Chapter 8

"W...what?"

The man in front of me chuckled, flashing a million dollar smile before speaking again.

"I should've introduced myself, I'm Alpha Aether's Beta, Calloway, he wants you to sit with him for dinner tonight." He uttered and I gulped down my nerves and tried not to keel over as he led me to where Alpha Aether was sitting, watching me approach with his emotionless face and unwavering gaze.

"Alpha Aether, your request." Calloway teased, before bowing at me and sauntering away towards the drinks.

I stood awkwardly at Alpha Aether's chair, not wanting to look up for fear of people noticing I was not in the place I was supposed to be.

"Well, aren't you going to sit?" Alpha Aether spoke, his soft voice penetrating the loud buzz of the room.

I looked down at him, slightly shocked about his brash attitude and disregard of pack rules.

"I... don't think I'm allowed to sit here." I answered quietly, wringing the strap of my purse together.

He seemed to outright ignore my words and pulled out the seat next to him, gesturing for me to sit down. I obeyed, not wanting to anger him, and placed my purse on my lap.

"I got you food." He gruffly stated, gesturing to a plate in front of me; a steaming dish of prime cut steak and fresh asparagus.

My mouth watered, but my stomach churned.

"Thank you, Alpha Aether." I muttered, still utterly confused as to why I was sitting there.

"I told you to call me Aether." He corrected, looking at me. He still had that intimidating, emotionless face on so I wasn't sure how to respond and just nodded, opting not to say anything as I tentatively lifted my head to scan the room briefly.

I knew I wouldn't be able to eat; a wolf never ate before their Alpha, even in skin form, but it wasn't as if I would be able to stomach food anyway.

My nerves were on high alert and my wolf too was even more agitated than usual, sizing up the Alpha next to her with hackles raised and lips pulled back.

"Why...am I here?" I muttered, so quiet even I could barely hear myself.

Alpha Aether was about to respond when another set of large double doors opened and Alpha Warren entered, followed closely by Luna Grace, Ares, Drew, and... a female I had scarcely seen before.

She sat directly beside Luna Grace without skipping a beat, and although my wolf perked up with curiosity, I couldn't concentrate too much on her while Aether was beside me.

As Ares entered my palms began to sweat and my breathing quickened. It was as if however, confused or scared I was, the sight of him could change all of that in a second. I clasped a cold glass of water in my hand and gulped down my anxiousness, ignoring how Aether's expression had darkened and downing the glass of water before holding it to my neck to cool me down. I didn't want Ares to see me next to Aether and get the wrong idea but, knowing how strong the mate pull between us was, he most likely already had.

As I placed the glass back on the table, I began to look for my mother amongst the other wolves, wiling her to meet my gaze so she could take the hint and we could leave.

This was my worst nightmare, my deepest, darkest fear come to fruition and there was nothing left in me to put up a fight. I was a passenger in my own body. Half blindfolded, starved, and clawing for the driver's seat once again. Then, in such a short amount of time, I had been reduced to this object others discussed yet blatantly ignored.

It was enough to drive someone mad.

I could feel Ares' eyes on me, that I was sure of. It was like the burning heat on a hot summers day, like an itch I could not scratch. He was angry, I could tell, but there was nothing he could do.

They finally got to their table and Alpha Warren began to address the pack, the previous loud and incoherent chatter now reduced to silence in front of our leader. His voice was loud and powerful, and he spoke with authority, every eye was trained on him, and he equally scanned the room and held the gaze of his pack.

When he caught my eye, his own gaze darkened ever so slightly. Anger flashed across his features before he recovered and ended his speech with a flourish, earning a round of applause that erupted through the pack.

As an Alpha himself Aether was sat just a few tables from Alpha Warren, unfortunately keeping me locked under his scrutinising gaze. I sighed and looked back at my food, wondering if Aether had thought any of this through before sending for me.

"Your Alpha has started eating now, why haven't you?" Aether queried, almost finished with his own food.

The absence of Ares may have affected me more than I had first realised. Background noise I could normally block out was now being amplified as if I was a newly turned pup. My wolf paced anxiously, unable to stay still for even a moment. She was always watching, waiting, listening.

