My Orphan Mate

Alexander had left to attend to pack business after he had made me breakfast for the second time. I felt spoiled, but that hadn't been my intention.

To my surprise, Zynthéa hadn't returned at her brothers' absence. Maybe Alexander trusted me now. I was surprised that a kiss was all it took for him to trust me.

Once I had cleaned up after myself, I decided to plop myself down on the sofa and turn the television on.

I didn't watch TV much, but in that moment there wasn't much else that I could do. I decided after digesting my food, I would go for a run. I wanted to familiarise myself with the territory if I was to plan an escape.

Fifteen minutes later, and I was ready to exit the pack house. I shifted immediately since I wasn't wearing running clothes and made no attempt to find gym gear.

Silver Crescent territory was large and exquisite. If a pack looked expensive, it would be this one.

The waterfalls and rivers scattered throughout made it seem tropical. I was in awe at how beautiful the piece of land was. I wasn't sure how long I ran for, but I slowed down my pace when my bones started to ache.

My Wolf and I were slowly getting used to each other and I had learned to shift and communicate with her.

"You shouldn't be here," a voice snarled, making me yelp in the process. Dyami was glaring at me hard in his human form. "Leave before you get hurt."

I growled lowly at him, not appreciating his order. In my Wolf form, I was definitely not nervous around him.

From what I had gathered, I was above him in rank. I didn't appreciate the tone he used to speak to me.

"We are having a briefing. This isn't a place for a small she-Wolf like you," he explained, his voice stern. "The pack still don't know you, you could get hurt if you're caught."

I snarled at him, but when I heard voices echo in the woods, I decided there was no use to fight this boy. I was in their territory after all. Instead I sneered in his direction but turned to leave in the opposite.

As much as I disliked Dyami, I couldn't really hate him. There was something that made me want to understand him.

Ignoring his instructions, I decided to run around the area to understand how their training worked.

I had only seen my pack train a couple of times before my mother passed away, and their training was intimidating.

Most of the times, only a couple of she-Wolf fighters were involved, most were exceptionally large male-Wolves.

When I took notice of the clearing where over twenty Wolves were, I decided to settle by a small tree to hide myself. They could hear me and smell me if they wanted to, but right now they were too occupied to notice my presence.

Unlike Pale Moon, Silver Crescent had no female fighters. It made me frown, but I also tried to understand the reason.

Female fighters were strong, but not strong enough to against large male Wolves. It wasn't impossible, but it was rare. Male Wolves were stronger than females by nature, to protect their mate.

"Have the rounds been completed?"

At the sound of Alexander's voice, my Wolf purred and my ears perked up. Alexander, however, frowned. He lifted his head up and I dipped my mine in to the ground, hoping he hadn't seen me.

"Two rounds were carried out in the early hours of the morning and we have just completed another two," an unfamiliar voice responded.

My mate cleared his throat. "Safety check?"

"Completed with the rounds. We found something odd but nothing of concern. It has been dealt with," another replied.

"Fine. Any complaints?"

"No, sir."

"Very well then. You can proceed with training."

I tuned out on the rest of their conversation since none of it made sense to me.

My eyes lit up as I watched the Wolves shift and begin to train. Their training seemed hard, but I was intrigued. It looked fun and I wanted to be involved.

After a while I decided to return to the house before anyone else could locate me. Once there, I shifted and put on a simple floral dress that fell above my knees. I decided to roam around the pack house to familiarise myself, making note of any fire escapes.

The house consisted of at least five bedrooms, most were simple and plain. They were guest rooms and didn't appear occupied.

When I entered Alexander's room, I was surprised to find it dark like the rest of the house. His room was very big, with the largest king size bed that I had seen placed in the centre of the room.

There was a large black artsy floor lamp on one side and a dark wooden side table on the other end. His room consisted of double doors, leading out to what seemed like a balcony. I stepped closer to the doors, admiring the view outside.

A large waterfall was portrayed in the distance, with many trees scattered throughout the land. The view in his bedroom was breathtaking.

When I turned around to leave, I gasped in surprise when my eyes landed on him. Alexander was stood with his back leaned against the wall and his arms crossed. I wasn't sure how long he had been there.

"I didn't know you were back," I quickly told him, embarrassed to have been caught.

The corner of his mouth lifted. "You're welcome in here anytime. This room is yours too, the whole house is."

I frowned at his words, hating how good his voice sounded to my ears. My gaze was on his lips, and all I could think about was how good those lips had felt pressed on mine.

