Mate ...s ?!?!
Chapter Twenty-One

[Unknown POV]

I once had a woman so beautiful I dreamt she had been my Mate. The one meant only for me, and when the day came for me to take my place as Alpha, I was shunned, beaten in combat, and my place taken from me. My Mate stolen. Her promises of love thrown away for station and power. I had seen her on and off for years soothing the raging beast inside of me, before she had disappeared from my sight. I had waited for years for my wayward Mate to return to me but when she never returned to me, I went in search of her. The pain of her being with another filling my gut each night before I found her. The day I found her again was the day I became more than just a Rouge. It was the day my very being broke and I saw her for what she truly was. A Demon in Wolf’s skin.

She had lied to me. Betrayed me and used me for years. She had fully Mated with another, something she refused to allow me to do with her, and started the family that had been promised to me. Sons that were supposed to be mine that weren’t. She had not just gone that far, but she had Mated with my brother of all people. Claiming it was what was best for her and her station in her Pack. She had wanted nothing to do with me and she had turned her back on me.

I had lost what little humanity I had left and now I wanted her blood and the blood of everyone around her.

However, years after she had betrayed me, she had come back to me. Claiming to have been forced into her Mating and her life as a mother. Her own mother had pressured her into the Mating and forced her into the life of a Beta’s Mate. She even claimed that she had always only loved me. We had made love that night and she had once again disappeared from my life. She had only ever thought of herself and it was becoming clear to me that I was nothing but a tool for her to use.

She has betrayed me for the very last time and this time I was not going to let her beauty trick me. I want her life and this time she is not going to trick me. I was not going to allow my heart to fool me again when it came to Cilla Jones.

[Jaxson’s POV]

I could smell the death in the air as I ran for where my dad was fighting. I could hear the growling and snarling in the distance as I ran for the fight. I could see my Packmates defending the lines of the Territory and the Rouges trying to fight their way to the outpost that held the prisoners. They were determined to get there for some reason but I could see the female Warriors running through the Rouges unhindered and Cassie’s bright Red Timbre Wolf among them.

I smiled at the red head; she was more than qualified to be our Lead Beta. I wanted to replace the ones that might have escaped with the girls and put them back into their cells but when I reached my dad, I had no choice but to fight the Rouges that had him surrounded. He didn’t look like he could handle it alone at the moment. I couldn’t let my dad fight on his own and he would have pushed anyone else away. He was the Pack’s Alpha.

As the Alpha he wouldn’t let anyone see him weak. I however, was an Alpha too and I butted in whenever I damned well pleased to do so. As such, I ran and lept into the air, landing on a Rouge, swiftly ending its life. The fight didn’t last very long between the two of us, before the Rouges decided to turn tail and run from us.

I was panting as I stood over the dead body of the Rouge I had just killed, as my dad came up to me. His fur was matted with blood and I couldn’t tell if it was his or a mix. ’Are you all right pop?′ I asked as he came up to me. His eyes surveying the surrounding battle as it began to end around us.

‘I’m fine. Where are Jace and Orion?’ He questioned as he sat right next to me, his tongue flopping out of his mouth. He looked like tired old dog after playing.

I huffed in laughter as I sat down, ‘They are back at the house, safe. What’s been up with Cassie? I just saw her running off with the others but we haven’t seen her in a few days and Orion is getting worried.’ I asked as I saw his Beta come up to us.

‘Your mother has her training with the other females. If you saw her running off with the others then she may have gone to the cells to make sure they don’t get out They will make sure no one gets out and if they do, they will track them down. Our females are swift in the forest.’ Pop replied, getting a low growl from me. Cassie was going to get herself in trouble. I knew her well enough by now to know that she was going to go head first in a rage filled fit if she saw Cilla and she was alone.

I had forgotten why I had come out to begin with, to keep Cilla in her cell. Cassie had been fading away from Orion and he was missing her. I needed to make sure she was all right or my little star might be sad. I thought about Orion and Jace. They were everything to me and I would do anything to keep them both safe. Orion was a little bit of a handful at times and he hadn’t slipped into his ‘headspace’ yet. He has been so afraid we will leave him because of it. No matter how many time we begged him to just let go.

We were all worried about Cassie too because we knew she had been struggling with Orion’s coma far more than Jace and I had. She had taken Orion in as her own child and for her to just let him be so hurt for so long had to have hurt her far more than any of us had realized. Jace and I sort of just stepped in on her territory and took over on her and pushed her right out of the way. I am extremely surprised she hasn’t tried to attack us yet because of it. Right now I needed to replace the wayward Beta female. Hopefully Cassie hadn't gone off the reservation and killed Orion’s parents.