Brandon’s POV
I cannot believe what Alpha Cole told me last night about what Silas and Cheryl are planning on doing. How did I miss how despicable they truly are? My parents were just as stunned, especially after I gave them my suspicions about what I thought Gamma Peter's goal really was. I am sick of the lengths that Cheryl will apparently go to try to get me as her mate. When I believed that there was no possible way for it to work, I was assured by Alpha Cole, that it not only could work, but that is what happened to Raven’s true mate just a few weeks ago. He had warned me not to take their plan lightly, as it very well could work out in their favor. The fact that she had a mate before me was very upsetting to me. She is mine.
I growled out in both anger and jealousy. I was her mate, not him. He might have been her mate at one point, but they were nothing to each other now. I felt a little bad about thinking that, once Alpha Cole told me that he was the one who had, in fact, told on Reagan and Cheryl’s plan. I don’t know why he told, he might have done it to make Raven happy, or to keep me from the same fate that he got, or if he just was so mad at what Reagan did that he wants to pay her pack. I don’t care if it is all three, I am just glad for the heads-up. To even think about them making that kind of plan against me was sickening. How could her own sister be that vile to her? What the hell is wrong with Reagan? She clearly has some real issues, that she needs to work through. Her actions towards Raven are contemptible and reprehensible. How could this have gone so far, and yet no one ever thought to stop Reagan?
What they are planning is against werewolf law. If proven, they would go away for many years. They both either have to be really desperate, or crazy, to even want to take the chance to try it. But I guess since they said that Reagan had gotten away with it once, she probably thought that she could get away with it this time too. I have never heard Cheryl mention this Reagan girl the first time. I only know who she is because I have seen her at Alpha meetings with her father. As far as I know, Alpha Graham only had one daughter. I had only heard of Reagan, and never heard anything about Raven. When I mentioned it to my parents they both remembered Luna Cassandra being pregnant with twins, but they had only ever seen Reagan too. If this is true, we will no longer have a treaty with Silver Blade after tomorrow night.
I was really stressed about the ball because our plan has to work. I will not give up Raven, for anything. I would kill Cheryl before I gave her the opportunity to be my mate.
“I will not mark Cheryl,” Axe linked me, and I nodded in agreement.
" I just won’t drink anything that I don’t see made right in front of me. We can’t take any chances Axe” I linked him back.
“I want mate. We will claim our mate” Axe replied back to me and then went away in my head. Me too buddy me too. Sleep was hard to come by tonight, and I ended up sleeping in the next morning because of it. It is going to be a long day, and I wasn’t going to take a chance of a problem occurring because I wasn’t focused on our plan. I went to get packed, as I was ready to go right now, even at 10 am. I wanted to claim my mate right now. That would beat them at their own game. I wish that I could just come up to Raven, let her realize that she was mine, and mark her right then. But I know that with what happened with her mate the first time, she might be hesitant to allow me to mark her quickly. Justin and I were not the same man, and I was hoping that she would be able to see that. I will do what her father asked. We will take care of this first problem, then he will introduce me to Raven.
I was dressed and ready to go at 430, people laughed, because the party was at 6, and I wanted to get there early. My Beta, Truett, came with me in the SUV, because I was going to be bringing my Raven, and her stuff back with me to Black Adder. Truett was laughing at how excited I was about my mate. He was unmated too and I was praying that he would meet his mate and be just as head over heels as I was, then he would understand. He just couldn’t understand why I loved someone I had not seen properly yet. I cannot explain it to him. When he finds his mate, he will get it.
I was in a daze just existing with Truett by my side as Alpha Cole and Luna Olivia both spoke about Raven. Their love for her was clear to see, and I could hear the sadness in their voices as they knew I would want to take her back with me tomorrow. I was so impatient until the moment I see the three of them at the top of the stairs. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at her. She was beautiful, and shy, looking down and obviously not comfortable with all the guests staring at her. I don’t want them staring at her either as I see numerous men standing straighter as they caught a glimpse of her coming down those stairs. They better stop, or this will turn into a blood bath. She is mine.
I look back at her, and she is perfection. Slim build and is very toned. The gold dress fit her to perfection, and the brief glance of her leg that I got as she came down the stairs gave me a great view. Her hair fell down to her waist, shielding her face from view as she came down the stairs. My mate is stunning, and I could not be happier. The urge to go to her, right now, to tell everyone here that she was mine, was overwhelming. My wolf, Axe, was screaming at me to go claim her, but I see her father heading my way. Truett had walked away about two minutes ago, but I let him as I only had been able to focus on my mate. I don’t know what I want to do first when I meet her. Kiss her, hug her, or kneel at her feet and beg her to give me a proper chance as her second chance mate. I am praying that her father is right, and she can accept me, I am not like her first mate. I will spend my life proving it to her.
