ALPHA MARCELLUS STORM

Two eager she-wolves sat in front of him. They were thee second and fourth child of Alpha Romano, the Alpha of the Moon Shadow pack which was only a few hours' drive from the Lupum Griseo pack. While they were both very pleasant on the eyes and perfectly tolerable, it was evident to both his wolf and him that the younger daughter was far more interesting and intelligent than the elder.

With only a few years between the sisters, it was like comparing night and day.

The elder sister was far more concerned in her personal upkeep and was constantly grooming herself, whether it be playing with her hair or smoothing out the skirt of her dress between staring seductively at him and biting her lip every now again while the younger sister seemed to ask all the right questions. All the way from how he got started out with the pack to the training strategies that they currently had in place.

Marcellus had no doubt that the younger sister would make a great Luna and Alpha female however, she was not destined to be his Alpha female; something else which he had absolutely no doubt about.

"Alpha Marcellus doesn't want to talk about work, Carmella." Paulina gently chastised her younger sister before turning her head to continue batting her eyelashes at him. "I'm sure he would rather talk about exactly what he's looking for in a mate."

Marcellus blinked in momentary and paused to clear his throat, having not expected something such a simple and coherent idea to come from the woman who had previously only asked questions about money, monthly allowances and closet space. All of her conversation topics had screamed gold-digger at him and made him, his wolf and even her sister cringe, but this one he deemed appropriate and relevant.

"That's actually a good idea. What do you want to know?"

"What exactly are you looking for in a mate and life partner?"

"Well, I don't exactly know where to start but I'd like someone with a backbone, someone who isn't afraid to stand up against me when they think that I'm wrong or need to hear this; and don't get that confused with being rude or petulant. I know I'm an Alpha which can be very daunting to a lot of wolves, but it shouldn't matter to my mate and she shouldn't be afraid to put me in my place if she feels it is necessary."

His lips turned up into a soft smile a she spoke fondly of the mate and Luna that he could only imagine Anastasia would be if only he actually gave her a chance.

"More than just a Luna, I'm looking for an Alpha female, someone who can stand by my side and lead the pack with me instead of taking a backseat and focus on looking pretty. I'm not asking for a natural born leader who always knows what to do and every decision of theirs is completely perfect but rather, someone I can grow and learn with because only the Moon Goddess knows that I haven't got all my shit figured out with either."

He paused to chuckle, and was surprised that the two sisters didn't laugh at his joke. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he continued as he still wasn't finished describing what he envisioned in a mate.

"I would like for my mate to have her own dreams and aspirations, her own goals in life because such a demanding role can be really consuming and I've learnt the hard way that you can't just have the pack; you need a whole lot more to be fulfilled and happy in life and the last thing I want for my mate is for her to be unhappy. I know it sounds like I'm asking for a lot but if you put it all today, it really isn't much. Ultimately, I just want someone I can laugh and cry with, and grow old together with."

A moment of silence passed after his lengthy monologue; the two sisters only able to blink up at him in awe.

"She sounds unreal."

"That's because she is." He hummed quietly with a dazed look on his face, his body tensed as he made a sudden realisation.

What Marcellus didn't realise was that he was describing his mate, a Miss Anastasia Mulberry who currently hated his guts and refused to return to the pack house even though he had extended an apology to her via her close friends, Justas and Raphael. Unfortunately for him, it appeared that the only way to get back into her good books would be to relay the apology himself.

"Well, I think you're in luck." Paulina's lips curled up in what he could only assume she thought was a seductive smirk. "I believe I tick all your boxes."

Marcellus' eyes widened at her brazen behaviour, even more so when she completely disregarded her sister and decided to rise to her feet and take a step toward him.

"What do you think, Alpha?"

I think you need to get out of here. His wolf growled at him. This girl, if you can even call her that, is clearly a bitch in heat or something.

More like she's after the Alpha title.

His wolf snorted. As if that wasn't obvious before.

Much to his joy, a knock sounded on the door, effectively stopping Paulina in her tracks and allowing Marcellus a few seconds which he fully utilised by clambering to his feet and around the back of the sofa that he was previously sat on, putting some much-needed space between him and the two females.

Marcellus wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse, but he was grateful for the escape, nonetheless.

However, hours later when he was stood over the body of an unconscious female, he quickly came to the conclusion that the distraction was far from a blessing. However, the fact that they had been able to find her, and only a few short hours after the ruckus had started, was nothing short of a blessing from the Moon Goddess.

