Katya POV
Ezra was gone most of the day only returning just before
the pack run. I could feel something was going on with him. Mateo was also acting strange like he knew what was
going on yet when I asked he always avoided answering.
Hearing Ezra’s car pull u p as I was coming downstairs
with Angie. I go to open the door.
Ezra, so consumed in his thoughts, almost ran directly into me as he reached for the door handle instead, stumbling forward as I opened the door, his hands grabbing me
before he completely knocked me over as he caught himself on the door trim. “Sorry love” He says, his arm pulling me closer.
“You’re in a rush” I tell him yet his face gives nothing
away.
“Just something came up” He says his lips brushing my
cheek when he suddenly growls, looking up his eyes were trained on Angie as he peered over my shoulder.
“Why are you still here and where is Mateo? I told him not to leave you alone with her” He says harshly.
“Right here” Mateo says walking downstairs in just shorts as he went to get ready for the pack run.
“Still doesn’t explain why Angie is still here” Ezra says, giving her an unwelcoming look.
” She is my friend” I tell him and Ezra growls low and
deep in the back of his throat.
“You trust to easily kat”
“No, she used her Alpha voice, Angie asked her to, t o
prove herself” Mateo tells him walking down the last of the steps toward us.
“You used your Alpha voice, so everything is okay with Kora then?” Ezra asks, giving me a perplexed look.
“Kora? No, she is being quiet. I haven’t spoken to her since this” I tell him pointing to my neck. Ezra seems to think before nodding and shutting the door behind him. His
brows furrowed in confusion and I tried to read him through the bond only to find him shut me out.
“Everything okay?” I ask him and he seems to shake
himself out of his thoughts and lets me go.
” Everything is fine, go outside and start meeting everyone as they show up, Mateo follow me ” Ezra tells him walking up the steps. He stops halfway turning around and looking back at us, Ezra’s eyes going to Angie.
“Try anything Angie and I will give you to Maddox”
Ezra says, the calmness of his voice sent chills up m y
spine. Angie bares her neck to him. “Yes, Alpha, ”
She stammers out. Ezra nods, his eyes falling on me, he
gives me an indecipherable look before turning and heading back to the third floor with Mateo hot on his heels.
“Well he didn’t kill me, so that’s a bonus” Angie mutters, nudging me with her elbow. I nodded to her, that was something I guess but there was definitely something going on. Around 5 PM people started showing up. It was
obvious how excited everyone was about the pack run,
making me realise how much it meant to the pack to have a day each week designated specifically for it. Though it was a little strange how everyone would bare their necks to me and kept calling me Luna. Mateo was a little
uncomfortable when they did the same to him and I could
see he was out of his element as I approached where he was cooking at the barbeques along with three other pack
warriors.
“Ezra needs to come down and explain this to them, I can’t handle everyone calling me Alpha” Mateo mutters to me and I nod. I could feel his discomfort. “Want me to speak to him”
“Yes please, he is in office, maybe you can convince him to come out” Walking inside, I go in search of him. I could hear him cursing as I approached his office door. I knock on the slightly ajar door.
‘What? ” He growls and I push the door open. He looks up
realising it is me.
“Sorry” He says, grabbing papers and the journals off his desk and swiping them into the drawer when I notice Mathias sitting on the couch in the corner of the room.
“I will take my leave” Mathias says bowing slightly. Ezra comes around his desk leaning on it. He opens his arms to me and I walk over to him letting him pull me into his
embrace.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to growl at you” He whispers,
pressing his face into my neck and inhaling my scent.
“What’s wrong?” He asks running his nose across m y
cheek when he pulls his face from my neck.
“Nothing, you haven’t come out of the office, Mateo is a
little uncomfortable out there and so am I” I tell him.
“Why has someone said something to him, who?” Ezra
snaps angrily, his body trembling.
“What no, but he doesn’t like them calling him Alpha, it’s making him uncomfortable ” I tell him and he sighs.
“Yes, I know. Mateo doesn’t want to be an Alpha” Ezra
says with a sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut.