"You left before I could get to you," he told me, arching a brow.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," I responded, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I know you were at the gathering today. I could feel you," he explained, a glint in his eyes. "Do you want to come with me next time?"

"I went for run and came across the training grounds. I didn't know."

"I see. If you are interested, you can go with me tomorrow. I can show you how training works here."

"I would rather not, for now."

He gave me a single nod. "Fine. But try not to go for runs when I am not around. It's not very safe."

I cocked a brow at him, but dropped it. When I remained silent, Alexander took that as an opportunity to speak again.

"I am off training for the rest of the evening. We should use this time to get to know each other more."

I wanted to argue otherwise, but bit my lip to keep quiet. I needed Alexander to trust me so that I could formulate a plan to escape. I wanted to know him more, but I was scared. I was scared to hear about his past and find out things worse than I had been told. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear it.

When Alexander told me he's getting some coffee, I followed him down to the kitchen.

"Would you like some coffee?"

"Nope. I don't do coffee."

"Seriously?" he asked, glancing my way with raised eyebrows.

I arched a brow. "Is it that much of a shock?"

He shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips. "My Luna doesn't drink coffee, I'm surprised, that's all. I cannot say I have met many Wolves who don't like to indulge in a few cups a day."

I snorted. "It smells and tastes awful, I don't get the hype."

Alexander chuckled softly. "You seem very passionate about your stance against it."

I shrugged and walked over to the sofa in the open planned living room. "Don't you have to train with the others?"

"I am their leader," he declared. "I only need to run through things with them and make sure they are on track."

I never understood how pack rules and laws worked, but I shrugged it off.

"I do have a meeting in about fifteen minutes, though. Will you be alright alone?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"The meeting is in my office. Once it is done, we can talk and I will cook you something."

"Okay."

Alexander poured the coffee in to a mug and took the cup in his hand. He told me he'd be down as soon as the meeting ended. He came to my side and pecked my temple before turning to leave. I eyed the smirk on his face as he exited the kitchen.

When Dyami and Adam entered the house, I paid no attention to them. They didn't spare me a glance either and headed straight for the stairs, to Alexander's office I assumed.

Thirty minutes later, and the boys were still in Alexander's office. I was getting bored alone, and after flicking through the channels on the television, I decided to hit the 'OFF' button on the remote control.

Since escaping wasn't an option as Alexander would have me captured immediately, joining them in the office seemed more ideal.

The thought was appealing and I jumped up from the sofa, landing on my heels. Before I could think twice, I headed towards the stairs.

"I don't understand why you're being lenient with them."

Dyami's voice was low but with my Wolf hearing, I heard him clearly. It also helped that the office door was slightly ajar.

"They are the enemy. They've trespassed and threatened our people!"

"They could put everyone at risk here. I agree with Dy, you should kill them before they do anything."

I frowned at Adam's words. I was stood at the top of the stairs, not too far from the door to Alexander's office. But I had stopped in my track when I had heard their conversation.

At first, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but at the tone of Dyami's voice, which was really no surprise to me, I had stopped.

"I will deal with this. You will both follow my orders and not question them."

My mate's voice was full of authority, and I sensed the Alpha power.

"That boy is planning something, Xander. If you're not going to give her up, then at least do something about him!"

"She is mine! I am not letting anyone take her, as for him, we will wait."

Were they talking about me? I couldn't understand much of their conversation, and as I was about to take a step toward the office, I came to an abrupt halt at Dyami's next words.

"I'm going to kill the boy, Jaxon, myself if you won't. He said some unforgivable things about our pack that I will not let slip."

At first, I was sure that I had heard him wrong, but when Alexander growled loudly and my best friend's name was mentioned again, my knees almost gave in. I grabbed the banister hard. Jaxon? Jaxon was here?

"They will remain in the cells as per my instruction and will only die at my order!"

After Alexander had said the words, I snapped out of my daze and darted down the stairs. The trio that had trespassed from Pale Moon— one of them was Jaxon. My best friend, Jaxon, was in Silver Crescent.

It was all I could think about as I exited the pack house and ran in the direction that I remembered leading to the underground prison where I had been captured at one point.

I didn't get very far when two large arms wrapped their way around my waist, bringing me hard against a chest. When the electrical currents radiated through my body, I knew it was Alexander.

I growled loudly as I struggled to break free from his arms. I was furious with him.

He had captured my best friend, who hardly hurt anyone. It upset me and made me realise Alexander was perhaps the evil boy that everyone had made him out to be.

"Stay still before I make you," his cold voice rang in my ears, making me freeze.