Beta's Secret Mate

FIVE

“I, Chase Anders of  Moon Stone pack, hereby denounce my role as the Beta of this pack, I'm stepping down from my pack duties henceforth, I do not wish to be a member of this pack anymore,”

The silence that followed after the declaration was deafening. Alpha Martins just stared at his beta, not sure what had come over him. Could it be because of the war against the mystique pack? The Alpha doubted it, why would his beta care about that? He noticed Chase had been a little hesitant when he passed the information about the pending war after they found out Aaron had been killed. Chase even tried to talk him out of it, but there was no way Alpha Martins was going to seat and fold his arms when a small pack like the Mystique Shadow pack had killed one of his own.

Aaron was an ordinary werewolf , he was not very popular in the pack but that did not mean he wasn't one of them. Alpha Martin liked to protect members of his pack regardless of their ranking, He was a strong wolf, just like his father the former Alpha, and he had trusted Chase to be his beta because he was equally strong and his wolf exuded a power that was highly feared and respected amongst the other wolves. Alpha Martins had never had any reason to doubt his beta until they went into war with their own enemies. Was that even supposed to be a problem? Not only was Chase acting weird, but the Alpha also noticed that Chase had not fought alongside him, he was no where to be found admits all the ruckus, and now he’s renouncing his role as the beta of the pack!

The announcement of his stepping down kind of made his Alpha happy if he were to say the truth. This was because in recent times, his Beta had challenged him, and in presence of his own subordinates. At one time, the Alpha admired his beta's power and command of authority, but challenging the Alpha was a terrible thing to do, he had been mad that day, his wolf roared non stop even after Beta Chase had galloped away to God knows where, and now he was back to inform them that he was no longer interested in being the Beta. The Alpha did not really care about that. He was no longer fond of Chase, and he would gladly walk him out of the pack house if he wanted.

Every member of the Moon stone pack was in attendance, and the announcement was unexpected. Chase was loved by all, especially amongst the female gender, and of course he would be highly missed, but this was his decision and he owed nobody any explanation.

Landon was the only one who was aware of the reason why Chase was quitting his duties, and he still thought Chase was going overboard, not like he did not understand the mate bond thing but he never expected Chase to easily throw away his loyalty to the pack. Things may not have turned out the way Chase wanted, and he was on the verge of losing it because he still did not know where his mate was, and Cayden, his wolf was highly unsettled.

Chase was not even sure what his wolf wanted again, they had spent the whole day arguing, the wolf desperately wanted its mate back, but the wolf was not willing to step down from pack duties and Chase was having a hard time convincing Cayden that there was no way he was going to find his mate if he remained with the pack. The wolf was just unbelievable, maybe too stubborn to a fault.

“I’m throwing a wall between us until you find mate,” His wolf warned him. Cayden was scared that they may never find Aurora, and he didn't want to loose both ways, if he was not going to be the beta, then he must find Aurora.

“I have tried, I no longer want to be amongst these people, they hurt our mate for crying out loud,” Chase argued with his inner beast, and he seemed to have gotten his wolf by the statement.

Cayden purred inside him, he wanted to attack Alpha Martins. Stupid wolf! Chase cautioned the stubborn beast. He blamed the Alpha for everything, and he wanted to put up a fight with him. He was still the alpha and Chase had to respect him, he had let Cayden have the better say the night he challenged the Alpha, but he knew how to control his wolf, Cayden was just hurt, he was not going to leave him, he was all he had now.

Cayden was just unsettled, and Chase tried to block him out. Nobody had said a word even after his proclamation but Chase knew no one would be happy about his decision. What did he really expect? A party? Or cheering from the crowd ? He scoffed.

Alpha Martin’s spoke up then “You can drop every item that belongs to us before leaving, nobody wants you anyway,” The Alpha hissed.

On the contrary, a lot of people wanted him, and the Luna clearly did not approve of her husband's choice of words, she glared at him, but he pretended not to notice.

“Why?” A voice from amongst the crowd asked, but Chase was not going to have any petty talks with them, he had made his choice and there was no going back.

“Your wish to step down is gladly accepted, and a new beta for the pack would be announced in a fortnight, thank you for your time Chase Anders,” The Alpha looked at him with disdain, as if that would change anything, Chase equally gave him a scornful look.

