punishment for how she dared to challenge the Alpha of our pack in front of others. Our argument could have been taken to a private space.

"Our pack's Luna will never forgive you, Nephew. That means our pack no longer has a Luna. Even if, for some gods-forsaken reason she chose to mate with you after the way you treated her, how will the pack ever respect her when you taught them that she deserved none? Either way, how long before our pack falls due to your selfish behavior?"

"You will have a gods-damned Luna!" I yelled. "She will be given far more supplies than necessary for the first few months while she's on the island. She'll share with the others, since there will be so much. They'll get used to it, expect it even. Then, I will slowly taper off those supplies, until there is barely enough for her to get by on her own. The others will be angry with Nika for no longer sharing. They'll want her gone. Nika will want to come home because a starving wolf is desperate, as you just pointed out."

"You have already gone mad," my uncle declared as he stared at me in gape-mouthed horror. "You said months. How long do you plan to trick and trap your mate in this game you're playing? How do you think she'll survive when desperate, angry, female wolves are after her just as much as rogue males who will take her for themselves, whether they should or not?"

"Don't worry yourself over my mate, me, or this fucking pack any longer, Uncle. You are free to go, but you aren't free to come back."

"Are you banishing me from my birth pack?"

"You banished yourself when you challenged your Alpha. Be glad I don't kill you where you stand."

"Your father will blame himself for stepping down before you were ready. We all told him he should wait for your mating first." Uncle Drayton turned and left the room without another word.

I couldn't deal with any further dissension in the ranks and left as well. My uncle was right about one thing. I had to come up with a bigger plan to make sure that my mate did not come to harm during her year on the island. I knew the rules. An alpha could temporarily set aside his claim on a Luna for up to one year after discovering who she was. After that, she was free game for anyone. Until then, she was untouchable.

I'd add a little security to the mix, to guarantee that no one ever messed with her. "Get our top performing female up to my room immediately," I ordered one of the men as I walked out.

"She won't agree to be a member of your harem," he explained quickly.

"That's good because I have a different job for her."

It only took about ten minutes for the female warrior to find me in my room. "Alpha?" Tania questioned me immediately. She stood nearly six feet tall with her shoulders thrown back and head held high. She was one of our strongest warriors and it showed in her bearing.

"You are to go to Mirage Island and keep our future Luna safe," I ordered her. She nodded but didn't bother to wipe the unhappy look off her face. "Is there something you need to say to me?"

"No. You are Alpha and will make the decisions you think are best." Tania turned to leave, then must have realized I hadn't dismissed her yet. "Sorry, Alpha."

"You are to make sure no harm comes to Nika. Stay close." The warrior scoffed. "Is there a problem with my order?"

"Permission to speak freely, Alpha?"

"Speak."

"I know the future Luna. Nika will see me and immediately know I was sent there by you."

"Nika will be grateful to have a pack mate with her."

The woman shook her head. "No, Alpha, she won't. She'll immediately think I'm a member of your harem who you sent to do your bidding. I'll be lucky if she even throws me a scrap of the supplies you'll send."

"Nika isn't like that," I countered. "She will welcome and care for you, just as you will do your duty and see that no harm comes to her on that island. I don't want her to be comfortable there, but I don't want her harmed physically either."

"I have a duty to you as my Alpha, but I also have a duty to Nika as future Luna," Tania protested. "This is not how you treat a Luna."

"The Alpha decides how the Luna is treated, not a warrior."

"I will go, do my duty to keep my Luna safe, but I will not return to this pack when it is done."

"You forsake your pack, female?" I asked as I rose from my chair in surprise. Females never left a pack willingly unless they were being severely mistreated, and even then they were lucky if they were able to get away.

"I do," she agreed.

"So be it," I muttered and then waved my hand to dismiss her. Doubt crept inside my mind as I watched Tania walk out of my room the same way she had entered it, with her head held high and shoulders back.

I lost my uncle and our fiercest female warrior in a matter of minutes simply because I sent Nika away. The look on my future Luna's face swam back into view from my memories. I'd been too angry to see the staunch determination, the stubborn set of her jaw, and the hurt in her eyes. Was Uncle Drayton right? Would Nika refuse to come back to her pack – to me?"

