War For Her Mate

Chapter 14

Cassidy is pulling me back from the man. She steps into my line of sight and breaks my hands away from the mans neck. "Who the hell do you think you are pup?!?!" The man growls out in front of Cassidy. I push past her with my small frame and get into the wolf's burning red face, "You should know very well who I am you dumbass! I am your......" My last word is cut off by Joe bursting through the door and clamping his hand over my mouth. "That is enough Stella! I am so sorry Alex, I couldn't hear the commotion from upstairs." Joe says lamely, using my aunts name in place of my own. Why on earth would he not use my name, I am supposed to be his Luna, his mate. Joe has been proud to announce that to everyone earlier this evening, along with the meeting, why stop now?

I am tossed behind Joe's large frame and Cassidy comes up to stand beside me, I am now completely hidden from view. With a small tilt of her head the guard moves from his post down a set of stairs. My eyes narrow as Joe's arm snakes behind him, locking my hands in one of his in a firm grip so I couldn't move. The man I was choking, now known as Alex, clears his throat before he speaks again, "The she-wolf behind you attacked me! What kind of show are you running here Joseph?" Alex practically shouts into Joe's face, even I as a kid could never get away with that, so I was obviously very surprised when all that happened was his grip on my hands tightened. "The she-wolf just lost her mate, she has been going insane ,since his passing yesterday, with grief." Joe says, shrugging his shoulders as if it's the harmless truth he just told Alex. "She's my sister, sir, she is staying with my mate and I." Cassidy explains, backing up Joe's original story. I can feel Alex's eyes roll with disappointment that he cannot punish me for speaking out, one of the new rules of the 'republic'. "I would get that sister of yours back to her room before she does something unforgivable, Mark's Mate." Alex says, using the phrase 'mark's mate' as her name. Before I could get out another retort about the disrespect in his last phrase alone, I am tugged from Joe's grip into the stairwell, enveloped in total darkness.

I pull her to a stop at the first landing of the two flights of stairs, she turning to me. The look of confusion mixed with anger was all she needed to explain, "You need to stay away from him my lady, he is very dangerous." She says, gripping my shoulders the way a mother would a child. "Pretending to be Joe's mate was to keep me safe! Now I am not supposed to be his mate either! I am threw with pretending to be some high and mighty wolf when there are people out there, suffering, dying, being abused! Those are the people I am supposed to save, that is who I am, but I'm stuck in here hiding." Pausing, I shiver at the memory of pack life before the revolution. The pack together, strong, equal, protected. Women got a say, the Alpha did not have absolute power, he listened to the pack members, because in Uncle Brett's words, there is no Alpha without his pack. "I need to get out of here Cassidy, if I am alone, so be it, but this is not what the Lakin should be doing with her time." My mouth is covered again so nobody could hear us in the empty house but I knew they couldn't. "You will get your chance my lady, but you are no good to this society dead. Stay, you will be given your chance soon enough, I promise you that." I breath out when she removes her hand from my mouth, surrendering.

The sun peaks through the window in the bedroom much sooner than I expected. I roll over and realize that Joe had moved me in my sleep, placing me in the bed and him taking the couch. He even flipped the pillow that my head rested on long ways, the way I had it as a child. I sigh, not ready for the day to begin just yet. I continue to stare at the ceiling above me. What am I going to do with this mess I have made. My mate has left me, my race is suffering from my absence, my wolf is growing weaker and weaker without my mate, how am I supposed to save a race with suck a weak wolf?

I rolled over and shoved my face into the pillow, letting a few tears come from my eyes. I miss him, there is no denying that, but if what Joe said is true, then I shouldn't miss him. When did I start trusting Joe? After last nights meeting with this mysterious Alex character I couldn't trust anyone, I am alone on this one. It doesn't matter that your alone, you need to do this for our people. They need someone, a strong wolf. They need their Lakin. The Lakin whimpers in my head. I need to get a grip, I'm not going to get anything done sitting in bed crying all day. I push up from the bed and jump out of bed, a new daring attitude taking form inside me.