The Alpha's Claimed Mate

I swallowed nervously. Alpha Superiors were also a part of the Shifter Council. And here I was, casually telling one of its most powerful members that I was planning to break one of the most sacred laws. He motioned for me to sit on the chair beside him.

'Well, as long as he's not calling the authorities on me for even suggesting such a thing…'

I took my seat hesitantly.

"How about you start telling me what exactly your relationship with your Alpha Heir is?" I guessed I was having a free therapy session today.

"Can I get pictures of you after?" I joked. He gave me an eye-roll and muttered something along the lines of 'this girl needs help'. It was not meant for my ears, but he probably didn't know that I could hear it, anyway.

"I'm not going to let you take pictures of myself or any of my ranked Lycans. We prefer keeping our identities anonymous."

"So that you can creep up and scare the living daylights out of unsuspecting omegas?" I asked dryly. A tiny smirk graced his face.

"You didn't look scared. Intimidated? Yes. But not scared. Now, how about you stop trying to distract me and give me some answers?"  My mood immediately darkened.

It's not like I could deny him. He was actually being very lenient for an Alpha Superior. The least I could do was help him find something useful to pin down Jared. But nobody was going to take serious actions for crimes against an omega.

Of course, it would have been a different case if he knew I was his mate, but that was just me being delusional. I could never put such a cruel burden on my mate.

"Do you want the whole story, then?" I asked, getting drained at the very thought of Jared. That guy was a pain in the ass and not in a good way.

"Yes, we have all the time in the world." He pulled back his sleeve and checked his watch. "Well, there is still one hour more for the Luna Choosing to start, so we are good." I sighed.

And so I prepared to launch into the fourth most tragic tale of my life. Yes, fourth most tragic. Jared didn't deserve to be in the top three. I had been keeping it all in for so long and the thought of letting it all out to my mate felt oddly comforting.

I glanced at the handsome Lycan beside me.

'But did it really have to be an Alpha who resembled a block of ice?'

Well, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"The reason you might not have gotten a lot of data about me is because I'm not originally from Wolfsbane. I joined this pack when I was fourteen. Claire was the first person I met. She was being bullied, badly."

"Is that the Blonde omega?" I nodded, already knowing how he got the information. 

"I stepped in and saved her." I winced at the memory. I couldn't really call it saving, as I was bedridden for a week after that incident. Details he did not need to know. I continued my monologue.

"Long story short, Claire and I became friends after about a year after that incident. It was like that for a while. I stepped in whenever somebody tried to beat her up. The other kids caught wind of this and the attacks started reducing. I guess they started to respect me grudgingly.

I cringed at what I was about to say next.

"This was when Jared came in. He asked me out. I turned him down in front of the entire school. He brushed it off as a joke and then continued to ask me out in crowded places. I turned him down every single time. One day, he got really angry and started threatening me." I paused to take a deep breath.

"I didn't take those threats seriously. When he saw that I wasn't even scared, he challenged me to a duel in the middle of the cafeteria." Zak arched an eyebrow in question. Leaning forward and resting his cheek on his hand.

"An Alpha Heir challenged you to a duel? But if you lost, you should have been kicked out-" He stopped mid sentence as realization hit him. I couldn't help the tiny smirk that made its way into my face.

"No," He said firmly. I raised an eyebrow.

"You couldn't have defeated him. Jared Liandre is many things, but weak is not one of them. You couldn't have defeated him. Stop joking around." I shrugged.

"Believe what you want. I snapped his neck the first chance I got. The duel didn't last for even two minutes before he was out cold. I did cheat. Just a tiny bit." I sheepishly admitted.  He was right, Jared wasn't weak and nor was I super strong.

It's just, he was just an Alpha Heir pup, while I was a fully trained Lycan with years of experience under my belt. Despite my body being weak, it didn't mean that I had no tricks up my sleeve. My lovely mate did not have to know about that fact, of course.

"Something like that wouldn't have gone unnoticed. An Omega defeating an Alpha blood? It would have spread like wildfire." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Exactly. But it was not considered as an official duel since it took place in the midst of a bunch of teenagers. The Alpha took extreme measures to keep everything out of public's ears." Measures which resulted in me never being able to complete my education. Zak went silent at this.

"When did this happen?" He asked.

"About eight months ago. Why?" His shoulders slump slightly at this.

"That's the exact time Liandre nominated you as his Luna Candidate."

"What the hell…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. Did that mean Jared was being serious all those times? Holy hell, the dude needed to get himself some help, and that was saying since it's coming from me.

"I get the feeling you are leaving something out," Zak pointed out dryly. I gulped. How in the world did I not notice before? I just thought Jared like picking on because I beat him up.

"He sends me these notes daily. They… well, they have some pretty graphic descriptions of what he would do to me when claims to me. I didn't take them seriously. I just thought it was some weird way of bullying."

"Do you have those notes with you?" He asked. 

"Yes." I nodded. He immediately grabbed my wrist and started to drag me to the door. I facepalmed as I simply got dragged by him. Did my mate have no concept of respecting other people's wishes?

"I would be more cooperative if you tell me where we're going, you know. No need to drag me around." Zak turned around to face me, blinked, then let go of my wrist.

"We are going to your home, which must be where you have the notes that he sent you," He said and started walking again, obviously expecting me to follow. So I did. 

"Yeah, but what's the point? Threatening and harassing an omega is not really considered a serious offense. You can't stop a war with that." I stated. He shook his head at me.

"You don't understand. Jared Liandre has a very clean record. We haven't been able to pin down anything on him. The notes he sent you are a solid proof to indicate his, well, psychotic tendencies. And harassment is a serious offence. If you were in my pack…" Zak gritted his teeth.

My heart fluttered a bit at his words.

"Just because the authorities here don't prioritize, it doesn't make it any less serious. They might not take it seriously if you reported it, but they have no choice if I do." What he said was right.

And it was nice of him to do that for me. Even if he was not doing it out of the goodness of his most probably frozen heart. I thought frozen because, seriously. The mate bond should be in works even if he hadn't caught my scent yet. But this guy didn't make a single move on me!

I gritted my teeth in anger. It was my decision to leave him, yes, but my mate not reacting to me even a little made me very angry. I still felt grateful, though.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. He squinted at me before his eyes widened imperceptibly as he realized I was not being sarcastic. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and gave me a hesitant nod. Zak started walking faster in front of me. 

I snickered. I guess he didn't know how to handle me when I was decent. Zak stopped short before me and I ran smack into him. He turned around fully, and I was forced to take a step back. He took a step closer to me and leaned in. My eyebrows shot up.

Did my scent masking potion stop working?