Heart Broken, Bartered, But Loved

Chapter 4

Alexandra’s POV-

Watching how impatient he was becoming, it actually excited me. It filled me with a sense of hope, that he wanted to get to know me, that he wanted me. I smiled at him, before jumping down from the tree. I was fully prepared to land on the ground, in a squatting position. But he had other ideas. He caught me, wrapping his arms around my waist. Sparks traveled all over my body, from where his arms were around my waist. Our eyes were locked on each other. He was by far the most handsome man I had ever encountered.

We both gulped, as he lowered me down on to the ground. He smiled down at me, there was certainly a height difference. He was a lot taller than me. He held me against him, until I realized that I hadn’t been watching the battle. I shoved him off of me, and turned in a bit of a panic, to watch the battle. I found my brother in the middle of the battle. He was doing well in the fight. The god-like Alpha behind me, scoffed, “So, you push me away, your fated mate, to find someone fighting in that battle. Do you love him?”

“Of course, I love him, he is my brother. He is the only family I really have, except for my scumbag of a father,” I replied.

He breathed a sigh of relief, because the person I was watching wasn’t someone I loved in the way he thought. He was glad that it was family that I was trying to watch over.

“What is your name,” he asked, as I turned slightly to look at him.

“I am Alexander Rose Blake, daughter of Beta Blake, the jackass Beta of Blue Moon. There is no need to ask your name. You are Alpha Nicholas Carter of Blood Moon,” I responded, my eyes downcast.

I felt a little ashamed by who my father is. In our world, one should be proud of who their father is, especially if they have a title in a pack. But I had no reason to be proud of my father, not after everything he had done and everything he was planning to do. My eyes were downcast, so all I could see was the ground, until his feet came into view. His hand reached up, and gripped my chin gently, lifting my chin up to meet his face.

“Don’t give me that look. You are too beautiful to look ashamed,” he whispered.

“Let’s just say if you knew half of what was going on in Blue Moon that my father was involved in, then you would be ashamed too,” I whispered.

“Then, why don’t you tell me maybe I can help,” Nicholas said.

“There is too much to tell right now, or to even show you,” I responded.

His brow furrowed, “You have proof of what he has done?”

I nodded, “Yes, and I was going to run away today, so I could give the proof to the Lycan council.”

“Give it to me. I have orders from the Lycan council to investigate Blue Moon. Getting there is too dangerous right now,” he said.

“What do you mean getting there is too dangerous,” I asked.

He sighed, “The Lycan Council have been attacked multiple times by vampires.”

“That is in the...,” I began, my jaw dropping a little.

“The what,” he asked.

“The paperwork, my brother and I found. There is so much to tell you about,” I whispered.

“Then why don’t you tell me,” he said.

My eyes darted back towards the battle, as the warriors that had past me charged into the fray of battle. I growled, “You ordered more troops in.”

I backed away from feeling like the mate bond was the reason I trusted him so easily. He grabbed my arm and stopped me from leaving, as he said, “I didn’t, but my Betas knew my plan, so they would have followed my last orders without hearing from me.”

“Why didn’t you stop them? My brother is in there,” I whispered.

“I know I should have. Look, I am going to walk out there, with this. I will stop this battle,” he replied.

“Listen, if you go out there, Raven won’t stick to the wolf laws, be warned. He wants to have things his way or the highway. Call for a meeting, and exchange peace for me. Say, if you can have me as a breeder, then you will leave Blue Moon in peace and won’t destroy the entire pack,” I told him.

He growled, “I will not call my mate a breeder, ever.”

“And, if you call me your mate, then you will never have me. I was due to be put into lock down tomorrow. I would never be leaving, until they ship me off to who they want me to mate with. The only way to keep me safe and to keep me with you, is to make out like you want me for greed, because they hate me. My father hates me. Raven hates me for proving to the other women that we have the strength to fight. I am the only female warrior in the pack, and yet they still refuse to let me fight, misogynistic bastards,” I replied.

“Fine, I will call you that during the meeting. I will also act like I have never ever seen you before in my life,” he smiled.

“You have a really nice smile. Just when you see me again, be prepared for me to act like a raging b***h. It will be an act. I want to go with you, I just need them to think that I don’t,” I smiled.

He nodded, “Alright, I will do as you say.”

I nodded, turning to look back at the ongoing battle. That was when I saw my brother get taken down, and a wolf s***h at his under belly. I instantly became worried, Nicholas noticed. He asked, “What is it?”

“Just do stop the fight in a moment unless you want me to get hurt,” I replied, before charging from the trees, shifting mid-run.

