Fated To The Alpha (Complete Fated Series collection)

Book 4 Chapter 4

Katya

I let out a heavy sigh as Andrei finishes the call. I haven’t heard from him for a few days and I was seriously starting to worry about my brother and his mate.

To be honest, I still worry about them. I fear so many different scenarios simply because I know all of them are possibilities. But what scares me the most is that Sage won’t let him mark her.

The issue I have is I don’t see any actual progress between those two just yet. Sure, there is some, but not enough to exhale in relief thinking things will work out. Time is slipping away. I can’t stop it and neither can they.

At this point, I just hope I haven’t signed my brother’s death warrant.

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Ezra asks, walking into his office, scaring the living daylights out of me.

I am sitting at his desk because I wanted some privacy during the phone call, but I didn’t expect anyone to look for me this soon. I haven’t got enough time to fully process the conversation with Andrei, let alone discuss it.

I glance at my mate and shake my head. “Nothing, it’s just I’m still worried about Sage and Andrei.”

Ezra moves closer to the desk and stands in front of it, bracing his hands on the surface. “You will see them at the Alpha meeting,” he assures me with a slight smile across his lips.

He is right. I am hoping I can catch Sage and talk to her while we are there. I’m pretty sure we can easily find a quiet place for that talk while the men busy themselves with their own discussions.

Ezra pushes himself off the desk and raises an eyebrow at me. “So, what did Andrei want?” He sits on the edge of his desk and peers down at me as he folds his arms over his chest.

The serious look on his face amuses me a little. I know he is trying to distract me from my worries and fears, and yet, here he is, looking like he is ready to fight the entire world if I don’t disclose the details of the phone call with my brother.

Although I might get irritated by his pushy attitude, all I do is smile and tell him the truth. “He took in some rogue kids. One of them was his Beta’s mate and one is orphaned.”

Ezra loses his cool attitude for a second, appearing to be just as taken aback as I was when Andrei told me this. I’m still surprised by the change in him. I feared he was still obsessed with torturing the rogues, but here he is, taking in a few and trying to help them.

Sage is bringing positive changes and helping my brother to not only see reason, but also understand life is more than he sees it to be. He is getting better and truly trying to become a better person. I hope this new side of him remains and doesn’t fade in time.

Andrei deserves to be happy. It’s about time he lets the past go and focuses on the future he can share with Sage. But for that, of course, both of them have to take the steps to actually live long enough to share the future. They’re so close, I hope, I so so hope, they will get there.

I almost lose myself in thoughts again, but the hum from my mate brings me back to reality just in time for me to hear Ezra speak up. “Ah, yeah, that makes things tricky without parental or guardian consent. Has he checked the blood database?”

I shake my head. “No, that’s why he rang. Can you see if Mathias or someone can take some blood samples for him?”

“Yes, I will organize it. Have you taken your meds?” As the question escapes Ezra’s lips, I suddenly feel irritated with myself. I should have seen this coming. It’s so typical of him to change the subject to something that concerns him more than it could concern me.

I glare at Ezra. He knows I hate those damn things. They make me feel airheaded.

“No, she hasn’t,” Mateo snitches as he walks inside the office with a glass of water in one hand and my antidepressants in the other. That bloody traitor! Can he call himself my mate after betraying me like this?

Ezra growls and glares at me as Mateo stalks closer. “You have no excuse, Kat, you aren’t breastfeeding anymore,” he scolds as he passes me the glass of water and mimics the judgemental facial expression Ezra is giving me. I can’t believe this, both are working against me.

“I don’t need them,” I object, shaking my head and turning my focus back to the computer screen. I don’t have to look at my mates to know that they are seething as I place the glass on the desk. Their gazes heat up my skin, but I ignore it.

“Kat, there's nothing wrong with needing medication. It doesn’t make you weak,” Ezra lectures yet again, taking the pill from Mateo’s hand.

I know he is switching tactics just to make me drink them. First comes the feeble attempt to intimidate me, then it’s the care and gentle words to assure me, and then there will be anger.

An idea pops in my mind, and I turn my gaze to Ezra and wiggle my eyebrows. “Then you take them,” I challenge.

“Don’t make me force it down your throat,” he growls.

Ah, there it is, stage three - anger. If anger is what he wants, anger is what my dead mate gets. “You can f*****g try, Ezra, and I will put you in your place real quick,” I warn him, and he snarls deeper.

“Don’t make me bring Maddox forward, Kat. Take them. Mathias said your psychosis will get worse without them.” Ezra tries to threaten me.

Look at this, the big bad Alpha can’t take me down on his own. He needs to run to his wolf. “I will just shift, I have been shifting, and I am fine,” I stress.

