The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 13

"What?!"

A collection of horrified gasps and wheezing goes through the entire area. I'm pretty sure someone fell from their seat due to shock. I know that if I was sitting down I would fall off too. Because this was impossible.

Because this was madness.

All of this.

For some unknown reason, my eyes replace Jeremy first and his face is contorted in an expression I couldn't read. What was worse? He was standing, his hand out as if to reach me, his mouth open like he was just about to speak. Was he going to claim me?

Was that what I missed when I closed my eyes?

Was Jeremy claiming me? The one man that I wanted to claim me was about to do so? But... that's impossible, right?

All of this is impossible.

Unable to fully comprehend what was happening, I looked in front and saw the amber eyes of the man I met in the dark room. It sounds more risqué than it actually is now that I think about it, but that's how I know him. The only way I know him. We didn't spend the weekend together. We didn't even say a word to each other.

And it baffles me that he claimed me.

I searched his handsome face for answers, for something, anything at all, but I did not replace what I was looking for. It was like looking at a wall.

Alpha Ajax is emotionless. There was no hint of emotion of any kind on his face, nothing to give his intentions away. This is the face of a warrior- of a monster that has seen the horrors of my horrors. This is the man that made himself an Alpha, overpowering everyone else and making his wrath known. He is someone I never thought I would even see in my lifetime.

Yet he was here.

In front of me.

Now that it's daytime, the sun allowing me to see him better, I can see several large grotesque scars creeping out of his neck. It looked like someone was trying to claw his throat out. In fact, I'm almost sure that's what actually happened.

A permanent hard glint was in his gorgeous eyes, calculating and menacing all at once.

If Jeremy is beautiful, warm and open... his Alpha is the opposite. This man, this monster, is all harsh lines and danger. Handsome, yes. Alluring, yes. Death-bringing and grim, also yes.

He's like an explosive that would detonate anytime.

I blinked, not understanding what was happening. Did I hear correctly?

Surely, I didn't hear correctly.

It seems I did because the elder beside me looked immeasurably surprised. "Alpha Ajax are you sure?"

Not even the elder can believe it. I didn't blame him. There must be some kind of mistake. Maybe the Alpha got my name mistaken for someone else? Someone like Cora? The one that waited for him? He must have heard she went last and he thought I was her? He can't choose me.

He won't choose me.

"I'm certain." The deep baritone of his voice pierced through the chatter of disbelief. He looks directly at me expectantly but I still don't move, a deer caught in the headlights.

Another round of surprised reactions of different kinds comes and I feel my body sway. Not a few minutes ago, I was ready to go home unmated. I had already accepted defeat.

It surprised me when Konstantin claimed me, but with Alpha Ajax? It just... It just didn't make any sense. I couldn't understand.

In fact, I would be laughing right now if it wasn't happening to me.

Because what a sight it was.

Konstantin, the Beta of the city pack, was reaching for the bolt of silk that I was worth. He had the remnants of a smile on his face before it turned to that famous city pack sour expression.

And then there was his Alpha. Cora looked directly at me with a sneer. Before I closed my eyes, she looked happy that I was most probably going back home unmated. But now she looked... scandalized, like the best thing in her life had just been snatched away from her. Snatched away by a filthy girl from a poor farm pack.

Cora was going to explode. Her face was red, her eyes were red and she looked at me like she was looking at a rat... a vermin. Someone beneath her. Someone not worthy of anything. And it's true.

I am all of those things.

So how was this happening?

"June Valentine. You heard the Alpha. Give him your bolt of silk." The elder commanded, but my throat is dry and my feet did not move.

What will happen to me now?

With Konstantin and the Alpha... Didn't I get a choice? Not that I know what that choice would be, but still. I should have something, right? Anything?

"June?" The Alpha calls me this time, the sound of my name making me shiver. The expression on his face or his low voice did not give me much to work on. "Are you coming?"

He was giving me the option to refuse. This is it. I simply just have to shake my head and I can continue on worrying about my life with whoever it is.

"No! I claim June Valentine." A shout from the back bellows. "She's mine. She made a promise to me and she will see to it. I was just about to choose her! I was waiting for the right time!"

