The Broken Wolf and Her Triplet Alphas

Chapter 7 Mate

"Love is like wildflowers; It's often found in the most unlikely places."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

POV: Ryder

Today is the day. Our potential Luna arrives. Noah has been pouting and sulking about it but understands the pack needs a Luna. This is why he agreed to it. Jonah is being very diplomatic about it. We all want our fated mate but the fact of the matter is we are 26 and still have not found her. Most wolves find their mate by the time they are 21. There are a few reasons why we haven't found her yet. One reason is she's dead. This thought never feels good to think about. What if my mate died before I was able to find her? Reason number two is she's a rogue. If this is the case we may never find her. Reason number three and the most common reason is she's from another pack. Now we travel to other packs and go to mating balls and such. Even with this, she could still be from another pack. There is another option. She is not of age so she doesn't go to mating balls. If this is the case we will have a bit of an age gap between us then.

"Hey, Alpha," I smirk at who just entered my bedroom. "Hello, Cherry. I'm afraid I can't entertain you today. It would look bad on me if I was caught with you while my potential Luna arrives today." I say to the red-headed woman. Cherry is one of my and my brothers' friends with benefits. It is no secret that we have shared girls before. As much as I'd like to entertain her I can't. Cherry pouts her lips out. "I guess you're right. Anyway, Jonah said you wanted to see me." She says. "Yes, I need you to show Monica around and to her room. Lemon will be doing the same with Stella." I order. I figure with Cherry's attitude she'll be more suited to handle Monica. Stella is a kid so sweet Lemon will be better suited to handle her.

We've slept around with Lemon too. Lemon and Cherry are best friends actually. Cherry is one of our best female Zetas. Lemon is an Eta. She's been training under Evelyn for the past three years. "Ok, I guess you don't want to scare the kid huh? I don't get why everyone thinks I'm so tough and scary. I look like everyone else." Cherry complains. "It's not how you look but your attitude and we all need to have good first impressions," I say. "Well, I think I am a very lovely person," Cherry says and leaves flipping her hair. I shake my head because she just proved my point.

Anyway, I'm on my way to meet up with my brothers. Monica and her daughter will be here sometime within the hour. We're going to go over some final things before they arrive. Three Alphas running a pack at the same time can be difficult which is why it's so important we are all on the same page. When it comes to a final decision if we all disagree I have the final say due to being the oldest. This is because traditionally the oldest son is the alpha heir.

I enter Noah's office "Do we have to do this? It's not too late to back out." Noah says as his eyes land on me. "Stop complaining. It's happening. Plus we're not accepting her right off the bat, remember. Like I said if our Fated mate does come around we will choose her over any chosen mate we have." I tell him. I have repeatedly told him this but he doesn't want to do this. "I know but something is telling me we shouldn't be doing this. I have this instinct. Axel thinks it's a bad idea. He's been on edge all day." Noah complains while rubbing his temples like he has a headache. I know what he means. Ace has been on edge too. As wolves, we are taught to rely on our instincts. The problem is this could just be because our wolves don't want a chosen mate and are throwing a temper tantrum right now. Everyone is nervous and on edge about today.

"Enough, Noah stop sulking and deal with it. We're all on edge so suck it up. Ryder you don't always have to be a d**k about everything." Jonah cuts in. I roll my eyes. "Fine," Noah says crossing his arms over his chest. We talked for about fifteen minutes before our Beta, Zeke Mind-links us to inform us of Monica's arrival. "We should get going. Am I the only one suddenly feeling nervous?" Noah asks. No, he's not the only one. My heart is pounding suddenly. Why am I so nervous? It's not like I know this woman or care so why am I reacting like this? Jonah seems to agree because he's taking several deep breaths.

We leave the office and make our way outside. Our parents, Hayden, Evelyn, and Mathew are waiting outside to greet them with us. The Beckett family didn't seem so thrilled when they found out their daughter was coming home. They were more concerned and thrilled about Stella. Maybe they had some sort of falling out or something. Two vehicles pull up parking in front of the packhouse. One of the vehicles is a Uhaul moving truck and the other car in front of it is a car. Inside the car is an older-looking blonde-headed woman with green eyes. She steps out of the vehicle. "Monica! Oh, it has been too long." My mom hugs the woman excitedly. "Diana, I have missed you so much," Monica says to my mom. "So where is this daughter of yours? Oh, and these are my sons, Ryder, Noah, and Jonah. Issac and Gianna are busy right now so you'll meet them later." Mom introduces us. Issac and Gianna are our younger brother and sister.

