Quinn
Eventually, the silence was broken by Albus. He still looked stunned though. I glanced at Fredo and I was just a breath away from laughing and if not that I had to keep my prestige as a leader, I would have cracked open with laughter at the expression on his face.
He looked stunned of them all, blinking repeatedly at me as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Hadn’t he always loved acting as if he knew everything about me? I bet he wasn’t expecting that.
“Isn’t she your sister?” Albus asked.
“My step-sister. We aren’t biological.” I said in my defense.
“Is that what you say to yourself to make yourself feel better?” Fredo asked. “Is that what you said to yourself when you set out to seduce the poor girl? Is this why you’ve been single for long and wouldn’t want to date anyone in the pack? Wouldn’t you have dated someone else if your father hadn’t married that human female? Didn’t you see anyone else to mate with except that frail human girl?” He sighed. “This is ridiculous.”
I scowled. He sounded like he was scolding me and I wasn’t going to sit here and take that insult from him. “Watch that tone with me, Fredo.” I growled at him.
He looked shocked at how I had spoken to him. He seemed like he wanted to say something else and swallowed, obviously reminding himself that I was the alpha now and not the little boy that he had watched grow up or the friend of the son that he despised. Good. I nodded to myself.
It was good that he had realized that he was crossing his boundaries even if he was an elder of the pack. He had to know his limits. I wasn’t going to sit here and listen to him all day talk shit about me or the woman I had decided to get mated to.
Albus sighed. “Why did you mate with your sister? It’s absurd if you ask me, your lordship.”
I nodded. I knew that was what he would say which was why I wasn’t asking him. “Technically, in my defense, I had known and liked Mia since I was in high school. I didn’t know that she was going to be my sister and it was pure luck that she was. We already had history and that wasn’t one we could throw away.”
“But she is a human.” Binoo cried.
“She isn’t anymore.” I informed them. “I bit and turned her.”
Fredo snorted. “As if she can be as strong as the other female wolf. I bet that the weakest female wolf in the pack can put her back to the ground.”
Enough with the disdain, will you Fredo? I gave him a sick look that showed him how angry I was with him but I didn’t think that he cared. He saw it and averted his eyes, ignoring the looks I gave him, just as he ignored everything about me. One of these days, I was going to make him pay for his rudeness. I didn’t care that he was an elder of the pack and older than I was by decades, he was going to have to face the consequences of always taunting the leadership authority. I had had enough of him thinking that I was a powerless leader who was still trying to hang on to the ropes of the new position he had just found.
“I could bet it with you that would not be the case. She is not as frail as you think she is. Do you think I would have mated a weak woman knowing the position that I might have to hold in the pack one day?”
Albus sighed as he stroked his chin. “I don’t think so which is why I’m surprised that you did what you did. You know how important the Luna is to a pack and how powerful she has to be. I don’t think getting mated to a human – um – someone who wasn’t born as a wolf was the right choice to make.”
I sighed. I was tired of their objections. They were all going about on how much important the presence and role of a Luna was to the pack. Dad had lost mum who was the Luna of the pack a long time ago and it took ages for him to remarry. When he did, he had a human wife he couldn’t even confess his secret to much more make the new Luna of the pack and no one had crucified him for that. The pack hadn’t had any Luna in years and it was doing fine.
I didn’t understand why they were acting as if Mia’s mortal heritage as a former human was going to have an adverse effect on the pack. Why did I have to listen to their whines this late in the evening when I could use my time for something better?
Of course, I couldn’t say that to them. I wished I could remind them of the fact that we didn’t have a Luna for years and we were fine. I wished I could tell them to stop being dramatic about the issue of having a Luna but I couldn’t. I would be throwing her under the bus if I did. They would hate her and would never accept her, and I didn’t want that for her.
Albus sighed. “Does your father know about this? That you are mated to his step-daughter?”
I nodded. “He does. He knows in fact that the three of us are mated to her.”
“What?” All the elders asked at the same time, their eyes widened. Some of them blinked in disbelief while the others stared in shock without blinking.
“Is this meant to be a prank, Quinn?” Kehlan asked, his voice shaking as he spoke.
I smiled. He seemed to be too much in shock that he had forgotten to address me by his title. I didn’t hold that against him as I knew that he didn’t do it on purpose unlike Fredo who would look for any opportunity to disrespect me. That had been due to his shock and I had been the one to cause that. I could forgive him for that.
I shook my head. “No, it’s not a prank. I guess you would have to have a conversation with dad for you to understand. He is in a better way to explain the prophecy to you and why the three of us have to mate with the same person. The only thing that dad can’t explain to you is why Mia was the one we chose to mate with as he was surprised as well when he heard of our mating with her.”
“This is shocking.” Binoo sighed. “It’s a day full of many shocks and disbelief.”
I nodded at his words. I couldn’t have agreed more with what he had said. It was indeed a shocking day. I didn’t think that there would ever come a day that the elders would come into my bedroom asking me to pick a bride from the pack like an ancient local prince.
I couldn’t believe that they were trying to matchmake me with any female wolf in the pack as if I couldn’t go out there to woo a lady of my choice by myself. If only they knew of the life that I had lived before becoming the alpha where I had different girls falling all over themselves trying to get my attention, they wouldn’t have suggested that.
Jack would laugh his ass out at me if he heard what they had tried to do. I chuckled, determined that I was never going to let him hear of what happened in this bedroom.
I was going to have Fredo insult me before I let Jack in on this and willingly allowing Fredo to insult me was something that was never going to happen.