Unmarked Mates

Chapter 40: "The course of true love never did run smooth" Part 1

Terry POV

I lie in bed with Pearl curled beside me with her head on my lap. She still has a fever, but all the medicines Alyssa gave her, and Fiona's presence seemed to finally give her so-needed peace and rest.

Fiona also left to get some sleep; Ivory is with Danny and Trist in the next room, also resting and sleeping. Unfortunately, I fucked up so badly today I didn't manage to keep them safe.

Sitting in a chair in front of my bed, Alexa doesn't stop watching me. I almost feel like she is preparing herself to hunt me down.

"You are not angry?" I ask." After the milk was spilled, Julius refused to have any interactions with me. If Danny weren't in the picture, he wouldn't say a single word to me." I say, and she smirks.

"To tell the truth, when you kicked out Brandon and his friends from your bar years ago, I got the feeling that something was wrong. You handled the situation too well. It couldn't be just luck. Since then, I was sure your past wasn't peaceful, but I would never imagine you were Terry Nightingale."

"I miss you; I miss talking with you," I say; that's honestly how I feel.

She once again stares at me in silence before asking:

"How does it feel to hate so much that you want to risk your own and your children's lives so that you could kill us?"

"Are you asking about the purpose? Hunters kill because of hate, money, and vengeance. Just like packs, when one pack attacks another, it's also because of hate, money, or vengeance. Violence is present in many packs, but when high-ranking wolves abuse the low-ranking, and Alpha allows it, there is no problem. When Anthony was abusing Mae, according to your law was no problem. I killed many who were innocent but also many who should've suffered more before dying." I say, "Why do you want to be Alpha, Alexa?"

"Because I love this place, and I want to keep it safe, and I can do it. But not because of the birthright but because I would be chosen. I would gain trust, not have it for granted." She says, and her eyes shift for a moment.

"And do you have a birthright?" I wonder why she's said that.

"You are not a pack member so I can tell you. I have a birthright because my biological father was Anthony Howl. Don't give me that look; my mother had been very in love with him before discovering what he had been doing to Mae. But when Mae made sure that she would have no babies, he found himself in need of an heir. And he went to my mother and used his Alpha Command, and she couldn't say no to him. So, of course, he planned to take the baby away from her. So you understand why she helped your father to kill him. Later my mother, still pregnant, married my father, and he loved her despite knowing I wasn't his. But when Thomas and Natasha mated, knowing they would have no children, Thomas claimed me officially into his bloodline and didn't say a thing to anybody but my mother and Natasha. My sperm donor figures as such only in the Werewolf Council archives."

"So your claim is much stronger than Brandon's or Gamma's. Why didn't you use it? What was all that trial period for?" I ask, and her sight gets cold.

"I don't want anything from Anthony Howl, I want this pack, but I refuse to accept it from him. I will be an Alpha because I earned it, not because as an inheritance after him."

I smirk, and she does the same; Pearl whimpers in her sleep, and I pull her closer to me.

"That is just her first heat," Alexa says. "I know you care about both of them deeply, but you must understand, Terry, that if you want them safe, you must find them the pack. That's the only way for them to be safe."

Her words stab me sharp in my chest because I know she is right. The Jewels need security, and staying with me will never be as safe as living in the pack, no matter how hard I try.