The Half Mutt Mate

Chapter VI: Thomas PoV

The morning was bright and cold. Weak autumn sunlight streamed through the window and onto the laminated floor in front of me and I stared at the bare grass outside, seemingly withered by the weather. I stepped towards the door and placed my palm on the handle. 

 I was wearing an immaculate suit which had been chosen specifically for the occasion. The blazer was crisp and black, accentuating the pristine white of my shirt and emphasizing my blue silk tie and pocket square. I was clean shaven, with neat, combed back hair and the pack's crest stamped carefully onto my cuff links -- every inch of me screamed Alpha. I felt dread pool in my stomach as I readied myself for what I had to do. This meeting was pivotal, I was representing the whole pack -- I had to make a good impression.

Before I could leave, I glanced behind me. Belle was standing by the staircase, her expression stony. She had barely spoken to me since the incident, and that was more than three months ago. Both she and Annie had practically ignored me; they couldn't openly disobey their Alpha, but they could avoid me all they liked and not start any fights. I knew they were angry but I didn't want to confront it, so I let them be. It was still uncomfortable whenever they were near.

"Where's Annie?" I asked. Annie would have to attend the meeting as she was the acting Luna of the pack, but she hadn't come downstairs yet. Belle gestured vaguely and walked into the kitchen. A second later Annie appeared, flouncing down the stairs in a formal dress.

The dress reached the floor and was made of a shiny blue material that matched my tie so as to show off pack colours, with a silver lining around the edges. Annie's hair was curled softly around her shoulders and there was a glittering flower set just behind her ear, mimicking the style of her silver shoes, which only had a very slight heel to them. I held my arm out to her and opened the door.

Outside there was a car waiting for us. It would be about a half an hour drive to the venue, which was at the pack house of an Alpha who had volunteered to host the dinner. As I got into teh car, driven by a pack mate, I sighed. 

"I know you're angry with me, Annie," I said.

"Really? Whatever gave you that impression?" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Look, we have to present a unified front in front of the other Alphas. Our pack can't look weak."

"You mean you can't look weak," she spat back.

"No, Annie, I mean us. We're already under a lot of scrutiny -- if the elders decide we're more of a liability than an asset then they will strike."

Annie huffed in response.

I paused and gathered my thoughts. For a minute it was silent as we watched the car pull out of the driveway and onto the road. The streets were covered in orange leaves and a few people huddled beneath their coats as they wandered along the pavement, holding hands or walking dogs. I was suddenly grateful that I wasn't facing the cold myself.

"Whatever problems you have with me now, Annie, can you just set them aside for a few hours?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you need to hear this, Thomas. You're being an idiot, you're being stupid and you're being shortsighted -- but worse than that, you're being cruel. What you did to Grace, that was crueler than I've ever seen you be."

The driver, Stephen, coughed awkwardly from the front of the car. I had known him since we were pups and I trusted him, so I didn't tell Annie to be quiet for his sake.

"You really care about what the mutt feels, Annie? What else could I have done? It was bad enough when we thought she was human, but a mutt? I can't believe you." I glared angrily at her.

"You don't get to back out of situations just because they're difficult. She was a child, not a monster."

"So what was I meant to do? Keep her as my mate? Make her the Luna?" I asked sarcastically. The suggestion was ridiculous.

"Yes. You should have protected her. You shouldn't have treated her any differently than before. Grace is -- was -- still a person. She was still the same person as before."

I could no longer see any buildings out of the car window, only endless trees and wilderness. It seemed as though humanity itself had disappeared from view, leaving us with only the feral woods to replace it.

"I couldn't have a mutt as a mate," I said, angrily.

"Why not? There must be a reason you two were mated -- you have to trust the Moon Goddess."

I didn't have a good rebuttal for that, but Annie was still being ridiculous. As wolves, we believed in the Moon Goddess, the highest of all Lunas, who guided us and gave us the power to shift in the first place. She was also the one who chose our mates. 

For an Alpha, his mate would be the best person to run the pack with him, whether they took on the role of his lover, his friend or sibling, their primary purpose was to lead the pack by his side. But I couldn't let the mutt be my mate. I would never have been respected by the other packs, or even my own, if I had a mutt as a mate -- it would have been too dangerous.

"Where is she now, Thomas?" Annie said, dropping her voice low. "What happened to Grace when you rejected her?"

She ran away, my wolf howled from within me.

I couldn't find the words to tell her what rejecting her had been like. 

"We didn't kill the mutt, if that's what you mean," I said eventually. "We chased her out of the bunker, where she disappeared. The runt she was with tried to fight a few of our wolves to slow them down. By the time we were finished with him she had vanished."

Annie laughed bitterly. "Just because you didn't snap her neck yourself doesn't mean you didn't kill her. Tell me, how long do you think a twelve year old would last wandering about the woods on her own?"

I didn't answer.