Tyler.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Lauren,” I said lowly, holding her gaze, hoping she would let it go and walk away. I had no idea what she stood to gain out of this but there was no way I would let her take Arya from me. “Stop this nonsense.”
But the damage had already been done. Around us, whispers had spread through the pack, as curious and doubtful gazes rested on us. I felt Arya inch closer to me and I wrapped a protective hand around her middle.
“Go on, then,” Lauren urged with a sarcastic smile. “Prove to everyone that the video they just watched of your precious mate transforming into a silver-blue wolf isn’t true. Convince them that I somehow managed to doctor such a sick video and I’m lying.”
A muscle in my jaw twitched. Lauren had really gone too far. It wasn’t enough that she had bullied Arya at the office. Now she was ruining our mating ceremony.
“Tyler,” Nate spoke up. I didn’t tear my gaze away from Lauren though. “Surely, there has to be an explanation for this. What’s Lauren yapping on about this time?”
I clenched my jaw so hard that for a second, I thought it would break. I could feel the judgmental gazes of my pack resting on me and for a fleeting moment, I wanted to grab Arya’s hand and run. But I’d been running for too long. I ran from the Crests so many years ago. I couldn’t run from the Rogues. This was my home. My freaking city. I was the king here. I built this goddamn place with my bare hands. I didn’t have to run from anyone anymore.
“It’s true,” I said, earning louder gasps from the pack. My heart was pounding inside my chest but I refused to back down. “Everything Lauren said is true. Arya is a silver-blue wolf.”
There was a deafening silence that ensued. Nobody spoke for a few seconds.
Then, “How can that be? Silver-blue wolves are extremely rare.”
“Impossible.”
“But you saw the video. It has to be true.”
“I think so too.”
Arya shook in my arms. “What’s happening, Tyler?” she whispered “I’m scared.”
The words pierced my heart. “I know, Little One. It’ll be alright.”
I was assuring her as much as I was assuring myself because if I were being honest, there was no explanation for putting my pack at risk for a woman. I’d done the unforgivable.
“Do you know of the prophesy, Tyler Lockhart?” the leader of the elders spoke up, his expression solemn, nothing at all like the man who had been about to seal my future with Arya’s.
“I do,” I replied, loud and clear. No one would see me cow in defeat.
“Then why would you willingly put our pack in harm’s way?”
“What’s the prophecy?” The question came from Arya.
“There is a prophecy, a forewarning that speaks of a prophetic wolf, one whose union carries the potential for peril if the wrong mate is chosen.” The leader said. “Your union with the Alpha will ruin us if he’s not your destiny.”
The ominous tone of his words hung in the air, and I felt a chill running down my spine. Arya's eyes met mine, a flicker of uncertainty passing between us. I wondered what was going through her mind. Was she angry at me for keeping the prophecy a secret from her? Or was she as terrified as I was that this new revelation was a stumbling block in our path?
“In light of the prophecy, we, the Elders, cannot condone this union. We must stand against the marking ceremony until we have sought guidance from the seer and the moon goddess.”
A ripple of tension spread through the gathering, and I felt the eyes of the pack shifting from us to the elders. The celebratory atmosphere had morphed into an uneasy anticipation.
“No, you can’t do this.” I stepped forward. “Arya is my mate and I will mark her.”
“Not without a go-ahead from the seer, you won’t.” A tense edge had slipped into the leader’s voice. “You might be the Alpha but you’re just a boy.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. I would let the insult to my intelligence pass because I had almost put the pack at risk but I would not let anyone tell me what to do.
“Arya, you’re the daughter of the moon goddess. You have unimaginable power coursing through your veins. Heed my words. If you take this step, you have ruined us all.”
He was breaking her; I could see it. Her face was contorted into a mask of confusion and I felt her resolve with every passing second. Arya met my eyes, her brows furrowed in deliberation as the gears in her head ran. The leader had played on her humanity and it was working.
“Tyler…”
“No.” My voice was low but firm. “I love you.”
She shook her head in defeat, tears gathering in her eyes. “I love you,” she replied. “But we can’t do this if it means destroying what you’ve worked so hard to build.”
I reached forward to pull her into my arms. “You’re my mate. You know this as well as I do.”
She nodded. “I know. But they don’t. And we have to let them find out themselves or we’ll never be happy.”
I kissed her with desperation, fighting the urge to damn it all to hell and mark her right here. But she was right. If I wanted the Rogues to accept her as their Luna, then we had to do this the right way. And though the right way was a fucked up way that I didn’t like, it was what was best for us all.
“Awn, would you look at that,” Lauren cooed from where she stood. “Still in love, even in the midst of woe. You’re both pathetic.”
“You’re the pathetic one chasing after a man who’s never going to love you,” Natalie stepped forward. “Where’s your shame?”
“It died, along with your sense of reasoning,” Lauren responded angrily. “Stay out of my business, Natalie, or you won’t like how I respond.”
“Are you threatening my wife?” Nate stepped forward, baring his arms, always ready to fight where his wife was involved. “Because that means you’re threatening me and you don’t want to do that, girl.”
“Oh, put your dog on a leash, Natalie,” Lauren scoffed. “We already know who wears the pants in your marriage.”
Nate marched forward but I stilled him with a hand. This was Lauren’s plan. She lived to provoke. “Don’t let her bait you.”
His chest heaved, but he settled. I looked at my Beta and his wife. Even though I’d put them both at risk, they were still ready to fight for me. It would be hard but I could do this.
Arya was my mate. Even a blind man could see that. And if she wasn’t… Well then, nobody wanted to find out.