Alpha Markus
Chapter 83

Markus P.O.V.

All of the Alphas seemed to be nice enough. A couple only knew broken English, but they seemed to get along well enough with Celeste and Diego. However, all throughout dinner, I kept seeing Alpha Josue eye f*****g Celeste and that wasn’t sitting well with me and Atlas. Even Diego seemed angry at his blatant disrespect towards my mate. Celeste however, seemed unphased. She was in quite a happy mood. She had prepared Gillian’s room while we were away.

“I can’t get over how much you look like your mother. Same rare beauty. Same nice curves,” he said, and I growled.

“Same disinterest in you as well it seems,” Alpha Diego laughed as Celeste ignored his quips as she continued to eat and the rest of the table laughed.

‘How are you so calm?’ I growled at her, not meaning to sound as harsh as I did.

She raised an eyebrow at my tone but sighed. ‘I spent years being verbally assaulted by the unmated warriors in B***d Moon Pack. This guy is pretty tame even though he feels he’s bold for speaking to a Luna this way. I have learned reactions only elicit more comments. This guy just wants to get a reaction from the mated Alpha. Don’t play into it. He can’t touch me, and even if he tried, Kara and I would destroy him’

‘That’s my job,’ I grumbled.

‘The only thing we have to worry about is not letting him near Camila before the full moon.’ She said and I looked down to where Gillian was sitting a few seats down. He was not eating and kept looking at the door every time he saw someone coming through.

‘You told her where to go?’ I asked her. She had talked to Camila earlier when she took her lunch. She had told Celeste why she was being forced to hide and Celeste had helped her make a plan to meet Gillian in the maize fields. She had even told Celeste that if she and Gillian weren’t mates, she would consider accepting him as her chosen mate. Celeste knew better, but had told her if it was what Gillian wanted, we would support it.

‘Yes, she’s very nervous. Looks like he is too. I hate not being able to tell him but Selene made me promise.’ She sighed. ‘Did you talk to Evergreen?’

‘Yes, he said he’s too close to finishing. He will catch up to us after the run.’

We later watched our Beta and friend walk into the maize field alone. Let her be his and he hers. I sent a quick prayer to Selene. I believed Celeste when she said he would replace his mate here, but we could not be 100% sure it was her. We headed to the small stage that they used for the runs. Alpha Diego gave his speech and then we all looked up as we waited for the moon to reach the peak.

Celeste and I kept our eyes on our people. We were the only mated pair out of the 11 of us that came down. Celeste thought maybe Gabriel would replace his mate so we were excited to see if it was true.

I saw a couple of people start smelling in the air, looking for that intoxicating scent that would be unique to their mate. Celeste grabbed my arm and I looked at Gabriel. He had gone stiff. His eyes were scanning the crowd and I could see his nose raising slightly, trying to sniff. “Mio,” said a woman standing behind him. Gabriel turned around, “Mine” He growled as he grabbed her to him. I saw Celeste do a small shimmy and then Eddie, one of the Spanish speaking guards we brought jumped onto the platform and in front of one of the daughters of an Alpha. “Mine,” he growled as the Alpha stood in front of his daughter defensively. He looked from his daughter to my guard and relaxed his stance and stepped aside.

I grinned at Celeste and pointed towards him but she was looking at Diego, who was sniffing at the air, scanning the crowd. He seemed to smell his mate but couldn’t tell where she was. Suddenly, we saw a pretty female running out of the Packhouse. “No aguante, necesita-“ she stopped as she sniffed the air. She started looking around and Diego was in front of her in a flash.

“MIA,” he roared and she gasped. Her Alpha father cheered her on at the match.

Diego pulled her up to the stage before he announced it was time to shift. Everyone who hadn’t seen her shift yesterday gasped and awed lightly at Kara while Atlas stood proudly next to her. Her long black fur blowing in the light breeze. People began running when we suddenly heard Gillian’s happy howl coming from the maize. Kara grinned at Atlas. It seemed our ranked group was finally complete.

We were half way through the run when Otto and the pretty wolf he had shielded the day before joined in. He fell in step with us with Camila’s wolf running at his side.

I opened a link to him and Celeste, ‘I’m happy for you brother.’ I told him and I saw Otto grin as we ran

‘I got your room ready while you were away. Diego assured me it was sound proof,’ Celeste added with a giggle.

‘Thank you both, but we still need to have a conversation about how you knew,’ he said as we made our way back.

‘All in good time,’ I laughed. ‘Unless you want to spend tonight talking about that.’

‘f**k no. She already marked me. I’ve waited too long for her,’ Otto answered and we all laughed. I cut the mind link off and we gave our congratulations to Gabriel and Eddie and let them know they can skip their next shift to guard.

We were coming around the front of the Packhouse to shift back when I saw Evergreen coming out of the doors. He must have just finished the scanning. He looked tired. He handed us our clothes that we had left at the side of the door.

“I finished the scanning. I will just need to…” he stopped and looked behind us. His eyes went wide and we turned around as we saw a light brown brindle wolf coming straight for him. I grabbed Celeste and pulled her from the path as it barrelled into him as he growled “Mine” under his breath.

We waited patiently, Celeste basically vibrating from happiness. She grabbed a shirt and shorts and waited as the girl shifted back, but they remained on the ground until I cleared my throat. The pretty she-wolf blushed and stood up, gratefully thanking Celeste as she put on clothes.

“I won’t keep you guys long. I am very happy for you Evergreen and ehhh,” I said towards the girl.

“Valeria, Alpha” she said shyly.

“Valeria, welcome to our pack” I said and turned to Evergreen. “You were saying you were finished with the scanning but needed to do something?

