Emily's POV

Mila and I headed back to the kitchen, taking a shorter route through the square.

"No cheating this time," I called behind Mila.

"Oh, come on, Em!" she yelled over her shoulder. "We both know that you will beat me by far if I don't use my wolf's abilities."

I chuckled, knowing she was right.

Mila's parents were only high-ranking warriors, but everyone knew that her father came from Delta rank. He forfeited his title when he decided to switch packs to be with Mila's mom.

I watched as Mila grabbed the door handle, swung the door open, and ran inside. She only had a two-second lead.

I swung the door open, seeing Mila sprinting down the hall, and she disappeared around the corner.

There was no way I could catch her now.

I started running at a slower pace, passing my father's office. I knew that Alpha Col's office was situated next to his, and I didn't want to disturb an unknown meeting. I quickly, but as quietly as possible, tried to pass them.

I froze in my tracks, passing the third door, when the most intoxicating scent of apple crumble hit my nose.

Alexander.

He must be in there!

I hesitated in my tracks, and before I thought it through, I stood in front of Alpha Alexander's office.

I swallowed hard, hearing his and an unknown woman's voices coming from inside.

Jealousy and possessiveness bubbled up inside me, and the urge to barge in rose in me.

I grabbed the door handle firmly in my hand and pressed my ear against the door, listening to their conversation.

"Where did you go last night?" A woman growled. "You left me there all alone with those mongrels!"

The screeching sound of the woman's voice made every hair on my back rise. I hadn't even seen her face yet, and I wanted to rearrange it.

"I had an emergency," Alex said.

"What kind of emergency?" She snapped, getting to her feet and walking closer to where Alex was, her shoes moving noisily over the hard, cold floor.

"Something unexpectedly came up," Alex said aloofly. "And I needed to deal with it."

"By leaving me alone on the dance floor?" She snapped. "You could have taken me with you!"

Alex was on the dance floor. Why haven't I seen him there?

"Angelica," Alex snapped. "I am the soon-to-be Alpha of this pack. I have to take care of my people first. If you don't like it, you are welcome to leave and go back to your pack. Nobody is standing in your way!"

"Leave?" She gasped in disbelief. "In this weather? You have to be kidding me! I have better ideas than to leave now. Why don't we get comfortable at the fire? I'll even order the low-life omegas to make us something nice to eat!"

The office suddenly turned silent, and my curiosity got the better of me.

I pulled the door handle down and started to push the door open, but a huge hand grabbed hold of mine, pulling the door close.

My gaze snapped at my invader, and my eyes widened when I saw him as my father.

He looked angry and disappointed in me.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his blue eyes almost gray, out of anger.

"It's not what it looks like," I tried to defend.

"Not what it looks like?" My father growled. "You were about to enter the young Alpha Alexander's office without his permission, Emily!"

"Who is with him?" I asked, trying to change the subject. I needed to know who the other woman was.

"It is none of your business," he snapped.

"It is," I argued.

"If you must know," my father sneered. "It is his future, Luna."

Luna?

His future, Luna?

Alexander is matted.

I blinked a couple of times, unable to process what he had just said.

Did I hear correctly?

Did I understand what he was saying?

Does Alexander have a mate?

But how? He had no mark on his nape. Did he lie to me?

My gaze snapped back at my father. I had questions and needed answers.

"Who is she?" I asked, feeling tears well up in my eyes.

"He met her at the Alpha training camp," he said. "She is a perfect suitor for him. It snowed last night, indicating that his wolf is happy with his choice."

My heart sank, and tears made their way down my cheeks.

Alexander took my innocence last night, and now he is taking that thing in his office as his Luna.

My father lifted my chin and knitted his eyebrows together.

"I know you have always had feelings for young Alpha Alexander," he said tenderly. "But it's time for you to let go of those feelings and find your own mate."

If only he knew that Alexander was my mate.

I burst into tears, and my father pulled me to his chest.

"Calm down, Emily," he muttered. "It's not that bad. You will find the other half of your soul soon; he will be your perfect half. You will be happy and never think of Alpha Alexander again."

That made me sob even louder.

If only what he said was true.

My father scooped me up in his strong arms, carried me back to the car, and drove me back home.

We didn't live far from the pack house, but our cottage did border the forest.

