HIDING FROM THE MATEBOND

6. Reunion

Aerion

The day had been an absolute disaster from the moment I opened my eyes.

Like every other day, I cursed out Marcus and my father for putting me in this position.

I was supposed to be out there on a vacation, enjoying the best omegas the Kingdom had to offer, not stuck in an office that felt more like a prison cell.

I sat behind my desk, staring at the mess of papers and reports scattered across it. I hadn’t gotten through even half of them, and the sheer amount left was enough to make me want to throw something.

I wasn't cut out for this. I knew it and so did everyone else.

I had missed more meetings than I cared to admit, and the pack orders had been delayed, which only made Luna Amber's day better. She was practically gloating over every single one of my failures. But still she needed me.

I was supposed to have everything under control by now. But truth be told, I hadn’t been prepared for this. Not even close.

The weight of leading the GreyHound Pack was heavier than I had imagined. When our father got sick and Marcus became a shadow of his former self, I the bastard son was the only remaining hope for GreyHound. I had been forced to take up the responsibility but things were slipping through my fingers. I wanted to go back home. Back to Red Claw but my mother had made me promise to take care of this ungrateful pack.

And to make matters worse, the council was pressuring me to get mated. Stability, they called it. The pack needed a Luna.

That’s where Rose came in.

The thought alone made my headache worse. My phone buzzed on the desk and I knew who it was. Another problem in my already overflowing pile.

Rose: Don't forget our dinner tonight. You promised.

I sighed, rubbing the tension at my temples. This arrangement with Rose wasn’t what I wanted, but it had been necessary.

It appeased Luna Amber and kept the council at bay, but I didn't know for how long I could keep it up. They were pushing for us to move to the next level and Rose was secretly hoping for the same thing too though she did not voice it.

Rose was perfect on paper. She was from a good family, and already a respected member of the pack but my wolf, Drakos, despised her.

She’s not our mate! Drakos growled in the back of my mind, his voice full of disdain.

He had never accepted the idea of Rose being anything more than a temporary fix. And the fact that she once had a thing with Marcus that no one openly talked about was the other.

I know I responded silently, feeling Drakos stir restlessly.

But this is what we need right now. The council won’t let up, and neither will the pack.I added.

I totally understood his frustration.I was on my wits end as well.

Our soulmate is still out there. I can feel it. This is a mistake. Drakos rumbled a sound that vibrated through me.

I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes for a moment trying to suppress the ache in my chest.

We don’t have the time for that Drakos. We need to focus on the pack. Was my rehearsed response to the soulmate talk.

I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince anymore—Drakos or myself. His insistence on us having a soulmate was laughable. I had been with countless omegas since the idea had struck in him. Searching.

The first time was 4 years ago. Suddenly one day he was restless, looking for something and someone, and until now, it hadn't happened.

A soulmate was hard to come by. The bond was formed once the two wolves touched. The connection would be instant and the omega would bear her Alpha's mark. But we had searched far and wide and we were yet to find them and the clock was ticking.

Shoving the thoughts of Rose and mates aside, I focused on the task at hand. Today was important. I had interviews scheduled to find someone to help me with the administrative side of things. I couldn’t trust most of the pack, not with how things were going.

They didn't like me and their blind loyalty to Luna Amber made it impossible for them to see I was here to help them.

So, I had run the advertisement myself, hoping someone outside of the usual circle would fit the bill.

The first few applicants were forgettable. Boring. They went through the motions, gave me the same boring answers, and none of them stood out.

Until her.

"Arya Black," the receptionist had said, as the next applicant walked into my office.

The moment she entered, something shifted. My wolf stirred, his presence pressing closer to the surface more than usual as I looked at her.

There was something about her that was different. She carried herself with a calm confidence, but there was something else that I couldn’t put my finger on —nervousness? Fear?

She feels a bit familiar and she is smoking hot! Drakos whistled, more awake now than he had been all morning.

For someone who was fixated on finding his soulmate he really did like sampling the menu from time to time.

His senses sharpened, pushing me to focus more on her.

