Chapter 25 25
Chapter 25 – Dinner
Odessa was so much more than I had imagined, more than I could hope for. All that bullshit about the Moon Goddess making two halves of a soul in two different wolves… was true. It was all fucking true. I knew that the moment our bodies became one.
I could have spent all night under that tree with her. Having her over and over again, but I knew she’d be sore. I will have the rest of my life to have her in every way imaginable, and I couldn’t wait. My mate. My beautiful Luna.
I never considered myself the possessive type over a female or lover. There had been plenty, and I didn’t keep them around long enough to form any attachment. The idea of Odessa having been touched by anyone made me want to hunt the bastards down and feed them their dicks, even if they never had sex with her. Does that make me a hypocrite? Yes. But I don’t give a crap. Odessa is mine and only mine.
My chest swelled with pride knowing I was the only man to have her completely and it made me even more possessive than I ever imagined possible. I couldn’t stand the idea of having her away from me. When she stepped into the shower, I raced to move her items to my room quickly so I could join her. When we sat at the dining table, I needed to feel her, to touch her, and I couldn’t seem to get her close enough to satisfy my beast. I needed to have her sitting on my lap as much as I needed air.
Neither Kazimir nor Giota seemed fazed seeing her seated in my lap now that we were fully mated. Haze was more content and calmer than I had ever felt him. The world could burn down around us, and he would be okay as long as we have our mate.
Ninos stumbled in following his nose and stomach, asking about desserts. He stood rooted to the spot when he laid eyes on Giota.
“He said he’s going to marry you!” Thea pointed at Ninos. She had no idea how true her words would ring. I knew the look in their eyes.
Giota sat motionless, eyes on Ninos, too stunned to speak. Ninos took a step in her direction, and she quickly shot up from her chair, eyes wide, speechless.
“Panagiota, I don’t believe you’ve met Konstantinos yet,” I said. “Ninos, call me Ninos,” he replied snapping out of his daze. “Giota, everyone calls me Giota,” she whispered.
Ninos turned his head to me in shock. “Your sister is my mate?” “Excuse me?” Giota asked.
“Well, that’s one way to break it to her,” Kazimir chuckled.
“I think he has me confused with someone else,” Giota looked baffled. “I think I would know my own mate,” Ninos grinned.
“Giota, please sit,” Odessa spoke. “It seems we’ve discovered some life changing news today. I think if you look closely at my mate, you will also see the resemblance you both share with Alpha Eros.”
She shook her head. Perhaps it was shock or denial, but she seemed skeptical. “It’s not possible. Alpha Eros had a mate.”
“My mother wasn’t his true mate. Elder Kadmus and a few others knew about it, but he had given the Alpha order not to speak of it. Your mother was a human he met in Corfu,” I tried.
“No,” she shook her head in disbelief.
“Giota, he was an Alpha, humans don’t usually survive birth.” “I was his slave, not his child. There must be some mistake.”
“Maria can tell her,” Haze told me and he was right.
My eyes glazed over, and I mind linked with Maria. She had worked in this house for a few decades, she would know. Nothing ever happened in this pack house without Maria knowing about it. I had no doubt my father also gave her an Alpha order.
“Alpha, you wanted to see me?” Maria entered the dining room. “Maria, how long have you served in this house?”
“Twenty-nine years, Sir,” she bowed her head.
“Maria, my father is no longer Alpha, and all of his wishes and Alpha orders are gone with him. I need to ask you a few questions, and I expect the truth.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Her voice trembled as my Alpha aura radiated. “Is Giota my father’s daughter?”
Maria looked at Giota with an apologetic expression, closed her eyes, and nodded her head. “He gave the Alpha order. Giota was born five years after you. Everyone in the pack had kept your existence quiet as he ordered to protect our future Alpha. He feared someone would come after you because it’s not easy to conceive with someone who’s not your true mate.” She swallowed hard before she continued.
“He kept Giota in Athens to be cared for by others at the whore house he was running. When she was three, word got out that he had an heir. You were already eight years old by then,” she told me.
“That’s why my brother believes Hades is only eighteen!” Odessa interjected. “Everyone thought you were much younger because of Giota’s birth. They thought she was the male heir, but you were already born five years earlier.”
“So he brought me to the pack when I was three? To keep his son and heir safe,” Giota said.
“I’m afraid so, but the Luna could see the resemblance and did not take it well.” Maria looked down, regret in her voice.
“I was eight!” A dreadful thought occurred to me. “Is that why she ended her life?”
Maria looked from me to Giota, her face twisted with pain. Maria cared for Giota and had helped take care of her as best as my father allowed. “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry, Alpha.”
Anger pulsed through me. I wanted to punch my fist through a wall or break something, better yet… kill someone. My mother, my beautiful mother has suffered at the hands of my father. I remembered the last few weeks of her life. She seemed so broken, so fragile and thin. That must have been about the time my father moved Giota here.
Giota’s face was a mixture of horror and anger. She looked at me, holding my gaze, waiting to feel my wrath at the realization her existence had pushed my mother over the edge. My mother had killed herself because of Giota. Ninos moved closer to his newfound mate, ready to protect her if he needed to. Kazimir’s eyes shifted between the two of us, waiting for my response.
