Chapter 5
1399 Words
Mason
I walk closer to where she dropped her bag and shoes. I stand there for a few seconds, closing my eyes and taking in her lingering scent… Vanilla and Sage…
My mate…
I scoff! I was not planning on finding my mate in the middle of a battle…
Talk about bad timing.
I crouch down and take her shoe in my hand, turning it in my hands to look at it from all angles.
Smart move to drop the shoes, mate. My men would have caught you much faster.
My eyes dart to her bag and the books scattered next to it.
I take one book in my hand and turn it around to check the cover.
What the hell?!
I stand there, unblinking, trying to process what I have in my hands.
“Alpha?” my Delta Cole reaches out through the mind-link
“Yes, Cole. You got him?” I ask.
I stand up, two books in my hand and wince. The wounds on my shoulder and stomach are not fully healed yet!
“Umm… He got away, Alpha.”
“What the f**k, Cole! Did you fall in an ambush? He got backup waiting?”
“No, Alpha.”
“Then what? You were 15 at his tail and he was injured… How can he outrun you?!!”
“I… I don’t know, Alpha. One minute he was there, the next minute he disappeared. We lost his scent and there were no longer any droplets of blood.”
“This is not normal, Cole. He was bleeding profusely when he ran away and he did not have the time to heal.”
“I know, Alpha. This is why I am stunned. He could not have stopped the bleeding whilst running away from us. And he sure could not have masked his scent. Yet, we have nothing to track him anymore.”
This is not the first time this fucker slips between our fingers. King Richard and I suspect him to be the leader of this dangerous rebellion. Keith Macleod was the primary suspect because his pack had always been hostile to the Werewolf Royal family.
It all started when Keith’s grandfather accused the King, Richard’s grandfather, of murdering his mate. Something about his mate being a Guardian of some sort. None of us ever heard about such Guardian and therefore, no one believed the Alpha, who turned out to be a crazy anarchist. He tried to overthrow the King at the time but failed miserably, of course.
The relationship has been strained ever since, but no one from the Macleod clan was crazy enough to attempt, once again, what the old Alpha did… that is, until Keith came into the picture.
“Mason?” Grayson says as he stands next to me.
I raise my forefinger, and he understands that I am mind-linking with someone from the pack.
“Where did this happen?”
“Near loch Westto.”
This is a relatively small lake, located on the western border of the natural reserve.
“Bring a few divers and check the loch, Cole.” I order through the mind-link.
“You think there is some underwater secret passage?”
“It is worth checking.”
“Ok, Alpha. I am on it.”
He cannot vanish into thin air. There must be a logical explanation and I will find it. This is the last time you slip through my fingers, Keith!
When a rebellion against our Alpha King started brewing, King Richard asked me to investigate and identify the leaders. Our plan was simple: You kill the leaders… you squash the rebellion.
Keith was my primary suspect given the family history and the fact that he had never attended any pack gatherings initiated by the king. He even refused to abide by the King’s special rules instated in the UK, especially the rules pertaining to human mates.
“They got him?” Grayson, my beta, asks when he sees that I am done mind-linking.
“No. Cole just reported that they lost his tracks near loch Westto.”
“f**k! How does he do it!”
“I don’t know… But I will find out.”
“Did he say anything when you caught him?”
“No. I asked him what he was doing on university grounds and why he has been lurking there for the past weeks. But he refused to answer any of my questions. And he said that if I do not let him pass, this will be a declaration of war on the Moon Stone Pack.”
“So… War it is?”
“He will not do anything. His pack is already isolated since they continue to refuse to follow the King’s special orders.”
King Richard has established a special set of rules, only known and applicable to the UK packs, as we are considered the close allies of the Werewolf Royal family.
“Like his father, Keith refuses to blindly follow the Royal family’s rulings.” Grayson says.
I do not see eye to eye with some of the king’s rules, but I know where my loyalty is. The “special rules” installed by the King concern human mates… Which is a rarity to begin with… But this did not stop Keith from bluntly refusing to execute the King’s orders.
Keith does not have an ounce of diplomacy in his blood, and he instructed the King’s envoy to report back that the Moon Stone Pack is not a racist pack, nor will it disrespect the Moon Goddess' wishes.
Speaking of mates, I look at Grayson expectantly.
“Did you catch her?”
“She is ingenious, I will give her that. But yes, in the end, she is just a human and cannot outrun us.”
“So… She is human? It is confirmed?”
“Yep. Just a human.”
Fuck! My suspicions were correct. My mate is a meek human.
“Do not talk about our mate like that.” Callum, my wolf, complains.
“She is human, Callum. She CANNOT be our mate.”
“Are you questioning the Moon Goddess, Mason? You do not want to mess with her… nor me!”
Moon Goddess, this wolf is going to give me a headache. I run my fingers on my temples, to ease the pain.
“Callum is not happy?” Grayson asks me.
We have been friends since our early teen years. He knows me inside out.
“He does not care that she is human. He is not happy with what I am going to do.”
“You are going to deliver her to the King?”
“No, I am going to reject her.”
“But Mason… You know the rules.”
Yes, I know the rules. The infamous “special rules” established by our King. The rules that Keith Macleod openly defied…
If werewolves, living in Great Britain, find themselves stuck with a human mate, they are instructed to move to the Royal pack with the human mate.
No one knows what happens afterwards. The werewolves are sworn to secrecy and even though they keep in touch with their friends and family, they never mention their human mates ever again.
I never cared about this rule. Humans are an inferior species and I simply do not care about their fate. I do enjoy the occasional one-night stands with their females, but they are only good for that. Nothing more… Therefore, I had no qualms applying the special rules in my pack. Until tonight.
“Mason.”
“Grayson. Are you going to defy your Alpha?” I say gruffly.
“No. But I am going to bring some sense to my friend.” He replies.
“I am not going to mate and mark a human, Grayson!”
“You can ask the king to make an exception. You just hand her over to him.”
“It does not work like that. The rules are clear. We must accept the human mate, then mark and mate with them. And then we must move to the Royal Pack. I will not leave my pack for a human mate just to please my Alpha King.”
“You know... Rumor has it, the werewolves are instructed to have a baby with the human mate.”
- Writer
