Alpha²

Chapter 1

Grey wanted to say he was excited for today, but honestly, he was dreading it. No matter how long he had been mentally preparing himself for this day, he still wasn’t ready in heart, mind or soul. But he knew he had no say in any of this. He had to do it. He didn’t have any other option. He had to go to this ball, find his mate, and pray that she was okay with Grey being her mate and that she would be, and he quoted Hunter, ’a baby-making thing’.

Of course, Grey didn’t want any of this. He wanted to love and treasure his mate.

But according to his family, those were the things of Beta’s. As an alpha, Grey only had one thing to do; find his mate, mate with her, and emphasise ‘her’. And he had to continue on the family line. They had to stay in power for whatever reason. And by they, I meant Grey because his father was getting old, and Grey could not take over.

But he didn’t want to have a broken family like his own. Where his father was always away on some trip, and his mother was always in her room, drunk and hating her life, regretting the rash decision she had made, wondering if and when?

Grey wanted him and his mate to have a life they could both enjoy. He didn’t want to simply have a mate for the sake of having a mate. He wanted there to be love and warmth, something his parents didn’t have. His mate would be with him for the rest of his life, and he wanted to be with her and love her. He didn’t want her to be a baby-making thing. He wanted there to be love in their marriage.

Grey sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror; he had gotten his name from his pale grey eyes.

He could find her today, and they would run away. Just the two of them could go somewhere far away, and Grey would be rid of all his family's expectations for him. He could leave the boarding school, and he could be free. He could be free of all the looks he received daily.

But he knew that was all wishful thinking. Not even wishful. It was naïve and childish.

Grey knew from the moment he stepped out that door that either his father would be waiting outside or Arabella, and, in all honesty, it would most likely be the latter. The former had little to no patience, and Grey knew that.

He was right.

“Master, Grey,” she said, and Grey smiled at her. Her blonde hair was tied in a tight ponytail, her brown eyes hidden behind glasses, and her eyes cast down. Grey once asked her why she wore glasses when she didn’t need them, and she replied that she just liked them.

“Hello, Arabella,” he said, and she gave him a small smile. She didn’t make eye contact.

Grey liked eye contact. It made him feel like he was having an actual conversation and not talking to himself. However, his father had drilled into all the workers that eye contact meant disobedience, and now, none of them made eye contact, too scared to.

“How many times do I have to say, do not call me Master, Arabella. Instead, please, use my name,” Grey said, and she shook her head vigorously.

“No, no, I cannot do that, Master Grey. If Master Hunter heard me say that, he would have me killed.”

Grey had to try his hardest not to roll his eyes at that. Hunter was too old-fashioned; it drove Grey insane. So, he simply nodded. She led him down from his dorm to the car and got in after opening the door, ensuring he was seated and comfortable. Grey wasn’t surprised to see his father not there.

Arabella gave him a small smile through the viewing mirror as if seeing his expression.

“Your mother will not be attending the ball.” Grey heard the silent ‘as usual.’ “And, your father is already there waiting for you, Master Grey. He said that he could not be late.” Grey nodded a little to show her he had heard and acknowledged what she had said.

But then Grey decided to give her a verbal response, in case she missed him, nodding his head as she was driving. “Okay, thank you,” he said, and she smiled at him.

On the way from the dorm to the ball hall, Grey memorised the chemical compounds from the app he had installed on his phone. He could not let himself fall behind. Nothing would stop him from graduating this year, and he would leave. He would move far, far away from this town, and he would be happy. He deserved to be satisfied with his mate, who he would love forever. They would both be happy together.

“Has my father found her yet?” Grey asked, and Arabella knew what he was asking about as she simply shook her head.

“No, Master Grey. I don’t even think he’s looking for her anymore. I think he only mentions it in front of your mother just to further agitate her.” Grey nodded.

He wasn’t surprised. That sounded exactly like Hunter would do, making Grey sick.

Grey’s father, Hunter and his mother, Angelica, weren’t mates. Angelica was paid handsomely to marry Hunter and have a male heir. That was the condition, and she, being unwise, pregnant and all alone, agreed to it. She was unaware that she would have to sacrifice her life and her love and be made to suffer in that house, all alone.

