At Wind Winders Pack.
“Dad, what is this? What was Zoe doing in my room so early in the morning?” Curtis questioned, a second after he rushed into the dining room where his parents were having breakfast.
He had slept in obviously, but he didn’t care. Yesterday’s training had been rigorous after all. He darted his eyes between his mother and father; his mother’s widened eyes told him that she had no idea what he was talking about; quite expected since this turn of event hadn’t been part of their plans. Hence, he trained his eyes on his father; the old man just continued eating his breakfast like he hadn’t spoken.
Curtis thought of repeating himself, but thought better of it. He walked up to his father, and took away his plate of food; an act that he wouldn’t have been able to try before; an act that might have spelt his death; but considering his father’s few options of allies, he knew that he had a chance to live. And so, when his father glared at him heatedly, he didn’t quake in his floppy slippers.
“She is the one I have chosen to be your mate. I don’t like that Claire. She can’t be trusted.”
There was a pin drop silence in the room, only destroyed when Zoe walked into the room, tentatively.
Curtis gave her a sharp glare, and for someone who always carried herself with insane pride, she shrunk into herself.
“Get out!”
She darted her eyes to Arnold. The male was silent, so she took a bow before the family, before strolling out, lifting her chin high as if on a second thought.
“Dad! What the hell! Zoe? Leo’s ex-girlfriend with no shame and dignity?”
Jan’s mouth was upped in disgust; she didn’t like the female either. “What is the meaning of this, Arnold? You want to choose a mate for my son, when he has already found his true mate? You don’t want him to experience happiness? Are you so engrossed in whatever stupid scheme that you don’t want him to experience a good thing at least?”
Arnold tried to hold his mate’s hand, but she backed away from him and stood, her breakfast obviously forgotten. “And you hadn’t even thought it wise to tell me? Arnold, I thought we are past this?!”
Arnold was on his feet now, about to plead, already pleading with his eyes, not wanting to lose the intimacy he had enjoyed with his wife these few days. “I’m sorry, Jan. I just don’t trust her.”
“And that’s why you sent Zoe to my son, an hour after Claire left?”
Arnold only sighed, and looked at Curtis who was still glaring at him. Checking out the latter’s features, he wondered if he was telling the truth about Claire being his mate; for his son hadn’t seen Claire off to the pack gates, rather he had slept in. Why would he do that if she was his true mate?
It only informed him that the lady wasn’t his son’s mate, or that there was trouble in paradise. Whichever option wasn’t good for him, wasn’t good for them now. But he kept quiet, and rather plopped down to his seat. He was still hungry; his time with his mate this morning had zapped a lot of energy from him. He needed the refuel.
“Zoe is a better option. I doubt Curtis likes Claire truly. I have been watching them. Mates or not, it wouldn’t work out. So, Zoe is here to stay. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with that immediately. I’m sorry, Jan, but this is for the best.”
Jan, annoyed that her annoyance hadn’t fazed Arnold, hissed, and walked out of the dining room, whilst Curis stayed behind, wondering why his life kept retrogressing and digressing. Mate with Zoe? Of all people? Was there no other female in the pack?
But even as he thought about this, he knew why his father had chosen the brat; she was easily the strongest female in the pack. And even though he wasn’t on good terms with Claire, he couldn’t think of Zoe on his bed. No, he would rather wait for himself to come around Claire, after all she was his mate.
He had tried. These past few days she had spent with them, he had tried to at least be on cordial terms with her, to forgive her for her act of foolishness, but anytime she tried to deviate from the normal civility that had been agreed between them, he found himself right at that spot, that dark spot behind the hall where she had denied him his lot, where she had rejected him. And he would back away.
And even though the hurt that sliced into her eyes discomfited him, it still wasn’t enough to make him pull her into his arms, kiss her, and tell her that they were okay now; words he was sure she wanted to hear.
He sighed. He would wait, because he could now breathe in her presence, and even smile if he attempted. But Zoe…
No, he couldn’t even imagine it.
What he saw when he looked at her, was the missing Leo, what he saw was her desperation for a male that wasn’t her mate.
His father thought Claire untrustworthy? Then Zoe was worse. A female that wouldn’t wait for her mate, that would try to coerce another male to take her, was worse.
He looked at his father who had resumed breakfast after his mother had left the room, and sighed. His old man was really bent on spoiling the plans of he and his mother, howbeit unintentionally. “I am not marrying Zoe, father, and that is final…”
His father didn’t let him finish, before raising his head and glaring at him. “You cannot go against my words, Curtis. Follow the way of your mother. I’m sure she is waiting for you in the kitchen.”
“I thought we agreed to work together, to win this battle. So, what are you doing, father?” Curtis pressed on, however.
There was a pinch of silence, where Curtis thought that his father wouldn’t respond.
“I am doing what is best for the family. Zoe would be the luna of this pack.”
Curtis chuckled mirthlessly. “If you want her as a luna, you can marry her yourself. I’m sure you still have age on your side.”
He walked out of the room without waiting for a response, but he still heard it, or rather felt it, if the painful landing of the mug on his back was any indication.