Chapter 8
In the car Anthony sitting in the backseat while Miles drove them home toward The Blue Moon Pack, Miles’s, driving, keeps looking at him in the rear-view mirror, then smiles but keeps driving to their home. Once they drive on to the pack land, Miles parks the car, Anthony exits out of the car and heads upstairs where the servant opens the door for him. The weather wasn’t cold or warm just right, to see his mother Evelyn Thompson sitting in the living room, drinking tea and reading her book until she looked up to see her son come into the living room and sit on the couch.
“Where have you been?”
“I was injured, lucky a woman took me to the hospital. If she didn’t stop her car I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Well, your father and I really want you to have a chosen mate if you didn’t find your true mate. And if not, your brother will take the throne since he already found his mate,”
“I don’t see why you don’t give it to him. If he already found his mate,”
“Anthony, you are older, that's why we've been waiting for you to take the throne. Your father and I will give you one last time to pick a chosen mate to take the throne and if not, we will give it to your brother and crown him as alpha. I have planned a ball so you can pick out unmated she-wolf,”
Anthony got up from his seat and bows to his mother before leaving the living room, now his mother is really pushing his button of him mating with an unmated she-wolf. His brother Samuel is two years younger than Anthony. As he is walking upstairs on the top of the step to see his younger brother stand there with a smile on his face, then look at his older brother.
“Just step down and give me the throne. You will never find your mate,”
“Don’t worry little brother, we will see who gets the last laugh. Just because mom and dad spend their own life spoiling you don’t mean you will get everything you want,”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You will see soon,”
Anthony walked past his brother, with Miles behind him, bowing to Samuel before following Anthony to his room. Alpha Noah and Beta Jack stop him in the hallway and bows to Anthony.
“Alpha Anthony, your father Alpha Samuel wants to speak with you in his office,”
“Can you tell him I am busy?”
Anthony knew his mother must mind-link to his father that he was home and probably wanted to talk to him about the throne again. Just sigh to himself and follow Samuel to his alpha office. Once they were in front of the door, they knocked on the door before letting Anthony walk in, but Samuel stopped Miles from entering the room.
“Only those two,”
Samuel closed the door behind Anthony as he walked over to where his father's desk was at and went over to the chair to sit down in front of his father's desk.
“You want to speak with me, father,” said Anthony
"Your mother's mind-link confirmed your refusal to mate with the she-wolf she selected."
“Yes, that's accurate. I'd rather wait for my soulmate than settle for someone. Furthermore, were you informed that I was targeted? I'm fortunate to be alive; someone found me on the ground.”
“Your brother told us you went out for a run or to a bar to de-stress.”
Anthony got up, the chair legs scraping against the polished floor, and moved towards the door, looking back over his shoulder before turning the heavy oak door knob to leave his father’s office.
"Keep believing in your loyal pup," he said with a smile. The family could face issues if his lies are exposed.
“What do you mean? Are you angry that your younger brother might replace you and take the throne?”
Anthony left the office, the door clicking shut behind him, and Miles waited by the window, watching Anthony's alpha stride across the pack house to his room. Without a word, they slipped into his bedroom, the air thick with unspoken tension as the door clicked shut.
"What was your father's response?"
"He and my mother are determined that I should choose a mate,"
“Why didn't you tell him you found your mate, Kathy?”
“Not yet,” Anthony said, “Until I know what my brother’s plotting. Our parents are too blind to see his ambition for the throne.” “Continue digging to find out what my brother is doing.
“Yes, alpha,”
As Miles left Anthony's room, the memory of Kathy fixing his tie flooded his mind; a bittersweet flashback, forcing him to maintain a lie for her protection from his dangerous brother. The mate bond he shared was in its early stages, not fully developed. Kathy smelled strongly of saltwater, a scent of the sea clinging to her skin and hair. Max smelled it too, an unfamiliar scent that was oddly different from her usual apple-spice-and-brown-sugar perfume. The scent of saltwater clung to Kathy, making some wonder if she was secretly a mermaid. Although Kathy appeared unchanged, a faint but pleasant smell of body wash clung to her. Through a mind-link, Anthony communicated with his Beta.
"Beta, I need you to gather information about Kathy," he said urgently.
“Yes, Alpha,”
“Also tell the cook will have my meal in my room,”
“Yes, Alpha,”
Her life is a mystery to him, as if she could effortlessly drive past him, until the Moon Goddess intervened and told her to stop. While she slept, silent tears streamed down her face, a silent testament to some unseen pain. Anthony sat on his couch, the worn cushions sinking beneath him, his head tilted back as he thought, waiting for his beta to return with news of his mate.