In My Eyes

Chapter 2

Alpha Keaton's POV

"You're 22. It's time you just pick someone."

"I don't want to. I'm fine on my own." I answer

"But this isn't about you. It's about the pack. Packs without Lunas look weak."

"We'll mates make us weak." I shrug

"But if you choose a mate, you won't be as connected, so that it won't be a big deal. The pack will have a Luna, and you get what you want of being alone."

"Choosing a mate is not being alone. I'd still have a mate that I didn't want. And it wouldn't even be the person made for me, and I'd still have to go through the trouble of teaching them all the pack stuff they need to know so that they won't get in my way and f**k things up too bad. So no, I'm not choosing a mate." I argue, finally looking up from the punching bag.

"Just go to the mate ball. See if there is anyone that strikes your fancy that you could settle for." my Beta, Jake, sighs.

"So even you think I'm not going to find my true mate there," I say, rolling my eyes.

"It's been four years, and you haven't found her yet. The pack is getting antsy and impatient. Your mom can help cover for you some since she was the luna, but now that your dad's retired, we need a new luna." Jake explains

"If I agree to go, will you shut up about it? I'm not choosing a mate, but I'll go." I sigh. If the pack thinks I'm actively looking for my mate, they may calm down for a while.

"Good. I'll let whoever is hosting this year know that our pack is coming." my Beta says. "Oh, and you need to get a hold on Reagan. She's walking around here like she owns the place, and it needs to stop." Jake says.

"What's going on?" I ask. Normally Reagan's pretty chill. We hang out some and f**k occasionally, but it never ventured into any feelings territory. At least not on my end.

"Pack members found out that you're sleeping together, and there is a rumor going around that she will be the new Luna," Jake explains.

"We're not dating. We f**k sometimes, but we're not dating." I deny. "Did Reagan start the rumors?"

"I don't know. It's just a problem you need to deal with because if you find your mate, she won't like that," Jake says. Great this again. That's not a right-now issue, though.

"Fine, I'll deal with it." I sigh. I came to the gym to work out and get away from people, but people bother me here too. Can't people think for themselves for once?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later...

"Is everyone that's going to be coming here?" I ask Jake.

"We have a few stragglers left. We still have 5 minutes before we told people to be here." Jake says

"Ok." I huff while rolling my eyes. I don't have the time to be wasting on stupid things like this or foolish people who keep everyone waiting. I'm too busy to be wasting my time waiting for people. I hate being kept waiting. My mate needs the kind of person that can just fit into my life, just jump in and be fine. I need to keep that in mind IF I ever start looking to choose a mate.

Over the next few minutes, everyone who said they would come along with us to the mate ball is here—everyone piles into one of the fleets of cars we are taking. Jake gets in the car in the front while I get in the car in the back, making sure that everyone gets to wherever we are going safely. I get in the passenger seat because I have warriors driving every vehicle, just in case. I'm always ready for attack. Everyone in my pack is. My pack members are required to complete five years of training before they turn 18, which has led to us having a very intimidating reputation, not that I mind. It means less chance of people wanting to attack us.

"Mind if we ride in here, Alpha? The other cars are full." Two very young-looking girls ask thru the driver's rolled-down window.

"Are you two even old enough to be going to the mate ball?" I ask

"We're 18." one nods.

"Ok fine," I say, looking back at my phone. The back door opens, and they slide in; then, the whole fleet pulls out. Good, the quicker we leave, the quicker we can get this over with, and I can get back to business as usual.

"I'm so nervous." One of the girls whispers to the other. "What if my mate's not there? Or worse, what if I meet him and he rejects me?" the girl says, sounding scared. Ugh, these children, it's been 30 seconds, and I feel like I'm babysitting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took a while to drive to the pack that was in my host this year. It is 8 hours away in some little no-name pack with only about 1,000 members, and they don't even have a beta here. The last one died, and they just never bothered to replace him, at least according to the file Jake gave me. Their territory butts up to a human town. From what I've seen so far, life here seems..... simple and slow; I think these are the words Jake used to describe it, but to me, it just seems boring.

Their pack is set up like ours, though. Individual houses with a prominent building in the center of it all for large pack meetings. This packhouse is rather large for that, though, so I wonder if the Alpha and his family reside in the packhouse while members and other ranked wolves have their own houses. Kind of creating their own town. Ok, that's good, at least. I hate the packhouses where the whole pack lives in one building. It's weird, and it provides too many chances for random pack members to come up and start bothering me when I'm busy.

"Oh my god. We're here." The girls start squeezing from the back seat. Ugh, my ears! I cover my ears and growl.

"Sorry, Alpha." They say, hanging their heads

"How can you be so loud?" I growl at the ringing in my ears. "Just get out." I sigh as the cars come to a halt in front of the main packhouse. A line of warriors stands out front on the lawn with a man and woman standing by the front door arm in arm. I assume that's the Alpha and Luna.

