The Alpha's Claimed Mate

Rafayel marched into the room, pushing Daniel aside unknowingly. Ryker and Darren stood up halfway to greet him, but he motioned for them to sit.

“Hello, Miss Ashley, it seems you are involved in this mess too,” He shot me a tired smile. He also waved a bit to Mika politely. My lovely cat turned up his nose at the greeting.

“It happened somehow,” I said, finding camaraderie with him.

Rafayel gave Zak a nod and took the empty seat between Daniel and Ryker. The Wolfsbane Pack came under Alpha Superior Rafayel’s rule, so he was technically my Alpha Superior right now since I still hadn’t transferred packs.

“So you are finally listening to me,” Zak said to Rafayel dryly.

Rafayel groaned.

“I didn’t expect that a brat who’s still wet behind the ears would cause this much trouble, Zak.”

“Have you figured out his motive yet?” Zak asked. Rafayel shook his head.

“I’m thinking that someone else is behind this and he just was the best choice to act through. There’s no way a nineteen-year-old Alpha Heir who is colossally arrogant enough to leave his pack seal on letters of harassment has such a clean record on his own.”

“That is what I believe, too. But I’m not liking the other options. It would mean that another Alpha Superior is involved, or other shifter races are trying to cause internal strife. I do not want to entertain the third possibility, which is more likely,” Zak said with a grim face.

Rafayel gulped.

“You don’t mean…” He trailed off.

“Alpha, is it starting again?” Ryker asked, his voice full of anger and a bit of fear.

I looked at them incredulously. Who in the world were two Alpha Superiors hesitating to mention? They were walking around it like it was thin ice.

“Oh, stop with the vagueness and tell me who it is. You’re hesitating as if the Lycan Royals themselves are involved,” I demanded. Zak’s gaze hardened and Rafayel looked away. Darren, Ryker, and Daniel remained silent.

‘No way…’

I blinked fast, and my hands trembled.

“Are you being serious?” I asked in a shaky voice. Even with two Alpha Superiors on our side, weren’t we way in over our heads against the Lycan Royalty?

“It’s just a possibility,” Zak said. I sighed in relief. “A very sure one,” he added. I clenched my fist in anger. I had gone against the Lycan Prince head on and faced that guy’s wrath and knew firsthand just how powerful those Royal Lycans were with their elemental powers.

My life was ruined by them.

And now the Royal family was provoking my mate. What were they trying to achieve now? Was crippling the Alpha Heir of Southern Lands not enough? Did exiling me from my pack not satisfy them? What did they want by causing a rift between the Western and Northern Lands?

I couldn’t possibly leave my mate to handle this on his own. I had to stick around at least until this was solved.

“But what could their motive be? Why are they trying to cause internal strife between their own people?” I asked, my heart in turmoil.

All of them remained silent. Daniel shifted awkwardly, Rafayel and Ryker ignored my gaze, Darren stared at Zak curiously and Zak, the man I had directed my question to, ignored me. He ignored me! For asking a perfectly sensible question!

“You know, if you’re not going to answer my questions, I might as well leave the room so that you all can freely discuss,” I pointed out dryly.

“I am not answering because this might not be the safest place to answer this question, not even with a sound barrier,” Zak answered me. I never noticed the sound barrier, but now that he said it, I could feel the quiet thrum of his mana, the energy used to cast magic spells , surrounding the room.

“Then what can you tell me? I’m involved in this too, so I have a right to know something at least,” I demanded.

Zak pondered. As if he was thinking about what to tell me.

“All you need to know is that the Royal Family is most likely behind Jared at the moment, and now that you are my mate, you will be their next target. So the safest place is beside me, and you should not attempt to escape,” He said finally, in a tone that brooked no arguments.

‘This arrogant son of a-’ Seriously? He didn’t trust me one bit, did he? Well, it’s not like I trusted him either.

“I am not going to attempt escaping. I swear on my honor. There. Is that enough for you?” I asked. A satisfied gleam passed through Zak’s eyes. He gave me a curt nod.

“Oh, and Ryker, you don’t need to go through the special process of admitting an omega into the pack. Ashley is a pure-blooded Lycan.” He casually dropped that information like it was an every day. Rafayel and Daniel choked on air while Ryker and Darren looked at me with wide eyes.

I glared at Zak.

“I could’ve told them after getting to know them for a while!”

“They have the right to know the species of their Luna, No?” Zak cocked his head to the side.

“Luna Ash, you’re a what now?” Daniel asked, the first one to recover from the shock.

I sighed.

