“Good day everyone.” Hayden said to the gathered crowd.
“I know I’m interrupting your various duties, this meeting will be short. I just want to rectify a mistake I made.” He ran his hands through his hair and sighed.
“I returned from the Full moon pack a while back and told you all of the impending danger to the packs, and the quest that the Alphas were tasked with. But, I wasn’t completely truthful. A part of the prophecy said that the Alphas of every pack had to find their mates, and only together would we be able to complete the quest.”
“Then the quest is over before it even begins. Our Luna is gone.”
“No. Jane is gone, but I was given a second chance mate. I returned with someone, a wolf from the full moon pack. I introduced her as my guest, but she’s more than that. She’s my mate.” Hayden said and shocked gasps came from all corners of the gathering.
“I knew it! No wonder he attacked Derek, not claiming his mate must be driving him crazy.” Mara inwardly squealed.
“I know I should have been truthful from the beginning, but I was still trying to process everything. Yet, it doesn’t excuse my behaviour. Silver is the Luna of this pack and should be treated accordingly.”
Beth scowled as Hayden talked. She had noticed the looks Hayden had been giving Silver, and only assumed like everyone else that she was just warming his bed. But after finding out they were mates, she knew that she stood no chance with Hayden. Even when he was without a mate, he paid her no mind, so it was hopeless now. But of all people, it just had to be that stupid girl that was named after one of a Wolf’s weaknesses. Beth originally just disliked Silver, mostly because she had seen Silver as a rival for Hayden’s attention. But now, that dislike multiplied to become hatred. Silver had stolen her place, her title, she would make sure Silver paid for it one way or another. She would have her revenge.
***
“I know you’re there, Hayden. You suck at sneaking up on someone. I could smell you from a mile away.” Silver said.
She was sitting in front of the lake on the outskirts of the dark moon pack. Hayden stepped out of the shadows and walked closer to her.
“I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you, else I would have stayed downwind so you wouldn’t scent me. I was just contemplating if I should talk to you and risk my eyes being clawed off, or if I should just leave and maybe try to talk to you later.” Hayden said to her.
“What do you want? You might as well just say it and leave so I can enjoy the rest of the evening. Whatever you want to say will annoy me now or later so what’s the difference really? Waiting won’t make it less unpleasant.” She said to him and he sighed.
“May I sit?” He asked.
“It’s your pack, isn’t it? You’ve demonstrated repeatedly that you can do whatever you want and whenever you want it, whether I like it or not. I don’t care if you sit or stand, it’s up to you.” She replied with a shrug.
“I didn’t come here to argue.” Hayden said as he sat beside her on the sand.
“I would have been here earlier than this, but I had a lot of personal issues to deal with. You don’t deserve to be laden with my emotional baggage.”
“Just go straight to the point, Hayden. I don’t have the strength to read between the lines of the speech you prepared to tell me before coming here.”
“I didn’t prepare a speech. I just had a talk with myself.”
“That is supposed to be a sign of mental illness, you know.” She said to him and he chuckled.
“I wish I could blame my behaviour lately on a psychiatric problem, it would make everything easier. But the blame is all mine. I’m sorry, Silver.”
“Sorry for what exactly? Because I’ve got a whole list of atrocities that you committed that need an apology and atonement.”
“I’m sorry for everything. For how I treated you, for not introducing you to the pack as I should have. For avoiding you. I just wanted to stay as far away as possible because it was getting harder to resist my instinct to make you mine.”
“I must be really repulsive to you. It’s okay, I understand. Apology accepted.” Silver said as she stood and used her hand to clean sand from her backside.
“I’ll be gone by morning. I’ll let the others know that our mating didn’t work out so we can all start looking for an alternative way to finish the quest.”
“What? No. You’re getting this all wrong.” Hayden said as he stood and faced her.
“I wasn’t avoiding you because you are repulsive, Silver. It’s the exact opposite. I can’t stop thinking about you, can’t stop wanting you.”
“It all sounds like bullshit to me. If I was so irresistible, you wouldn’t have stayed away.” She said as she turned to walk away.
“Silver, I’m sorry, please don’t leave.” He said as he held her hand.
“There’s nothing left for me in your pack, Hayden. I can’t stay.”
“Please, just listen to me. I just kept thinking that being with you would dishonour Jane’s memory. I know now that I was just being delusional. She would have wanted me to be happy even in her absence. Not appreciating the rare gift of another mate that I’ve been given is what dishonours her memory. I know I messed up, I should have talked to you about it. You lost your first mate too, so you would have understood. I know that now. I cannot change the past, but I can make amends to the present so the future would be better. I’m ready to accept you as my mate, Silver. But, will you truly forgive me, accept me and take me back as your mate?”