Chapter 4 Mate

• Alayah’s p.o.v.
• Last night after dinner I had asked Uncle Paul if he could arrange a meeting with Alpha Randell for me and right now Uncle Paul and I walk towards Alpha Randell’s office. I know Uncle Paul is curious as to why I want to talk to Alpha Randell, but I told him he had to be patient and that I would explain everything once we were in Alpha Randell’s office. I even made sure Luna Vicky, Gamma John and Anton were invited to this meeting.
• An Omega walks out of the office as we approach and I know our coffee is already waiting for us, “Goodmorning, everyone. Thank you all for coming.” I say as I grab my coffee and sit down next to Anton. I sip my coffee as I wait for everyone to sit down and grab a coffee for themselves, for a few moments we just sit there in silence. That is until I feel Anton getting anxious next to me and I know he still isn’t convinced I won’t take the Beta position away from him.
• “Alpha Randell, Grandfather explained to me that with Autumn Pack and Crimson Moon Pack merging we will become the largest Pack in existence. He also explained that with such a large Pack there will be a lot of paperwork that needs to be dealt with, a lot more than Grandfather or Uncle Paul ever had to deal with. I know Grandfather already hates the amount of paperwork involved right now and he is doing this with Uncle Paul.” I say.
• Anton jumps up to pace the floor behind the couch I am sitting on, “Anton, calm down. I am not gunning for the Beta position, I just want to offer my help. I have been studying accounting ever since I graduated at age sixteen, I work for an accounting firm but I work from home and in my spare time I am studying for my masters in accounting. If I were to do the financial side of Pack business, Marc and Anton can focus on other aspects of running such a huge Pack.
• I can keep them updated on our financial status and Marc will still need to sign off on any major financial issues, but neither one of them will have to deal with the numbers or the day to day side of the paperwork.” I say as I keep looking at Anton, he looks rather dumbfounded and I can’t help but giggle. Alpha Randell tells me that might be the best solution as Marc and Anton are both allergic to numbers and Luna Vicky is laughing her ass off.
• “I think I speak on Marc’s behave as well when I say you have a deal, but I do have one condition.” Anton say and I look at him to tell me his condition. “You move to the Beta floor, it will make it easier if you have to work late or if we need an early start.” He says and a moment later I hear Grandma in my head, “You better take him up on that offer, I think I am ready to accept Rex’s offer to move in with him and enjoy the remainer of our years together.”
• An hour later I am on the Beta floor with Anton and Grandfather, I get to pick my own room and I already know which room I am going to pick. It is a room that has been empty for over twenty two years and it is time it gets a new occupant. Grandfather opens the door to the room my Father used to stay in, they never took anything out of it and the sure as hell never changed anything. It is as if I have traveled back in time, it is a typical boys room and I know I will be changing a lot.
• “Grandfather, if there is anything in here that you want to keep…” I don’t get to say anything else as my eyes fall on a picture next to the bed, a picture of my parents. I keep looking at the picture as I walk over to the bed and even though I can tell Mom isn’t eighteen yet everyone can see the love in her eyes for my Dad, I feel two arms wrap around me as tears run down my face.
• Looking at that picture makes me wonder what Mom went through after Dad died, I decide to keep the picture of my parents. I look around the room to see where I can place my desk and when Anton asks what I am looking for I tell him, “You will have your own office, this will be a place to rest and relax. There are enough offices on the ground floor, you can chose your own office and if you need me or Marc we will be close by.” Anton says.
• I try to object but Anton won’t budge on the subject and I finally give in on not placing a desk in my room, even though it is big enough to hold three desks and still leave room for me to walk around in Lycan form. Topaz shows me an image of her walking through the room, she likes the idea of shifting here and then to walk down the stairs to go for a run.
• Anton’s phone buzzing pulse me from my thoughts, he pulls his phone from his back pocket and looks at the message he just received. “Marc and Crystal will be arriving in an hour, lets get some of your stuff before they get here and the rest we will move here in the next few days.” Anton says and I follow him out of the room to head to Grandma’s cottage.
• After packing a bag with enough clothes to last me at least a week and gathering all of my devices to do my job, Anton and I go back to the Pack-house. We run into Gamma John as we walk up the stairs and I look strangely at the bag in his hands, “I only stay on the Gamma floor when I work late, other than that I stay in the cottage that belonged to my parents. There are to many memories up there for me and with Nero taking over my position in the future I believe it is best if I move all my belongings out.” He says.
• I know he is right but it doesn’t mean I like to see the look in his eyes and I watch as he walks out of the Pack-house. I startle the Omega that is cleaning my room, she has already changed the bedlinen and I see another Omega taking measures of the curtains. “No need to take those down, unless they are worn or torn.” I say. “My eyes will be closed at night and the color is neutral enough for me.”
