Kaiden Raij stood 6’4″ tall. His ebony pupils scanned his surroundings, as the members of the small rogue pack arrived, a few at a time, at their agreed-upon venue in another spot in the forest, a hundred miles away from the Silvercrest Packhouse properties.
The wind blew through his jet black, longish hair, and his almost naked body allowed his “pack” to see his still muscular and fit physique, remnants of his warrior days at Silvercrest. This included the four deep and thick scars that crossed his chest.
Much thinner now, due to a rogue lifestyle, he had still vowed to stay strong, agile, and flexible, waiting for the day he could get “his” mate back. Such mate, in his mind, was Diwa Denar, the girl he had been obsessed with for about twelve years… And counting.
Kaiden was sure that Diwa was his mate since he was a teenager. So convinced he was, that, when he came of age, and a sweet, small and thin girl, Claire, came at him and said the word, “Mate,” he immediately blurted out the rejection words, severing the bond with her.
I, Kaiden Raij of the Silvercrest Pack, reject you, Claire Collins of Silvercrest, as my mate! He felt the physical pain that this action caused, but it didn’t matter to him. Nor did he care that said girl disappeared from the pack, along with her family, never to be heard of again.
The moon Goddess made a mistake, he thought, every time the memory came back to his mind.
For him, there was, and always would be, only Diwa… the baby sister of the Silvercrest’s
Gamma.
“My friends! Brothers, sisters! We’re meeting today because our goal is close. The day in which
I’ll finally acquire the only Luna meant for our small Pack! My legitimate mate has arrived at the Silvercrest Packhouse, and we’re almost ready for the day when we take her back! ” The crowd of around two hundred rogues cheered eagerly and lustily!
“Their fake Beta, who stole the position meant for me, has now decided to take my mate as well! And not satisfied with that, he’s showing her off as a trophy in front of my face in their Packhouse. She has accepted this, blinded, because he has my position! But now, I’m ready to claim both the Beta rank and my mate, and when that day comes, I’ll win a place for you all, as part of the Pack!
The small crowd yelled affirmatively once more. None gave any attention to Kaiden’s friend and collaborator, Brenner, who was standing a few steps behind, slightly moving his head side to side in disapproval.
What the hell, bro? Can you even hear what you’re saying?
But it seemed that the thwarted obsessed admirer of Diwa Denar will never give his Second a chance to change his mind. He continued his speech with fervor…
“Now that her brother has left the Packhouse, and her mate is in the hospital, we’re ready to attack. Start preparations! Their next bonfire celebration, during this coming New Year, will be the last day Aaron Keizer sees the light of that fire!”
Behind Bren’s back, his mobile was currently on a call… and the call’s listener was hearing everything…
Every. Damned. Thing.
+++
“We’ll need to keep the rounds double until after our New Year celebration, just to make sure that any attack is contained. At the very least, we should get an early alert if something does happen,” the Alpha said scanning the latest reports on his laptop.
“Yes, I agree,” replied Aaron as he half-sat on V’s table while looking at the compact computer’s screen.
“The weird thing is that, right after M left, we didn’t find those odd, nest-like set-ups in any of the usual areas anymore.”
“Do you think it could be related to him in any way?”
“Well, we still don’t know why he really left.”
“How are things with Diwa, by the way?”
The Beta made a face before answering. “Since Siel is still here with us, she’s been a lot more at ease. This could be just me, but I don’t think she wants to stay much longer.”
“I see. It would be better, though, if we can keep her here. At least until we have to go back to our offices at the Silvercrest building.”
“And why is that?” A asked, one eyebrow immediately rising.
“Oh, because that way she’ll still be here when her brother comes back… After all, his suspension is just until the end of the week so he can be here for our Celebrations,” Vince explained, half-convincingly.
Aaron chuckled first before speaking. “Really? I thought you wanted Diwa to stay because you don’t want your mate to get bored here. Isn’t that right?”
“How could you think that, bro? Am I that selfish? That actually hurt, A.” V joked, trying to get away with his own Academy Award-winning performances.
“Well, it would be a lie if I tell you that I believe you,” the Beta stated, between laughs.
“What?! I can’t believe you said that! Okay, to prove my good intentions, and since our mates might really be bored, why don’t we take them to the pack’s private dance club? It’s not that far from here, and it’s a really great place to hang out. Let’s say… tonight? There’s a special party going on. An end-of-the-year rehearsal… drill… or something like that…”
“At The Silver Floor? That sounds good, I think Di will like it too.”
“Well, we’re done here, so why don’t we go look for them and ask them.” It took them about 15 minutes to find both their unmarked mates.
“Bored, huh?” Aaron said with a slight chuckle.
“Very much, indeed,” V sarcastically drawled.
They were now viewing Di, Siel, and her kids immensely enjoying themselves at the pool, which was about half the size of its Olympic version. Lena and the babies were there too, and all were laughing and splashing the water in random directions.