On the second floor of Vince's soundproof study was a movable shelf, and behind it was a red thick, very old, and very fragile book left to him by his father.
It's been centuries since imprinting was normal. It was almost unheard of. It was so far gone it was nearly a myth. Wolves picked their mates. It was whoever they felt the most connected with.
He sits behind his desk and carefully opens it's delicate pages and turns until he finds the few paragraphs describing Imprinting. A bond that cannot be broken. He read. A past life mate came back to you. It goes into detail the feeling that occurs and it was exactly how he felt. The weakness in his knees was still there.
His jaw clenched together as he read more. When wolves imprint, they imprint at the same time and their mate becomes the most important thing in their life. They become attached and protective...
He could tell Nya didn't imprint back unless, she was faking it. Maybe she knew and was pretending not to so she could save herself the embarrassment of his rejection. Or maybe it's just the fact that she was only 13% wolf.
He shuts the book. He had read enough. It doesn't matter what's written in it regardless. He was in control of himself. He decided who he wanted, and it wasn't Nya Iris Till in the fourth rank.
No one was to know that he imprinted on that mutt. It means nothing, and will never mean anything. The rank system wasn't a joke to him.
Years ago, wolves were going wild and having sex with humans. Generations and generations until the strength of their kind was nearly gone. It was his father who created the Ranks, the rules, and the Darks enforced it.
The original Alpha died trying to revive the wolves to their former glory and he would be damned if that went in vain. Never would he degrade his future kin by mating with the weak. She can't even control the little wolf she has in her. He grits his teeth and grabs his forehead suddenly. A headache slams in his head. He never had a headache before.
He rolls his eyes. He could still feel the feebleness and now this. He shoves his book into the drawer when Bent enters with a stack of folders in his hand.
"The reports."
His eyes close momentarily as he rubs his temple with the middle finger and thumb of his right hand. "Throw out all the lower rank's." He had no intention of letting any of them into his pristine pack. They belonged with the humans.
Bent was the loyal younger brother but no less powerful or handsome. He sets the files on the desk, takes less than half of the folders, and tosses them in the bin nearby. "Are you okay?"
"Fine."
"What happened out there?"
"I said I'm fine."
He nods. He knew not to ask further. He crosses his arms behind his back and waits for his next order.
"Gather them together in the morning... make the announcement. Their Rank one's and two's can stay, the rest have six days.
"Yes sir."
Both of the brothers shift their heads slightly as the door opens.
Enters Malina.
Vince moved his hand from his throbbing head and nods dismissing Bent.
"Hi..." Malina comes near him with a slight smile.
Immediately he noticed that her scent was different. The smell was increasing the pain in his head.
She comes around his desk and lowers herself sideways on his lap. "Thank you." She presses a kiss on his cheek.
Her touch was different, it felt like sandpaper grinding away his skin. Her weight on him was also a bother, it annoyed him. He had it in him to stand up and drop her on her behind but he didn't. She had rights to him, no one else. She being the strongest she-wolf known to all wolves was the only one fit to be his Luna. "What for?"
"Saving Nya. I know you did it for me." She touches another kiss on his neck.
He swallows. It dawned on him that Nya is the best friend/sister she has been telling him about for years. That is why she was so distraught earlier. He thought she was just concerned about a member of her pack.
Anytime she was with him she worried about her pack and how they were doing without her. She especially worried about her sister. She kisses him again, lower this time. His skin crawled but he didn't show it. He decided who he wanted.
She turns slowly and straddles him. He allowed his fingers to wrap around her hips as her lips came down on his. He kissed her back because like he said, this was his choice. He admitted to himself that it felt different, yes, but his mind was stronger than any imprinting.
She lowers her kisses, glides her teeth on his earlobe, and whispers. "Will you let her stay?"
He rolls his eyes and grabs her shoulder pushing her at a distance to look at her face. "Excuse me?"
She pouts her lips. "Have you made up your mind? I know she didn't do that great, but she is my..."
"No." He cuts her off. "She cannot stay."
Her whole demeanor changed. All the gratitude and teasing went from her gaze. "But..."
"But nothing. There is nothing about her that will be beneficial to our pack. She can't shift, she can't fight, she can't control her wolf, she can't..."
She removes herself from his lap. "She can't, she can't. I'll tell you what, I can't let what happened to her happen again."
Curiously sprang within him but he angrily pushed it aside. "That's not my problem."
"She is important to me... and if I'm important to you, then it is your problem."
His lip twitches. His normally submissive mate's warm eyes turned cold and he didn't like it. His orders were followed not disobeyed and he could see the fight building in her gaze. "You know the pack will always come first. Having someone here whose only job is to be taken care of will hurt the pack members."
"She will be solely my responsibility."
"I should be your priority."
She blows out a breath. "And you will be. But I can't live peacefully if she is out there... I'll worry about her night and day."
He touches his forehead. His headache was getting worse. His eyelids close and he tries to shake it off when he hears.
"You didn't even look at them?"
He opened his eyes and found her near the trash bin to his left. She was holding a folder in her hand and a clear view of disappointment was her expression. If he wasn't mistaken her eyes were beginning to gloss.
"You weren't even really considering any of them were you? You were just telling me what I wanted to hear, but in the end, you planned to reject them all."
He adjusts his position trying not to grab his head again. "Yes." He agrees. "They are all burdens, weaklings, and flaws."
She shakes her head and tosses the folder back in the garbage. "They are all loyal to me. They are my family. What am I supposed to do, throw them all aside?"
"They need to figure it out themselves. They don't belong here."
Tears leak down her cheeks and she wipes them away. Right now, he was the mountain, and she was the little airplane, and if she didn't move, then burst into flames she would. She had to move. To an extent, she wasn't shocked that he wouldn't budge. He never did. "Fine. I love you." She lets out a defeated breath and sniffles. "And I'll let them all go. I'll figure something out for all of them... except her. Just let Nya stay. Just one."
"Absolutely not." He won't let any of them stay, especially her.
"What if this was you and Bent, how would you feel?"
He chuckles. "My brother can handle himself without me, and I would be sane knowing that. If you loved your sister then you would do her a favor and stop coddling her. She can't survive in this brutal world if she can't figure it out on her own. She will be stronger and wiser for it."
"You don't understand..."
"She will figure it out."
She swallows. "If you can't compromise for the sake of my happiness then..." she pauses.
He could see her rethinking her next words because she knew they were final with him.
"Then I have no choice. If she goes, I go."
With his weak muscles and slamming head, his blood was boiling, and now her tantrum. He had enough. No one was going to change the way things were and he was going to make no exceptions. "If that's your decision then you have six days." He meets her gaze seriously. "Like the rest of them."
She nods, accepting his ruthless decision, and runs off.
~~~~~~~~
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