I looked down at my food, pushing the asparagus around with my fork and trying to keep the constant clinking of cutlery out of my head as I answered him with a frown.

"I'm not that hungry." I replied.

I watched as Aether looked over to Ares, a distasteful expression on his face.

"I can see why." He responded.

I couldn't help the small smile that spread over my face at his comment, ignoring my wolf as she protested my closeness to this male who wasn't her mate. But I couldn't help myself; I finally had someone who was on my side.

My smile dropped quickly however as I began to feel uneasy, what if Aether had other...intentions with me, and Alpha Warren was right in forbidding me to entertain his advances.

"You've lost some weight, since the first time I saw you." Alpha Aether commented, and I steeled.

My eyes narrowed and I threw him a sour look as irritation wafted out of me and into the air around us. My wolf, strengthened by my negative emotions, flashed my eyes dark and wanted me to lash out at Alpha Aether but I held her back.

"Forgive me Alpha, but that's none of your business." I said, trying me best to keep the venom out of my voice.

I glanced at Ares, feeling his concerning gaze, and knew he had seen the whole exchange, but I looked away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. I averted my eyes quickly, focusing my attention back on Aether.

"Why am I even here? Why are you helping me?" I rambled out angrily, stabbing at the food on my plate. I was becoming increasingly angry at the cards I'd been dealt in life, it seemed like everything was against me and I couldn't catch a break.

Alpha Aether let out a sigh and dropped his knife and fork, turning to face me completely. I couldn't hold his gaze for more than a few seconds and looked away, feeling embarrassed at my outburst as I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Because...I know how it feels to lose a mate." Aether said bluntly.

He'd lost his mate?

I was speechless and couldn't say a word as I looked into his emotionless eyes. I detected no indication of a lie, but I couldn't gauge if he was telling the truth either. It was like he was a blank canvas, an unreadable book, a broken mirror. Only parts of him could be seen at any one time... never the full picture.

"You have a mate? Where...is she-" I began to ask but was quickly cut off.

"I did. Not anymore. Now, please, eat." He interrupted, nodding down at my food and waiting for me to eat. When I didn't, he sighed, placing down his own cutlery before picking up mine and starting to feed me.

I was still in shock at his confession and opened my mouth without thinking, wondering who his mate was and where she was right now. Did she reject him, like Ares was to do to me? Did she die? Did she go missing? All these thoughts and questions were racing through my head, and I didn't react to my wolf growling at being fed by a man who wasn't my mate, nor did I fully comprehend the implications of Aether doing this until it was too late.

I had only met Aether a total of three times, including this one, and yet he'd told me something I hadn't ever heard anyone speak about before. Was it all a rouse? A lie? Was he really to be trusted with what he was telling me, or was he just trying to manipulate me?

I would never know, at least not now. Trying to decipher both the complex emotions racing through my head, as well as Alpha Aether's stoic, expressionless face was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It could not be done.

I chewed on my food slowly and methodically, trying my best to ignore the feeling of nausea prickling my skin, feeling the food turn to mush in my mouth and gulping it down with distaste. The first morsel of food I had had in a while; it was delicious but, it still turned my stomach and left a sour aftertaste, and I wondered how I was going to get around with finishing what was on my plate.

From my peripheral vision I saw Alpha Warren stand, my attention turning to him and away from my food. Alpha Aether looked down at me with annoyance, seemingly because I had barely touched my food, but his attention too was drawn to Alpha Warren, who was raising his glass and clearing his throat.

"As some of you may know, my son, Ares, the future Alpha of this pack, found his mate at the mating ceremony a few weeks ago." Alpha Warren began, looking over the pack with authority as the chatter gradually died down.

I shrunk under his words, hoping he would not identify me by name.

"As you also may know, many packs have threatened to go to war with us over the large amount of land we have. This includes our neighbouring pack, the Crescent Wolf Pack. Despite our previous allegiance, it seems it wasn't enough to appease their want of more land." Alpha Warren continued.

I knew what he was doing. He was appealing to the pack's fur side more than their skin sides. Their wolves would be offended at the fact another pack wanted our land, he was making sure their wolves would understand his side when he announced Ares was taking a new mate.

