My Arctic Mate

Chapter 15: Weakness

Luca:

Walking in the direction I saw Nicholai's men wander, I knew I would find Orion's guard following them. Christian was right, news about Red was bound to spread quickly and I wanted to be the one to break it to Orion.

Was he going to cause a scene? Most definitely. Hopefully with how hung over he was bound to be, it would help the volume level.

After speaking with the guard, we headed towards the caber toss area. I was not one for theatrics but Orion supposedly had money on one of his guys in this event.

Approaching the large crowd, we heard hollering and cheering. Pushing our way to the front of the event, we had arrived just before the final match.

There were four men that had made it to deciding round of the log toss. One of them was the shorter, stout Alpha Darren who I recognized from the races yesterday. The second was an ash blonde man who looked to be from Alpha Kean's pack. The third I did not know the name of but recognized as Orion's man.

The fourth was none other than Nicholai, who was gloating and showing off his muscles to some of the unmarked she wolves along the sidelines.

I felt a growl deep in my throat, but I was able to hold it in with Red's hand securely in mine, her touch calming my wolf. I squeezed Red's hand for reassurance.

Spotting Orion speaking with his large, burly man, my thoughts were interrupted by a sweet small voice.

"Luca, it's been a while."

Red:

Standing before us beaming up at Luca and I was a petite woman with straight shoulder length light brown hair.

He smiled warmly, "Hello, Poppy."

"Well don't stand on ceremony, give me a hug!" She giggled, wrapping her small arms around his torso.

Embracing her with his hand not holding onto mine, I met his embarrassed smile with a confused expression.

Clearing his throat he stepped from her embrace, "Poppy, I would like to introduce you to my Red."

"Your Red?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

He flushed deep red, I winked at the woman as we both broke into giggles.

"Hello Poppy, I'm his Red." I extended my hand, smiling.

She pushed my hand away hugging me tightly. Pulling back slightly, she eyed me with her large brown eyes. She brought her small hand town to grasp the bare skin of my arm.

"Wait, Luca, is she?" She let her words hang in the air.

Now it was my turn to blush. How did she know already? Was Luca never with another female that my presence was conclusive enough to make people know we were mates?

Luca smiled widely, nodding.

She squealed loudly, "Oh my gosh, does Orion know?"

"We were just looking for him." Luca said.

"He's over there giving Ronnie a pep talk." She pointed in the direction of the contestants.

"You better go warn him, you know he's going to freak when he finds out." She winked at me. "Don't worry, I'll get to know Red a little better, now shoo."

I laughed at Luca's surprised expression, despite being petite, Poppy had fire. I had a feeling we were going to get along well.

"Go on, find us later." I smiled, encouraging him to go.