PEONY COULD NOT STOP HER USUALLY WANDERING GAZE FROM STARING AT THE STRANGE MAN SAT IN HER LIVING ROOM.

After being quickly ushered inside by her panicking mother - much to the protest of the man she assumed was called Alpha - they all sat down on the comfortable and looked at each other in a comfortable silence. Patricia was clutching onto Peony's hand for dear life as he faced the man that claimed to be her daughter's mate.

"There must be some sort of mistake..."

Instantly, the ferocious man cut off Patrica's worrisome voice.

"No," He snarled, making Peony involuntarily lean back into the couch in a mixture of fear and panic. She had never seen anything like this aggression what Alpha was displaying and she wanted to bury herself in the flower pits of her gardens. "There is no mistake. She is my mate and I can tell that you know."

Glancing back at Alpha, the golden girl's eyes were transfixed on his hands. They were huge, able to cover his entire knee and his knuckles went the same colour as the painful substance that she had encountered in her bad dream. His attire was black, something that she was not used to herself as not only did she manufacture clothing for herself, she also indulged in the pleasure of creating it for her parents as well, meaning that they too were forever draped in bright, vivid colours of the spectrum.

"Why are you in my home?" Peony's soft voice sliced tension in the air as each of their heads snapped towards her direction. She hadn't really been paying attention to what he spoke of, more of him if anything else.

She had never seen another person apart from her parents and so she was fascinated on how others appeared.

"She cannot tell?" Leander's voice was not only laced with confusion, but anger as well. He had been waiting decades for this da6 and she didn't even recognise him.

"That's why we wanted to talk to you before you met her." Oliver answered his question, looking down nervously. He knew that Peony was not of the supernatural race and had desperately hoped that due to that, she would not have a mate.

It seemed the Gods were against him.

"No, her, uh, being isn't present, completely void. We received the Holy sign at her birth but her inability was a complete shock, so she has lived here for entire life." Her father's explanation soared Peony into confusion as he seemed to be speaking in riddles, perhaps purposely keeping her out of the loop.

"You mean her wolf isn't present?"

Alpha's inquisition made Peony's delicate head snap up in his direction with her head slightly tilted to the side. Wolf? Why would she have a pet wolf?

"Why would I have a pet wolf?" Peony questioned, a naive smile present on her face. Maybe she should have had one already and that's why her mother was speaking to her about them just this morning!

"Pet wolf?" Alpha was growing very frustrated and Peony just wanted the couch to swallow her up as he stared at her. "She's taking the piss, yes?"

"Alpha, this is what I wanted to explain! She doesn't know!" Her father's frustration was poured out in his voice as he yelled at Alpha but for some reason, she wasn't looking at him in his eyes, unlike what he normally does with herself and mother.

"Are you fucking with me, Oliver?" Alpha gritted out and his strange vocabulary once again confused Peony and she was starting to think that this man came from a place as strange as the words that he used.

"Alpha, please d-,"

"What does fucking mean?" Peony blurted out as she watched the two men in front of her bicker and her mother clutch her hand.

For the one hundredth time tonight, Peony felt Alpha's eyes trained on her, with his eyebrows raised not only amusement, but also disbelief.

"Let's take this outside." Alpha's voice let the awkward silence drift away and she felt her mother's body relax at the side of her, although she didn't even realise that it was tense in the first place. Alpha stalked over to the door way with her father in front of him and just seconds after they left the room, her mother turned to look at Peony.

"I'm going to go and talk with your father and our guest; it won't be for long my flower. How about you go and make some delights so we can eat them when our guest has left, hm?" Her mother's voice and calm smile was reassuring to Peony and so with a bright and agreeable smile, Peony sent her mother on her way through the door and out to the front of the house.

She spent the next couple of minutes just curled up on the couch with a light blanket. With the hot weather they have, there was really no need for nothing more. Sitting alone in a sunlit colourful room, Peony's mind drifted to the tall stranger who she presumed was called Alpha and she thought of his strange words, strange manner and his knowledge of her new infatuation: wolves.

However, after a few moments of wrapping her head around the man that somehow knew who she was, Peony made her way to the kitchen, a small train of her dress dragging on the tiled floors. There, she swiftly lit the stove to preheat it before she decided that she wanted to make a delectable lime pie.

Making use of the fruits of the earth, Peony spent the next hour or so creating a golden pastry and a mouthwatering citrus filling. She had always been in love with the beautiful ingredients that the earth produced and wouldn't have any of the food she made any other way.

What must have been seconds after placing a knife into her pie and cutting it open, Peony looked up and saw her mother, father and then Alpha enter the room.

The strange man didn't look like what he seemed to be before, seeming a lot more reserved and tentative as he looked at her.

"That pie smells divine, my flower." Her mother said gentry as she walked in and hugged her daughter tightly. "Anything special?"

"Lime from the orchard, but I have also added just a little bit of orange in there too." Peony was so proud of her masterpiece, as she was with everything she baked and cooked. It was such a great hobby of hers which she was able to master with years of practise.

Before attempting to cut another piece of pie, Peony looked up at the huge man staring at her in the corner and finally addressed him directly.

"Would you like some pie for your way home, Alpha?" Peony's question and use of the term 'Alpha' startled her parents as they looked at her.

"Alpha?" The man's voice was deep, rough and gravelly, something she has never encountered before. "I thought you said she knew nothing about our species?"

"She doesn't," Peony watched as her mother replied quickly and ignored his accusing tone. "Peony, why did you call the man Alpha?"

"That is his name of course, I heard you and dad say it." Peony said brightly but then her voice quietened down. "Am I not allowed to call him Alpha, mama?"

With incredible speed, the man replied faster than her mother ever could.

"Please call me Leander, no need for Alpha." Then abruptly, he was standing right in front of her, staring down into her shining eyes.

"Are we going to be seeing a lot of you Leander?" Peony asked tentatively as she watched him reach out with his huge hands and play with a lock of her hair that seemed like liquid silk.

"Only you, my avis."

"Only me?" Peony's nose scrunched up in confusion as she looked at her downtrodden mother. "Mama, will you not be here?"

"Alpha, could we have a moment with our daughter?" Oliver cut in with pleading eyes and Peony say reluctant stance that Leander had taken but it quickly faded when he gave a stiff nod and with a final glance at Peony, he sauntered out of the room.

"Why will you not be here?" Peony interrogated her mama with an accusing gaze and she watched as her beautiful mother took a deep breath before clutching Peony's hand.

"It's more that you will not be here, my flower. You are going to live with Alpha Leander." Peony observed with silence as she watched her mother's eyes well up with crystal clear tears as they began to stream down her cheeks.

"But why? I have never met him before, mama."

"Because, my darling, you are to Leander what I am to your father." Patricia exuded a saturnine atmosphere as she began to tell Peony what she wished that she would never have to.

"A wife?" Peony was vastly confused. She felt so isolated as her parents and apparently the stranger that knew everything about her knew so much more than she did, and possibly for the first time in her life, she felt angry. "I don't understand! Stop speaking in riddles and just talk to me! Why is this even happening?"

"You're my mate, Peony." A deep, rugged voice behind her stated and she whirled around to see the tall, burly man learning against the door frame. "And one day, you're going to love me as much your parents love each other."
•

There's the finished chapter!

Please remember to use the link in my bio for early access chapters and the first chapter of Worshipping Light soon! ❤️