Alpha King's Missing Mate (Book 1 Of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 13

Once he was back in his suite, Daniel ordered up room service, then called his father.

"Daniel? Are you back yet?" Caleb asked when he answered.

"No. I have a problem," Daniel responded, rubbing his eyes.

"In New York?" Caleb frowned. Big Apple was one of the few packs they didn't have to worry about. Quinton Ramirez was a good Alpha and never had any problems. Most of their trips to New York City were for business dealings, not pack issues.

Regal Eclipse's job had always been to keep the peace in the werewolf community and uphold the law. They remained impartial, and always handled disputes as fairly as possible. They built good relationships with all of the alphas to build up trust, and most of them were not afraid to ask for advice. They also made sure the packs weren't involved in anything illegal and weren't abusing any of their own.

"I found my mate," Daniel started.

"How is that a problem?" asked Caleb. "And Congrats! It's about time. Your mother is going to be very pleased."

"I lost her," Daniel muttered with a growl.

Caleb was silent for a long moment. "What do you mean? Is she..?"

"No, no," Daniel said quickly. "She pulled a Ragnar. Came back to my hotel, had sex with me, then left while I was sleeping."

More silence followed. "Does she know you're her mate?"

"She's human," Daniel sighed.

"Oh," Caleb muttered.

"Yeah," Daniel sighed again.

"So.." Caleb waited for Daniel to continue.

"I met her at a club last night. She was there with a she-wolf. Chris was with me and he hit it off with the she-wolf and we decided to bring them all back to the hotel suite once the club closed," Daniel explained. "I.. mated with her. And I marked her. I was pretty damn drunk, and I made a stupid mistake."

"You marked her? Does she know you're a werewolf?" Caleb asked.

"No, that didn't come up at all. I was so drunk I still can't remember everything. I'd had a lot to drink before I got to the club," Daniel groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. "She seemed alright with it, but I doubt she has any clue what I did to her. What if she's not okay with all of this?"

"Then you'll have to let her go," Caleb said simply.

Daniel sat down hard on the bed. Having a marked mate out there that he couldn't touch would be a curse to both him and Rafe.

"What's being done to find her?" Caleb asked.

Daniel went over the details. "For now, I am going to stay in New York. Hopefully we can find Talia, and then I can find my mate within a day or so."

"And then what?" Caleb asked quietly.

Daniel groaned, realizing what his father meant. Jenna was human. Though she could feel the mate bond, she wouldn't understand it. She would need to be romanced. She wasn't likely to uproot her entire life and move to another state with a stranger at the snap of a finger. For him to expect such a thing from her was unfair. "I haven't figured that out yet. I'll probably have to stay here for a while."

The mate bond was strong though. He knew it was what had allowed Jenna to give up her virginity in a one night stand with a man she had just met. It was what had allowed her to trust him. While it would make romancing her easy, it still did not help that she was human.

"She has to be protected, Daniel," Caleb reminded him unnecessarily. "Even if you're going to romance her in the city, it's a dangerous situation."

Daniel was quiet for a moment. His father, of all people, would know that. He had lost his first mate in a robbery shortly after meeting her and before they were fully mated. Caleb had come close to walking away from his pack and position as King because of the pain and sorrow he suffered over the next five years. But Caleb didn't have an heir, which made walking away impossible. Fortunately, he'd met Daniel's mother, his second chance mate, and life had become good again.

"Well keep me updated Daniel and good luck," Caleb said. "I'll take care of the day to day back home."

"I can still do my job too. I'll just work from here and travel when I need to," Daniel told him.

"When's your next pack visit?" Caleb asked him.

Daniel was quiet for a moment. "Not for another month, but I do have a business meeting in Seattle next week."

"I can take care of the business meeting. Just send me what I need for it. We won't worry about the pack visit yet. You focus on finding your mate, and romancing her. Don't worry about things here. Between Ragnar, Elijah, Nick and I, we'll be fine," Caleb told him.

Daniel bit his lip, but nodded. "Okay. I'll be in touch." He ended the call and sat his phone down and laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

'Mate will accept us,' Rafe said softly.

'I hope so. If she doesn't, we'll still be bound to her,' Daniel's heart ached at the thought. Being able to feel all of the emotions of a woman he couldn't have would be incredibly difficult to deal with.

'She will accept us,' the wolf said again confidently.

Daniel could only hope Rafe was right. For Jenna not to accept him, them, would mean years of just existing for both he and his wolf. He would always know what she was feeling, know when she was with someone else. If she married someone else...

Rafe suddenly growled. 'Don't go there. For both of our sakes, don't go there.'

'Sorry.'

Jenna had been relaxed, calm and happy for the last few hours, but now he could feel the happiness growing stronger and he smiled to himself. How he longed to be the one making her happy. But then, her emotions did an about face and waves of sadness flowed over Daniel until panic settled in and he could feel himself start to hyperventilate.

'What's happening?' Daniel stood up from the bed, forcing himself to breath, and then realized he could breathe just fine.

'Mate is panicked and upset,' Rafe told him, pacing in his mind with concern.

Fear gripped Daniel, and he went outside onto the balcony. He stood at the railing looking over the city, taking in deep breaths as fear gripped him. How was he supposed to stand by helplessly when something could be happening to her right now? For the first time in his life, Daniel Remington felt completely helpless.

'Mate is okay,' Rafe said, pulling Daniel out of his spiraling thoughts. He calmed himself enough to focus on her. Yes, she was okay, just sad. Very sad. Daniel sighed and headed back into his room.