Pack and Pride

Chapter 9 Ira

Mate. My mate. The male I am destined to be with for all eternity. The one who is supposed to love me and cherish me, rule by my side, and sire my cubs.

And it's a wolf.

I'm sure whatever god that created mates in the first place is having a royal jest at this. Bile coats the back of my throat as I look at him, a wolf. My enemy. I glare daggers at him as he stares at me in shock. It had taken all my will power not to lunge across the table and strangle him the moment the word slipped from his lips. I wanted to. So badly did I want to choke the life out of him for what his pack did to my family. My pride. The grief and suffering. What I had to do because of his pack. A snarl manifests on my lips.

The alpha approaches me in some sort of disgusted awe. My hackles raise, an instinct I cannot suppress. My second moves to stand before me, to protect his pride leader but I fling my finger out and send him away. Just me and the wolf. He stands before me, the enticing scent wrapping around me, trying to draw me in and make me trust this male. I refuse to soften the gaze I pierce the wolf with. We stand there for a minute that could be an hour or an eternity. I look at this man and see nothing but hatred for me on his face, I'm sure a mirror of my own.

"Mate," Argra growls lowly. I do not so much as blink at the word, though my heart gives a pang at it. Deep down, that bond exists within me, something I cannot deny no matter how much I wish to. And even though I have that bond, even though I should love this male, I cannot help but hiss at him.

"No." The bond shudders and sends pain to me for hurting my mate like that — or trying to hurt him.

"Mate," he says again, tipping his head to the side. "You will come to my pack and be their Luna." So calmly, Argra says these words. As if he is resigned to the fact that a god has placed us together. But I refuse to accept that. I will fight it, fight for the freedom to choose my path. The gods have dealt me a shit hand this round and I will not play with their cards.

"I will never be your Luna. I will never leave my pride. I will not bear your cubs. I will not go with you and become a weak little female used only for breeding like you do in your pack. I am Ira, daughter of Madreina of the pride MidnightDeath, pride leader to the ShadowClaw. I needed no male to lead for me before and I do not need one now, even if you are my mate," I spit the last from my mouth coldly. Argra does not flinch at my words or what I have thrown in his face, his eyes darken as rage boils to the surface of his face.

"You have a capable second to take your place as leader. A male second at that, strong enough to lead where you could not. You will come to my pack. You will bear my pups and continue my line. It is fated to be this way," the wolf grunts at me. I can feel the leash I keep on my temper tugging at my throat. He has a lot of nerve making demands of me as if he is my leader.

"And if I don't?" I purr softly, dangerously. I feel the beta of Argra's pack shift his stance ever so slightly while my own second — Yevan — mimic the gesture.

"You will come with me, female." Argra spits the last word at me with such belittlement that every rational thought is silenced. Prick. Prick! Every feeling of unity we had in the room in standing up to the cobra is gone and all I can see is my mother. How she held all men and women to the same standard. How my father raised me to know not gender but spirit. This wolf who deemed me less simple because I am female.

I snap.

I lunge for the arrogant, snide, wolf fast as lightning. My hands outstretched to claw him, to hurt him. Even if every instinct is telling me to love my mate, I crave blood. My morals crave blood.

My hands slam into the beta, growling lowly at the attack on his alpha. I see the smirk of Argra over the shoulder of his second. The beta clasps my hands together, keeping me from clawing at him. But he's forgotten something. I don't think, I just move. My boot trips the beta from behind; as he falls he drops my hands and I leap over him and tackle Argra. The smirk immediately leaves Argra's face as his back hits the grass with a resounding thud. The wolf tries to throw me off, to reverse the position we are in, but I manage to hold him in a pin.

He stares into my eyes, malice pouring out but something else there too. I ignore it. His eyes dart from mine to my lips, the mating bond manipulating his brain. I soften my own gaze suddenly as I feel the heat of his skin below me. My body wanting to react to the touch of my mate. I lean down, bringing my mouth to his ear. His eyes go from enrage to wary as I do that.

"I want you," I whisper with a voice of midnight caresses, the voice of a lover, "to remember this. Remember that a weak female is the one who pinned you to the ground. Remember that I am everything you are not. I want you to remember this the next time you insult a woman or think her as anything but strong. I want you to remember how it feels to know that no matter who you think you are, I will never bow to you." I stand as quickly as I had lunged and pad softly back to Yevan who looks at me with mild amusement.

Argra stands, brushing the dirt off him as he does and watches me now. Yevan whispers something to me, glancing at Argra as he does. The words cause my insides to blanch but I force a smile and laugh from my lips. This only serves to darken the wolf's look. A fool that he thinks anything between my second and I, but I cannot help but want to test out this mating bond between us, to examine it and prod at it with a stick. Perhaps the wolf will bow to me.

Argra turns away. Heading with his snarling beta to the car that brought him here. Yevan shoulders me with raised eyebrows and I sigh. Only because the law demands it. "Two weeks," I call out to the wolf. He pauses and glances backwards. "As the laws demand, I will spend two weeks in your... pack," the word feel kg unnatural on my tongue, "and you will spend two weeks in my pride." A small smirk manifests on his lips again.

"As you wish, Luna." The title, the Mother wolf title. The possessiveness of his tone alone sends my skin writhing but I force a sickly sweet smile to plaster itself on my mouth.

"Not quite, pup."