Mated To An Enemy

“It’s been two days. I’m not sure how long Alpha Caleb will sit still and wait for answers,” Corrine sighed.

“He should have just gone home,” grumbled Alpha Wyatt.

“Is that what you would have done?” Corrine asked.

“What?”

“If there was even the slightest possibility that I had another mate–“ Corrine began.

Wyatt’s low, threatening growl interrupted her words.

“Exactly,” she smiled.

Wyatt huffed and turned away.

“He can’t be her mate.”

Corrine sighed as she moved to stand behind her mate. She hugged him from behind, his hand reaching up and holding her arm instinctually.

“I understand your concerns, but if that is the will of the Goddess….”

“It cannot be. It is a mistake the Priestesses will make clear.”

Corrine did not respond, only letting out a sigh and squeezing him tighter.

“At least Granger has remained calm,” Wyatt commented, “he waits patiently. Of course, that just proves his worth as Ashleigh’s mate.”

Corrine pulled away from Wyatt, walking across the room to pour herself a drink.

‘Granger cannot be her mate… I won’t accept that,’ she thought to herself angrily._.

“What’s the matter?” Wyatt asked.

“It’s nothing. The situation is difficult.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, looking carefully at his mate.

‘If I tell you the truth, this pack will suffer,’ Corrine thought. ‘At least he didn’t do irreversible harm… no, I will handle Granger myself….’

Corrine took a deep breath and tossed back the drink in her hand.

“Maybe we should tell Caleb where she is?” Corrine suggested.

“For what reason?” Wyatt answered with a huff. “He is not her mate, and even if he was, he could not seek out the Priestesses.”

“No, but at the moment, all he knows is that we are keeping them apart after learning about their bond,” Corrine said. “It is understandable that he would be agitated.”

“They do not have a bond,” Wyatt replied, “they cannot.”

“But, Wyatt, you cannot control the will of the Goddess.”

“I won’t allow it!” Wyatt shouted.

Corrine was quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Wyatt said apologetically. “But you know I can’t allow them to be together.”

The one listening to the private conservation between Alpha and Luna from outside the window smiled to himself.

“And if the Priestess tells her that Caleb is her true mate?” Corrine asked.

Wyatt was quiet. Thinking. Outside, Granger listened anxiously for Wyatt’s response.

“Then she will remain unmated,” Wyatt finally replied.

Granger felt the weight of the words as though he had been plunged into a frozen lake. With heavy stones tied to his feet. The rage inside of him threatened to boil over. He hurried away as swiftly and quietly as possible to avoid drawing attention.

Wyatt and Corrine continued their conversation back in their room without the prying ears of anyone else listening.

“You’d rather she be alone than be with Caleb?” Corrine asked, holding back the emotion in her voice.

“I’d rather she be alone than carry the shame that I do,” Wyatt sighed heavily. “If Caleb is her mate and if she insists on staying by his side. I will have no choice but to tell her the truth about his father.

Do you want her to have that on her conscience?”

Wyatt looked up at Corrine, his eyes pleading with her and genuinely asking her for an answer. She poured herself another drink and swallowed it down.

“No,” she said, “I don’t.”

***

Granger stumbled away from the Alpha’s home. His lungs filled with the cold air as he took deep breaths, trying to cool the fire in his heart.

‘They will take her from me?’ he thought to himself.

He couldn’t let them. Ashleigh belonged to him.

Granger pulled out his phone, dialing a number he had called more and more often these days.

“Hello, friend,” the voice on the other end picked up.

Granger scoffed as he could already hear the wide grin on Holden’s face.

“I need information,” Granger growled.

“You seem to need a lot these days,” Holden cooed.

Granger growled.

“Are you going to help or not?!” he shouted.

“Oh my… while I don’t like your tone,” Holden began, his voice holding a warning, “I am willing to listen. What is it you seek from this humble servant?”

“What do you know about the Priestess?” Granger asked.

There was a silence on the line that told Granger he had caught Holden’s interest.

***

“They should have left already. I don’t understand why they are still here,” Axel growled as he paced back and forth in the small office.

“You know why they’re still here,” Bell sighed, trying to finish entering the notes on her patient files.

Axel stopped his pacing. He turned and looked at her.

“You don’t honestly think it’s true, do you?” he asked in disbelief.

“I know it’s true.”

“It can’t be,” Axel said, sitting in the chair across from her. “Granger is Ashleigh’s mate; we all know that. So how can Alpha Caleb claim now that it’s him?”

“If it wasn’t true, why would Wyatt and Corrine take it so seriously? Why not immediately reject it and chase Caleb out of here?” Bell asked with a smirk.

Axel stared back at her.

“It can’t be,” he said softly.

Bell stopped typing as she recognized the pain in his voice. She looked up at him, and he turned away from her.

“Why not?” she asked.

Axel stood up from the chair and returned to his pacing.

“Axel, why can’t it be true?” she asked again.

“It just can’t. The Goddess already decided on Granger.”

“Well, apparently, she changed her mind,” sighed Bell leaning back in her chair. “Ashleigh and Caleb, both told me themselves. So the bond is real.”

Axel simply shook his head as he continued to pace.

“And,” she added with a smile, “I saw it.”

Axel stopped. He looked back at her.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The other night, when Ashleigh’s heart stopped, so did Caleb’s,” she replied, “and when she was sick from the wolfsbane? He felt it, reacted to it all the way in Summer.”

Bell felt happy with her words, joyous even. Such a bond was rare. From the moment Bell had understood what was happening between Caleb and Ashleigh, she had been overjoyed for her friend.

But the look on Axel’s face… was horrified.

“Look, I know Granger is your friend and potential Beta, but that reaction is a bit over the top, isn’t it?” she laughed, trying to ease the mood.

Axel didn’t laugh or even give an indication that he was listening. There was something more he was holding back.

Bell sat up in her chair.

“Axel, what is it?” she asked.

“N…Nothing,” he replied quickly. “I need to go.”

“Axel, what–“

She called after him as he opened the door to her office. But she was interrupted as the door slammed shut behind him.

Bell sighed.

“He’s probably just overreacting. I don’t need to worry about it,” Bell whispered. “What I do need to worry about, however….”

She turned to her computer and entered Ashleigh’s name. Then, pulling up her patient file.

“Is you.”

Bell opened the lab results. Nothing particularly stood out. She wondered if the results from Summer showed the same.

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of her nurses burst into the room suddenly. Her expression was panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Bell asked quickly.

“Something happened at Renee’s house!”