POV Eli Blackwood

I'm sitting in my office thinking about how sweet Luca was last night. His heat is waning. The doctor visited us in the Alpha's residence to give Luca another quick check-up before I came down to my office. The only thing that wouldn't have made last night more perfect was if he had let me sleep with him. I didn't want to push his comfort levels when I had just gotten him back into the pack's physical territory.

The physical need to be near Luca is a dull ache all over my body. I am usually tense within the four walls of my office. The office suite for pack leadership is on the first floor in the packhouse. Maggie, my secretary here in the pack, and Casey, my Delta and Executive Assistant at Blackwood Inc., are great at coordinating and organizing my offices since I am so busy. Little touches spread throughout the office, which was all dark wood and leather. But the tension I am feeling now isn't a result of some ergonomic whatsit missing in the overtly masculine room.

This tension is all about the little omega upstairs. I was struggling with the pull of the matebond before, but after being doused with Luca's pheromones. I slept just enough to function. My wolf has been gnashing angrily since I showered. Something about how the "little man" won't scent us willingly, so I should've kept the scent, which is hilarious considering that my wolf always rushed me to shower whenever I was intimate with past lovers.

But it's not just that I need to hold such tight control of my wolf. We both feel that we failed our omega. My wolf understands that Luca is afraid of alphas, but does not entirely understand the concept of forced dating. He's been pacing back and forth since yesterday, ready for blood. Blood, I won't give to him, because there are other consequences I can use instead.

While I have influence in the city due to my family's ties, only certain parts of it are still considered part of my territory. I suppose this is how Luca's parents thought it would work to try to initiate a courtship for Eli without his express approval. Friday, after I finished speaking to Luca on the phone, I had Casey look into the dates his parents took him to.

The Grays didn't live within pack territory like many of my wolves who chose city life, and they also kept all dates off of pack territory and out of my area of influence. I found it telling that all the dates were held off of pack territory, considering we had several city favorite restaurants within the territory that many wolves favor. The chance that this was not purposeful and meant to hide their action from me was unlikely.

Werewolves would have scented Luca's distress and either acted on an omega in distress or reported it. Luca's parents knew that. His bastard of an alpha father knew that as a pack warrior. A growl rips out of my throat, and I push my wolf back forcefully.

I'm furious. I am quite happy that the aspect of the matebond that would typically allow Eli to sense my emotions doesn't work at the moment. I don't need my omega feeling this rage, especially when he doesn't trust an alpha in any state of emotional arousal.

Every time Luca mentioned that his parents forced him into dates to find him a chosen mate, I could feel my ire rise. Their actions were disrespectful. It wasn't how omegas, much less an omega in my pack, should be treated.

There was a soft knock as my office door was opened.

"Alpha, the Greys are here to see you as requested," Maggie informed me with a raised brow.

"Yes, yes, thank you, Maggie. Send them in, please." My blood was boiling as I thought of Luca upstairs in his heat.

The fact that my omega willingly ran away from his parents' home, knowing his heat was due, had shaken me to my core. The fact that Luca risked his safety and hid so that he wouldn't be found before he was ready was almost enough to make my control snap. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down and sit to my full height.

I needed to be calm to handle this situation quietly, but in my current mood, I was ready to beat Luca's father bloody and drag him through the pack as an example. Not only was the man an alpha and father of an omega, but he was a pack warrior. The well-being of all members of the pack should have been his priority. For the life of me, I couldn't understand what drove these people to want to have their son mated this badly.

"Alpha Blackwood, you wanted to see us." Mason Gray said as the couple walked into the office.

Both Mason and his wife were tall within their classification. Mason had always seemed like a good warrior, and the records sitting on my desk showed that he was trusted. His wife worked for the pack daycare. So why?

"Yes, please sit." I can barely look at them.

"Did you find our boy?" Mrs. Gray asked.

She looked at me with worried eyes. I level them both with an incredulous glare. I clench my fist tightly.

"Yes, I found your son. I would like you to explain why you were trying to force your boy into a chosen mateship. It is your duty to take care of an omega in your charge not " He said with a hate-filled growl.

The couple dared to look offended. My wolf snarled inside my head as he tracked the conversation. Thankfully, he chose not to fight me.

"I-what? Excuse me, Alpha, but how dare you accuse us of doing anything to our son? We love him, and we just want the best for him." The woman sniffed.