Now, in our wolf form, I took a seat in my own mind and allowed my wolf, Zira, to take full control. She looked back at our mate for a second, his jaw dropped. We charged straight into battle. A wolf charged at us, but Zira held back no punches, we had to get to our brother, who had managed to throw the wolf off him, but was badly wounded. Tristan had jumped in to protect him. The wolf that charged at us was thrown to the side like he weighed nothing. Another wolf attacked Tristan, distracting him long enough for another wolf to get close to my brother, who had now shifted back, which pissed us off all the more.

I felt my father open a mindlink to me, and growled, “You stupid girl. I told you to stay behind and guard the other women.”

We just snarled back in the mindlink, before cutting it off. As we tackled the wolf, who was approaching my brother, we sunk our teeth into the back of his neck, before turning my entire body around, and throwing the wolf into other Blood Moon warriors. Our white fur is now speckled with blood. Zira and I let out an almighty roar, one that made everyone shake internally. Eric was lying on the floor, trying to press his hands against the bloody gouges across his body. Zira let out a whine as we approached him. Zira nuzzled his face, as he opened a mindlink to us, as he said, “I am fine already healing. You shouldn’t have charged in like that, but I am grateful you did. Thank you, baby sister.”

Only Eric and I were in this mindlink, so I said, “You don’t even know half of it. Alpha Nicholas is my fated mate. I just saw him in the woods. He is going to stop the fighting, and try and barter peace for me.”

“Then you can leave with him, and get that information into the right hands,” Eric replied.

Suddenly, there was a snarl behind me, the warrior from Blood Moon that I had thrown away from my brother, was there snarling readying to attack me. I turned to face him, protecting my brother. But suddenly, a black wolf, one with brown patches, attacked that warrior from Blood Moon. I recognized him all too well. It was James, the future Alpha of Blue Moon, and my cheating swine of an ex. He saved me from having to fight. James forced a mindlink open with everyone, and told them to form a circle around us and the other wounded. A good move for an Alpha, but he was a future Alpha, so his father was, of course, pissed, when everyone followed exactly what his son had said. The Blood Moon Warriors circled around us. I stood near my brother, Eric, who was lying still on the floor. His wounds were knitting back together. Zira nuzzled Eric. A brown wolf approached us. It was my father. He shifted back, and ran to Eric.

“Are you okay, son? Alexandra, you broke orders and came here and joined this fight. You will be punished for disobedience,” Dad growled the last part towards me.

“Leave her alone, Dad. If it wasn’t for her barreling in to this battle, I would be dead. Your heir dead. But she saved me. So, you can’t punish her, she just proved that women can fight, and that our pack needs to change with them times,” Eric growled back.

“I thought you were almost ready to take over from me as Beta, but what you just said proved exactly what I needed to know. You are not ready. We do not allow women to fight in our pack. Alexandra will be punished, and I will think of the best kind of punishment,” Dad responded.

Eric and I growled at him. Before he could respond, I shivered a little, which I hid well. I knew Nicholas was close by. All the Blood Moon warriors howled, along with their Alpha. Blood Moon warriors were encircled around us, there were at least three rows of them. Nicholas appeared, holding the moon flower. My breathing hitched when our eyes met. He had this devilishly handsome smirk on his face that made my heart melt. It was hard for Zira and even myself to stay stoic. But we managed it. Raven shifted back; he was pissed. He glared at me, before turning to stare down at Nicholas.

“Well, if it isn’t the infamous Alpha Nicholas Carter. About time, you manned up and joined the battlefield,” Raven's sarcastic tone echoed in the woods.

“Alpha Raven, you know, as well as I, that an Alpha’s duty is to protect and lead his people. Yes, you could say that I should be in the fight based on that notion, but I know that my people are strong enough to win a battle without my help. Either way, your Beta broke the law. My pack member was sitting at the border waiting to catch a glimpse of you or your stupid Beta, just to ask you where his aunt and her entire family had gone. They disappeared from your pack, as an Alpha should you not be defending them. Though I believe you claimed they had been killed by rogues. My question is how the hell did rogues get so close to your pack members' homes for them to be killed. I would never let them get that close to any of my pack members' homes. Yet rather than your Beta stopping to talk with him, he attacked him, leaving him for dead, crossing on to my lands,” Nicholas responded.

Raven paused, he looked a little surprised, it looked like he was faking it, “Well, I certainly didn’t know that was the case. I will have to speak with my Beta to do with it.”

