The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 14

"June! How could you?!"

There was a rush of air and then I was falling.

Pete had yanked me off the platform, my hand on the Alpha slipping as I toppled over. The fall was short, but it was still a fall that tilted my gravity and I am on the ground blinking in surprise before I could catch myself.

Even dazed, I hear the eruption of a growl that shakes the entire garden. Frightened birds flew from the trees over head as Alpha Ajax uses his impressive strength to carve his way to where I am. He aggressively tosses and pushes through elders and attendees alike to get to me.

In the seconds of leaving his side, Alpha Ajax was already upon us. He takes the hand that Pete was using to hold me and, with a tight grip, crushes it easily.

The scream that came from Pete was earth shattering but it was not as loud as the sound of bones snapping.

We might all be vicious werewolves, but living in the faraway farm pack has made us different from the rest. We do not get to see much action or fighting or legendary battles. The most brutal thing we've ever witnessed was the killing of a mouse or rabbit for food. The closest thing to a broken bone I've ever seen was from accidents that didn't look at all like that.

Clearly, I am not at home anymore.

Because the splinter of bone that breaks from Pete's skin and the blood that rushes out makes me dizzy all over again.

I almost forgot who I am mated to. His gentle approach to me has almost made me forget who he is and what he is.

Alpha Ajax doesn't speak as his other hand goes for Pete's throat. He squeezes and I watch as Pete's eyes turn red... like they were popping out of their sockets.

"Wait, please." I begged, reaching for the Alpha.

A monster snaps to face me, not the man I just vowed myself to, but a cold blooded monster out for blood. There's a dark expression on his face that scares me to submission but I replace myself trying again.

"Please," I whispered, scared for Pete's life. "There's a family waiting for him-"

The Alpha let's go, but not before roughly throwing Pete to the ground. "I don't care what's waiting for him. Let this be a lesson for everyone. June Valentine is my mate and thus a member of my pack. The next person to touch her will have their life forfeited." It didn't take a genius to know that his words aren't just empty threats. He was ready to deliver, regardless of the consequences. This was a land of peace but he was ready to make it bleed with the blood of whoever challenged him.

By this time, his pack had already joined him, flanking his back and looking absolutely frightening. It's no question that he and his people earned their reputation well.

"I claimed her first." Konstantin spoke up, calling the attention of the elders. "I already held the silk and announced to have her before anyone else. By all laws, June is mine."

The dark look on the Alpha's face turned sinister. "I've never been a follower of the law."

It was Cora who spoke up next. Standing tall and gorgeous, she stared down at me like I was the lowest of the low, the dirt on her feet, a pest she can't seem to kill. "You were supposed to be my mate. You were to claim me. An Alpha. An equal." Alpha Ajax's arms around me tightened as if he was scared someone would take me from him. "I never agreed to anything with the likes of you. And we are not equals. Don't hide behind your rank. You didn't earn it."

"Careful, Alpha, you don't want to be enemies with me." Cora threatened, but after Alpha Ajax's words, hers didn't feel as heavy as his. They just sounded like words. Fleeting. "Do you know who I am? What I can do? What my father can do to you?" "I'm already your enemy." He says simply, unbothered that he was challenging the biggest and wealthiest pack. "I intend to continue being enemies."

"So that's it? You're claiming this trash, this lowlife to get back at me?" She laughed wickedly. "Did Jeremy put you up to this?"

It was only a rush of air, a blink of an eye before he was on her. Much like Pete, he had Cora in a death grip by the neck, squeezing out the life from her.

This time, I did not jump in to save her.

Not even Konstantin came close. He was telling the truth when he said he was scared of the monstrous Alpha and he was right. Only a fool wouldn't be afraid of this man.

It was the elders who came to her rescue, their heads bowed low in submission.

"Please, Alpha Ajax, this land is a sanctuary. We cannot spill blood." They pleaded, going down on their knees and shaking with fear.

The Alpha laughed but it was an angry one that made me take a step back from him. "I won't be spilling blood."