Why can’t they understand that I’m so damn sick of everyone at this point? I’m sick of their attempts to stuff medication down my throat. I hate it. Those pills stunt my aura and weaken me. Everyone claims I need those pills. But on them, I can’t fight off Ezra's commands. I hate that it makes me unable to put my walls up and shield myself.

“You have three seconds,” Ezra warns, but all I do is roll my eyes at him.

I try to feel out for my severely muted aura. The meds have ruined it, but since I haven’t taken those pills, at least for a day, I can feel my aura, if only a little. I don’t want to lose it again. I’m tired of trying to reach out in the dark and not finding anything I seek.

“We have this stupid Alpha meeting in two days. I don’t want to be weak when we go to it,” I point out. This should be a convincing argument for my mates to understand that I need to be able to protect myself if anything were to go wrong. I refuse to rely on their abilities to protect me.

Besides, I think it is f*****g stupid that we even have to go. I don’t want the title of Queen of Alphas. Why can’t things just stay how they are? I have enough s**t going on with the twins and our pack. On top of everything, we are still dealing with Jackson’s old pack that needs to be moved and re-housed into new packs.

Most packs are still reluctant to take in new members, and the rogue populations are growing out of control. There are so many more important issues to focus on. I don’t see a point in attending an event while so many shifters are out there, suffering and fighting for their survival.

“Kat, please don’t do this now, just take the damn thing.”

I turn in my chair and look up at him.

Mateo shifts his weight from one foot to another, visibly nervous. I know he hates when Ezra and I go toe to toe, but I am sick of him treating me like a child. I swear he likes me being on meds because it gives him control over me.

“I said no. I will take them after the Alpha meeting.” I stand my ground. Ezra has to learn how to listen to me. But more than that, he has to learn how to let go of the crazy control he wants to have over everyone, including me. I’m done.

Ezra growls at me, about to stand up, but Mateo stops him by gripping his shoulder. “Maybe she is right, you know her walking into that meeting will cause an uproar.” Mateo reminds him.

“Why will it cause an uproar?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. This is something new.

“Every Alpha in the country will be there, including the Alpha of Alphas. You may be their Queen now, but they won’t take that lightly, they may challenge you.” Mateo explains.

I furrow my brows. How does that make any sense? “Now, why would they do that?”

Mateo sighs and exchanges a look with Ezra. I cross my arms in front of my chest and wait for an answer. He groans and shakes his head. “Because it is no secret what you did at Jackson’s pack. Rumors have circulated that the Goddess has returned, reborn, made a Queen and blessed you. The current Alpha of Alphas is not going to like to know that you pull a rank over him. They will sense it the moment you step in there.”

“So you think he may challenge me for it?” Mateo nods.

Before I can ask another question, or even try to make sense out of men and their stupid egos, Ezra sighs. “I didn’t think of that. Fine, but you go back on them straight afterward. But Kat, you will have no excuses left after we return home.”

I roll my eyes and focus on the most important matter rather than involve myself in another argument with Ezra. “I don’t see why Dominic would feel threatened. It’s not like I am taking his title.”

“No, but you are female and overrule his title now. The Moon Goddess was always our Luna Queen, our Goddess. Kat, you changed her blessing. You changed everything. Werewolf society has never had Kings and Queens of Alphas. Well, until now, and technically, Ezra is King because I submitted to him and stepped out of the Alpha role. But if push comes to shove, I am still your mate. Even I would pull rank over Dominic. So to Dominic… Kat, we are a threat in his eyes.” Mateo explains.

Ezra nods at his words. “I didn’t think of that, Beta King.” Ezra chuckles as he teases the words and Mateo slaps his arm.

I roll my eyes at how quick these two can change. One moment, they are so goddamn painfully serious, just to turn into a duo of clowns the next. “Ah, this is stupid, I don’t need this stress now.” I groan and run a hand though my hair, barely fighting the urge to tug on it. “So what happens if they challenge me or either of you?”

“They would be stupid to try.” Ezra growls. As always, he appears to be ready to jump into action to defend me. As much as I admire his attempts to show me how much he cares, sometimes I wish he could give me more space.

Mateo is right, at least with some of the things that he pointed out. As soon as we all appear there, our presence will cause quite a ruckus, so I need to be able to stand up for myself. I will never do that if my mates always try to jump in front of me.

Just as I part my lips to point that out, Mateo perks up. “Unfortunately, we heard rumors that Dominic doesn’t believe you are blessed by the Goddess and said that he will never bow down to anyone.” He scoffs, as if he can't believe that someone would ever say something like that.

The thing is that I very much believe that it’s something Dominic could say. The guy is a d**k, the only thing that is bigger than his ego is his audacity.

I can’t stop the growl that forces its way out of me. “So he is going to cause drama? Great!”