I step out of the car and walk to the stairs leading to the packhouse. Jake walks up, standing a few steps behind me to my right

"You must be Alpha Keaton." The man says

"Yes. And this is my Beta, Jake." I say, motioning to my Beta.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." The woman says with a smile.

"I'm Alpha Richard. This is my mate and Luna, Susan." The man says, motioning to the woman. They look to be around my parent's age. He might be retiring soon. I'm surprised they don't have their oldest son out here, too, so he can get to know other alphas. He might still be too young; who knows.

"Nice to meet you too." I nod to them politely.

"I'm glad that you and your pack decided to join us for the mate ball." The Luna smiles, looking out at my pack. "Let me show your pack where they will be staying and where they can prepare for the mate ball tonight." The Luna says, moving away from her mate some.

"And I will give the two of you a tour of the packhouse, then let you get ready for the mate ball." Alpha Richard says to Jake and me. I'm not surprised he offered us a tour; it's customary with visiting packs, so we know where things are in case we are under attack, and it's a sign of trust between packs.

"Thank you, Alpha Richard," Jake says. He is so much better at politics than I can because I don't care to be polite to people.

Alpha Richard and Luna Susan led my pack inside the packhouse and me. "Ok, you guy and gals are the last pack to arrive for the mate ball. Don't worry. You should still have enough time to rest up and get ready. Follow me this way." The Luna says, talking to the pack and then leading them to the left side of the packhouse. Once the pack has disappeared up the stairs, Alpha Richard turns to us.

"Ok, first, let's start over here. These are the security cameras that are throughout the territory." Alpha Richard says, leading us to the room right by the door.

After leading us around a few places, the Alpha leads us down a few floors underground; most are set up as game rooms, movie rooms, or any group hangout places for pack members. He leads us down a hall to a door with many old-looking locks, "this is our dungeon. It's where we house the dangerous criminals. Most of the time, it's only until their trial and execution, but we do have one long-term convict." Alpha Richard explains. That's odd. Most of the time, packs kill convicts, then why would they keep one alive? Alpha Richard unlocks the door and leads us down another set of stairs where rows of cells line the wall that all stand empty. The smell of blood and s**t fills my nose.

Alpha Richard leads us down to the last cell, where a man is lying on the ground, bruised and crazed looking. That's not surprising; most prisoners look that way. What is surprising is that "he's a human." I state confused

"Yes," Alpha Richard nods

"Why is he here?" I ask

"He hurt a pack member." Alpha Richard says, looking disgusted at the man.

"What did he do?" I ask

"How does a human hurt a werewolf?" Jake asks. Instead of answering our questions, Alpha Richard just sighs, looking sadly at the ground, shaking his head.

"Werewolf law states we cannot kill humans. So for now, we're just stuck with him." Alpha Richard says

"Sarah?" The man on the floor says, hopefully sitting up and looking around. "Sarah! I want to see Sarah!" He yells, sounding crazier and angrier than before.

"Shut up. You're never going to see her again. Hopefully, she'll tell me to kill you soon because I'll gladly take my death sentence to kill you myself." Alpha Richard growls. So whatever this guy did was a sensitive subject and very serious.

“SARAAAAHHHHHH! I WANT TO SEE SARAAHHHH!" The man yells again, grabbing the bars of the cell. Ok, so he's crazy.

Alpha Richard leads us around a few more places before letting us get ready for the mate ball. I just want to get this over with. The mate ball is kind of like a human prom. Everyone gets dressed in their best dresses and suits and some people do find their mates. But after going a few times and not finding anything, I don't care to put any effort in, and I'm not actually looking for a mate. Hey, hopefully, this one with have booze.

I put in a black button-down shirt and some jeans rolling my sleeves up to my elbows. The mate ball started over an hour ago, but I'm not in a rush. I walk down to the main floor of the packhouse, where the events are being held. As I walk in, I already see some people being coupled off. Yeah well... I don't smell anything amazing like everyone says, so I guess that another year was wasted.

I make my way to the bar and grab a whiskey on ice. Thank goddess for booze. As I bring the glass to my lips, a tall, long-legged blonde walks up to me, swaying her hips. She seems easy enough; maybe this won't be a total waste.

"Hi, Alpha Keaton; I was sent over here to make sure that you were having a good time and see if you needed anything." The girls start spouting bullshit.

"I'm fine." I wave her off

"Ok, well, I'm Rebecca, but my friends call me Becky. I'm from the Silver Moon pack so just let me know if you need anything." She offers while grabbing my arm.

"Well, Rebecca-"

"You can call me Becky." She says with a wink.