I watched as his hand around Cora's neck tightens and she turns a different color altogether. She tries to fight back, to do something, but Alpha Ajax is too strong. It was a startling sight, but I could not look away.

The elders, fearing a full out war on this peaceful land, try to reason with him once more. "Alpha, do it for your mate. This isn't the right way to start your marriage."

A heart beat passes and just when I think he does't care, he almost immediately lets go. Cora falls to the ground gasping for breath and clutching her red marred throat. Her people that didn't do anything when she was in danger, started to gather around her in worry.

Cora just shoved them all away. "Useless idiots!"

"June is the Luna of my pack and rightfully so." Alpha Ajax warned dangerously. "She can have this spoiled brat's head if she so desires, any and all."

He glanced at me as if to ask if I wanted anyone's head right now. Somehow, I didn't put it past him to really give me a head of my choosing, so I just quietly mouthed a 'no', wanting all of this to be over already.

The Alpha nods in understanding and takes me by the waist. He does it in such a possessive way that my cheeks flush with the reality finally hitting me. Suddenly, it all felt so real.

Coming to the Assembly knowing full well I was likely never to be chosen, having fun with Jeremy and Larissa, and then this.

Being chosen.

And not just by anyone.

By him.

By an Alpha.

For some unknown reason, he chose me. I don't know if the world is just turning upside down or this was some horrible punishment disguised as hope. I have heard disturbing things about him, his pack and his people. It is a place of violent men, cruel behaviour and short tempers. A place for no one. Nameless. I do not think I will last a day. I found myself shivering at the thought of living in such a feral and untamed place... worrying about what would happen to me.

"June! How could you?!"

My home isn't the best, far from any luxuries, but every day was calm and uneventful... every day was boring and good.

Wild savages. I used to hear my pack members whisper. Beasts.

I had no way to know how my life was about to change and whether that change would be for better or worse, or some strange combination of the two.

"We're done here." Alpha Ajax growls, finishing the conversation and turning us away from the gardens. Strong, rough hands take mine as he walks away with me in tow.

In normal circumstances, everyone is required to finish the Assembly before leaving the venue. Supposedly, there's a few more speeches on love and a mating seminar of sorts. There's even a first walk along the gardens to get to know each other, a first dance in the ballroom too, but clearly, Alpha Ajax is above this.

He grabs the bolt of silk from an elder and then helps me down the platform as we walk away from the ceremony area.

I look back, feeling everything going a little too fast. What about Larissa? Or my Alpha? I didn't get a chance to speak to them... to Larissa, who was going home mateless. I didn't even get to see or hear her.

And then what about Pete? Is he going to be okay?

"Alpha," I whispered, dipping my head low in submission. His title, his position fell off my lips clumsily, unsure about how to interact with him- for most of my life there's only been one Alpha and he looked nothing like the man in front of me now.

This man... he is my mate- a chosen mate no less. Among hundreds of girls who are more worthy, women with beauty and riches and blood worth, I was chosen. I was Alpha Ajax's mate. The unlikely thought unsettled me. Not only is he arguably the most powerful Alpha in existence, but he is also the most frightening.

What unsettles me more is how unexpectedly he has treated me thus far.

He looked at me quizzically, waiting for my question.

"Where are we going?" I managed to ask when I realized he was taking us into the mansion.

Alpha Ajax looks down and I'm hit by the difference between our height and our size. I only reached his shoulders. The Alpha is so large, he's at least two or three times my size. "To my room."

My eyes widened. To his room? Already?

Are we... consummating our marriage already?

Was I to mate with him at that very moment?

Oh.

Oh!

I understand that it's how new mates usually do things but we've literally just met. We've also barely said a few words to each other.

That and I didn't know what to do, how to act?

With Jeremy- I shouldn't be thinking about him anymore even when he promised to- it felt natural, but now...

Alpha Ajax must have noticed how rigid I suddenly became because he stops mid step and chuckles lowly, breaking his hard exterior. It sounded so foreign coming from him. He must not laugh very often.

