Saving His Feral Mate
Chapter 53: An unofficial announcement

Max POV

Once we crossed the border into rogue territory, the twins led us to their temporary camp. It was only a few minutes from the border. It wasn’t much of camp, basically a campfire with a bunch of dudes hanging around. Some were sleeping on the ground, while others sat around talking.

I knew the twins had made quite a few allies over the years, but I was still surprised by the amount of rogues there were. There were probably about 20 of them and I could tell most had been living as rogues for a while, they were pretty rough around the edges.

If I’ve learned one thing over the past few years, it was not to judge a book by it’s cover. I trust the twins with my life, therefore, if they trust these guys so will I.

“We’re sleeping here?” Jo asked with a scrunched up nose.

“What’s wrong? Is it not luxurious enough for my little princess?” I mocked.

“Would you like me to call the butler and request a different room?” I quickly added, earning me a glare.

“This is horseshit.” He grumbled under his breath, before stomping away from me.

“Where’re you going?” I called after him, while trying not to blatantly laugh in his face.

“To put something together for us to sleep on. I’m not sleeping on the ground.” He shot back, before disappearing between some trees.

“Not everyone can hack the rogue lifestyle.” Preston joked, while shaking his head.

“He’s a bit high maintenance, isn’t he?” Parker added with a chuckle.

“Yup and he’s all mine ladies, back off.” I joked, even though I was the only female insight. The twins and Bert all buckled over with laughter.

Jo wasn’t really high maintenance, he just wasn’t use to this lifestyle. He’s always been part of a pack and had everything he ever needed. That’s why I like teasing him. It should be interesting to see how he handles himself out here. It’s going to be an eye opener for him, that’s for sure.

Rogues on the other hand, they weren’t given such luxuries and sleeping on the ground wasn’t that bad. You got use to it over time.

“So… Why were you guys acting so weird in Knox’s office early?” I asked the twins after the laughing died down.

I had noticed them looking around anxiously when we were alone in the office. They kept sniffing the air and a couple of times they opened the door to look down the hallway.

“What do you mean?” Preston asked, but by the look on his face he already knew what I was talking about.

“You guys were acting like a couple drug dogs, sniffing around everything like you were searching for a stash of cocaine or something.” I joked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure what it was.” Parker said with a heavy sigh.

“We kept getting whiffs of something that smelled really good, it was faint but addictive.” Parker continued with a confused look on his face.

I was in there with them and I certainly didn’t smell anything like that.

“What did it smell like?” I asked curiously.

“Like freshly baked cookies and vanilla.” Preston was the one to replied this time. He closed his eyes as he spoke, clearly trying to remember the scent.

“Ya, it was intoxicating.” Parker added, also looking caught up in the memory.

“Congratulations.” I said and they both looked at me in confusion.

“For what?” Preston asked with furrowed brows.

“Sounds like you found your mate, or at least what pack she belongs to.” I replied nonchalantly. Their eyes widened in shock. I could see so many emotions swirling within them. Their reaction confused me, they seemed excitement, but I could also see fear and concern in their eyes.

“What do you mean?” Preston asked, but sounded hesitant.

“The only thing I could smell in there was you guys and it was the middle of the night so I doubt anyone was actually baking cookies. That leaves only one explanation, you two were picking up your mates scent.” I replied with a casual shoulder shrug.

“How do you know this?” Parker asked with a skeptical look on his face.

“This isn’t my first rodeo. Do I need to remind you guys that I’m already on my second mate? I’m practically an expert when it comes to the subject.” I bragged and saw the realization hit them like a freight train.

“s**t!” Parker cursed.

“f**k!” Preston followed.

“Well that wasn’t the reaction I expecting.” I stated, while the twins started pacing in front of me.

“I always thought you guys were the helpless romantic type and be excited to replace your mate.” I continued.

“You have no idea how badly we wanted to replace our mate. We’ve been waiting for years.” Parker huffed in defeat.

“It’s just bad timing. We started a war with Cameron, literally took every penny he owned. He’s going to come after us and that’s what we wanted. That’s why we can’t replace our mate right now, she would automatically be in danger because of us.” Preston added, also sounding defeated.

“Well s**t, so you’re just gonna pretend you never picked up her scent?” I asked.

“I don’t want to do that.” Parker growled clearly not liking the idea.

“We can’t drag her into this mess, Parker, you know that.” Preston replied with a stern voice.

“f**k!” Parker cursed, while pulling at his hair.

“As soon as we take care of Cameron, we’ll come replace her.” Preston tried to reassured Parker.

“You guys said early that you still had something to do tonight? What was it?” I asked, trying to change the subject for their benefit.