As the doctor examined her in the pack house and her family eagerly waited outside, Marcellus turned his head to lock eyes with Alpha Romano who was stood by her family, a solemn, mystified expression on his face. They didn't need to verbally communicate as they both nodded their heads in sync and began away from the pack hospital and toward the pack house where Alpha Romano's office was located, all the while fashioning an eery silence.

It was only when they stepped into the office that they dropped the silence and addressed the topic playing on both of their minds.

"Take a seat, Alpha Marcellus." The other Alpha instructed politely as he closed the door and rounded his seat, a tired and worried expression on his face. "I appreciate you sticking around to help us out. You were a great help."

"You don't have to thank me, Romano." Marcellus waved his hand in the air dismissively as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm just glad the she-wolf was found without any evident harm." He left out the part where she had been found unconscious without so much as a scratch on her.

They would just have to wait until she awoke to find out exactly what happened.

"Where was she found exactly?" Marcellus asked curiously.

"My Beta found her just over the border." Romano sighed and propped his chin up on his hands, his lips pursed.

He frowned at that. "That means she's been missing for a few hours."

"Two hours since her parents reported her missing this morning, but we're not quite sure how long she's been missing before then." Romano confirmed with a nod.

Marcellus frowned slightly as he thought back of the moment when the Beta had rushed back to the packhouse with the unconscious female in his arms.

"She didn't smell of anything."

"No, which is very strange." The older Alpha sighed and ran a hand down the side of his face. "Other than the fact that she's been missing for a few hours and was found over the border, there doesn't seen anything out of the ordinary. I don't quite understand why or what could have caused her to go unconscious."

"Does she have a habit of doing this sort of thing?"

"No, nothing like this has ever happened before." Alpha Romano shook his head. "She was supposed to be back from her night shift at the pack hospital in the morning but when she never returned, her parents started asking around and it was only discovered that she was missing. Before today, Melissa has never done anything out of the ordinary and has never been anything but a staple to the pack, helping out wherever she could."

"None of this makes sense."

There's something fishy going on here. His wolf hummed. Normal people don't go missing for hours and then randomly turn up, unconscious and without anything wrong with her.

"You're right about that, but it appears that we won't have any answers until Melissa wakes up to answer them herself."

Marcellus could do nothing but nod his head in agreeance.

Even though Alpha Romano had offered to put him up for the night as it was nearly midnight and it would take him a few hours to return home, Marcellus couldn't accept the gracious offer. Instead, he had settled on receiving updates once Melissa, the missing she-wolf, woke up and was able to answer questions about her whereabouts for all those hours she was missing.

His wolf for some reason wanted nothing more than to return to the pack house. He wasn't sure exactly why but appeared adamant and so had no choice but to make the journey home, even going as far as to abandon their car at the Silver Claw pack as running in wolf form would be faster. Thankfully, Alpha Romano had offered to have someone drop it off the next day.

And that was why he was running as fast as he could in his wolf form with his two trust warriors, Zion and Mohammed, by his side.

"Thanks, Zion. Thanks, Mohammed. I'll see you both in the morning." He smiled softly and clapped them both on the back in thanks as he severed course from them and headed back to the pack house while they returned to their houses and respective families.

After the long day Marcellus had just had, he wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and pretend as if he didn't enjoy dreaming about his mate and the life they could possibly have if only he let them.

A sigh escaped him at the thought and as he raised a tired hand up to brush through his hair, but quickly stopped in his tracks.

The last thing he expected was to return to the pack house in the middle of the night to find his mate sitting on the porch, staring out into the trees of the forest with a small smile on her face.

His earlier words to the sisters when describing his mate all came rushing back to him – having spoken about her and the little he already knew about her from their limited interaction – and he couldn't help but wonder if subconsciously, he had already accepted her as a mate.

Either way, he knew it was too late as he had already caused enough damage, not to mention the fact that the council would look down on such a pairing since she was already carrying the child of another.

Not that he cared about what they thought, but he simple didn't believe himself to be capable of raising a child that wasn't his, especially one that she had conceived with another man before they had met each other.

He scarcely allowed himself to wonder if things would have been different if they had each other eight, or even nine months ago.

And that was why he surprised even himself when he ended up taking a seat next to her on the porch – albeit objectively leaving a safe distance between them so as to avoid any touching which would result in tingles and further activation of the mate bond, as if he didn't have enough trouble resisting her already.

"Hi." He whispered, his whole resolve near crumbling as she turned to gaze upon with her beautiful baby blues.

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Layla Knight

21.10.2020