Alpha Ultima

Chapter 13

Once again, we were sitting in the conference room where the meeting with the visiting Alpha's had gone awry. While the tension hadn't softened any, my mates aura of dominating power had. It was now a distant hum through the air instead of it's stifling, bursting energy.

The silence was killing me and I was squirming in my seat uncomfortably.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, mate." Xander says again in a garbled growl.

I nod and try to focus on my breathing. I look at Xander first, his fists are clenched tightly and his jaw is clenched. His eyes are solely on me and while his body shows how uncomfortable he is, his eyes are now soft and the love he has for me shows through. I feel relief when I see that.

"I know, and I truly am sorry for this being thrown at everyone like this." I say, my voice coming out much stronger than I thought it would. "You both know I would never have brought him here if it were not for good reasons. Please, trust me. Listen to what Tyler has to say before you pass judgement."

I look over to Quinn, whose eyes are still trained on Tyler. His jaw clenched tightly and his body completely rigid. Once more, guilt slams heavy into my heart when I see the raw pain in his eyes. He lost his parents in the fight with Viktor and the Lycan's. I really fucked up bringing Tyler here without warning.

I stand from my seat and walk around the table to Quinn, before grabbing his hand. I pull upwards, finally getting his attention. He looks at me, eyes full of questions as I pull his hand once more. I nod towards the door. He gets up and follows me without further question.

"Give us a moment, please." I say to no one in general as I pull him out of the room. I shut the door behind me before wrapping my arms tightly around him. Quinn stands there hesitantly for a single moment, before he hugs me in return.

"I'm so sorry that I've put you in this situation, My Soul." I whisper into his chest. "Please know that I would never intentionally hurt you."

He squeezes me tightly to his chest and drops his face to the crook of my neck, breathing in my scent deeply. We stay like that for a few moments, the tension in his body lifting slightly with every deep breath.

"Listen, Little Wolf. I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose, but I don't know if I can do this. He shot and killed my parents. He showed no remorse. I can't look at him without watching it all replay in my mind. I don't think I'm strong enough." His voice breaks, causing me to hold him tighter.

I run my fingers through his hair, grabbing a small handful before gently pulling his head out from my neck so he can look me in the eye.

"Now you listen to me, Quinn Silver-Thorne. You are the strongest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. You are the Alpha, the King of Wolves, and you also happen to be mated to the most stubborn woman ever. Don't ever doubt your strength. I understand why you feel this way, the anger and pain hasn't just disappeared with time. We will deal with this as we deal with everything that has been thrown our way. Together." I growl as I pull his face down and press my lips to his.

He chuckles and kisses me back quickly before pulling away and placing his forehead on mine.

"I love you, Little Wolf."

"I love you too, My Soul. So much. Now let's get this over with."

***

After Quinn and I rejoined everyone in the conference room, we sat quietly while Tyler retold the events from the past few years. Quinn flinched visibly when Tyler got to the part of what happened during our mating ceremony.

"We need to know where the Elder's come into this. We know that Elder Audrey was a part of how things played out, but we have had no proof of it. Even though we have witnesses to her calling out for it all to begin, the Council deemed it "superficial evidence at best" and our case was thrown out." Xander asked.

Tyler scoffed and shook his head. "I'm not surprised, honestly. It wasn't just Elder Audrey who was in on the plan, my father has a lot of connections in the wolf community. While I wasn't privy to all the information, and I may not have been in my right mind for a lot of it, I still overheard a lot of things I wasn't meant to. If we are to take out my father, the council will need to fall too."

A sudden chill strikes through my heart, and I press my palm to my chest. Something's wrong.

"Where is Sam?" I cut in, my eyes darting back and forth to my suddenly guilty looking mates.

Tyler's mouth slams shut with a click of his teeth and he looks away from us all, while Quinn and Xander look at me awkwardly. This may not have been the most appropriate time to bring this up, but I have a bad feeling.

"He left." Quinn says so softly I almost don't hear him.

"I'm sorry, what? I thought that I just heard you say that he had left." My voice rising to a panic.

"Little Wolf, he left. He ran back here a complete mess. He asked for permission to leave the boundaries. He's just crossed over the boundary line." Quinn clears his throat and lifts a hand, wrapping it around the back of his neck.

"Why didn't you link me?" My voice cracks as my eyes begin to water.

"He asked us not to, love. He'll be back, he's not going rogue. He just needs some time to work through what ever it was that had upset him so badly." Xander said softly.

My eyes snap to Tyler and I watch his emerald orbs once more widen with fear. I feel Lupin come forward, her anger bursting through me like a white light.

"This is all your fault!" I snarl at him. "If you hadn't practically rejected him, Sam would still be here! He's been waiting forever to find his mate and low and behold, he hit the fucking jackpot finding out it was you! I can't lose him, I can't lose my best friend." My voice cracks.

I can feel my body vibrating with rage and Lupin is ready to tear through my skin and force a shift just to rip his head off. Quinn and Xander are out of their seats and at my side in an instant, pulling me back and into Quinn's arms.

"Easy, Little Wolf. As much as I would like to watch you rip the pup's head off, from what he's told us, we need him." Quinn presses a soft kiss to my temple as I try to calm my bubbling anger.

"Wait. You are Sam's mate? I don't understand. How is that even possible, especially right now?" Xander questions.

"That's a really good question. We were just discussing how not a single mated pair has been discovered in months, yet you come back this afternoon with a new bond." Quinn says.

How had I not caught onto that? My eyes are wide as I look between the three men in front of me. Goddess, my mind is a muddled mess today. Between the pregnancy problems, wolves being unable to find their mates, meeting Tyler, finding out about the past few years for him, to him being Sam's mate resulting in my Beta fleeing... it's been a fricken day.

All I want to do is go find Sam, comfort him and go to sleep. I don't know how much more drama I can mentally handle. I'm going to go sit in a corner and give up. Goodbye cruel world, it's been swell.

"Stop being dramatic, My Carter." Lupin snaps, making me sigh.

"I think I have a theory to that." Tyler murmurs softly." While I wasn't aware of there being a mating problem, I couldn't wrap my head around how we meet once more and he's now my mate."

I look over at him in surprise, his hands are folded together tightly and rested on top of the dark wood table. His head has fallen, his black hair unkempt as he stares down at his hands. I'm taken back by how miserable he looks.

"You all now know how my mate bond with Chantal ended, well I think that maybe the Goddess paired me with Sam as my second chance mate."

I shook my head. "But like we said, no one has found their mate in months-"

"Right, but this isn't the first time Sam and I met. My father was the one who kidnapped and turned him. I was there with all of them during their transitions and the march towards your property line that day. I think the Goddess was able to put the bond in place not long after mine with Chantal snapped."

"And then when you saw each other in the woods today, it all fell into place." I whispered.

What does my mother have up her sleeve?