“We found a thumb drive in Cameron’s office. We need to figure out what’s on it.” Parker replied with a sigh, looking completely uninterested in the thumb drive.

“I’ll plug it into my laptop.” Bert offered, while taking a seat on a fallen stump and pulling out a laptop from his backpack.

“Thanks Bert.” Preston replied with a nod.

“I don’t like this Preston. What if she needs us and we aren’t there for her.” Parker argued while continuing to pace.

“Knox is actually a really good Alpha. She’ll be safe there.” I reassured him.

“What if she takes a chosen mate while we sit around doing nothing?“ he asked angrily.

“She won’t Parker, she’s ours. Stop thinking like that.” Preston growled.

“Hey guys, I have the drive up if you want to have a look.” Bert announced and successfully cut through the tension.

Preston and Parker took a seat beside Bert, one on each side so that they could both see the computer screen.

“Seems to be a bunch of documents relating to the pack.” Bert reported.

“What’s that one?” Parker asked, while pointed to the screen.

“It’s a non-disclosure contract, there’s a couple of them.” Bert replied, while reading something that was on the screen.

“s**t, these are relating to us. He made anyone who knew about our true paternity sign one.” Preston explained.

“What an i***t. Why would he keep these?” Parker blurted out.

“Look at this one.” Preston said, as he pointed to the computer screen.

“Oh s**t! This is definitely going to help us win over the council” Parker replied with a mischievous smirk. I couldn’t see the screen from where I stood, but by the look on their faces they had just found the jackpot.

“What did you replace?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, just a few documents that Cameron wouldn’t want the council to see.” Preston replied vaguely.

Our conversation was interrupted when I heard Jo approaching.

“f*****g ants everywhere.” He muttered to himself.

“You need me to come save you from a few creepy crawlers, mate?” I taunted.

“Max, I’m warning you, I’m not in the mood.” He growl and for some reason that only made me want to poke the bear further.

“What crawled up your butt and died?” I asked.

“I f*****g spent 30 minutes fixing up a spot for us to sleep, only to replace out I did it on top of an ants nest.” He grumbled in frustration.

“You know, for a man that’s half beast you’re very out of tune with nature.” I replied with an amusement chuckle.

“Let’s go to bed” He growled.

“I’m not tired.” I retorted.

“Who said you’d be sleeping.” He challenged, but this time I saw the corners of his lips twitch upwards and knew he was enjoying our banter.

“Let’s go.” He ordered and pointed to a group of trees in the distance.

“Yes, sir.” I mocked with a salute.

“Remember that nickname?” He growled.

“Why?” I asked curiously.

“Because your going to be using it later.” He replied and this time a mischievous grin spread across his face.

“You wish.” I said while rolling my eyes.

We definitely had an odd relationship, but it worked for us. I actually couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Day by day, I replace myself lowering those walls for him. Who know, maybe one day I’ll actually let him mark me. Wouldn’t that be something.

————

Knox POV

After the phone call with Victor, I noticed that Chloe looked exhausted. I really wanted to continue our chat from earlier, but could tell she needed some sleep. I’ve waited a few weeks already, I guess a few more hours wouldn’t hurt.

Chloe went to lay down, while I stayed in my office and did some work. I was exhausted too, but after the day I had there was no way I would be able to sleep.

I took care of some paper work and made a few phone calls, before working on the patrol schedule for the following week. The day actually went by pretty quickly and when I looked at the clock, I noticed that it was already 4:30pm.

I made my way to the kitchen to grab some food. I figured I would grab something and meet Chloe in our room. She had been sleeping for almost 7 hours already, it’s time for us to continue that chat. I thought to myself.

When I reached the dinner hall, I was actually surprised at how busy it was. Probably half the pack was already there waiting for dinner.

I saw my father and mother sitting at a table with Sheryl. My mother noticed me and immediately started waving me over. I was just about to go and talk to them, when a female voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Alpha, can I speak with you for a moment?” She asked from somewhere behind me. I recognized the voice immediately. It belonged to Veronica, the one Kyle had been caught cheating with.

“What do you want Veronica?” I asked while turning around to face her. I couldn’t help the irritation that laced my words. I didn’t hate the girl, but was still upset with what her and Kyle did to Sheryl.

“I was hoping to speak with you regarding my punishment. I’ve learnt my lesson and promise it won’t happen again. I was hoping you would give me my old job back.” She pleaded, while batting her eyelashes.

“It hasn’t even been a week Veronica. You are nowhere near done serving your punishment.” I replied firmly and saw her face shine with irritation before she quickly recomposed herself.