My father had designed and built the cottage when my mother fell pregnant with me. It was a beautiful two-story place centered between four huge trees and had a large garden.

My father told me that someday the cottage would be mine.

Most mated couples had built their own places to raise their offspring, whereas most unmated wolves still lived in a pack house.

My father stopped the car, picked me up, and carried me upstairs. He sat me down on my bed and pulled the blanket over me.

His eyes were tender yet full of love, but I couldn't help noticing the pity hiding behind them.

He felt sorry for me.

He saw me as a weakling and maybe even a disappointment.

My father silently left my room, gave me one last look, and closed the bedroom door behind him.

It wasn't long before my mother knocked and peeked her head in.

"Emily," she said, with almost a hysterical pitch to her voice, entering my room. "I am so sorry, baby girl. You should've found out like that."

The bed suddenly dipped next to me, and I knew she must have taken a seat on the bed.

I inhaled her soft flower scent, and my heart pinched hurtfully inside my chest.

My mother stretched out her hand and tenderly stroked my chocolate brown hair.

She had done this many times when I was sad.

My mother suddenly bent over and kissed the top of my head, then quietly rose to her feet to exit my room.

"Everything is going to be alright," she whispered to me before she closed the door.

If only my mother had known that this would be the last time she would see me before I started a new chapter in my life.

****

Emily's POV

I shifted the truck's gears back into third as I took the steep, rocky turn-off towards the White Moon Pack, my home for the last five years. I have been on an assignment, and it felt good to be able to come home again.

It was Mila's idea to come to live here, and even though it was hard in the beginning to leave my family behind, I was proud of what I had accomplished by myself.

My thoughts wandered off to that night. My mom had mind-linked Mila, telling her that I wasn't feeling well and that I needed a friend.

Mila didn't even wait for my mother's scent to fade from my room when she sneaked in through my window.

"Em," she whispered. "Are you awake?"

I nodded my head, unable to utter a word.

"Are you okay?" She asked, climbing through the window and into my bed with me.

Mila pulled me to her, and I rested my head on her chest. She gave me a moment before she started asking questions.

"Can you tell me what happened?" She whispered.

I shook my head as tears welled up in my eyes again.

How could Alex do this to me?

Why did he do this to me?

Why didn't he just ignore me or tell me about her?

Unanswered questions kept going through my mind.

Mila sighed. She has never seen me this upset and unhappy, even after my failed attempt to shift.

"Okay, I tell you what," she muttered. "I'll guess, and you nod your head if I guess correctly."

I slowly nodded my head, accepting her offer.

"Last night, you found your mate? Didn't you?" She asked, and my body stiffened.

Mila knew me too well.

I swallowed hard as warm tears spilled over, running down my cheeks and soaking Mila's white shirt.

"I take that as a yes," she answered for me.

Mila pulled her hand through her hair and released a deep breath.

"Did he reject you?" She asked carefully.

"No!" I whispered, my voice breaking.

Silence followed.

"Then what did he do?" She asked, confused.

"He chose someone else," I said.

Mila lifted my chin and searched my gaze.

"He! Did! What!?" She asked angrily.

I dropped my gaze, unable to keep on looking her in the eyes, and sobbed behind my hand.

I was a wreck and a mess, and I didn't know what to do!

"Who is that bastard?" She growled, and her eyes shifted gold. Her wolf was on the surface, and she wanted blood.

"It doesn't matter," I whispered.

"It does!" She growled. "He took your innocence, and now he chooses someone else to be his mate! What about you? Are you going to be his mistress? A toy? What a f*cking loser! You should reject his ass!"

That made me sob uncontrollably, and I cried out as reality hit me.

Alex broke my heart. He used me!

"I can't!" I forced out the words between sobs. "I can't reject him. I have no wolf!"

Even if I tried to reject Alex, it wouldn't work—not until I had my wolf.

"F*ck!" The word slipped from Mila's lips. She didn't think about that.

Mila sighed and became silent. I wasn't sure of what ran through her mind, but after a while, she pulled her body from under me and sat up straight.

"I have an idea," she said, leaning forward.

I lifted my face toward her, feeling that my eyes were tired and swollen from all the crying.

"What about we leave Opal Pack?" she asked, sounding quite excited about the idea. "I can ask my uncle at White Moon Pack if we could stay there for a while, and when you are ready, you can come back and reject his ass. We can even make it a public display."