He turned to leave but was blocked by Landon. His gamma wasn't giving up obviously. Chase already knew the man was about to lecture him on how he was taking the wrong decisions and that he would probably change his mind and stay back, Chase was in no mood for that. He shoved Landon asides, but Landon stood his ground, he refused to budge.

Chase was not insensitive to his friends feelings. They had grown up together after all, they did everything together and they were even age mates. Landon was born a few months after Chase, it was like the two parents had planned it all, and when their fathers had passed on, Chase had become closer to Landon's mum, because his own mum had left him and his father when he was quite young in age.

Chase did not grow up knowing his mother, she abandoned his father when he was barely four years of age to be with another man. His father was never her mate, they had barely been attracted to one another , in the name of love. Chase's father had rejected his own mate to be with the woman that he thought he loved, and the woman eventually left him when she found her own mate. His father was devastated, he was left without anybody, because his own mate had moved on after accepting his rejection, so he died a single man, with no woman by his side, and even in death, his supposed mother still made no efforts to come for her son. She never returned or asked of him, at least not that he was aware of, but he didn’t hate the woman. She found herself a mate, and now he understood why she never came back to her father.

Chase was already grown up before his father passed away, and truth is he never wanted to be like the man. Chase was brave, and if he could stand up to his own Alpha, it was enough sign that he had some balls, he'd be dammed if he still stayed around after all the Alpha had done to his mate. It was true that the man had no idea that he had found a mate in the enemy pack, but would that have made any difference ? Alpha Martins was a hard nut to c***k, he acted on impulse most times, and just like every other alpha, he never agreed to being wrong.

It was obvious things had taken a wrong turn with the Mystique shadow pack. They had almost succeeded in wiping out every one of them, and few had managed to escape. Chase knew they were going to come to fight back, and they may be weak, but they would come back with a strategy. Wolves were not known to back down easily, no matter how strong the opponent is, and when that time comes, he did not want to be here, because he already failed his mate. She may have escaped, but what would it matter considering she had no memories?

“Step out of the way Landon,” he growled at the man who was still blocking his way, and the crowd was watching them. There was tension in the air, and Chase felt his muscles tighten.

Landon looks at Alpha Martin’s, expecting him to take sides with him, but the Alpha waved his hands at them, then stood to his feet and exited the gathering, his Luna following behind him. The lady still cast a pitiful look in Chase's direction before disappearing out of sight.

The crowd had their heads bowed as their Alpha made his exit, all except Chase and Landon who were still glaring at each other. Once the Alpha was gone, they took their queue to speak up.

“Why are you leaving us our beta?” he heard a woman call in a tiny voice from amongst the crowd.

“We don't want any other person as our beta,” Another lady called from the crowd, then they were all mumbling till it was all jargons Chase could hear.

He raised his hands to silence them, maybe he should give them a goodbye speech. He didn't feel up to it but it’s the least he could do. Most of them still looked up to him, and it was not any of their fault that the Alpha had declared war on his mate's pack was it? They all had their personal beef with the now dissolved pack, especially since one of theirs was killed but there was no proof that Aaron was actually killed by members of the Mystique shadow pack, or maybe he was just not willing to accept it because apparently his mate belonged there. The beef between the two packs was actually more than that, it went back years ago, before he was even born, and the past alpha's were still trying to patch their relationships until Alpha Martins. Now Martins had turned it all to a disaster.

The crowd went mute as soon as his hands were lifted up, they still respected him, beta or not, he still commanded his respect.

“For some reason which I may not be able to disclose to you now, I need to leave, and I don't think I would be back, at least not for a long time,” then he paused “I don't know who is going to be my successor but it's obvious you all are going to be greatly missed,” he turned to his friend as he said that . He could feel Cayden grumble, and he shut out the sounds. Cayden too was angry with Landon for obvious reasons, but Chase could not really bring himself to hate his childhood friend.

“I must leave now, and if fate allows that we meet in the future, then so be it,” He stormed out after that statement, this time Landon did not try to stop him, but instead he followed him from behind. It looked like he was finally accepting the fact that he could not do anything to stop his friend, so he was going to calmly wish him farewell. If Chase was hell bent on leaving, then there was nothing he could do to stop him.