“Maybe we could come up a more appropriate punishment, one that would benefit both of us.” She said seductively, while closing the distance between us and running a finger down my chest.

I was about to push her hand away, when a low growl made me freeze.

“If you want to keep that hand, I suggest you take it off my mate.” Chloe gritted out possessively from somewhere behind me. I had to cover my face to hide the smile that was spreading. I was enjoying her possessive side.

“Please. You’re nothing but a rogue, there’s no way you’d be mated to an Alpha.” Veronica scoffed. This time both Chloe and I growled.

Veronica jumped back when she heard my growl and her eyes widened in shock.

“Touch what’s mine again and You’ll be taking your last breath.” Chloe threatened in a dangerous low voice.

Well s**t, that wasn’t exactly how I expected us to make the announcement. I guess this was our unofficial one, especially since half the pack was present and watching the interaction unfold. I’m definitely not complaining, this was exactly what I wanted.

“Son? What is she talking about?” My father voice boomed from across the room. I chose to ignore him and address the crowd.

“I would like everyone to officially meet, Chloe, my mate and Luna. We wanted to take our time and get to know each other before making it official. That’s why we held off on the announcement.” I announced, while wrapping my arm around Chloe’s waist and pulling her against me. There were several gasps within the room and lots of whispering amongst the tables.

“That’s absurd! She’s a rogue, she can’t be Luna.” My father scoffed.

“She’s my fated mate and the rightful Luna. If anyone has a problem with that, you’re free to leave this pack.” I replied firmly and could tell my father was livid.

Without saying another word, he angrily stormed out of the room.

That was when I noticed that Veronica must have also left, she was nowhere in sight. She probably left because she was scared of Chloe. Good. She needed to be put in her place and that was exactly what Chloe did.

“Thank you everyone, if you’ll excuse us, I need to speak with my mate. We will be making an official announcement very shortly.” I said, before guiding Chloe out of the room and into the sitting area. The room was empty so we had a bit of privacy.

“Sorry, Tatiana took over in there.” Chloe said sheepishly.

“Goddess, don’t ever apologize for being possessive of me. Hell, if you wanted to pee on me I’d let you.” I replied with a chuckle.

“Dang, didn’t think you were into that kind of kink.” She joked with an eyebrow raised.

“s**t! That came out wrong, that wasn’t what I meant. I meant if you wanted to mark your territory you could pee on me, it was a joke. Because you know, that’s what wolves do in the wild. I promise I’m not into the peeing kink. Unless you’re into it, if you are I’m not oppose to… I started to rambled, unable to stop myself after I started. Luckily, Chloe took pity on me and cut me off.

“Settle down Knox, you’re rambling. I know what you meant and I was just making a joke.” She chuckled, while shaking her head.

“Can we talk about anything other than pee. I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day.” I said, while chuckling with her.

“How about we continue our conversation from earlier.” I added in a more seriously.

“What conversation?” She asked innocently, but I could see the mischievous glint in her eyes.

“The one we were having before Shane interrupted us.” I replied with a pointed look.

“It was so long ago, I don’t remember what we were talking about.” She said, while tapping her finger against her chin.

“Chloe…” I growled and saw a mischievous smile spread across her face.

“What?” She once again asked innocently.

“Get upstairs, now.” I ordered sternly and pointed towards the stairs.

“Are you trying to dominate me, Alpha?” She asked seductively while taking a step forward and eliminating the space between us.

“Maybe, is it working?” I asked, before gulping nervously.

A mischievous smirk spread across her face before she brought her lips to my ear.

“I may not submit, but you succeeded in making my panties wet.” She whispered, before nibbling on my earlobe. I swear to the moon goddess, that simple action nearly made me c*m. I felt a shiver run down my spine and was instantly overwhelmed with desire.

“f**k Chloe, just go before I take you over the edge of this couch.” I g*****d and motion towards the couch next to us. She giggled before turning around to leave.

“See you soon, Alpha.” She said smugly over her shoulder. That little minx seemed to be enjoying my discomfort.

“Wait.” I said and she paused before turning around to face me. She had a curious look on her face.

I closed the distance between us and before she knew what was happening, I spun her around and slapped her a*s. She yelped at the unexpected action, before bringing a hand up and massaging the asscheek.

“That’s all.” I said with my own mischievous smirk, earning me a glare. I would have almost believed she was mad, if it wasn’t for the heavenly scent of her arousal that hit my nose.

“I’m going to grab us something to eat, I’ll be up in five.” I added, before turning around and walking away. She remained frozen in her spot with her mouth partial open. She looked completely shocked by my actions, It was my turn to be smug.