"You would do that for me?" I asked, feeling my heart pinched. Mila was so good for me.

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I would do that for you because you are my friend."

"But you would give up your life here?" I said, worryingly. "What about your family? Friends? Jax?"

Mila smiled as if she had already planned out everything.

"Girl," she said. "My uncle begged me to return to his pack, but I stayed because of you."

"I-I-I kept you here?" I muttered in shock, and new tears started burning behind my eyelids.

"I wanted to stay," she said, smiling. "I couldn't leave you here. You are my best friend, and I need you just as much as you need me. But now," she shrugged, "it might just work out fine. We can leave, and no one would even suspect that."

That night, Mila made a call to her uncle and explained my situation; he didn't even ask questions and sent a car to pick me up at the pack border.

My new surroundings were a bit overwhelming, and I didn't handle my heartbreak well. I mostly kept to myself and stayed in my assigned room.

Mila and Jax joined me a week later.

"E-m-i-l-y," Mila sang, entering my room. "Where are you?"

I was still in bed with the blankets pulled over my head when Emily and Jax found me.

I was dead tired. I couldn't shake the unbearable ache in my chest, and to add to my discomfort, I kept on dreaming about Alex, and my dreams would end up with me screaming my lungs out.

To top it off, I could barely keep any food in, and I stopped eating by day two, writing it off as just my nerves being in a new pack.

"Oh, my goddess, Emily," Mila yelled out worriedly when she found me. "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling sick?"

"I don't know," I said, feeling my body and mind give in to the darkness.

I woke up in the infirmary with Mila sitting by my side. She had a worried expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," I croaked, reaching out to touch her hand. Mila immediately jumped to her feet, hushed me, and called the doctor.

It wasn't even a few seconds until the doctor entered my room.

"Aah, welcome to the land of the living, Ms. Parker," the doctor said, smiling. "How are you feeling? Are you able to talk?"

I gestured to my throat. It was dry and sore.

Mila understood and quickly grabbed a glass from the side table, poured a glass of water, and handed it to me.

"Drink," she said. "Just take small sips first."

I did as she said, but soon became impatient and gulped all the water down.

I handed the glass back to Mila and turned my gaze toward the doctor.

"I feel fine," I said. "Better than fine."

"Good to hear," the doctor said. "We were all worried about your and your pup's survival. You were severely dehydrated."

"Pup? I'm pregnant?" I asked, unable to process what I was hearing.

"That's correct," the doctor said. "And by the looks of it, you are pregnant with an Alpha pup."

Mila's gaze snapped toward me, and her bottom lip quivered out of shock.

I could read a thousand questions in her eyes, but she needed to wait until the doctor was done before she could ask her question.

The doctor pulled out some scans and gestured to the size of the pup. Alpha pups grow more rapidly than other ranks, and their size is usually double, if not triple, that of the average pup.

I nodded, confirming his suspicion. I wouldn't gain anything if I hid the truth.

The doctor nodded, scribbled something on paper, and excused himself.

"Why didn't you tell me that Alex is your mate?" She yelled at me. "Do you know how much trouble we are in?"

"He didn't want me, remember!" I replied. "He chose another!"

Mila shook her head.

"He called the pack together," she said angrily. "And he called for you to go to the stage."

I narrowed my eyes at Mila.

"He wanted to announce something, but when you weren't there..."

"He probably wanted to reject me in front of the pack," I said, cutting her off. "What other reason would he have to call everyone together?"

I laid back in bed, and my gaze ended up on the ceiling. The tears had dried up, and for once, my mind was clear.

"Promise me you will not tell him that I'm here," I said.

"But you will feel..."

"I'll manage," I said.

My gaze landed on the border patrol, and I brought the truck to a lower speed. I didn't need to identify myself because of my rank and status in the pack, yet one of the warriors waved at me and gestured for me to stop.

I did as he requested, finding it a bit odd.

"Welcome back, Parker," the guard greeted me.

"Morning Joe," I said, "what's the hold-up?"

"King Xavier seeks to speak to you," he said. "It sounds urgent."

I could hear the urgency in the guard's voice.

I thanked him and made my way into the pack, yet I never thought my next assignment would send me close to home.

****