"I'm expecting a call from the people I left in charge of the pack and I need to have arrangements fixed to go back." He explains patiently. "I have had food sent up. You haven't had lunch."

As he mentions lunch, my stomach decides to prove him right and makes loud noises. The Alpha merely nods and continues on.

I was having deja vu as we went up the stairs, a floor higher than mine, directly under my room. When we went in this time, it wasn't dark, the windows open and letting the breeze in.

His room is different from Jeremy's or mine. It was twice as big, maybe more, because this was an Alpha's room, complete with a foyer, a dining table, a study area and a full couch set.

I'm also completely thrown off by the lunch set up. The dining table is wide and long, made of glass and could easily sit around twenty people. A chandelier hung above it, shining down on a beautiful spread of food. Thankfully, it wasn't the complicated kind that I didn't know how to eat.

This is so unlike what I pictured my first meal with my mate would be like. In fact, I imagined my first meal with Pete eating a packed sandwich on the bumpy and tight car ride home.

At that exact moment, the phone on his bedside table rang. He doesn't answer it right away. Wasn't that supposed to be his pack? Can he simply just ignore something like that?

Apparently, he can because Alpha Ajax, with his hand still in mine, brings us to the table. He pulls my seat back and reaches for an unopened champagne bottle. It was kind of sad when he let my hand go to open the bottle. He managed to leave a part of himself imprinted on my palm.

Alpha Ajax fills the glass next to me and then his own glass with a generous amount of the liquid. The Alpha lifts his glass and I follow.

"Mate." Is all he says before hitting his glass against mine lightly.

"Mate." I repeated softly, and we both drank, tipping our heads back.

Is this the monster everyone is talking about?

The monster of monsters?

The ringing ends only for it to begin yet again. How important was this call? And how long is he going to let them wait?

Alpha Ajax sighs and places a hand on my shoulder. "Eat. I'll handle the call."

My eyes followed him to his phone beside his bed. He doesn't even say hello, but I can already hear someone talking at the other end of the call. That blank, emotionless expression is back on his face yet again, giving nothing away.

I let myself look around his room. The last time I was here, it was too dark to see anything but like everything with the Alpha, nothing gave his room away. It was remarkably clean and had nothing to give me a hint of what he was like. "Have everything fixed before we get home." I heard the Alpha say in that same low baritone of his. "And make sure all is handled financially. I want things done straight away without delay."

Minding my own business, I bring my hand up to the table and admire it. There's still redness and irritation on my wound but at least it's already closed. I let my other hand trace the permanent scar on my ring finger and I couldn't help but smile. This is it.

By sheer dumb luck, I was able to replace a mate. The scar on my finger assured me that this was all real and happening.

That this wasn't a dream that I lost myself in.

Alpha Ajax appears at my side and gently runs his finger along the scar as well. An explosion of butterflies burst in the pit of my stomach as I felt my skin prickle at his touch, my heart thumping against my chest.

He then placed his hand over mine, showing his own scar. Unlike mine, his scar wasn't red or irritated at all. It's as if it was a wound from a year ago, a clear sign of his strength for having fast healing.

I looked up at him and swallowed nervously. "I'm low quality blood."

He doesn't even blink. "And? What of it?"

"And you're... okay with that?" I asked, wanting to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

The Alpha shrugs carelessly and takes his seat across from me. "Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

"You're an Alpha and I'm..." I paused, not knowing the right words to describe how impossible a pair we made. "Not?"

He frowns at my words. I watched him remove his coat and loosen his tie. "I don't need you to be anything but my mate." He says in a low, almost annoyed tone. "Nothing else matters."

"You're just being nice." I whispered under my breath. Because what I am is a fact that I've known since I can remember. Because what I am is a reality that has been pointed out my whole life.

"I'm not nice." He says frankly and I think to some extent he really isn't. "I'm simply speaking the truth."

A heat creeps up to my cheeks and I don't know what to do but look down and play with my hands. I secretly like that it wasn't just some flowery words said to make me feel better. It was just that: the truth. And that's better than anything.

