The Ultimatum

Chapter 5

He opens all the doors for me on the way in. It makes me smile a little because my dad used to do it for me wherever we went. I miss him. Hopefully I can see my parents again soon, maybe Ryan would let me invite them here.  When we get to his office, I sit at one of the chairs in front of his desk. Instead of sitting behind his desk, he sits in the chair right beside me, pulling it around to face mine. I turn mine to match.

"So," he says, "tell me everything." Part of me is worried about being judged, but the young man who was laughing raucously earlier is gone. Before me sits a collected man with a warm smile - a true Alpha. I'm not even really sure where to start, so I just tell him everything. About my mom and dad, who I adore and have always wanted to find a love like they have. About working for Al and Evelyn after graduating school, how they were like family to me. About Evelyn passing and meeting Peter at her funeral. About him rejecting me before he even had time to meet me. I tell him about how I spent every day with Al until he passed in November. I tell him about feeling lost after they both passed, about how they left me a small inheritance even though they have their own kids and how they let me take anything in the house I wanted, but all I took was Evelyn's locket, where I put a new picture of me and the two of them on their front porch with the trees shades of orange and gold behind us and smiles wide on all of our faces. I generally don't wear it to work, but I do on weekends, when I go to the local library and do medical transcription work online for the extra money since my internship at the hospital is unpaid and I can't afford internet at my apartment.

I only managed to secure the lease for my apartment with the majority of the money the Johnson's left me and have only been paying it now working as much as I can on the side every month. A few nights this has meant me working until the library closes and going back some nights after my shift at work ends to make ends meet. No one else in my program or my pack knows about my struggles, not even my parents. I told them I got a scholarship to do it and not to worry about anything because I don't want them to worry about me, but I need to be here. When Peter and his girlfriend got engaged, I left. Even though I was broke, I didn't want to stay there and see that. I couldn't. So I did what I had to to be able to leave and not look back. And I don't regret any of it, but my program is ending soon and I don't know where I'm going next. I don't want to move off far away from my family. I want them to be able to come visit me, actually, and I've only been too busy so far, and too scared that they'll want to see my apartment and realize my "scholarship" isn't making ends meet.

"Peter," he says slowly, "like Peter Bennett?" I tense.

"Yes."

"He has a search out on you. Any Alpha who finds you is to hand you over or risk declaring war in his eyes. Very discreet business, he doesn't want everyone to know so he's only told some of the Alphas, I assume." My stomach twists. I briefly consider running then and there but my legs feel shaky and I think I might be sick. What does he want with me? He rejected me, does he just want me to sit around and watch while he's with someone else? I can't imagine anything more miserable. My eyes cut to the door. "I, of course, have other ideas on handling the matter." They dart back to him.

"What do you mean?" I breathe, scared to even know what he plans to do with me. I thought he promised me a place here, a home-

"Well, I thought from the beginning you might be the one he was after and I think I have an idea.. a way we can end this whole spectacle where you never have to go back, if you'd be interested." I'm not sure I'm still breathing. He would help me? I could be free of Peter?

"How?"

"You could become my Luna, you clearly are called to do it. Peter is a coward, and he didn't tell anyone that you were his mate. If I laid claim to you as my mate and Luna, the only way he could get to you is if he admitted to everyone that you were his mate and that he rejected you, and I doubt he has the balls on him to do it, and even then, everyone will know he rejected his claim to you which means I'll have a better claim than he will if he's marrying another woman and he shouldn't be able to touch you. But it would be for life." His eyes turn sad. "My own mate is gone. I lost her a few years ago. The pack doesn't know, because I didn't have the heart to tell them that they'd never have a Luna, or that I could never give them an heir. You wouldn't be expected to.. umm.. provide one, of course, or anything like that. Just help lead and support the pack."

After a long moment of silence, he looks back to me. "I know this is a lot to take in. It's a Friday night, stay here. See how you like it. Just think about it, okay?" I nod and he gets up, motioning for me to follow. He gives me a tour of the house and shows me to a room down the hall from his. When we finally stop, he leans in my doorway and crosses his arms. "One last thing, this isn't meant as a threat to you, but if you refuse you'll have to leave my land." He looks apologetic for saying it, like he knows he might be holding the fate of the rest of my life in his hands. "As much as I want to help, I can't provoke a potential fight with another pack without any sort of strategy, as much as I may want to help you. I know Peter, and he doesn't deserve you. But many of my people aren't fighters, and they don't deserve a war, either. You have until your program ends to decide, though. You have my word on that." And with that, he closes my door, leaving me in the dark with the biggest decision of my life staring back at me.