The breeze shifts and blows the most amazing scent I've ever smelled. It smells of lavender and honey. My gaze follows the scent to see a girl sliding down out of the moving truck. I must say she is quite short. She looks our way and the world stops spinning. All I can see is the short girl with blonde hair. "Mate," Ace growls in my head. What!? She's my mate. Who is she? "Oh, there she is. Stella come here. Don't just stand there come say hello to everyone." Monica says. This breaks me out of my trans. "Guys am I the only one or is she really our mate?" Noah asks in mind-link. "No, you're not," I confirm he's not the only one to feel the mate bond. The girl is Stella, Monica's daughter. At least one good thing came out of this. "Guys, we need to be careful. She's not of age yet. She can't tell who her mate is yet." Jonah says. He's right. We can't claim her. We legally cannot tell her she is our mate until her eighteenth birthday. When is that by the way? I'm going to have to look at her file again for that.

"She looks just like you Monica. Hello, dear, I'm Diana. Your mom and I are friends from grade school." Mom says to my mate. "Hello," Stella says in a shy voice. Now that she's closer I can more details of her such as her eyes are green. I'm not happy about all of her features though. In fact those features piss me off. She has a black eye on her right eye, a small cut at the top of her forehead, and a bruise around her right wrist. Who the hell hurt her? It looks like someone gripped her wrist a little too hard. "Hi, Stella. I don't know if you remember us but we're your grandparents. You've grown up so much. Look at you." Evelyn approaches Stella with the rest of her family. My mate seems to calm down at seeing Hayden. She hugs him first. "Hey, kiddo. I see my sister is still giving you a hard time. What happened to your wrist and eye?" Hayden asks out of concern for his niece. "O-oh um, I-I f-fell is all," Stella says. "Lie," Noah says in our mind-link. I agree. There is no way that happened from just falling.

"She's always falling. Stella has always been a clumsy person." Monica says. Lemon and Cherry come outside so they can show them to their rooms. "Wow, I hope the old bat is the potential Luna because who wants a rankless weak little broken wolf as their Luna?" Cherry says. Broken wolf? I sniff the air and find my mate is a broken wolf. "Mate has no wolf. Mate gone. Mate dead." Ace whimpers. Her wolf counterpart would have been his mate. I get angry at Cherry's comment. I don't know if I can accept Stella as a mate now. I want to but is she what's best for the pack? I get angry because it breaks one of my biggest rules in the pack. I have a no-bullying law and no tolerance for it. "Cherry you know the rules. I better not have to say something again." Jonah warns her. "Sorry," Cherry says showing no remorse for what she said. She takes Monica and shows her to her room while Lemon takes Stella to hers.

Everyone else goes back about their business. "Our mate is broken? What happened to her?" Noah says sadly. "I don't know but she doesn't look good. She has bruises everywhere. We have to protect her." Jonah says determined. "Ryder? Ryder, you f*****g better not be thinking what I think you're thinking." Noah says noticing my silence. I have to do what's best for the pack. "Don't you f*****g reject her. She's already lost her wolf. What do you think that does to a person? Why do you think she is so small? She is far too fragile to take a rejection." Ace growls at me.

"I-I don't know," I admit to my brothers. "You don't know. You don't f*****g know! Ryder, she is our mate. Our fated mate. We can't ignore that. I don't care if she is broken or not. I'd wait forever for her. Don't deny us of this." Noah says almost begging me. "He's right Ryder. We will fight you on this one. Don't let Mom and Dad get in your head on this one. We are already doing what is best for the pack. The moon goddess knows what she is doing and I have faith that Stella is the mate for us. She could be stronger than you think. It is always the small ones that surprise you the most. You can accept her. It is your choice. You are allowed to make one selfish decision." Jonah says to me. I know they're right. Stella is our mate and it would be selfish of me to deny them of her because someone may think she isn't right for the pack. "Ok, but what do we do now? She's not 18 yet?" I give in.

"Well, we go read her file and find out how much time we have to wait. Her birth certificate should be in the file. Then we will come up with a plan from there. Monica will not be our Luna but I couldn't be more grateful for agreeing to this because it brought us her." Jonah answers. He's right. Had we not agreed to this we never would have found her. I just wonder how she lost her wolf.