Chapter 8: A chaotic breakfast

Alcot's POV

Chapter Soundtrack: Start A War by Klergy and Valerie Broussard.

The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of someone opening my curtains, allowing the morning sunlight to pierce against my eyes. I cursed and turned restlessly on the bed. Sterling's voice followed.

"It's almost noon, Alcot. An Alpha shouldn't be asleep for this long, especially after his mating ceremony fell apart awfully." There was a tone of sarcasm in his words and I could tell that he was almost laughing.

"Go away, Sterling." I drew the cover of my beddings over my face and tried to force myself back to sleep again.

"How do you even have the balls to still be asleep after what happened yesterday? Knowing you, I was so sure you would be running about, seeking for a solution as soon as it was dawn." Sterling added with a tone of amusement. "I must admit, I am very surprised that you are still married to your bed instead of a real woman."

I growled under the bed cover and finally pulled it off again. I sat on the edge of my bed and ran my fingers through my slightly just-out-of-bed disheveled hair.

"How can I run around for a solution after Sia said it was impossible to do anything about it for now?" My chest burned with fresh rage again as I recalled the events of yesterday. And worse, that Arabella had saved her human friend before I had the chance to kill her. I was sure I would've been very pleased by now if I had done the deed.

Except, I would never be able to unbind myself from her and would be forced to remain unmated for the rest of my life.

"You are not one to take no for an answer, Alcot." Sterling reminded me and I sucked in the sharp, cold, morning air.

"Thanks for the reminder, Sterling. It was helpful." It was my turn to be sarcastic.

"So, where is the girl now? Dead by your hands already?"

"I wish."

Sterling chuckled and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"You'll thrive through this, Alcot. I'm sure you would."

He pulled his hand away again.

"Your mother sent me here to drag you to the dinning room for breakfast."

"I am not hungry." I answered plainly but Sterling shook his head at me.

"Tell that to your mother after I've escorted you to the dining room. Getting on your mother's bad side is the last thing I want to do right now. Especially taking into consideration the fact that she is in a pretty bad mood this morning." He clicked his tongue and shook his head at me pitiably.

"I am sure it has something to do with what happened yesterday. Goodluck clearing your name, Alcot."

"Whatever." I deadpanned and finally rose from the bed. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be down in a short while."

"Good." Sterling said in relief and headed towards the door again. "Don't take forever." He gave one last warning before walking out through the door and shutting it closed again.

I headed into my ensuite bathroom and as I took a quick shower, my thoughts traveled to the human girl. Or rather, to her eyes. Those eyes that looked so familiar, almost like a shade I had seen before. Almost like those of the girl I had met years ago in the woods. Those eyes that softened my heart and turned me foolish and weak. Last night, I felt almost the same way I did when I was a boy. Maybe I had a thing for girls with beautiful hazel eyes.

If that was the case, then I was going to kill that stupid obsession. An alpha should never be attached to anything or anyone that would make him softhearted or vulnerable. Those were the words of my father that I held dear to my heart. An alpha should never be softhearted. Especially not me.

After my bath, I dressed up in my royal regalia and joined my mother and Arabella in the dining room. The dinning was quiet and I could feel the tense air.

"Hello, mother." I greeted and drew a table for myself. My mother did not spare me a glance and continued to eat away, her face as expressionless and cold as ice.

Arabella raised her gaze to me for a moment and looked away again. She picked on her food.

I ignored the coldness and focused on my meal. A few short minutes later, my mother finally broke the deafening silence between us.

"What are you going to do about what happened last night at your mating ceremony?"

I hesitated for a couple of seconds before answering her, taking my time to savor a well marinated steak. I slipped on my most unbothered facade.

"Witch Sia said we'd have to wait for the next blood moon before we would be able to unbind the tie between me and the girl."

The pace at which she ate slowed and her grips tightened against her cutleries; a knife and a fork.

"That will be forty five days from now."

"Yes." I replied. Again, I felt another sudden wave of anger hit me at the reminder that I would have to wait for forty five more days before I would be able to unbind myself from the human girl and get rid of her.

"But not to worry, mother. Forty five days is not as long as it sounds." Arabella jumped in to cool the tension. And maybe also save the neck of her friend.

But Arabella's effort to calm the situation was greeted by a hostile reaction. My mother stabbed her knife clean and in a deadly manner into the steak on her dish. Her shoulder heaved with rage but her face remained cold and blank.

Seemed I inherited my cold demeanor from my mother.

"What nonsense!" She spit like a venomous snake. "Do you expect the rest of us to wait for forty five days before a solution would be found?"

"Last I checked, this was my personal business and not yours, mother." I eyed her terribly. "Stay out of it."

"You are dumb if you think it is your personal business alone." She answered me. "This has become the business of our entire family and the pack at large. Do you know the kind of loss we would face if we fail to make an alliance with the Azure pack? Alpha Raven would be so mad and your father would be turning in his grave."

"Father has better scores to face in hell."

My unbothered responses seemed to aggravate my mother even more. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm her nerves.

"Fix this, Alcot." Her chair screeched against the floor as she rose from it and walked out of the dining room. After she left, silence fell again on Arabella and I again.

Arabella gave me another look before returning to her food. She had been avoiding my eyes. I was so sure of it.

"You can't keep running away from my interrogation, Bella." I dropped my cutleries and focused on her. "Who is that girl and why is she here with you?"

Arabella gulped nervously and dabbed her mouth with a napkin before raising her eyes to meet mine again. There was a bit of fear and uncertainty in hers.

"I already told you, brother. She is my friend…"

"A friend you invited to my mating ceremony?"

She sighed and stayed quiet for another round of seconds before answering me again.

"I didn't know she was following me. Maybe she was suspicious of me and wanted to know what was going on. When I noticed she was following me, it was already too late. She had already seen the portal. So, I dragged her down with me to talk things over."

"And then, you both landed in the middle of the rituals, plummeting your friend into the mist made for Willow."

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"What's the big deal anyway? For starters, you don't even like Willow."

"It doesn't matter. You ruined my mating ceremony. You and your so-called friend."

"Don't take things too personal, brother. In the next forty five days, you are going to be free and we'll wipe off her memories so she wouldn't remember a thing when she returns back to the human world. It's that simple."

"Well, you better keep your friend out of trouble and warn her to watch her mouth, else, she would never be able to return home alive."

I got up from the table and slammed my napkin on the table before walking out of the room.

"I've lost my appetite, all thanks to you."