“I will be out in a minute and deal with it” He tells me
before dismissing me.
I walk toward the door stopping as I am about to walk out of it. “Is everything ok, you seem off” I tell him.
“Everything is fine, we can talk about it later. I will be out in a minute Kat” He says walking back around his desk and sitting down. I had no idea what was going on with
him and without Kora telling me what’s going on with Maddox, I couldn’t figure it out. But as time dragged on I
started to become anxious when Kora wasn’t coming forward and getting excited about the pack run, she loved going for runs so I found it a little odd that I hadn’t heard from her, just radio silence, my thoughts my own making me feel lonely.
We were all sitting around the entertainment area when
Ezra finally walked out. Mateo lets out a breath of relief upon seeing him. The chatter instantly dies down when
Ezra uses his aura as he steps into view of everyone.
“Alpha” Everyone except Mateo I say in unison.
Ezra’s eyes looking around at the crowd of people waiting patiently to hear what he has to say before his eyes fall on me and Mateo. His motions for us to come to him with his
hand and I get up from
sitting on Mateo, who for most of the night had been using me as a shield to stop people bowing to him. They normally did when he was Beta but it wasn’t different when they
kept calling him Alpha making him extremely
uncomfortable.
Mateo and I walk over to him and the crowd of people
filling the lawn all watch wondering what is going on. “You sure Mateo, once it’s done I can’t undo it” Ezra says to
him.
“Please Ezra, ” Mateo tells him and Ezra presses his lips into a line and nods his head before turning his attention back to everyone making me wonder what they were
talking about.
“As everyone knows, not only have I found my Luna but I
have also found Mateo to also be my mate”
Everyone seems to nod and they were rather fast at
accepting Mateo as their other Alpha some even had commented that they had been waiting for Ezra to mark
him and bring him into the relationship which shocked me.
“However most Packs only have one Alpha and Mateo
does not wish to be Alpha but remain as your Beta, this
does not change anything and I expect you to still show him the respect of being my mate.
Mateo has decided to stand down as Alpha even though he
bears my mark” Ezra holds his hand up a s people start to murmur amongst themselves.
They quiet down instantly bearing their necks to him and
Ezra holds his hand out to Mateo who takes it. Ezra pulls Mateo in front of him when Mateo suddenly kneels before
him and I realise what is going on. Ezra I could tell wasn’t happy about it but was doing it for Mateo.
“Kat come here” Ezra murmurs, pulling me toward him so
Mateo was also kneeling in front of me. I had never seen this done before but have read about it in history books, it was not to norm when it came to Alpha’s and it certainly wasn’t normal for Mates to strip titles from one another.
Mateo was born
with Beta blood. Ezra marking him gave Mateo his DNA
making Mateo Alpha along with him, I had also read this was quite painful to strip someone of their title and if the other Alpha wasn’t willing it could kill them.
Mathias comes over with a chalice holding it and stands
next to Ezra. Ezra pulls a blade from his pocket before running the blade down his palm and making a fist above
the cup. His blood ran into the chalice. People start whispering amongst themselves and Ezra growls Maddox
coming forward, his eyes turning onyx. Maddox I could feel was annoyed by his deep gravelly voice ringing loudly above them.
“Anyone has a problem, step forward now and speak
against my decision” Maddox challenges them and they all suddenly drop to their knees, his Alpha Aura rolling out
when he grabs my arm holding me upright.
“Don’t bow to me ” Maddox says, his grip forcing me to
remain standing as I feel his Aura rush over me.
I may be his Luna but in hierarchy the Luna was still
overthrown by her Alpha. Mateo seemed completely
unaffected being he was also a male Alpha for now and not a Luna but the effect on me made my stomach turn. Mateo grabs my knee looking up at me apologetically. Maddox
lets the challenge go and I see everyone visibly relax, Mathias standing back up beside Ezra with shaky hands.
“Sorry” Maddox tells him.
“It’s ok Alpha” Mathias says breathlessly. I feel Maddox
retreat, giving Ezra back control and Ezra turns to me.