My heart deflates when I see Pete standing up and pointing at me. His voice was a shrill of a thing, a little kid trying to speak up.

He wasn't waiting for the right time. He was trying to humiliate me by proving no one would stand up for me. He purposely didn't claim me the moment I was up there to make me feel unwanted.

It's clear in everyone's face how crazy this was. Three claims to one tiny, sad, poor little girl from the farm pack.

Jeremy suddenly stands up and our eyes meet.

My heart leaps with hope, with something more, with... with love.

'Claim me.' I almost begged out loud. 'Claim me and be damned with all of them. Claim me and no one will ever compare. It will just be you and I. Please, Jeremy. Please'

But he turns away, walking to the woods and disappearing from sight, leaving me in this chaos. I watched him go, my heart sinking lower than I ever thought possible with tears brimming my eyes. Betrayal never tasted so bitter in my mouth.

I glanced back into the Alpha's eyes, trying to gather myself, trying so helplessly to keep myself together. He was patiently waiting, standing in front with his hand out for me. He has seen it all. He has heard it all.

But why me? I wanted to ask him this but that's not how things work here.

Earlier this morning, I was wondering if maybe there was someone else. Someone... anyone.

Not the Betas. Not Pete.

Someone.

Maybe he was my answer?

Despite feeling frozen in place, my legs manage to move on their own. I took that stupid bolt of silk from a shocked elder's arms and awkwardly stood where the Alpha was waiting. The whispers come louder but I can't hear them. It's like I've been sucked into another dimension where there's only Alpha Ajax and the distance between us.

We don't break eye contact the entire time.

It was just us.

Unexpectedly, Alpha Ajax extends his hand to me and a flash of my memory from last night appears. I'm in a seat by the bar feeling sick to my stomach after the funky liquid that Larissa forced down my throat.

"Live a little." She kept saying. "This is like your bachelorette party."

I was dizzy and my ears were ringing, but then that hand. This exact hand that was reaching out to me right now appeared that night.

And just like last night, I took it.

The moment our hands touch, I feel a warmth go through me. I saw the color of the Alpha's eyes lighten considerably and I must have been imagining it because I saw his mouth twitch up. Yes, it must be my imagination. The monstrous Alpha of the mountains does not smile.

We stood in front of a dumbfounded elder, facing away from the prying eyes of the other attendees. I'm relieved I don't have to see their reactions yet.

The elder begins to speak yet I can't hear the words he's saying.

It's no question that Alpha Ajax can do better than a poor girl from the farms. Cora was next after me. Did he have us mixed up?

I was still in shock when the elder called for my attention. "Give him your dowry, girl."

"Oh." I nearly jumped, passing the silk to the Alpha. "I'm so sorry."

"Pay attention. You're about to be mated with an Alpha." The elder scolds impatiently.

But the elder didn't need to tell me this. I know it.

The Alpha shoots the elder a look that could burn. "You dare speak to June like this? In front of me?"

The roar of his deep voice shook the entire venue, the trees swaying from his warning. I can tell that this wasn't the full extent of his rage. This was his version of a kind reminder. The Alpha is defending me and I should be flattered, and I am, but seeing him angry, seeing a glimpse of the monster that everyone has been whispering about... it was truly frightening.

The elder and his knees rattled out an apology but all I could focus on was the Alpha. Daunting, frightening and my mate in only a few moments.

Like I was watching someone else, I listened as the elder declared us one heart, one flesh and one soul.

Mates.

Until death.

And even beyond that.

Forever.

My heart, too rash in all things, flipped wildly.

"Do you accept and bind yourself, Alpha?" The elder asks, looking like he truly wanted to confirm this.

"I accept and bind myself to her and only her." Alpha Ajax says, breaking through my thoughts.

The Alpha didn't need to say 'to her and only her'. The required words were only until 'myself'.

He turned to me with an expectant look on his face. At the confused look I gave him, he tilted his head towards the man officiating our- dare I say it-wedding and I understood.

This was my last chance to change my mind. If I say these next words, I'm his, completely. Forever.