"Well, Becky, I think I'm good for now," I say leaning against the bar and scanning the room. I see groups of people talking and laughing and having a good time, couples dancing on the dance floor; on the other side of the room, I see the one person more uncomfortable looking than me. She seems young; why isn't she like the other girls I had to ride in the car with, a nervous excitement? She is sitting in a chair at a table on the other side of the room and shaking her leg constantly while rubbing her hands up and down her thighs. Maybe she got rejected and is trying not to cry in front of people. Or maybe she is really upset she hasn't found her mate yet. She looks young. It could be her first mate ball, and she's not used to disappointment.

"What are you staring at?" Becky asks, craning her neck around and bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Nothing. Just looking around." I shrug.

"You were looking at Grace," Becky says, shocked and pointing to the girl I was just looking at. "Alpha Keaton, all due respect but you don't want her. She'll open her legs to anyone. Werewolf, human, vampire-"Becky says, starting to list species. "She's slept with half the pack, and she's not even 18."

"And how is that any different than... let's say you, for instance?" I ask with a smirk looking at her. I don't know why I feel the need to protect this girl, Grace, for some reason, but I think Beckys is a little unfair.

"Me? No! I have to admit I fell in love fast, but I've only been with people I loved. I should have waited for my mate, but at the time, I thought those people were my mate." Becky says, looking serious, "Grace is an attention w***e; she'll spread her legs for anyone that will ask."

"Well, good. I'll f**k any girl that wants to." I say, laying the trap.

"Well, if you want to, we could-" Becky says, flirtatiously her hand on my arm.

"Do you love me already?" I ask, and Becky's face falls

"Wha- no- I-" she stutters, knowing she got caught in my trap.

"It's ok. I like someone willing to shoot their shot." I shrug and then finish my drink.

"Well, neither of us has found our mates yet. We shouldn't let the night go to waste. We both look so.... good." Becky flirts.

"Mmmm f**k it. Why not." I shrug, leading Becky through the packhouse back to my room. Becky closes the door behind her and turns our untying the belt around her dress; once it's undone, the whole dress opens up to reveal her naked body. Becky struts the straps off, and the dress pulls around her feet. She isn't wasting any time, and I like it.

After some time, Becky is asleep in my bed, and I am just lying here. I don't like people sleeping in my bed. It's my bed, not theirs; what made her think I wanted her to stay here.

"Kea, where are you? I don't see you anywhere at the mate ball." My Beta's voice rings out in my head.

"I was there earlier," I tell him over the mindlink

"But you're not anymore," Jake says sarcastically

"No. I didn't find my mate."

"We had a deal. You'd go to the mate ball to find and choose a mate. You can't come late and leave early. You have to be here for the whole thing." Jake says

"Ugh, fine. I'll be right there." I huff over the mindlink and stand up out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Becky asks, looking over at me tiredly.

"Back to the mate ball. You can come with me or stay here, but either way, I expect you out by the time I'm back." I say, putting on my pants and then leaving the room. I button my shirt back up as I walk down the hall.

I head back down to the mate ball. It's about 12:30 now, so it's not as crowded as it was before, but there are still many people here. I walk into the ballroom more, up to the bar to look for Jake. He's my age and hasn't found his mate either. I've given up hope, but Jake's more optimistic than I am about finding his mate.

I order another drink and sip it as I smell the most incredible scent. Honey and lavender on a warm summer day. What the f**k? Where is that coming from?

"There you are, dude. I've been looking everywhere for you." Jake says, walking up to me as I frantically search the crowd. "What's wrong?" He asks, suddenly turning serious.

My eyes settle on the girl I saw earlier. "Mate," I growl, looking at the girl. I think her name is Grace, from what Becky said.

"No," a girl gasps, putting both hands over her mouth, and I see Jake put his arm around the girl.

I look back to my mate to see a guy walking up to her and whispering in her ears. My mate smiles up at the guy and nods. She takes hold of his arm and stands up, and then she walks out of the ballroom holding his arm as they walk. Is what Becky said true? My mate just left arm and arm with mother, dude. I feel my chest start to vibrate as I growl. I completely ignore the loud sobs of the girl in Jake's arms.

"What's wrong, Chelsea?" He asks, trying to comfort her. What the f**k is her problem? Is she upset that's her pack's w***e is supposed to be a Luna? How did my mate not smell me? Or did she smell me and choose to ignore it and go home with another guy? I continue to growl as the thought runs wild.

"She can't be his mate. She just can't." The girl sobs.

"Chelsea, this is Keaton, my best friend and my alpha," Jake says to the girl.

"I know that's why she can't be his mate." She sobs louder.

"Who the f**k are you to tell me who can and can't be my mate?!" I growl, threateningly stepping closer to her.

Jake steps between me and the girl clenching his fists, glaring at me, and growls, "She's my mate."