“Right, uhh. Yeah.” He said blankly and I laughed. “We have scanned everything. I just need to create a workable database software front for easy access. It should take me an hour tomorrow.”

“OK great work. Get going! You have a lot of getting to knowing each other,” I said, and they were gone before I even finished the sentence.

“Well that was a surprise. We came for information and we found mates for 4 of our pack,” Celeste said brightly.

“Yep!” I said popping the p. “So…what do you want to do?” I asked as we headed back inside the Packhouse. Most people had retired, or were eating again after the run. Alpha Josue seemed to be looking for someone while he had a woman in each side of his arms.

“He’s still trying to replace Camila,” Tomas said from behind, “I’m about to go break it to him that she’s officially unavailable. I saw her heading inside with your Beta. She’s already marked,” he smirked. “I’m glad to know she’ll be in good hands, I hope it’s OK if we visit on occasion.”

“Of course, you are always welcome,” I said.

“Now I gotta get a passport visa,” he sighed as he headed towards Alpha Josue.

I guided Tuli towards our room, a sudden thought occurred me, “How are we getting all of our new pack members home without immigration papers?”

“Oh, I’ve already prepared for that,” Celeste said, and I looked at her in surprise. “I already knew that Gillian might have a mate here, so I had Evergreen get in touch with a werewolf contact at US immigrations. As long as they have a birth certificate, we just have to take them to the US embassy in Mexico City the morning before our flight. They will issue them permanent residency identification before we leave. They are expecting us at 9am. Once we get home, they will get a letter for the US Citizenship ceremony.”

“OK, that’s impressive. I didn’t even think to prepare,” I said, and she smiled as she walked in.

“That’s why I’m the Luna and you’re the Alpha,” she teased me and I raised an eyebrow. “How about we go for number 6,” she said as she walked into the bathroom, tossing the clothes to the side. It took me all of 5 seconds to figure out what she was talking about before I stripped and followed her into the bathroom.

—

“Good Morning,” I said to the table as we walked in. I had called a meeting of all the warriors and their new mates. “We will try to keep this brief as we’ve got 1 day to make some decisions.”

I sat at the table with Celeste sitting by my side, chewing on some dried beef stuff she had called machacado. It appeared to be one of her cravings.

“We need to know if you have all discussed who is going where. Usually, this isn’t too big a task, but as we’re in a different country and scheduled to leave tomorrow, it’s a bit of an urgent issue. Have you all decided?” I asked them.

“Yes Alpha,” most of my men responded.

“Alright, shall we go around the table?”

“Alpha Markus, before we continue, if I may,” Camila asked. I nodded at her encouragingly, “None of us have been outside of the country before. How are we going to get to the United States? We can no longer just walk through like our parents used to.”

“Ah, well I asked that too, but Luna Celeste has figured that out with Evergreen over the last week. We have an appointment with the US consulate tomorrow morning where we will meet a werewolf contact there. Anyone coming back with us will need their birth certificate. You will be issued permanent resident status. Once we’re home, you will receive an appointment for a citizenship ceremony.”

I looked around the room as the couples discussed things together. Camila spoke up first, “I will come with Gillian.”

“I will also travel with Evergreen. We discussed this last night,” Valeria said, smiling shyly at Evergreen.

I turned to Eddie and Gabriel.

“With your permission, Alpha, I would like to stay,” Eddie said, “Maritza’s father is due to step down and her brother is about to become Alpha. They have no Beta and her brother has offered the position to me as the mate of his oldest sister,” he said.

“That is acceptable, Eddie, though I’ll be sad to see you leave the pack. You are a good warrior. Your new pack is lucky to have you. We can talk after and figure out what we need to ship down to you.”

He nodded, “Thank you Alpha”

“Alpha, Brenda has a few questions before she decides,” Gabriel said. I had noticed they were the only mated pair that had yet to mark each other.

“Of course,” I said.

“Would I be able to continue being a warrior in your pack. Our previous Alpha and other Alpha’s around here will not let women work as warriors,” she said tentatively, looking over at Gabriel. I wondered if they had discussed this and she just needed confirmation before she accepted him.

“If that is your wish, we encourage women to pursue what they want to do. Luna Celeste had an idea, but we will respect whatever decision you make regarding your career,” I told her and nodded at Celeste to continue. She blushed as she was in the middle of munching on her beef.

“Well, I would like Gabriel to remain as my guard, but as Luna, we will have to travel on occasion for Pack business. I don’t like the idea of separating mates, so I thought, if you were up for it, you could train to become the twins’ official guard once they are here. That way, you could travel together. In the meantime, you can train and do whatever you need. Take on assignments as you see fit,” she said.

Brenda’s face remained blank, giving nothing away. “You would trust me to guard your pups?” she asked.

“Of course. You will be training until I give birth and I know the moon goddess would not have paired you with Gabriel if you were not as fierce and loyal as him,” Celeste answered without hesitation. She had observed her throughout the week and I had been keeping an eye out yesterday. People respected her as a warrior. One of the few female warriors in the Pack, which meant she had earned it.

A smile slowly formed on her face, “I would be honored to be the twin’s guard. Yes, I accept,” she said, but she was looking at Gabriel, not me.

“I’m going to assume that answers my questions as well,” I said, trying to hold in my laugh, “You two may go. Gabriel, take today off, the Luna and I will be together all day today.”

“Thank you Alpha, Luna,” he said, grabbing Brenda’s hand and practically flying out of the conference room. Everyone chuckled at that. It was clear they were about to go complete the mate bond.

“Well, shall we go have breakfast?” Celeste said brightly, “Evergreen, can you show us your front-end user software before supper? Diego might need a bit to play with it so he can use it properly.”

“Yes Luna. I will have it ready before lunch,” he said as we all headed towards the dining room.