Chapter 13 (pt 1)

Aiden's P.O.V

I couldn't stop staring at him. No matter how hard I tried to tear my eyes away from his, I just couldn't. It was like my brain hadn't accepted that he was my mate and was looking at him for some sort of hint that we were wrong.

He was scared out of his mind, I could see it in his blue eyes that were wide with fear. The only emotion I ever saw him possess was hatred and that was always to me, besides that Julian was a stone, cold wall. But yet here he was with terror and panic running rampant before me.

"There has never been two male mates in the history of werewolves." My dad's words seep through the thick wall of confusion that surrounded my mind.

"It's not possible. They're alphas, they need to have children for our packs to survive." Roger, Julian's dad says as he paces anxiously. "Two alphas mating, the packs, they'd merge."

"This doesn't make any sense." My dad says sighing as he sat besides me. "Why would the Moon Goddess do this?"

"Everything will be fine. It'll all be just fine." Roger says in a state of clear panic. "Julian, say something."

He tried to, his mouth opening and closing a hundred times before tears started to swim in his eyes. It was like a knife wound to my chest, an unfamiliar feeling that flooded my veins because he was in pain, my wolf cried viciously for me to help him but I was stuck in my own spot as he was his.

"We'll figure this out, just don't do anything rash and reject each other." My father's words seemed to snap me out of my trance as I broke my gaze with Julian and looked at him.

The thought hadn't crossed my mind, yeah I hated the guy, but if I rejected him that would mean the downfall of both our packs and I cared for my people.

Looking back at Julian, I see his eyes filled with worry, he probably thought I was going to reject him.

Your mate rejecting you was probably the worst thing that could happen to a wolf. Your other half, soulmate, the one who would love you like no other saying that they didn't want your love was enough to send you mad.

"I'm not going to reject you." I say standing as I run my hands through my hair, he lets out a breath as our parents follow suit.

"This is a good thing if you look at it from a certain angle." My dad says making us all look at him as if he were deranged.

"How can this possibly be a good thing?" Julian grits through his teeth.

"Well. If we merge the packs we would become the strongest pack not only in the nation, but the entire world. Nobody would compare especially with two alphas as leaders, we'd be unstoppable." He says with a light twinkling in his eyes that told me he was already planning out the steps for our future.

"You've got a point there Micheal." Roger says the same light shining in his own eyes. "If they mate and I'm Aiden's father-in-law, we would be more than best friends. We'd be like brothers!"

I watched as the two continued to scream and shout about they're growing friendship and the blessing the Moon Goddess sent our way.

"Can you two please stop for a minute so we can figure out what to do?" I say sternly my temper rising.

"Yes, sorry. Well we still have the rest of the ceremony to complete. You know with the betas, elders and selsas." Roger says with a smile.

"You two must be civil. Now more than ever the packs will need to see strength and unity, especially from their new leaders. Make it through the ceremony without ripping each other's throats out and we will discuss what will happen after." My dad says glancing between the two of us. "Can you do that?" We both nod in understanding, they seat us in the front row as they go to round up everyone to return.

Neither of us say a word. It was strange, usually we'd be shooting words of hate at each other, yet now we couldn't even look at each other.

I still felt the strong hatred I always did but it was accompanied by a new feeling, one I didn't recognize as it grew larger being next to him. His scent that once made me sick now sent me to the heavens, it was a sweet one, like watermelon and lemon I think. It was so damn good I couldn't help but inhale it softly to myself.

It didn't take long for the hall to be filled once again as everyone entered still whispering they're eyes never leaving us. At least I had my shades, they didn't know where I was looking, but Julian wasn't so lucky. He was a deer in the headlights as his eyes darted around frantically, it was unnerving and I didn't like it.

"Find a spot in the room and keep your eyes on it, zone them out and focus on the spot." I mutter while face forward, I felt his eyes on me for a split second before they were gone. He settled down and his usual mask was on once again.

"We'll keep the ceremony moving swiftly. Starting with the betas please join us on stage."

And that's how it went, our fathers pushed through the entire ceremony keeping the attention away from us as much as possible in hopes to avoid any issues. It ended before I knew it and we were being ushered to their Pack house where we went to Roger's office, well Julian's now I guess.

"So boys, how are you feeling?" My dad asks after we've all been seated.

"Cursed." Julian offers his finger in his mouth, I would think he was biting his nails but he wasn't. They were just there.

"What he said." I reply.

"We've been talking and we're going to treat this like any other pair of mates." Roger says making me frown. "Usually you'd move in together but you are of two different packs, yet we can't afford to separate you this is a fresh bond. You can decide amongst each other what will happen there."

"You also have to decide what your going to do with the packs. They're yours now so we can't tell you what to do but we were seriously earlier, merging is the best option." My father says seriously.

"We'll leave you two to talk it over." And with that they're gone leaving Julian and I alone. I glance up at him finding him clearly deep in thought, he was a thinker and I was more of a 'take action' sorta guy.

"They're right, we have to merge the packs." I say starting off the conversation, his eyes meet mine instantly.

"You do understand that that means we'll mate." He says with a raised eyebrow.

"We're you planning on rejecting me?"

"No." He answers quickly.

"Then that's the only option we have." I retort.

"But I'm not gay!" He shouts standing up.

"Neither am I! You think I want to be mated to a guy? Especially the one who I've hated for literally my entire life. I don't!" I spit back, he sits back in his seat as he visibly tries to cool down. "Now can you try and be, I don't know, less childish so we can work this out." He nods slowly as if it pained him, ignoring it, I continue. "There's some vacant land between our packs, we'd search it, clear it and then claim it."

"We'll be two alphas ruling one pack, can your ego handle that?" He shoots once again, I feel my nails digging into the chair handles in rage.

"Why are you so desperate to pick a fight?!" I shout as he glares at me with challenging eyes. "I'm looking for solutions you clearly don't want!"

"Because I don't want you!" He screams making me crumble within a minute. His words cut deep within, pain flooding me like never before. My wolf was howling in a growing state of depression with me following behind.