“If he has lied to you, and brought this battle down on your pack, I sure hope you will punish him greatly for his actions. He essentially has started a war. I have every legal right to continue this battle, kill everyone here, and then go to your packhouse, and have every she-wolf and child in the packhouse killed, all because your Beta was an i***t and started a war,” Nicholas said, raising an eyebrow.

“WATCH YOUR MOUTH BOY,” growled Dad, as all eyes snapped to him.

Nicholas snarled at him, his werewolf’s eyes appearing. But before Nicholas could respond to the pathetic Beta, Raven growled at my dad, “You shut your mouth.”

Raven turned back to face Nicholas, and asked, “What do you want, Alpha Nicholas?”

“I want a meeting in private with you, your family, your Beta, and his family. After all that, you and your Beta’s children have to learn to deal with meetings such as these. We can then decide a way for me to halt this war. I will leave my troops here, with one of my Betas. I have two other Betas who will come with me. But I have another army of a thousand warriors waiting at the border for the word to cross. If anything happens to me or my two betas that will come with you back to your packhouse for this private meeting, then my third beta will attack with all my warriors here, calling the thousand warriors at the border to come here immediately. Once we have come to an agreement on what you are willing to give me in exchange for me not destroying your pack, killing your pack members, and burning your homes to the ground,” Nicholas smirked.

I smiled inside, knowing he was following my plan, even though he had no reason to trust me, especially considering who my father is and what my father had done to his pack member, who I think was related to Kayley and her family. I knew I had to tell him at some point.

There was a long silence, I guess while Raven tried to think and plan out what he could do next, or to gauge what Nicholas would ask for. It just made Nicholas smirk. He chuckled, it made him almost appear evil, but I found it attractive. Nicholas said, “Well, then Alpha Raven, what is your decision? Look around, your male warriors can not stand another fight.”

Raven’s eyes narrowed on Nicholas, and growled, “Fine, we will call a truce, and have this meeting.”

“Good, lead the way,” Nicholas said.

“Warriors gather our wounded and dead, and let’s get home,” Raven shouted.

Dad turned to me, and growled, “Don’t you shift back, until you get home. Take Eric, go home, get clothes on and get back to the packhouse. You have thirty minutes. If you think you are really ready enough to battle, doing that should be a piece of cake.”

Zira and I growled back, before laying down on our belly next to Eric, and mindlinked him, saying, “Eric, climb on. I am going to run you home, so hold on tight, and don’t pull Zira’s fur out, she will bite you.”

“I know, sis. I won’t,” Eric replied, in our mindlink.

Eric climbed onto our back. Zira turned her head, to make sure that he had climbed on properly, and our eyes locked on Nicholas. He was watching us, but he was scanning the surroundings too, to make it look like he wasn’t watching me. Eric chuckled in our mindlink.

“I can’t believe he is your mate. He will squish you. He has to be a foot taller than you, and then look at the size of his muscles, you are a stick compared to him,” Eric said in the mindlink.

“I can’t believe it either, but I am glad that I will have a better way to get away from here. He is going to use the meeting to barter peace, in exchange for me. I told him to say breeder, so don’t be mad at him,” I replied in the mindlink.

“Good, now let’s get home, so we can get dressed, run fast,” he smirked, in our mindlink.

He didn’t have to tell Zira and I twice. The moment she heard him say that, she ran at full speed, back to our home, which wasn’t far from the pack house. Thankfully, Eric’s wound had healed over before he climbed onto my back. I will say that I might have some blood on me when I get home. I was running faster than I ever had because I was eager to get home and wash and change, so I could get to the packhouse and see my mate again. Nicholas did everything I told him to do, and that filled me with a sense of hope. He actually wanted me. I know I am his fated mate, but he actually wanted me, even without knowing who my father is. I guess we will see how he is after he finds out just how fully involved in criminal activities my father is. I do hope he will keep me around. Then there is this whole surprised look everyone in Blood Moon had in seeing me a white wolf. Nicholas was very surprised, which made me wonder why. Could it have something to do with my mother’s side of the family? Eric had no memories of ever meeting any of our mother’s side of the family, so could the white wolf genes come her side of the family? Did we have more family out there? I guess I should have to find out from Nicholas and tell Eric what I have found out, because we both would love to have more family. Despite everything, we have only truly had each other since our mother died.

I raced home with Eric on my back. We got there within minutes, which is how hard and fast I ran. I decided I would take a quick shower, wash the blood off. Eric did the same. Then we changed in our separate bedrooms, then headed back to the packhouse for this meeting. I was eager to see my mate, but I had to suppress this eagerness, and prepare to be a complete and utter b***h.