I Can't Be The Alpha's Mate

Chapter 16- The Need

-Rafe-

I had sat through many meetings where my Beta and the rest of the council I had formed tried to tell me I needed a Luna for the pack. It had been a little over three weeks since Katarina had left, and I felt an emptiness inside. I had tried explaining to them multiple times that I had a Luna, but she just wasn't here at the moment.

They wouldn't take that for an answer though, stating that if I didn't have a full Luna by my side soon, that everything would start falling apart. I had felt it slightly, and so had they. It wasn't enough to start affecting us yet, but it was enough to make me not exactly one hundred percent.

Apparently they had decided that it was enough, because when I woke up the next morning, two weeks after what was supposed to be the Luna ceremony, Aphrodite was in my room and laying next to me on my bed.

"What the hell, Aphrodite, get out of here."

"But you need my help, dear Alpha." The words reminded me of Katarina's letter. Her final words to me that she hadn't been able to say to my face. Her parting words with all the pain I had caused for her.

"I don't need any help from you," I snarled. "You've already done pleanty."

"That's where you are wrong. Apparently I haven't done enough otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion right now. You need me."

"I don't need anything from you."

"Yes you do, and you can feel it. That sluggishness you're feeling. The lack of motivation to do anything. You have a battle you're supposed to be preparing for and you don't even want to leave your room. You don't have the strength to do any of it."

"That's none of your business," I growled at her. Truth be told, only a part of those were because of the lack of a Luna. It wouldn't be affecting me this hard this quickly. My problem was that my mate had left and I was the cause.

"Oh but it is, dear Alpha. Because if you start losing yourself, we aren't far behind. You have many enemies out there. If they hear that you've weakened, do you really think they will just sit by and do nothing about it? They will come right in here for you and for us."

"That isn't going to happen."

"You're right, it won't...now that I'm here." Aphrodite's hand gripped my arm tightly before sliding toward my chest.

I grabbed her hand with mine, stopping it's movement. "You will get your hand off me now," I demanded her.

Ahrodite's hand moved away so fast I would have thought it was never even there.

"Now apparently you didn't hear me the first time," I said through gritted teeth. "I don't need your help." I stood up and walked to the door in just my pajama pants.

"Now get out."

Aphrodite raised up off the bed lazily and walked toward me. When she reached the door her hand trailed down my chest to the waist of my pants.

"Get your hand off."

Aphrodite scowled as she moved her hand away. "She has completely corrupted you," she hissed. "You'd rather sentence this pack to death than take up another Luna just because of her."

"This pack will be fine. I can handle anything that comes our way. Katarina is the rightful Luna and that's who will be standing beside me. You could never be half the Luna she will be."

Aphrodites jaw dropped and her face turned red as she quickly ducked out of the room.

"And if you ever pull this again, you will be gone." I shouted down the hall after her.

I was fed up with trying to keep her away. If I had to, she would no longer be a part of this pack. I needed to make sure she didn't have a reason to come back again. I needed to find Katarina.

Ty had said the patrol had found her scent but that they had lost it. I wasn't going to accept that. She couldn't have been too far away. I slipped on jeans, a t-shirt, jacket, and socks and shoes before sending Ty a message that I was leaving for a while.

I went outside and followed where he had said her trail led them. When I came to the area where it had ended. I closed my eyes and tried to feel for her, tried to sense where she would go. I got nothing at first. I was met by a wall of mixed scents in no man's land, but nothing resembled the intoxicating scent of Katarina.

I needed to find her, she was the only one who could fill in the void. I tried harder reaching out with all the strength I could pull together. I had to try for her, for us. I finally caught a faint feeling, it wasn't much but it was all I had so far.

I followed it, taking me deeper into the woods. It was like I could feel the path that she had taken, like I could see her slowly making her way through the woods in the dark.

I followed my senses as they took me further away from my pack, and hopefully closer to Katarina. I had no idea how long she had traveled, or how far, I just hoped she hadn't given herself to a new pack.

I started yelling at myself. Why hadn't I acted sooner when she had offered to become a member of my pack? As if that were the only thing I had done wrong. I still remembered the meeting where she had wanted to know what was going on. Where I had told her she wasn't allowed to know because she wasn't one of us.

I felt a stab of regret for every small and yet, significantly large thing I had done. I had wanted to keep her safe and away from the dangers that our council faced every day. I wanted to keep her close, but in the end I had only succeeded in pushing her away. So far away until she had eventually decided to leave me.

I couldn't let her do this though. I needed her back. She had to feel the same about me, this couldn't just be one sided. I needed my Luna to stand beside me, to help balance me.

I needed her to help me.

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Sorry this is still so short, but I'm really going to be trying to make them longer. But I just needed to end it here for this chapter.

What do you think about Rafe now? I know some of you have started to feel bad for him/forgive him. But some of you have remained distasteful. What do you think after this chappie?

Vote, Comment, and Fan! <3