"This left our pack vulnerable, and as your Alpha I had to make a tough decision. It was either war, or a compromise. And that compromise.... was to unite the two packs."

I began to sense distaste in the air, subtle but identifiable. It was coming from Alpha Aether, who's fists were balled in his lap and who held a tense posture. I wondered what was going through his head, why he was so angry when really, this had nothing to do with him. His pack was powerful, no wolf ever set foot on his pack without prior permission, he would never have to compromise anything for the good of his pack because he'd had everything handed to him.

"Ares and the daughter of the Alpha of Crescent Wolf Pack, Riven Gaste, will be united in mate ship, this will unite the two packs and prevent further tensions, combining our packs for the foreseeable future."

I knew it was coming, yet when Alpha Warren said those words, my heart still shattered into a thousand pieces. It was as if I was at the mate ceremony once again, clutching the pieces as they fell out of my chest and trying desperately to put them back together.

I didn't hear the pack's response, I didn't want to. I knew what it would be; some would be hesitant, some offended, people would look to me, want to say something, spurred on by the rumours that plagued me. They would see my head bowed, put the pieces together, their wolves would mourn what could have been, as I did so many weeks ago but ultimately, they would move on. Their wolves knew Alpha Warren was doing it for the good of the pack, for the good of them, for the good of all. I would be forgotten, thrown away, occasional pity glances would be thrown at me but that would be all. I would have no justice, no vengeance, no retribution for the life I could have lived with Ares. Thus was the way of the wolves.

"Do you want to leave?"

I looked up at Alpha Aether, looking down at me with so little pity. He was not like the others, despite claiming he understood my situation more than others. A light in the darkness. The only other person who cared for me besides my mother, and Ares...

His brown eyes were fierce, protective, irritated, but not at me, at my situation. Maybe he had gone through what I had, as he had initially told me...

I nodded at him, feeling tears prick my eyes. It was such a regular occurrence for me, I wondered when my reservoir of tears would dry up.

We both rose, his frame so tall, mighty and powerful. I felt like a juvenile beneath him, wanting to cower behind him to shield myself from the inevitable stares that would come as we left. Alpha Warren had finished his speech and chatter had started up again, but still I feared it would be seen as disrespectful if Aether and I left.

Still, we did leave. Aether walking with authority and I, a broken mess shuffling behind him, head down and tears falling, eyes stinging as I tried not to trip over my own feet.

We stopped beneath the large stairs that would lead up to higher floors, both tense but none saying anything. I liked it that way, my silent tears were comfort enough for me and I feared I would say something embarrassing if he did ask me anything.

"I don't...I don't want you to withdraw again." Alpha Aether said, placing his soft grip under my chin and lifting my gaze to meet his.

I must have looked a mess; hot tears running down my face, eyes red and puffy. Silent tears had the advantage of being silent, yes, but they were the worst for one's appearance.

I didn't know what he meant, and my expression must have reflected that, because he spoke again.

"Don't withdraw, you have to fight the mate pull. It will try to drag you down, make you feel you can't do anything ever again. You have to fight it, I know you can." He uttered gruffly, still holding me.

I found comfort in his demanding words, solace in his soft touch. Although I wanted to, I was not sure I could overcome the venomous grip of the mate pull.

"May...I know how it feels...But you have to trust me. This will get better." He continued. "Let me help you."

His voice was so soft, so calming and soothing. I didn't want the moment to end; I didn't want the warmth of his hand to leave my cheek.

I leaned into his touch, my eyes fluttering closed of their own accord. I had never been this close with anyone; the feeling was raw, organic, not manufactured by the mate pull, not full force and uncontrollable.

"May...you don't know..." He began but stopped himself.

My eyes fluttered open, and I looked up at him, a conflicted expression on his face.

"Let me help you." He said again, but this time it was a mere whisper, almost undetected.

My own eyes flickered between his, a warmth growing in my chest as my wolf remained silent, watching through my eyes. She too was moved by the emotionality of this man; the organic attraction that thrummed through us as he held me.

"How?" I whispered back, leaning in closer to him as he did the same, feelings rising like a wave, finally crashing down and washing away the thrashing body of the retreating, decreasing mate pull.