• The walk-in closet is empty and I take my belongings out of my bag to place them in the closet, I look around me as I try to figure out what I want to place in my room. “The basics.” Topaz says. “If we find our Mate we will move in with him, so fully decorating would be a waste of time.” I am stunned for a moment, I know she is right but it might take months or years before we find him and I would like to make this room feel a little like home.
• I make a list of everything I want to move from Grandma’s cottage to my room, I will place my desk in here as I need to study from time to time. “You can do that in Grandma’s cottage, it will prevent others from interrupting you.” Topaz suggests and I nod my head at her as I think about that option, by the time I have written down everything I want to move here Anton walks in to take me to the Alpha floor.
• “Marc and Crystal just arrived, Marc asked me to bring you along. He seems to think we will scare of his Mate.” Anton says and I can understand Marc’s concern, my Cousin can be an ass from time to time. Like me Anton doesn’t have a filter, the difference is that I know when to keep my mouth shut and that is something Anton is incapable of unless he is in a meeting.
• With family and friends around him Anton tends to say whatever pops into his head and I have been embarrassed by him more times than I care to remember. He has known me for little over five years and yet he seems to know all of my secrets, not that I have any but it feels like it. He always makes remarks that make me turn every color red there is and then to make matters worse he compliments me on the nice shade of red on my cheeks.
• Gamma John has been training me ever since I first met my Father’s family and he is waiting for the day I will Anton his ass on a platter, something Topaz is looking forward to. Grandfather asked me to warn the entire Pack when that happens, because he wants to place a bet on how long it will take me to put Anton on his ass and I know that almost every Pack-member is waiting for that day to announce the winner of their bet.
• “Alayah, you made it.” I hear Marc exclaim and I chuckle as he pulls a blond female with him towards me, “Marc, you asked me to come to meet your Mate and as your friend I believe it is my right to explain a few things about you to your Mate.” I respond as I give him a quick hug, I look at Crystal as her eyes flow from Marc to myself and I tell her not to worry. “I am glad he found his Mate and that it isn’t me, I doubt he would survive living with me for more than twenty four hours.” I say teasingly and she laugh at the pout on Marc’s face.
• “Alayah, you better watch your mouth. Marc will be your Alpha one day.” Anton says next to me before he introduces himself to Crystal. “And what is he going to do?” I ask him. “At the first sign of trouble I will tell him he can do the paperwork himself.” Anton looks at me as I hear Alpha Randell laughing his ass off and I have trouble keeping a straight face as Anton keeps looking at me, the horror written all over his face at the prospect of doing all that paperwork himself.
• “Why is he looking as if he is going to drop dead any second?” Crystal asks as she leans towards me and I tell her the offer I made alpha Randell, “Anton accepted the offer without consulting Marc, but Luna Vicky is convinced Marc will be relieved to know he doesn’t have to handle all that paperwork.” I tell her and Crystal starts laughing her ass off, she grabs hold of my arm to keep herself from falling down.
• I guide her to a couch as I tell her that I moved to the Beta floor and that I will always be close by to help with whatever she needs, I can feel her relaxing next to me. I tell her about my childhood, about finding out about my Father’s family and when I tell her I am the rightful heir to the Beta position but declined it she asks me to become her Beta. “As the Luna of a Pack this size I think it is wise if I have a leadership of my own.” She states.
• Alpha Randell tells us that he doesn’t know if it is possible for a Luna to have her own leadership, I decide to link Grandma to ask her if she knows anything about it. “Grandma, could you come to the Alpha floor? Crystal asked me to become her Beta, but Alpha Randell doesn’t know if that is possible.” I ask her through the mind-link and she tells me she will be there in ten minutes, “Alpha Randell, Grandma will be here in ten minutes. If anyone can answer that question it will be Grandma.” I say.
• Crystal asks me why Grandma would know something like that and when I explain that she used to be a teacher she understands me. Grandma had always been able to answer every question I had and in almost all cases she had a story to go with it, something I always enjoyed listening to. She is a great story teller and she would always have an amazing bedtime story for me, each of them teaching me a valuable lesson.
• As I got older the stories would change, not all of them with a happy ending. I heard about former Kings and Alphas that messed up, I heard about males and females trying to gain power and status and I heard about the way the Mate-bond worked centuries ago. I thought our Goddess had abandoned us, but Grandma told me that our Goddess had decided to go back to the old way of finding a Mate. A way that had worked for centuries, before she had decided to interfere with the Mate-bond and causing more males and females to get rejected.
• Grandma is convinced the Goddess learned from her mistake and after centuries of watching her children rejecting the one that was best suited for them, she turned back to a way she knew was better for all of us. According to Grandma it took a long time before our Wolves and Lycans were able to get used to this way again, but now a days our Wolves and Lycans can feel a connection immediately and from there the Mate-bond grows.
• Topaz and I are still waiting for the day to feel that connection with someone and we will wait for that day until we take our last breath if necessary, we won’t settle for a chosen Mate.