Court her

"You better start earning brownie points and learn a few tricks to keep my leash from coming off."

There was a moment of silence in their vicinity before the twins, Kieran and Cyran, slammed their palms against the table as they jolted up. They fixed their dilated eyes on Hugo's smirk, horror dominating their faces.

"Alpha, what did you just..." Kieran trailed off when Cyran also raised a much more straightforward question.

"Alpha Hugo, did you mean you will mark her?" Cryan's inquiry made them hold their breaths, waiting for Hugo's answer. Until now, their pack didn't have a luna because Hugo didn't like the idea of someone equal to him. So it was a surprise that he wanted a luna and she was a human he picked up somewhere in the woods at that!

Just what the hell was their alpha thinking?

"Mark her?" Hugo raised a brow while tilting his head to the side, staring at them as if he was looking at a bunch of airheads. "Why would I mark her?"

Question marks instantly hovered over their head while staring at him blankly. What did Hugo mean by that? If she was planning to make that human girl his luna, wasn't it obvious to mark her?

For werewolves, marking their mate was akin to a shackle. If she wasn't marked, that only means she could go against him or worst? Desert him. Not to mention, they considered an unmarked woman taken in by the alpha as... mistresses. A luna and a mistress could mate with the alpha, but their position in the pack was like heaven and earth.

"Really... I can't believe your understanding of romance is this... poor. Do you only know how to take off your pants and fuck? What are you? Animals?" Hugo clicked his tongue continuously, disappointed at these beasts.

"Alpha Hugo, aren't we animals?" Edge inquired in his usual shaky and depressing tone. "Also, I am a virgin. No woman will ever love me."

"Oh, come on! We already know that!" Mitch ground his teeth, wanting to slap Edge for once, as he was the primary source of his grumpiness. "Fucking... I'll hang you when I have the chance."

"Edge, do not cry." Tito, the giant in the pack, patted Edge's back in worry. Unlike his huge physique and bear-like appearance, he was surprisingly soft-hearted.

"Mitch, can you please stop being a bitch? You are a wolf." Reks scorned in disbelief, annoyed at Mitch's attitude more than Edge's mumbling.

Hugo shook his head as he watched Mitch's boiling point increase. In his eyes, they were hopeless and wouldn't understand his greatness. He always wondered if their lack of common sense had something to do with their strength. That only made things fair, if that was the case.

"Alpha, so are you going to make that human girl the luna? or are you taking her as a mistress?" he snapped his eyes when Ivo asked. "If you don't mark her..."

"If I marked her, then I am like her parents who locked her up in a big cage," Hugo mocked, sitting upright while stretching his neck from one side to the other. "I will court her. That's the plan."

"Co — court her?" Ivo gasped while Mitch and Reks, who were about to use their fist to shut each other up, also stopped at Hugo's plans.

"Ew." Mitch stuck his tongue out, just thinking about courtship.

"Ew." The twins also could not help but cover their mouths to not vomit at the idea.

"Gross." The rest also spoke their disgust, as courtship wasn't a thing among them anymore. They didn't know which was more 'disgusting': courtship? or Hugo, the worst of the worst, saying something they knew he wouldn't do with conviction?

"One more 'ew' and someone will become mute... forever," Hugo warned, and they all shut up. But the look in their eyes still screamed 'gross.' A shallow breath escaped his mouth and brushed it off. It was not like they would understand.

He raised a finger, pointing at each of them. "Listen here. I'll only say this once. If something happened to her or if she left me because of you, expect the worse. I'm telling you, she is the leash I put around my neck voluntarily. Once that leash comes off, even the council will have to look over their shoulders every second of every day."

Every one of them gulped, hearing their own swallow in their ear. For a second there, Hugo's eyes glinted with red and they knew what that meant. He wasn't playing. That human, who was tagging along with them, was that important to him.

"Understand?" the side of Hugo's lips stretched into a smile while they lowered their head.

"God... I should've learned a few tricks from that magician last night to keep her entertained." Kieran scratched his head as that human seemed she would stay with them for a long time.

Cyran let out a sigh as he wobbled back to his seat. "I heard girls like dolls."

"She seemed to like the pudding last night. I don't think there's such a delicacy back home," Ivo murmured in distress. They weren't all ready to have a luna in the pack because all lunas in the other packs were usually strong, mature, and regal. But the only candidate for luna in this pack was... vulnerable, small, and ignorant.

Hugo's smile grew brighter as the others' concerns followed Kieran's worry. Now, with his people knowing his grand plans, he wouldn't need to worry about her safety.

'Courtship, huh?' he muttered internally, looking away as he set his eyes on the entrance. It only took a second when Rinnie peeked her head in carefully.

'I actually don't have any idea how that works, but that's the advice of the old woman last night. And what is she doing over there?'