A Mate's Unrequited Love

Chapter 22- Fire Pit

Harper's P.O.V 

I stared at him. His smirk widened, settling his glass of wine on the grand piano he stalked towards me. Alexander bowed slightly and reached for my hand, instantly a there was a shift in the air. Everyone in the room could feel it. From the corner of my eye I saw my father turn his head a little to look at Alexander's father. 

A weird electricity flowed through me, I didn't know how it really made me feel. All I knew was that there was a bond slowly wrapping around us. I pulled my hand back in hurry and felt the vibrations  disappear as fast as they had come. Alexander observed me with a smirk on his face, full of amusement.

"We are pleasured to meet you, properly, Miss Harper. Finally, after so many years." Came a velvety voice that belonged to an older woman with the same golden eyes, his mother, Camilla. 

"Have we met before?" I asked suddenly feeling so preyed upon with all eyes on me as if they knew a lot more than I did. The lady played with her pearl necklace and let out an airy laugh, "Of course, darling, you and Alexander used to be inseparable  as children, running with your brother's favorite toys." I didn't remember doing that.

Noticing my confusion, Alexander quickly placed an arm around my waist taking me by surprise and said, "Why don't we take a walk and discus our... wine tastes, shall we?"

"Ah! What a lovely idea Alexander!" My mother laughed and practically pushed us out of the door to the gardens. 

Once at a decent distance and Alexander's grip on my hand loosed. He walked further into the maze of gardens my great grandfather had once so beautifully constructed to give our house a more royal look. He led me toward the fountain area while I turned to look at him suspiciously, it was as if he knew the place well, my home.

The fountain of moon was a structure made of the finest white stone and jade showing  a beautiful lady presumingly the moon goddess reaching out to the moon with a sea of wolves at her feet.  I let go of Alexander's arm suddenly, a part of me still feeling treacherous for being close to a man who was not my mate. My wolf too made no attempts at reaching out for Alexander's wolf which did not go unnoticed by him. 

I turned to look at him as he casually leaned against the marble wall and looked at me with an amused expression as if he was waiting for something. It was him, no doubt. From the carnival in my first 'date' with Deimos to me fainting in the forest and now here as my fiancé.   

"You..." I started, trying to find the right words. But all that came out was, "How?"

Alexander chuckled lightly, his action just infuriated me further, what was going on?

He looked me up and down before starting," Is it wrong for me to look out for my bride to be? I know I am a little late since our last proper meeting when we were children but I was really hoping my fiancée of eighteen years would remember me. Also, may I say you look beautiful although I prefer the edgy vibe more."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said, eighteen years? 

Pushing himself off the wall he circled me and got dangerously close,  his warm breath fanning my neck. Instantly I went to a defensive mode, clutching his collar, my fingers, that would quickly turn to claws at my command, pressed against his neck. 

"Tsk, tsk. Seems like I'll have to do all the talking." He smirked and backed off walking around the fountain in a lousy pace. "Our grandparents arranged for our marriage decades ago we were born, if I remember correctly, your father had not found his mate yet or had chosen another, I don't care to recall. It was during the 'Thirsting'."

The term alone almost bought me to my knees. The 'thirsting' could be equivalent to a horrible nightmare that you couldn't escape from. It happened during the late seventies. The world of were and humans was changing rapidly. With no actual leader for all wolves, many alphas and their packs thought of themselves as superiors and were thirty for the title of Alpha King, a title never used ever since the demolishment of were monarchy in the early seventeenth century. Everyone had built up anger, it was like a bomb ticking to go off, waiting for the trigger. Every wolf was blood thirsty and many killed humans for sport. Watching the chaos the were world had fallen into, all high positioned packed with known royal blood all the way to the last were king's court stepped forward. Prominent packs including mine, Deimos' Red Atlas and Alexander's Apollo Blood pack were there. A council meeting was held with two sides of solution. One, we stop the rebels together and prevent war with both were and humans. Two, we take back our rightful royal court and reveal ourselves to humans to be under us. 

The highest royal packs had opposite opinions. Red Atlas wanted peace. Apollo Blood wanted war. 

Finally after much negotiation and a rumored fight between the alphas of the two packs, in which Red Atlas enjoyed victory, all allied packs began the crackdown of rogues and rebels, brining an end to the beginning of war. Lives were lost but many were saved. It is still a solemn topic.

Watching my face turn ashen at the word, Alexander's golden eyes shone bright, "Your grandfather wanted to stop this war desperately and went to negotiate with mine hours before he had a duel against Red Atlas' Alpha." I turned towards him as he stopped walking. Venom touched his lips when he said the packs name, Jade who still felt possessive of her mate's pack growled in my head. "He promised to unite our packs in the future via a bond. In exchange of him losing the duel." 

"No! That's not true!" I gritted my teeth, "What bull-" Before I could finish my sentence he stood right in front of me. "I would advise you not to stand against facts you are not aware of Miss Harper." His voice slow and coarse, Alexander stared into my eyes with a stern look. Somehow it managed to make me hold my breath.

Stepping back and regaining his posture he sent me a swift smile, "Anyway, this arrangement stated that his first born grandchild would wed my grandfather's, now I could not marry your brother could I?  At this point my parents planned to put off the agreement only to discover a few years later that the Alpha of Lucian Moon had a daughter who had purposely been hidden from us."

"And now we are here." He chirped. "Oh and don't worry about that Alpha any longer, Deimos?" I froze. I sensed his distaste from him. Alexander ran his long fingers through his hair walking to me, " I gave him every opportunity to have you for the little time he had but he foolishly threw it away. Now, I must ask you to let go of him as well."

Watching his face come close to mine, he gently but firmly grabbed my waist and whispered into my ear, "For now, you are finally mine."

***

Hi guys! How are you? I am so happy to have been able to update today after sooo long. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter and can't wait to tell you more. It's a short but a much needed chapter but I hope you like it!

What are your thought?

Alexander or Deimos? 

What will Harper do to get out of this arrangement?

Share your thoughts and thank you for the immense support!!

x K

p.s- The song above - Sam Tinnesz - Play With Fire is the vibe for Alexander I am aiming for ;)