Her father nodded at me as he walked past. My Beta was supposed to stay with me, but he had walked off. The plan was already off balance when the jerk I saw catch my mate on the stairs walked up and introduced himself to me. He was going to be the Beta here and kept talking, not paying attention to the fact I didn't like him. I could tell that he was looking around at all the unmated she-wolves here for the party. That helped me to calm down, he clearly wasn’t interested in my mate, he had just helped her on the stairs. That was good, for him, because I didn’t know if I could keep from hurting him if he had been interested in Raven. His head came up and he nodded in understanding before he told me, “Your Beta is my sister's mate. Please take care of her at Black Adder. She will be an excellent Beta female for your pack.” He got another mindlink leaned forward toward me and quietly said, “I will see you later, you have someone watching you now, and she may not approach if you are with someone, she knows who I am, so she will stay away until you are free. We all want this over with as quickly as possible.”
He then walked quickly away, and I just watched from where Alpha Cole had told me to stand. I took a step to the right, so I could see my mate, as she greeted people at the party. She was not enjoying all the people around her, but she gave an actual smile, to each person she met. I stepped back to glance around the room, with my smile freezing on my face. Cheryl IS here, and glaring daggers at Raven. I hate that she had even overheard who my mate was. I know it was because Simone was so excited about it that she told her friends, and from there it went out to half the pack. I swear, we could skip meetings and just do pack announcements with the young adults loving to tell everyone what was going on. This wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t gossiping so much. I will make sure that stops too. It could get my mate hurt or killed. Cheryl was a Gamma’s daughter. She was a very strong fighter, and Silas was too. My mate had only been training for two and a half weeks. She will not stand a chance against Cheryl. From the smug smile on Cheryl's face, she knew that my mate was not going to be a challenge for her too.
I see Cheryl approach Raven, and I take a step forward to go to stop her. I can’t allow her to hurt my mate. This was all my fault and I need to put a stop to it but I ended up stopping short as a woman collided with me. It was barely a bump for me, but her hand made sure to slap my drink out of my hand. She looked up at me in surprise, and she was a very attractive she-wolf, but she was not comparable to my Raven. How could her true mate have even though he got the better sister, he must have been drugged the whole time. This girl is attractive, but her smile doesn’t meet her eyes, and she has a practiced smile. One that was guaranteed to get people to do what she asked. It isn’t a real smile, it was a schooled one, and one I wouldn’t have fallen for even if I hadn’t been warned. But she didn’t look evil or vicious, she just had something about her that put warning signs up. I was actually surprised at how little warning was coming to me from my wolf. If we had met under different circumstances, I wouldn’t have liked her, but I would have had no idea how devious she could be.
“Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t know that you were about to walk away. This was completely my fault. Wait, do I know you? Didn’t we meet at an Alpha meeting, about two years ago? My name is Reagan, my father is Alpha Graham Sullivan. You probably don’t remember me” she said and looked down at the floor like she was shy. She was clearly trying to get a compliment from me. I did remember her, but it was because she was yelling at one of the servers for her dressing not being on the side of her salad. It was such a small thing and she complained about it for 20 minutes, even though they made it right for her almost immediately.
“I do actually remember you. I did see you that day” I kept the reason why I had recognized her to myself, and she lit up at me having remembered her. Her hair has been styled in a messy bun, with some stray hairs artfully curled to highlight her face. She had a beautiful black strapless dress on. One that she was wearing to clearly show off her mark for all to see. The fact that she planned it that way to try to deliberately hurt my mate, by showing off her mark like that. I was fighting really hard not to lean down and just use one finger to cut her carotid artery. I wanted to, and Axe was glad to oblige. I was really struggling, as to me, it was better to kill her. That is the only way to keep evil people like her from coming back, again, and again.
Reagan looked up at me smiling and then said, “Here, I will go get another glass, as I am the reason that your's was spilled. I haven’t drunk from my glass yet, I promise. I was just on my way back from the bar. I am so sorry, I am usually not so clumsy.” She handed me her glass of champagne and nods at me. Turning to go back to the bar, like she was going to get another drink. Alpha Cole nods at me, and a man I don’t know steps up with a second man behind him and said, “Go take this to our lab, and see what exactly is in it.” We had all watched as he used his gloved hands and poured the drink into one bag and sealed it and put the glass in the other. That was smart, the drink won’t wash away any evidence on or in the glass now, and everything was bagged in front of the camera. Seals were put on both bags before the second man left to go take them to the lab.
