“So pretty mate of Alpha Knight, where are you from?” Shem asked as he stared at her with flirting eyes.
“We already talked about that before you came. If you missed it, you’ve missed it,” Vanessa replied.
“What am I going to do with you?” Shem sighed.
“Enough of the conversations. Let’s just focus on our meals first. We have enough time to talk,” Dolly ordered and they all fell silent. Somehow, Olive guessed that Dolly had a few years between her and their step siblings. But Wayne had said he lost both his parents when he was ten. How then did he get step siblings who he was quite older than?
After breakfast was over, which fortunately was just them to the end, Dolly and Vanessa took Olive to the garden which was behind the castle. They laid on the grass and were making flower crowns. It was a bright, cloudless day and the air was nice. Olive decided to start asking her questions already.
“Gia…she’s the army commander, right?”
“Chief Female Army Commander. And how do you know her?” Dolly asked.
“We ran into her yesterday. Wayne and I.”
Vanessa was lying on her back, with her legs resting upwards against the stem of a small tree. A flower crown was almost ready in her arms.
“That lady…I hate her too,” she chimed in.
“You hate everybody, Vanessa,” Olive laughed as she remembered how Vanessa would list the names of people she hated back in Selcece Pack. The list contained almost everybody Olive knew.
“Gia is totally unlikeable though. Too proud and looks down on everybody like we’re just not good enough. I pity this pack if she was an Alpha female,” Dolly stated.
“Is she…close to the Alpha? I mean she and Wayne. They’re close right?”
Vanessa sat up abruptly and whisked her head at Olive.
“Close? Not even a little bit,” she answered and pinned her thumb and index finger together to represent the ‘not even a little bit’ she had said.
“What makes you think they’re close? Wayne despises her. And she’s always trying to counteract what he says. But to me, she’s just an attention seeker. She wants Wayne to acknowledge her as high and mighty,” Vanessa scoffed and laid back on the lawn again.
“Wow…but hasn’t it occurred to you that they might be having a secret relationship?” Olive asked. The two sisters gawked at her, like she had said something terrible. Then they burst into laughter.
“Gia and Wayne? No way!” Dolly laughed out. Olive was lost for words. The sisters seemed to be honestly serious about what they were saying.
When they finished laughing, Olive decided to ask the second question but Vanessa laid on her stomach and probbed her elbows up to support her.
“But thinking about it right now. I think Gia must have a crush on the Alpha and she has been covering it up with that attitude of hers.”
“Hmm. I don’t think so Vanessa. I would have noticed something amiss. Though, yesterday night that she was in the Circular Cabinet with us, she was a little flirty with him before she left,” Dolly asserted.
Olive’s eyes flung open.
“She was with you guys last night? Was it after Wayne left the room?”
“Yeah. He had said you slept off after dinner,” Dolly replied.
“Oh. Yeah. Uhm…did Wayne have a first mate? We used to hear rumours that the Big Bad Alpha once had a mate,” she shrugged, pretending to just be asking for no reason.
“Of course not! You’re his first mate,” Dolly answered firmly.
Olive almost angrily bit her tongue at the realization that Gia played her. She truly was Wayne’s mate. A feeling of rage grew in her chest for making her doubt Wayne again.
Later in the day, Olive felt like taking a nap so she returned to the Alpha’s quarters after spending a few hours with his sisters in the garden. She plopped on the bed, still wearing her dress. The room was sparkling clean more than before, and she guessed the servants must have come to clean up. She spread her arms straight on the bed, making her look like a T from above. The bed was so soft and welcoming. But she wanted one thing above the king-sized bed, and the luxurious room. She wanted the owner of it. She wanted Wayne, to hold him again and feed him.
“How can I miss you so badly when I’ve hardly even spent four days with you?” she murmured with her head buried inside a soft pillow.
\*\*
Alpha Knight’s face was in a frown as they drove fast down the road that led to the airport. They had to take a plane to quicken their journey. He was sitting at the back seat with Jake, his palm covering his eyes. He didn’t want to go on that journey anymore. He wanted to turn back, to his castle and to his mate. The farther they drove away, the greater the tug and urge to turn the car around. If he was feeling this way while they were still in Aspen City and Balendin Pack, then how much more would he feel when they fly out?
He was restless and kept shifting uncomfortably on the seat. His eyes were closed, but as he kept seeing Olive, he opened them and looked at the road through the window.
“You okay, Alpha?” Jake’s voice broke through the silence in the car.
Wayne looked at his Beta’s worried face. ‘Do you think I’m doing the right thing? Running off to find Lord Lina?’ he asked through their mind link. Jake sighed and placed his hand on his jaw in thought. He knew this mission was very important. But he did feel like they were rushing it. They didn’t even know what was going on in that temple. They would have just spied on it first, to know what Lord Lina was up to. She was a dangerous and tactical woman. And even though Wayne was powerful, they still needed a plan.
‘I think going on this mission with us is not necessary at the moment. We should just spy on them for now. Lord Lina might already know that we would trace her there and be waiting for us,’ Jake responded. Wayne sighed. They had already discussed all these in the meeting early this morning and he had insisted that he goes along with them to see things for himself too.
But now that he was missing his mate, he wished he had stayed back. However, he still didn’t want to compromise. He was the Alpha, and his responsibility to his pack came first his personal desires.
‘Let’s go on with the journey. We’ve began already. We can’t go back,’ he said firmly and sat up with determination to go and get things done appropriately.