“Sorry love” he whispers before grabbing my hand and
dragging the blade across my palm before squeezing my hand into a fist above the chalice.
Both Ezra and Mateo hiss and I know it’s because of my
link to them forcing me to heal. Mateo’s bloody hand dripped on his pants as they both healed me.
Mathias hands the cup to Ezra who then tilts Mateo’s chin up to look up at him.
“Pledge and renounce your title” Ezra tells him.
“I Mateo Leo Calder renounce my title of Alpha of Black
Creek Pack and pledge my loyalty as Beta to my Alpha and my Luna, Alpha Ezra Pierce and Luna Katya
Hartley” Mateo says without missing a beat.
Ezra hands him the chalice before running his fingers
through Mateo’s hair, a sad look on his face telling me he didn’t want to do this. Mateo then drinks from the chalice before he hands the cup back to Mathias and Ezra.
“I Alpha Ezra Pierce denounce your title and appoint you
my Beta of the Black Creek Pack” The moment the words left his lips Mateo took in a sharp breath, his entire body trembled and I could feel his agony through the bond making tears spring in my eyes. I went to comfort him
when Ezra grabbed my arm.
“You can’t Kat, he has to endure it” Ezra mindlinks, his
grip moving to my hand and pulling it away from going to touch him. Mateo’s jaw clenches, his claws slipping from
his fingertips and I feel his title become stripped from him.
I notice a few people look away unable to watch his pain
and i t was torture watching my mate suffer when he lets out a breath, sweat dripping onto the sandstone payers as he looks up at us.
Ezra looks away from his gaze and I see him swallow
before clearing his throat.
“Submit! ” Ezra growls at him directing his Alpha voice
onto Mateo. A whimper leaves my lips and Ezra squeezes my fingers reassuringly. Mateo drops closer to the ground on his hands and knees baring his neck to Ezra and Ezra lets out a breath dropping the command. I knew he didn’t
want to do it, I could see how much it upset him when Mateo looked up at me, I stared at him confused when
Ezra turned to me and my stomach dropped at his words.
“Make him submit” Ezra tells me and I take a step back
only for Ezra to gently pull me back.
“It’s ok babe” Mateo whispers looking up at me but I
shake my head. Mateo reaches up gripping my other hand and presses his lips to my fingertips. ” Please ” He says and I look away, my voice breaking as I speak the words.
“Submit” I force out, but don’t let the full command out, not wanting to hurt him.
“Kat!” Ezra tells me, gripping my chin and forcing me to
meet his gaze.
“He wants this, now make him submit” Ezra says clearly
and I feel a tear slip down my cheek which he brushes off with his thumb. I take a shaking
breath and Ezra lets my chin go before I look down at
Mateo. “Submit! ” I tell him my Alpha voice rolling out clearly and I hear everyone gasp as Mateo lets go of my
hand dropping back to his hands and knees and bowing his head to me.
“Hold it” Ezra tells me and I force myself to hold the
command over him until Mateo bares his neck to me. I let out a breath and dropped the command.
“Stand” Ezra tells him and Mateo rises.
“I give you your Beta Mateo Leo Calder” Ezra announces and people clap and bare their necks to Mateo. Ezra grips the back of his neck pressing his forehead to Mateo.
“You’re lucky I love you, because I hated doing that” He
tells Mateo who was breathing heavily and his chest rising and falling with each pained breath. “Thank you” Mateo
whispers back to him when Ezra suddenly presses his lips to Mateo’s. Mateo seems shocked at his public display of
affection in front of the entire pack, but he answers the kiss by kissing him back before pulling away. Mateo tugs me to him, pressing his face into my neck and inhaling my scent.
“I’m sorry I made you do that” Mateo whispers before
pulling back and kissing my tear stained cheeks.
I nod pressing my face against his chest.
Listening to the soft thumping of his heart beat. ” I love you” I whisper to him before looking up at him. “And I love you” He whispers before pressing his lips to mine
softly before pulling back a smile on his lips. “Now we are both fated to the Alpha” He chuckles.