I'm so damn frustrated by this situation. Why can’t we have a day, or an event, that doesn’t bring our life more unnecessary problems? Don’t we have enough on our plate already? I get it, the Moon Goddess blessed me, and that’s super cool to some, but I doubt anyone would say the same if they were to stand in my place.

Some say the Goddess gives the hardest battles to the strongest, and if I meet her again, I need to ask her when did I sign up for a f*****g war.

“Simple, if he doesn’t bow, you make him,” Ezra presses, pulling me out of the miserable thoughts.

“I don’t like using my aura.” I retort, pointing out what he already knows. In fact, he should know that better than anyone, so I don’t understand why he mentioned it. It’s not going to make the situation any better.

“Well, you will have to, or go hand to hand, depending on what he challenges you with, I say he will want to challenge your aura.” Ezra hums to himself.

“Well, that’s stupid,” I chuckle. Although I’ve never met him, I have heard enough about Dominic, and I know he is bad at accepting defeat. I guess he’s in for the surprise of his life, if he thinks he can pull that stunt without consequences.

“Yes and no. Dominic is also touched by the Goddess. Rumor has it that he has certain abilities that put him at the top, but you are a deity yourself, and nothing is stronger than that.” Ezra adds.

Alright, that is something I haven’t heard about him. I mean, his reputation has always traveled faster than he does, but no one mentioned anything like that to me before now. Even the Moon Goddess herself never mentioned anything about Dominic or the gifts she might have given him.

I furrow my brows and look at Ezra. “What sort of abilities?”

“Not sure, most of it is a rumor, no one gets close enough to him to be sure,” Ezra explains.

“But he is the Alpha of Alphas.” I point out the obvious that we already know. The Alpha of Alphas shouldn’t have any extra abilities.

Ezra shakes his head, clearly amused by how confused I am. “Exactly, Kat, no one challenges an Alpha of Alphas. I believe that the only reason he is even coming to the annual Alpha meet is to call you out. He sent a personal invitation, insisting you be there. Whether you like being Moon Blessed or not, Kat, there is no way of avoiding it, you are their rightful Queen, and they will challenge that.”

I push my fingers through my hair, suddenly nervous about tomorrow.

All this pressure that lies on my shoulders is making me feel sick to my stomach. I never asked for any of this or extra responsibilities.

Perhaps I still have enough time to try to reach out to Seline and ask her what gifts Dominic has received from her? It is strange to think I now have a direct link to her, but she has actually grown to be a friend.

On one hand, it is truly amazing how a person can suddenly lose all the people they previously called friends once they have children. On the other hand, while everyone is too busy or tired with their own lives, Seline seems to be happy to see me whenever I call on her. No matter how busy she is.

A loud cry from upstairs startles me and I instantly look at the ceiling.

“I will go,” Ezra offers, but I shake my head to refuse his offer as politely as I can.

The twins are due to have their bath time, and I would rather deal with that myself. Both Ezra and Mateo already do a lot for our kids, and these days, since our relationship is getting better again, I want to spend more time with my children.

As I head upstairs, Mateo trails after me, but doesn’t say anything. My mates are amazing fathers, so if they want to help, even if I don’t need a hand, I try to appreciate their efforts, even if I feel like they are being a little too much.

Mateo grabs some towels on the way past the linen cupboard. He hands those to Ezra and me, and we bring them to the nursery. I love how thoughtful Mateo is. He always chooses the best of the best for our children. Even the small things like fluffy, warm towels are the greatest gesture in my eyes.

“Mathias said he will head over to your brother now,” Ezra announces as he scoops Eziah out of his crib. I didn’t even notice when Mathias mindlinked him. I swear, these days, I get so distracted, and stuck in my own head it’s getting ridiculous.

My eyes focus on the twins. Both of them are growing like weeds under the sun and rain. Eziah is crawling already, though Marabella has not quite mastered it yet. They are early bloomers, our children are barely four and half months old and already advanced for their age. I don’t think it will be long before Eziah pulls himself up on the furniture, as he already tries to when he sits up.

Grabbing Marabella out of the crib, I pop her on my hip. Her big, beautiful eyes look around the room, and then, they glaze over.

“That is what I was telling you about the other day,” Ezra says, pointing at her. I raise an eyebrow as I watch her eyes turn dim and turn back to bright a few seconds later.

A shiver runs up my spine. For some reason, an uneasy feeling creeps up on me and tries to seep into every bit of my body and mind. Ezra is watching her while Eziah is busy eating his hand and drooling all over it.

“Eziah does it too,” Ezra adds. He sounds slightly worried, but I don’t blame him. Not the slightest, because now that I have seen it happen for myself, I am worried about them too.

“She finally caught sight of what we said,” Mateo says, walking in the nursery.

