The Big Bad Wolf

14

"So why couldn't we have avoided the whole thing and just let everyone know I was your mate?" Sampson inquired, as soon as the office doors were closed. "I had to see who would be comfortable under rule of a woman. If they knew I had a mate, they would be loyal to me through you, not me." She explained with a shrug.

He stalked towards her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. He relished in the sparks coming off of the contact.

"Sampson. Stop." She commanded. He dropped his arms. He gave her a confused look. "I am not your original mate. Here." She handed him a file. He looked at the name 'Ariel Jacobs.' The file stamped deceased. He looked up to Astrid. "You will always wonder. So I retrieved her file." Astrid looked defeated. Whatever was in this file had her distraught. She felt as if she could never live up to his first mate. Sampson opened the file, and Astrid's heart broke. She prayed it wouldn't matter to him. Ariel was pure when she died. She was the youngest daughter of an Alpha, and had saved herself for her mate. She had platinum blonde hair, tall, tan, electric blue eyes, pixie nose, she was gentle, kind, sweet, all the things Astrid doesn't see in herself anymore. She is brash, coarse, bitter, broken. She hadn't been pure for over 11 years. She watched Sampson behind her mask, tears filled his eyes, her heart shattered. He loved Ariel, and hadn't even met her. Astrid knew she would pale in comparison, she was thrust into this world, she had being Queen thrust upon her. She couldn't be the sweet, innocent, caring, compassionate girl she was.

She had been abused, used, broken, beaten, and it turned her hard. "I'll leave you be." She whispered. Sampson didn't hear her, he was too enthralled in his deceased mates file. Andrew and Sampson mourning the mate they never met. Her whisper meant more than just now, it was meant for forever. She wouldn't give herself to someone who was mourning over a person they never met, who she would always be compared to. Yes, her human mate died, she knew him for years before he died, he was a great and wonderful man, but she knew Samspon wasn't him. She didn't want Sampson to be him. She just wanted to be cherished, loved, sought, appreciated, and understood. She believed Sampson would give her that, if he just didn't look at the file. It was his test, and he failed.

"He failed, didn't he?" Liam asked. She nodded. Liam took her into his arms, and squeezed. His heart broke for his Queen, best friend, and Alpha. He could see the fragile woman under the cold exterior. He saw how she desired someone to love her, for her, to look past all the harshness, bitterness, and make her walls fall. "My son is an idiot." She heard his voice, he had become a dad to her for the past year. It was a family that accepted her, for her. "He should have known better than to open that stupid file. His beautiful second chance standing right there, and he wants to see what might have been." He shook his head. "Dad, it's okay. I knew my first mate for years. I would have been curious too. He is crying. Send Mom to him, please." She sounded broken. He shook his head. "No, he can cry alone. He doesn't need to mourn the loss of his first mate, in the office of his second." He sounded bitter. "Dad, please." She stepped out of Liam's embrace and set her hand on his shoulder. He was much taller than her, but still she gave the comfort of a shoulder squeeze. He grabbed her by her waist and pulled her into his arms. "You are so much better than her. You are letting him go, mourn his mate, letting yourself hurt. Wanting him to be comforted, but not asking for any yourself. No matter what you tell yourself, you are more selfless than she ever would be. She would not have sought out your file, nor told him about you. She would have been selfish." His hand on her head, and the other wrapped around her back. Her cheek pressed into his chest. She shook her head. "There is no way to know that." She pulled out of his embrace, and walked down the corridor towards the grand hall, where the Alpha's were. "Send Mom to him please."

They saw her straighten up, and push open the doors. "All I want to do is beat some sense into him. He has no idea what he just did." Liam mumbled. "My son is an idiot, and no he has no idea what he just did. We are sworn not to tell him either. She will let him live here, along with anyone from the pack who wants to, but he will not get her as a mate. She just built another ten walls around her heart." Samuel sighed tiredly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't understand what came over his son to look at the file, let alone cry over someone he didn't know. Yes, it was his first mate, but they never met. She died before even becoming a full adult. Astrid was gorgeous, kind, caring, strong, independent, respectful. Sure, she wasn't innocent, she was human before, and so many bad things happened to her. She had been abused, broken, beaten, raped by so many, and still she took everything in stride, holding her head up high, and acting like nothing happened. No one could see from the outside just how rough of a life she had had. They only saw a small framed, fragile looking woman with good looks.