"You want the best for him. The best?" I growled loudly. "He's been on twenty dates since he returned home. One on the day before his heat was due, when you should have been enforcing a lockdown." I was ready to snap her neck, honestly.

"No, Alpha, Luca was perfectly fine with finding a chosen mate. He was a bit overwhelmed, but he was just as eager to find a mate. You see, he was embarrassed that he still hadn't been claimed. He's twenty-three, you know. Most of his friends were mated before they finished high school." The woman lied.

She lied blatantly and to my face. I saw red in that moment. How could they so clearly manipulate what Luca's feelings about the issue truly were?

"Mrs. Gray, lying to me, right now, is not in your best interest. However, I am glad that you did. I am aware that your child identifies as an aromantic asexual individual and that he has a complicated relationship to sex. That means he would not be eager to find any random alpha because he is uncomfortable in regards to alpha and omega matings. I know he was scared and ran away. I also know he doesn't want to return home." I say calmly, pausing to suppress my emotions.

"I didn't have many options, but your lie gives me the ability to take him from your guardianship and place him under the pack's protection instead," I inform them.

"Alpha, you can't do that." Mason sputtered. "He's my boy."

"I urge you to be quiet, Mason," I responded coldly.

"Alpha, Luca knew that running away would stir up trouble and make him look bad. Of course, he would tell you he ran away. Perhaps he found an alpha or even a beta he likes that we would disapprove of." My eyes narrow as she speaks.

"You never know with this new generation. I mean, he left the pack to go to college, and you know that is not common for omegas. They stay home and wait for their mates. Luca never found his mate, so he just needed a little attention. And you know it's quite a heavy burden for an omega to be mateless. He was quite popular at school too, so for all we know, he ran so he could have one of his human "friends" during his heat to experiment with." The Goddess-blessed woman used air quotes as she said that.

I slammed my hands against my desk angrily. How dare she lie to me, much less malign their child? How dare they accuse him of divulging the secret of our kind? How dare she insinuate that Luca would lie to me?

My wolf snarled at them, forcing me to tower over them. I barely kept him back. Accusing Luca of such things was low.

"I know that he was honest because I sensed the emotions surrounding him in the moment he begged me not to tell you where he was." I clarified,

"How- Alpha are you saying you kept our child from me?" Mrs. Gray said.

"I was in communication with my omega moments before he left your home. I knew something was wrong, but he was too afraid to tell me. I contacted him the moment I was told he was missing." I stated plainly.

There was a brief moment of satisfaction as both of them went pale. Luca's mother's face reddened, and finally, the blessed woman was quiet. Mason, however, the fear in his eyes was something I could savor.

"Y-your omega," Mason whispered.

"Yes. My omega, who has been desperate to keep me at arm's length because Luca is terrified of mateships. Anxious that he wouldn't be accepted for who he is. Scared that when he found his mate that you would push him to do things he didn't want to do. Overwhelmed to the point that when you didn't listen to him, he endangered himself to get away. My omega, so terrified, that rather than be safe in the pack during his heat, he risked danger just so there wouldn't be the chance of being forced to mate." I breathed hard as I shook with rage.

"So I know that you are lying. There will be consequences for this." I told them.

"Our Luca is mated to our Alpha. Why that's amazing. We are so happy-"

"Liza, Quiet!" Mason barked.

"My Delta will deal with you, Mason, as a pack warrior. Mrs. Gray, I don't trust you. You will leave your job at the pack daycare. I have never had a negative report about you, but the fact that you would lie to me to cover up that you are trying to mate off your son makes me question your fitness. You will both stay away from Luca for the foreseeable future."

"Alpha, we were just trying to protect our boy. An omega without an Alpha is not safe. Luca is shy and introverted. He needed to meet alphas." Mason tried to explain away their actions.

"Then let him go to his writers group or work at the pack daycare. Try to get him to go out with his friends. Bring him to the pack house to write in one of the quiet rooms. You had options other than forcing him into situations that exacerbated his discomfort and fears." I shouted at them. "Leave. I have nothing else to say."

I turned away from them as Mason struggled with his wife. She demanded to speak to Luca and to know where I was hiding him before she was pulled out of my office. My secretary came in after that.

"Alpha, that was a dramatic exit. Did you need anything?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, make sure I will be free this Friday evening. Also, prepare a room for an unmated omega in the packhouse."

"An unmated omega? In the packhouse." Maggie asked to be sure. She was clearly surprised.

"Yes, thank you. Also, I will be in the residence if you need me for the next little while."

"Yes, of course, Alpha."