“Yeah, it is definitely strange. It almost looks like she was mindlinking, but that would be impossible, they have no wolf yet, and they are babies.” I object as I run my fingers through Marabella’s short, dark curls.

“Are you coming to dadda?” Mateo asks, clapping his hands in front of her.

Marabella flashes him a big gummy grin as she holds her mittened hands out for Mateo, clearly, more than happy to be carried around by her dad. I pass her to Mateo and look over at Eziah, who is currently slobbering on Ezra’s arm, biting him with his gums.

“He must be teething. I swear, this drooling is getting out of control,” Ezra groans, holding him up and looking at him.

Eziah giggles and Ezra rubs his stubble on his belly. Our boy coos and smiles as drool runs down his chin.

Although the drooling is a little disgusting, I still smile at the view. I don’t think I will ever get tired of watching my mates with our children. They are such great fathers, they don’t fail to amaze me every day. And the love that radiates off them makes me fall for Ezra and Mateo over and over again, each time, harder than before.

I let them enjoy some time together as I waltz out of the nursery, down the hall, and to the bathroom. As I run the bath for the babies, I realize how preoccupied my mind is.

Starting with tomorrow and everything that might happen during the Alpha meeting. All the risks and possibilities circle through my mind. Then in between everything else, there are still my worries about Andrei and Sage. And to top it all off, now I have to figure out what’s the deal with our twins and what their strange behavior might mean.

There is already so much going on, and too much on my mind, but I can’t forget that there are also my mates. I didn’t notice it at first, not much anyway, but since Seline brought me back, there seems to be a power imbalance within the house. Ezra is so used to being the strongest out of us, he struggles with certain things, not to mention he really doesn’t like giving up his control. I don’t think he will ever give up, if anything, I believe he will keep fighting me every step of the way.

Mateo, is the complete opposite, he has always been so chilled out, he never cared to be the Alpha amongst us. He was, and still is, more than content with being Beta, and letting us run things and argue amongst ourselves. The only time Mateo argues with me is an issue about the kids, or my mental health, which unfortunately has been slipping lately.

Being a Gemini and Goddess reincarnate is exhausting, and we all know how that worked out for Josiah. The power of being a Gemini sent him mad, and sometimes I wonder if I am doomed with the same fate. I can feel it at the edges of my mind, but that also makes me wonder and worry what this means for our kids as they grow up.

On the bright side, for the most part, Ezra and I are pretty evenly matched until I tick him off and Maddox comes forward. My aura outweighs Ezra’s, but Ezra knows Maddox is a force to be reckoned with, and if things aren’t going his way, he is quick to bring him forward.

On the not-so-bright side, when Maddox comes out, all hell can break loose. Maddox will just fight against my aura until I exhaust myself, and then he quickly tries to shove me under his. Neither of us wants to bend to the other, which is why I feel like our bond has become chaotic and a little unstable.

“Kat, the water,” Mateo prompts behind me.

His voice startles me, making me jump. I hadn’t realized that I was stuck in my head and had allowed my own thoughts to get the best of me. I look down to see the bath is overflowing, my knees are saturated, and somehow, I failed to feel the water washing over them.

Mateo glances at me with genuine concern in his eyes. I quickly lean in, drain some of the water out, and shut the water off just as Ezra finally comes in. “What happened?” He asks, and I grit my teeth.

“Nothing, I got distracted.” I tell him. I’m not angry at my mates or their questions. If anything, I am angry at myself for not paying enough attention and letting my mind fade somewhere away from reality.

“Go get changed. We can bathe the babies,” Ezra assures me, and I nod. Maybe I really need to get back to my senses before I try to do anything with the twins. Being so easily distracted is dangerous and worrisome. Thankfully, I wasn’t bathing the kids while my thoughts took over.

I get up off the floor and glance at my wet knees, already experiencing the intense annoyance all over again. I take a step and manage to slip on the wet tile floor, but Ezra is quick to react, and he grabs my arm.

“You alright? Maybe go make a coffee or lay down for a bit,” he suggests.

“I’m fine; I just distracted myself,” I wave him off. He cups my cheek, and I lean into his touch. “We can’t help you if you don’t let us,” Ezra whispers, and I pull away from him.

I am sick of the same argument. They can’t help me being a Gemini. Why can’t they see that? Ezra grips my chin, tilting my face to meet my eyes. “Stop fighting us. You are too stubborn,” he growls, softly pressing his lips to mine. “Go. I will come to find you when I am done here,” he says, letting me go.

I peck Eziah's head and cautiously walk out of the bathroom and head downstairs to make some coffee. Hopefully, it will wake me up, but I can’t stop wondering if something is wrong with the twins. The uneasy feeling I got when Marabella’s eyes glazed over races through my head.