“Yeah, I’m a pure Lycan. Just a little broken. So you guys can’t sense me at all.”

Rafayel’s gaze towards me changed. I raised an eyebrow at his silence but he just looked towards Zak curiously. Ryker too looked at me differently. Only Darren seemed confused now.

“Luna Ash, have we, by any chance, met before?” Ryker asked. I froze. Nah, don’t tell me he recognised me now. I did a terrible job of disguising myself, yes, but it’d been years.

“No,” I lied. Ryker shrugged, but Zak’s head snapped towards me, his gaze tinged with curiosity. He knew I lied, but didn’t ask.

“Zak, you have the notes that perverted bastard sent to Luna Ash, right? You can use this exile him for now. We can capture him once he’s exiled and interrogate him,” Rafayel offered.

Zak nodded.

“That was what I was planning to do. Most of the Shifter Council members on our side have already been informed. The council will convene in Eternal Frost tomorrow. You will also need to be there, so you can travel with us, if you want,” Zak said, getting up.

“No, I will go and investigate more. I can’t believe that something like this has been happening in my territory right under my nose. I need to contact my ranked Lycans and inform them of the situation,” Rafayel said, aggrieved.

“I hope your investigation turns out informative.” I wished him luck, because he probably needed it.

Rafayel gave me a grateful smile and left, leaving me, Zak, Ryker, Darren, and Daniel behind. A moment of awkward silence lasted in the room which Zak broke.

“Darren, take Daniel and leave for Eternal Frost. Make preparations for the Shifter Council meeting with Chief Warrior Linsley. Ryker, I want you to work with Alpha Enya and keep an eye on the Wolfsbane wolves’ movement. I will be guarding Ashley, since she must be their target now.”

“Yes, Alpha,” all three of them said simultaneously and got out of the room.

“You could’ve just appointed Ryker as my guard and gone out to investigate yourself. Might’ve been more efficient,” I pointed out once those three had left.

“When I said you were the target, I meant that you will be facing assassination attempts until we get to safety in my pack. Did you forget that everyone thinks that you are an Omega mated to an Alpha Superior? Every one of my enemies here will have their eye on you,” Zak said, tiredly.

“Oh.” I nodded understandingly.

The corner of his mouth twitched as if he was holding back a smile.

“I just said hundreds of people will be trying to kill you. And that’s your reaction?”

Well, I escaped assassination attempts from Lycan Royalty alive. Not in one piece, but still breathing. So a bunch of lupines who did not know their place were not that much of a threat to me. Not with the most powerful Alpha Superior by my side.

“I have you by my side, don’t I? What do I need to be afraid of?” I asked with a grin.

Zak looked at me with an unreadable gaze.

I stood up with a napping Mika in my arms and patted his shoulder.

“Well, Mr Bodyguard, protect me well.”

He clasped my wrist with an iron grip.

“Where do you think you are going?” He asked.

“Well, you don’t expect me to stay still, do you? I don’t want to hinder your investigations, so let’s go. I’ll stick right next to you. I promise.”

Zak thought about it and gave me a distrustful gaze.

“Give me an oath that you will not leave my side. I will believe you then,” He concurred.

I rolled my eyes at him and held his hand in mine, injecting my mana into his palm, my unique energy mixing with his mana to bind the oath. Pleasant tingles went down my spine as my skin touched his. I wanted to never let go.

“I, Ashley Diamante, swear to not leave Zakariya Frost’s side till we reach the Eternal Frost Pack. If the oath is broken, I promise to forsake a part of my mana.”

The magic circle of the spell glowed on the back of our intertwined hands to let us know that the oath had bound us together. Zak looked disappointed.

“I did as you asked. Why do you look upset?” I asked, confused.

“Nothing,” he said, looking away and dragging me to the door. I shrugged and let myself be led by him. I realized we were going to walk around and not teleport. Teleporting did require a lot of mana for each spell, after all.

As we were about to turn around the corner, a sharp pain tore through my head. I could feel a sudden invasion into my consciousness. It was the feeling of a mindlink trying to open in my mind.

Such a powerful force could only belong to an Alpha Superior, and the only Alpha Superior who could contact me this way was Rafayel, so I opened the barrier of my mind to let him in. Zak looked at me with concern as I motioned for him to stop.

"Ashley, are you there?" I heard Rafayel’s voice in my head.

"Yes, Alpha Rafayel. What do you need?" I asked back. I was confused as to why he was contacting me. Did he want me to convey something to Zak?

"Good. Now that we can have a private conversation by ourselves, won’t you tell me what you are doing in my territory, exiled Alpha Heir of the Southern Lands?"