Alpha Cole stepped up and said, “Emerson, were you able to see her give him the drink?”
“Yes, both I and my colleague saw the whole encounter, but having a video of it is best. She is an Alpha’s daughter, and you will have to have a lot on her for her to see the inside of a cell. Will you have coverage of her spiking the drink too, Cole?” the man I suddenly realize is council member Arnold Emerson told Alpha Cole.
“Well, I actually do have more proof for you Emerson, the guy who tipped us off to this, had actually had the same thing happen to him about three weeks ago. Reagan was not his mate, Raven was, and Alpha Graham and Reagan conspired to trick him into a contract that he didn’t want to participate in. I will let him tell you the whole story, but she had him drugged to mark her against his will. The same thing that she and Cheryl were trying to do tonight, this time to Brandon here” Alpha Cole told him and motioned to a guy standing about 10 feet away from us. As he walked up I could see him sizing me up. He was a strong guy, about 2 inches shorter than my 6’4” frame, but he was younger than me and strong.
I could feel the jealousy radiating off of him, and even though I don’t have her yet, I gave him a smile, but at least I fought the smirk off. His loss is my gain, and I intend on keeping her as my mate. Before he can even speak we hear raised voices from the area that Raven was in. We all heard the ugly words and implications that Cheryl was hurling at Raven out of jealousy. Alpha Cole told us to stay there, and he headed over to see what was going on.
Councilman Emerson started asking a few questions of the guy, who I was told was named Justin, but I wasn’t really listening. I was trying to look through the gaps in the people to see if my mate was OK. I saw Beta Timothy and his mate, Amanda, escorting Reagan through the crowd to a door at the back of the event center. Amanda quickly unlocked it, and they slipped out. No one was noticing Reagan being escorted out, as they were all watching the exchange going on between Luna Olivia and Cheryl. I was glad to see that Cheryl looked bad, she had an obvious cut on her face, and my mate was standing there looking glorious, with not a mark on her. Holy crap if Raven had just been training for a little over two weeks and she can take a Gamma-ranked she-wolf, a trained warrior on like that. My mate really is a force to be reckoned with and I could not be more proud of her. The council member excused himself to head over as the yelling continued, and Luna Olivia sounded pissed.
“Enjoy your time while you have it,” Justin said to me.
“I am sorry, what did you say to me?” I asked him, turning toward him to see if he was dumb enough to repeat himself. I have never in my life had someone willing to be so bold as to challenge me, on anything. He clearly doesn’t know who in the hell he is dealing with.
“I know you heard me Brandon, and I am not worried about you at all. I have Alpha in my bloodline too, I think it would be a fair fight between us if it comes down to it. I can guarantee that it will. I did it because If the council gets enough on Reagan, she might be put to death. Which will free me from the contract. Raven liked me, even before the bond. I messed up, yea, I admit it. But I am not scared of you. This thing with Reagan, it will take time to work through. So I am letting you know now, so the big, bad Alpha can’t claim that you weren’t warned. I AM coming to get Raven back. Raven was just hurt by my actions, and I can completely understand why she was, and why she rejected me. Reagan drugged me, and because she had Raven’s scent on her, Lorne ended up marking her. He only did it because he thought she was Raven. Our bond is still there for me, it is weak, but it is still there. I love her, and I want her. I didn’t tell Alpha Cole what was going on to help you, Brandon. I did it because Raven could have died from a broken heart from having her second chance mate snatched away from her just as viciously as I had been. She wouldn’t have made it, and if she dies, I wouldn’t want to live anymore. I am just living now to make it right with Raven and get her back. I pray to the Goddess every day for it. Don’t let your foot slip Alpha, I promise you that I will be right there to catch her before she can fall” Justin told me as he gave me a smirk, and then walked off.
I snapped out of it when I noticed that he was walking towards my mate, and I quickly followed behind him. There is no way that I will let this guy become a pain in my ass. I will be shutting this down quickly. This guy screwed up and lost her, because of his own actions, I didn’t trick him into it, and he can cry all he wants that the deal was foul. It very well might have been, yet he accepted it. From what I have heard she will NOT be taking him back, no matter what lines he tries on her it won't work. I will not be slipping up. All I have ever wanted was my mate. He can keep dreaming if he thinks that he will be swooping in and trying to take her from me. There is no way that I would allow it. I will fight him to the death, and I don’t care how cocky this little jerk is, he is not going to be beating me, he can just keep dreaming. If he wasn’t willing to fight the pack members in a weak pack like Silver Blade for Raven, he won’t stand a snowball's chance against me, or the Black Adder pack. It will be the last bad decision that he ever makes.
Meeting my Second Chance Mate