Grey wondered if she regretted not reading the contract before blindly signing it. She gave her whole life away with a signature. She really should have read the terms and conditions. Hunter locked her in a room with little to no contact, and Hunter was allowed out in the world to look for his true mate while she was not.

Grey thought Hunter, too, regretted it. More than ever, he was on the hunt for his mate.

Grey guessed old age was finally getting to him, and even though he wasn’t that old, he was in his late thirties and scared. Scared of being alone with someone he didn’t love, he was old and grey with no one to call his own. Especially now, with all his so-called friends watching their kids move on and settle down with their mates. Everyone seemed so old-fashioned; most had been married and had at least one child by the time they were twenty.

Grey would say he felt terrible for him, but he didn’t because Hunter wanted him to do the same thing; if he did not find his mate by twenty, Hunter would have him marry an omega from a decent family and produce an heir. It was challenging, and if this was how Hunter felt now, Grey had no idea why he wanted him to go through what he was going through.

He hated it, and he didn’t have a choice.

Arriving at the ball, Arabella opened the door, and he smiled at her.

When Grey walked in, he was swarmed by both males and females, alphas and omegas. It wasn’t anything unusual. The girls asked him if he had found his mate, and when Grey said he hadn’t, they all eyed each other like he was the prize and the other girls were competing. The boys wanted to get on his good side to have an ‘in’ with them. By then, he meant his father.

Grey politely excused himself from them when he realised none of them was his mate. As much as he hated to admit it, he hadn’t found his mate and was almost twenty. It was unusual. Most people find their mate at their coming-of-age, at the age of eighteen, because all non-mated alphas and omegas came to them.

So, either his mate was dead, or she just didn’t live anywhere near there, and that had Grey wondering if he would ever find her. He wanted to see her before his twentieth birthday in two weeks.

All this loud music and the people seemed overwhelming to Grey, and he would have much instead been at home, revising for exams. He needed to pass this year. He would not let the last two years’ events affect him more than they already had. He’d only been back a year and a half, but he had somehow managed to catch up with his two-year absence. He was grateful it had only been two years, thanks to whoever had saved him. He wanted to know if he would meet them again to show appreciation.

He would still see the looks of sympathy and pity in people’s eyes. The events themselves had made his father hate him, well, not hate, hate was a strong word, dislike him further.

Grey could see it swirling around his eyes. Every time he saw him, it seemed the older he got, the more obvious it became. And Hunter knew, Grey knew how he felt about him, which didn’t ease the pain anymore. He had to get it together because he couldn’t let it get to him. He wouldn’t let it get to him.

So, Grey hid away in a corner, and maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing he had done because the sudden movements caught his father’s eye. Hunter saw him and excused himself from some of the older people of a pack Grey hadn’t seen before. Maybe his mate was from there, and he walked over.

Hunter smiled until he walked over, roughly grabbing Grey’s arm, hiding it from the prying eyes and taking him to a room. All balls had rooms that became soundproof once the door was locked, which helped with privacy.

With being werewolves, their senses were heightened, and that wasn’t the best when you were trying to have a private conversation in a hall full of werewolves.

“Why are you trying to embarrass me,” Hunter hissed, and it took everything in Grey not to flinch at the tone of his voice and keep a straight face.

“I’m sorry, father,” Grey said, trying to keep that false confidence.

“I’m sorry, father,” Hunter mocked. “I saw Cynthia earlier, go and find her. You have two weeks and, from the looks of it, you will not be finding your mate. You might as well get accustomed to her presence.”

Grey swallowed the lump in his throat. “Yes, Father,” Grey whispered, and Hunter looked at him disgustedly.

“Two years,” he muttered. “Two, f*****g, years. Disgusting.”

Grey was about to leave. He needed to get out of his sight. He needed to leave and go to the bathroom to collect himself. “I didn’t say you could leave,” he yelled. Ah, Grey flinched. He was sure he would have hurt him, but the hit never came. Instead, Hunter seemed to be listening to his wolf. He had that look in his eye.

“A new family is moving in today. From what I’ve heard, they’re a family of five. The grandfather is an alpha. His son is an omega. And the grandkids, there are three of them, all alphas,” he said, walking out.

Grey locked the door and let out a breath he never knew he was holding. He smiled to himself a little. Finally, someone in this town wouldn’t look at him in pity. He stared at the flooring as he made up his mind. He would find that new family and hopefully befriend them.

~*~