The Power of a Mate

VIII: Alone

Song: Broken Crown by Mumford & Sons

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell."

― Edna St. Vincent Millay

Jace's POV:

I was alone. Shepard had not spoken to me since I had muttered the words to his mate. She was not our mate. She was his mate. I hated her. She was the reason I did not have a family. I knew it the moment that I had smelled her scent, though my body had been too paralyzed with ecstasy to realize it.

Her name confirmed her murderous and coldblooded ways. I would never be able to love someone like her. Destroying and hurting people was her family's way of life. She knew no other way as I was sure that she had a cruel upbringing. It would be as if I were betraying my own blood if I were to mate with a woman who belonged to the family that had brought my pack so close to extinction.

Shepard had almost caused me to shift involuntarily as he wanted to mate with her. The brokenness of his mate's face had crushed him. He wanted nothing more than to heal her. He wanted her, though I had no remorse for my actions. I valued my family too much, even if they were dead.

I did not let the bond affect me as I refused to become attached. I had sent troops to search for my sister each day, but they had yet to find her. I was angry with Shepard that he preferred his mate over our own sister.

"She's our mate. We will be lost without her. I will die without her," Shepard snarled, inputting his opinion.

"She's your mate, not mine," I answered.

He didn't respond; instead, he blocked me out. Earlier, I had fled from the battle along with my pack when I smelled Mason and his pack nearing. He knew that I would be fighting the Greer colony and he was going to assist them, instead of his own kind.

He was not a purebred, so it would make sense as to why he would betray us. I knew he didn't plan on killing me as it would be foolish for him to expose himself before such a large amount of influential people. I'm sure he had other ideas to kill me quietly.

Images flashed in my head of her lying on the ground, nearing unconsciousness as my wolves ripped her flesh open. I knew she would not heal and just the thought of her dead sent me into a blind agony. It was the bond that still connected to me her.

My pack had a low count of deaths, but many had been injured. I was informed that the reason why the Greer colony had suffered so much was because their leader had been so weak. I caused her to be weak, but I had to tell myself that I didn't care.

"Alpha, there's been a problem," Alex notified me.

Alex fell in stride beside me as we walked back to my office after training the pups.

"Theodore has disappeared."

Those three words had me bounding. I raced towards the barracks which some of my best troops would be training. Alex gripped my arm, yanking me back. I almost had his head for daring to touch me, but he released his grasp and spoke in a rush,

"The pack has decided that since you have... rejected your mate. She, uh, needs a replacement."

Shepard growled so loud that an instant headache started to form. Of course I had known that I would need to have a Luna some day, but it felt so soon. It felt like the moment after a funeral where nothing quite made sense. There wasn't any closure.