Her eyes met mine, and I swear there was a spark of something. My wolf was on high alert, watching her every move.

"Please, have a seat," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, though my mind was already racing.

She sat down, composed and calm, but I wasn’t. There was something in the way she looked at me, something just out of reach.

"Have we met before?" I found myself asking, the question slipping out before I had thought it through.

It wasn’t exactly professional, but I just needed to know.

She stiffened slightly but it was a reaction enough for me to catch but she refuted it.

Liar! Drakos growled.

She’s hiding something.

I narrowed my eyes, watching her more closely. There was something off, but I let it go. For the time being. I didn’t need to press—yet.

A strange kind of tension was hanging in the air between us.

I could feel it, and I knew she could too with the way she gripped her hands together in her lap.

I decided to start the interview temporarily, putting a hold on my suspicions.

She answered every question perfectly, her resume was solid, and she had the qualifications I was looking for. She was the perfect candidate. But what made her even interesting was the way her eyes met mine with that flicker of something hidden.

By the time we neared the end of the interview, I had made my decision.

“You have an impressive resume, Miss Black,” I said, my voice carefully neutral. I was testing her now. “Why do you want to work here, in this pack?”

Her answer was good. Polished. But something about it felt rehearsed. She wasn’t here just for a job—there was more to it.

"And your son," I added, leaning forward slightly. "Are you with his father?"She had submitted a request for integration into the pack as well as the job. I already knew she had a son, and her application suggested she was a single mother.

She hesitated, and that was when I saw it. The crack in her put together act. It was almost unnoticeable but it was there.

“No,” she replied.

I felt something shift in my chest but this wasn’t the time for personal feelings.

“We’ll need to run a background check, of course,” I said, keeping my tone professional. “Standard procedure.”

“Of course, Alpha,” she replied, her voice steady again. But I could sense her unease.

As she stood to leave my eyes did not leave her. Drakos was growling in the back of my mind, restless, pushing harder now.

She is hiding something. We need to find out what it is.

The door clicked shut behind Arya Black, and I was left sitting in silence, her presence still lingering in the room. My mind was unsettled but one thing stood out above it all. I was giving her the job.

I leaned back in my chair still staring at the door.

Despite the nagging feeling in my gut, I couldn’t shake the pull I felt towards her. Everything in me screamed that she was the right choice, and despite the one glaring red flag I wasn’t about to ignore it.

Drakos, my wolf, stirred restlessly.

I like her, he growled, pacing.

Hire her. She’s different.

I nodded, already knowing he was right. I had interviewed countless applicants today, plain, boring, utterly forgettable. None of them had stood out like Arya. She had held my gaze without flinching, her answers measured, calm even under pressure. She wasn’t just capable; she had the backbone to handle the pack’s internal politics and the constant chaos that surrounded me.

And the Luna would hate her.

The thought made me smirk. The Luna, always hovering, trying to control my decisions, was going to lose her mind when she found out I had hired someone without her input—someone not from her inner circle and not even from the pack. She would be furious, and for a moment, that alone made Arya the perfect candidate.

Let her be pissed,I thought, a flicker of amusement crossing my mind.

Pushing up from my chair, I crossed the room to the window, looking out at the pack’s grounds.

The day had started like a disaster, missed meetings, delayed orders, everything falling apart which was nothing new. The council had been breathing down my neck about mating with Rose, and Luna Amber had done nothing but add to my headaches. But now, for the first time all day, I felt like something was going right.

I glanced down at my phone. I could feel Drakos pacing again, satisfied.

She is a good choice, he growled.

You just want to sleep with her! I replied knowing his intentions were not pure.

And so do you! he taunted back.

It had been a while. With his fixation on his soulmate and adamance not to touch Rose unless with a six foot pole we both had an itch that needed scratching.

But for now Arya was my new secretary—that was all, the rest would come in later.

Without hesitating, I grabbed the phone and called the receptionist.

“Get me Arya Black’s file, she is getting the job.”

The receptionist hesitated for a split second before agreeing. I hung up the phone, a sense of finality settling over me. The decision had been made the moment she walked into my office.