Werewolves only mate once. It's against our nature to replace another. Even after death, it will be us.

"I accept and bind myself."

There's no doubt this time. A small smile that looked both adorably handsome and awkward on his face appeared. It vanished as quickly as it came. I almost wanted to say the words again just to see the smile one more time.

Another elder brings forward the ceremonial knife. The painful part of all of this is what they call the carving. A small knife of pure silver with a wooden handle is given to the officiating elder. They would use this to carve an 'x' on our ring finger. The silver symbolizes that our love is stronger than our greatest weakness and the scar it leaves marks our permanent bond to each other. Sealing us as mates.

Alpha Ajax goes first and he doesn't even flinch when the silver touches and sears his skin. The silver cuts through the skin of his ring finger like butter and the Alpha bleeds instantly.

When the elder is done carving the 'x', the Alpha faces me and offers his bleeding hand.

I blink in confusion. Was I supposed to take his hand? I completely blocked this part out when the others were doing it.

"You have to lick the cut to seal it." The elder impatiently says. My eyes widen and I look from the bleeding 'x' wound to the blank face of the Alpha.

I did not know this part.

I was not prepared for this part.

The elder looks extremely affronted when I hesitate. "Hurry! The Alpha is bleeding! One would think you already knew this being the last one to be called."

The Alpha takes a step closer and I swallow nervously.

"June Valentine!" The same elder berates me. "Do not let us wait!"

Alpha Ajax suddenly turns to the man that yelled at me and silences him with a cold hard stare.

I never wish to be on the receiving end of that look. Even the elder took a step back looking horrified.

Alpha Ajax brings his attention back to me. "Don't listen to him. Take your time."

Nervously, I took his hand and slowly brought it to my mouth. My hands were shaking, sweating, but the Alpha's firm grip on my hand calmed me enough that I hesitantly leaned closer to him and slowly licked at the wound that branded him as my mate. The Alpha's eyes darken drastically and I wonder if I'm hurting him.

Nonetheless, the wound closes almost immediately and I sigh in relief until I realize it's my turn. I've never touched silver in my life but I've heard how much it burns. How it melts us.

The annoyance of the elder shows when he takes my hand without prompt and carves me with the same silver knife.

I can't help but hiss in pain at the contact and I try to pull away, but the elder holds me in place firmly. I can feel my skin melting at the knife, pulling itself apart from contact. It couldn't have been longer than a few seconds but the pain is nothing like I've experienced before and I had broken bones and a split open knee when I was younger.

Once it was done, I had tears in my eyes. Sniffling softly to myself, Alpha Ajax leans down and takes my hand in his. I thought he was simply going to lick it like how I did it, but instead he slowly puts my entire ring finger in his mouth. I'm unable to breathe. I've seriously lost the ability to do it. My entire body felt like it was on fire and my heart was threatening to jump out of my chest. I can feel his tongue moving and licking at my wound before he tantalizingly removes my finger slowly from his mouth. It felt electric. It felt... good.

I closed my eyes for a moment to let out a shaky breath.

It was oddly erotic and I didn't know if I should be turned on or embarrassed. Alpha Ajax didn't seem to care and didn't let my hand go from his. Instead, he interlaces our fingers and I feel my heart jump to my throat. My knees feel like they're made of jello. The Alpha's normally bright amber eyes have turned dark, almost black, and I wonder if he felt the pleasant shocks too.

I'm honestly glad mate markings are done in private because I seriously would need to lay down for that. My ability to stand and breathe is about to abandon me completely.

My thoughts quickly become indecent and inappropriate as I imagine Alpha Ajax marking me and vice versa. My neck suddenly feels very hot, my cheeks burning as I resist the urge to fan myself.

A few more words are said about our eternal binding. We're bound for life and many other beautiful words... through all of this my mind is still focused on one thing and my eyes are already staring at it.

Embarrassingly, I'm looking up at Alpha Ajax, specifically his neck where I was to mark him.

The Alpha must have felt my eyes on him because he looked down and his lips formed into a small smile. I couldn't help but return it.

Maybe this might actually work.

Maybe... maybe.