Too caught up in fighting the warmth that tried to consume me, I didn't notice how the Alpha suddenly went cold, his expression hard. "June,"

Even my name sounded different.

Like he was angry at something.

Fear nearly consumes me faster than warmth. He was a terrifying sight when mad, a beast breaking through its skin.

"Y-Yes?" I stuttered, inching away from him.

Have I already ruined it already?

So quickly?

Can he still take me back?

He sees my reaction and immediately calms down. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just..."

The Alpha stops, his cheeks turning a slight pink.

Was he... nervous?

He was such a tall, strongly-built man that the notion that I might be making him nervous set a flutter of something like wings through my stomach.

"If it wasn't me, who were you planning to choose?" He finally asks.

My cheeks flushed for a different reason and I nearly choked on the drink I was trying to swallow. My foolish thoughts went to Jeremy despite trying my best not to think about him. It was hard to forget about his easy smile, his hands on mine and the kisses we shared.

But he didn't choose me.

He left.

Like nothing happened.

"I was prepared to go home unmated." I said honestly.

"But you were chosen. Would it have been Konstantin?" The Alpha suggests knowingly, crossing his arms across his chest and effectively making his biceps bulge through his long sleeve top. "Or Jeremy?"

The blood drains from my face. "W-what? No."

He narrows his eyes disbelieving, a hint of jealousy flashing in those emotionless eyes. "Who then?"

"It would have been Pete," I admitted sheepishly. To be honest, I don't know who I would have chosen if things were different. Everything happened so fast.

The Alpha scoffs unimpressed. I suppose I don't have to remind him who Pete was... not when his hands were snapping Pete's bones. "That boy? No."

I couldn't help but smile at his possessiveness. "I don't know. It's hard to say."

Alpha Ajax scowls. "That boy isn't good enough for you. None of them are."

The firmness of his statement made me blush all over again. He made me sound above all else.

A knock on the door breaks our eye contact and he glances away from me. "Enter."

There was a slight pause from whoever knocked on his door before it opened, revealing a stone faced Jeremy.

The sight of him took my breath away and I begged him to look, begged him to notice...

"Alpha."

He doesn't greet me.

He doesn't even look at me.

I was worse than a stranger to him... I was no one. Invisible.

It struck me right in the heart.

"The plane taking us home has landed. We may board when you are ready." His tone is curt and without any kind of feeling. It was so unlike the Jeremy I knew from the weekend.

But then again, did I really know him?

Obviously not.

"Have everything packed and ready." The Alpha instructs. "Make sure they get June's things too."

Still no acknowledgment.

"Right away." Jeremy says after some time. "Should I take the silk?"

The Alpha instantly looked towards his bed where he placed my dowry. "No. I'll carry it myself."

It might just be my imagination but there was a tension in the air and it wasn't coming from Jeremy and I.

To break whatever was happening, I turned to the Alpha. "Uhm," I hesitated now, worrying how much I could request from my 'mate'. "If you'll allow me, will I have time to say good bye to my pack?" Jeremy and the Alpha share a look, the first ever interaction between them that wasn't so icy, and I knew almost immediately that I wouldn't like what would be said next.

"They've left," Jeremy says without looking at me. "Pinocchio or whatever his name is, was their best fighter or something and they rushed to have him healed. No one else was chosen anyway."

My lips quivered and I blinked, forcing back tears. "They just left? Without asking for me?"

These people are my family... my pack.

They are all I've ever known.

And without even a goodbye, they left?

I was supposed to never see them again?

"I can have them sent back here if you feel so strongly about giving your goodbyes." Alpha Ajax offered and I don't know how he'll do it, but something in the way he says it makes me think he will make a way.

One way or another...

Another being the heavier of the two.

"No." I said meekly. "This is how it's supposed to be."

For the first time, Jeremy looked my way with conflicting emotions swimming in those baby blues that I thought I would be able to stare at forever.

But he looks away again and forever turns into never.