"I thought you could use some company." Kyla called from my door. I nodded and allowed her permission to enter though she'd never been given permission to do so before. My rooms were off limits to the women of my harem because one day my Luna would have to share this space with me, and I knew she would never forgive having to share a bed that I had carelessly shared with another.

"Forget about her and anyone who would stand up for her over you," Kyla murmured in my ear as she rubbed her fingers through my hair and massaged my scalp.

"They are supposed to care for and defend their Luna," I argued. Kyla's silky blonde hair tickled the side of my neck and the exposed part of my upper arm. It smelled faintly of roses, and wasn't my favorite scent, so I took a step away from her and watched as her arm dropped. My subtle rejection did not go unnoticed.

"She isn't their Luna until you say she is," Kyla snapped at me. "The more people you allow to argue for her, the more people who are willing to argue against you. Dismissing Drayton from our pack was a good thing, but I don't think you should send Tania after Nika. Tania is powerful and you will need her on your side."

Apparently, Kyla missed the part where Tania was no longer a member of our pack once her duties to defend our future Luna were done.

"She has already informed me that she will no longer be a pack member when her guard duty for Nika is over."

"What?" Kyla shouted as she stepped back. Her blue eyes narrowed on me as if I could make the words I spoke untrue. "She can't do that!"

"She can and she did. We do not keep members in the pack who don't want to be here."

"But… But… Tania is needed here. You don't understand, if she goes, she might just take a good portion of our beta enforcers with her. Your Alpha command will keep her from leaving, you just have to issue it."

"I've done a lot of things my father wouldn't be proud of since he handed me the pack, but I will not force anyone to stay who doesn't want to."

"Then you will lose the whole pack," my mistress warned.

I scoffed at that. "You are the one who said I needed to keep a harem for at least a year."

"I did. I still believe that you need that, so you can see that maybe your fated Luna isn't all she's cracked up to be. I never liked Nika. She thinks she's better than everyone else just because she finished all those college credits while we were still in high school."

"What are you talking about?"

"I went to school with her." Kyla's admission caught me off guard. While we didn't have the largest pack in the nation, I thought that maybe they hadn't known one another before.

"So, this has all been because you felt inferior to Nika when you were in school together?"

"How was I to know she would be your Luna?" Kyla's attitude and the rage-filled look she tossed my way were indication enough that she had indeed had an agenda when she convinced me that a harem of willing women would hold me over until my mate came along. Specifically, for a year longer until my mate was supposed to come back to the pack. Something else bothered me though. Kyla mentioned ‘all those college credits' Nika took while still in school.

I narrowed my eyes at Kyla because it wasn't a secret that everyone thought Nika would one day stand by my side. "You knew she would be back before the year was over," I accused.

"How would I know that?"

"You just talked about the college credits."

Kyla nodded, but couldn't hide the smirk that spread across her face. "I figured she would finish early, but I had no clue that it would be that early. How could I? It's not like we kept in touch. For all I knew, she got to college and changed her mind about what she planned to study."

I wanted to throttle the woman who stood before me. How was it possible that I hadn't seen her scheming for what it was?

"I should call her back," I admitted out loud. The sentiment was more for me than for Kyla, but she still answered immediately.

"You can't!" She all but shouted at me. "If you do that now, you'll appear weak and indecisive. No one will follow a wolf with a wishy-washy mind."

She was right about that. Unfortunately, I had a terrible feeling that my decisions were about to prove far too costly, as there was no going backward. "You're right," I conceded. "I won't wait the full year, but she needs a couple months to cool off and the pack needs to see that I mean business when I give an order."

"That's the Alpha I respect and love. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll convince Tania to stick around, too. After all, once your Luna is back, she'll still need a guard." I didn't miss the way Kyla sneered Nika's future title. Her tone and the calculating look in her eyes left me worried for Nika's future arrival in the pack.

"You need to leave, now."

"I thought you'd want me to spend the night with you."

"Not here," I explained.

She glanced around. "Why not? This is YOUR room!"

"Exactly. It's my suite, and when Nika gets back, it will be ours to share. I will not taint this space with another female. You've been in here far too long already."

Kyla threw a dirty look my way before she flounced around and practically threw a hip out with the unnatural way she attempted to sway her hips for me. It should have been enticing. Instead, it appeared to be exactly what it was, an act of desperation. If only I had come to that realization before I sent my moon-blessed mate away.