Mateless and Home Bound

Chapter 24: The Dark Side of The Locke's

"Why do we always have to have these conversations?" Reggie asked. He was getting a headache at this point.

"Because," his father said. "You need to find your mate, Reginald. That's the only thing stopping you from being a good candidate for Alpha."

"Max and Charlie aren't going to retire any time soon," he frowned. It seemed like every time he talked to his parents now, it was always this argument. As if he didn't already have enough on his plate, they had to go and bug the crap out of him about this. "Why do I need to rush this?"

"Because you are a true Locke," those purple eyes looked so serious when he said it. There wasn't an ounce of remorse in that tone. "There's no way that we can let someone who's not of the bloodline take lead of the pack. That's not how any pack has worked."

"Eric is a true Locke," Reggie shook his head. "Whether he's of our blood or not. He's raised the same way we all were and is just as strong as me."

"Then you need to be stronger," he said. "You need to bring tradition back to this pack. Not this silly excuse of leadership."

"Max has led us through the golden age of our pack," Reggie argued. "I would hardly call his reign an excuse."

He was the only one who knew the extent of his father's hatred towards Max and Charlie. It wasn't like they had done anything to him. He just hated that everything they did went against the old ways that this pack had functioned. As if that had helped the pack grow at all.

"A Luna should not be a male," his dad shook his head. "That's been the most ridiculous thing for the pack to allow. It's insulting, and you need to be the one to change that."

Reggie really wanted to escape back to the safety of the rest of the house. He hated when his father got this way. Before they thought that he was capable of leading the pack, they had tried to push this on his older brother, Scott. He wasn't exactly the brightest, and had no drive or want to lead. Instead, he became a family man, and has a ton of kids already with his wife.

He wished he could be him at that moment. It would be so much simpler than this dilemma.

"I'm not going to another party," he told his father. He had to keep putting his foot down on the subject. They were already steaming the first time he told them no. Now it seemed like that was all they talked about. They were putting the pressure on, and he wasn't enjoying it one bit.

"Why?"

"Why do you think that my mate's out there in another one of these packs?" Reggie asked. "What if they're close by and I haven't met them yet because I've been gone so long?"

"This is about that human, isn't it?" his father gave him a suspicious look.

"No," he lied. He didn't know if his dad caught onto him and Sage or not, but he didn't want to find out. His father was going to turn into the devil incarnate once he found out. "I just don't want to be away from home any longer. I'm practically a stranger to this pack with all the traveling I've done."

"You know," he completely ignored his last sentence. "I remember a time when there weren't any humans allowed in this pack house. That's another change that I'm not fond of."

"He saved my life, Dad," Reggie stopped him. "Why would I let him out there to get killed if he saved my life?"

He was also his mate.

And this conversation was getting closer to driving him over the edge.

"It seems suspicious that a human shows up, claiming that he's from the forest that we've known for fourteen years, and then heals you."