Odessa placed her hand on my chest, soothing me. “It’s not her fault, she didn’t ask for any of this,” her voice came through the mind link. I nodded my agreement and gently squeezed my mate's knee. Such a great Luna already.
“The fault belongs to our father, I’m not blaming you. I’m only sorry I didn’t know sooner.” With my words, she seemed to breathe a little easier.
For the first eight years of my life, I was loved by my mother and grandparents. I had friends and an escape at Zeus’ Howlers. Giota had nothing. My father may have turned into a cruel and abusive bastard, but I still had everything I needed. He was never cruel to me when my mother was alive, but he also wasn’t the fatherly type. I wondered if the lack of love in our relationship was a result of not being the product of his union with his true mate?
“Maria, do you know if either of my parents had ever found their true mates?”
“I’ve never heard anything. Your mother loved the Alpha, so I imagine her heart was broken when she discovered evidence of his infidelity. Unlike true mates, a chosen mate is unable to feel the stabbing pains that occur when your other half is experiencing pleasure with another.”
“Stabbing pains?” Alina asked, eyes wide, and Kazimir looked like he had just seen a ghost.
“Yes,” Maria nodded. “It’s terrible, very painful, mostly in the abdominal area and chest.”
“Busted!” Haze tittered.
“Excuse me,” Alina pushed back from the table and dashed out of the dining room with Kazimir quickly following after her.
“So, Giota,” Ninos broke the awkward silence. “You’re a Kappas.” “I… umm,” she looked unsure. “I’m no one. I’m just Giota.”
“You’re not no one, Giota. Kappas blood runs through your veins and our blood runs deeper than our father. Generations of strong and respectable Alphas have ruled over the Moon Warriors. You’re my sister and this pack is your home.”
“If you don’t like the name Kappas, you’re welcome to start using Papadopoulou,” Ninos smiled, suggesting his family surname.
“Giota Papadopoulou!” Thea squeaked with a grin.
“Sit. Eat. Don’t let the food get cold,” Maria beamed and started plating food for Thea. Giota took the seat next to Thea, and Ninos sat beside her.
“What will happen to Thea?” Giota finally asked.
“She will live here with us. You and Ninos will have the entire Gamma wing, there’s plenty of room for Thea. She can have a bedroom in each wing if she wants,” I gave Thea a wink and she let out a sweet giggle.
“Gamma wing?” Ninos questioned.
“Yes. That’s where the pack Gamma typically lives,” I reached for the platter of lamb and potatoes closest to me.
“Are you saying…” Ninos paused for a moment, unable to finish the question.
“Yes. This is our pack and home. Kazimir will be my Beta, and you my Gamma.” I forked a piece of lamb and brought it to my mate's lips. She smiled softly and allowed me to feed her.
“I only have two dolls, I don’t need that much room,” Thea told us with eager excitement in her eyes.
“We’ll have to fix that the next time we go into town,” Ninos announced as he started shoveling food onto a plate for his mate.
“Does Kazimir know we’re staying?” Ninos asked.
“Not yet. I imagine he’s got some groveling to do first with his mate,” I chuckled.
“What did he do?” Giota asked.
“He had a girlfriend before Alina. Alina was sent by Russian criminals to steal from us. We thought she was human, but it was the week before her eighteenth birthday,” Ninos tried to glaze over the story as best as he could.
“I suppose a faithful girlfriend is better than some random hoochi,” Giota said and I stifled my laughter.
Ninos shifted uncomfortably for a moment before he started eating. Lucky for him he didn’t get the opportunity to steal Madonna away from
Kazimir after all. Considering what Giota had done to Philippos’ testicle, he should be thanking his lucky star.
The sound of heavy footsteps stomped in our direction, and I knew Kazimir had returned without his mate. I looked up and found tiny drops of blood trickling from his forearm.
“What happened to your arm?” My mate asked.
Kazimir scowled and looked down at his arm. “That mangy fleabag attacked me. Alina was upset and I tried to talk to her. When I reached for her, he jumped at me.”
Odessa laughed hysterically. “Just what every wolf needs, an attack cat.”
“Do you need to see the pack doctor for it?” Ninos mocked knowing it would be healed in a few minutes.
“Yes, it could have rabies!” My mate continued laughing. “We don’t have a pack doctor anymore,” Giota told us.
“A pack without a pack doctor?” Ninos asked.
“You said anymore, what happened to the pack doctor?” I questioned.
“The Alpha exiled Doctor Evros from the pack because he couldn’t heal a burn the Alpha had somehow acquired on one side of his face. It was beyond his wolf’s ability to heal, and the doctor believed it may have been caused by black magic or something unnatural,” Giota told us. I knew it was Alpha Dimitri’s mate who had caused the burn with her elemental gift.
“The pack is going to need a pack doctor, do you know where I can find Doctor Evros?”
“Athens is neutral territory. He should be able to find work in a human hospital or animal veterinary clinic,” Giota explained.
Pack doctors were required by the shifters council to graduate from both medical school and veterinary school before they could serve a pack. It didn’t make sense that a pack wouldn’t have a doctor, especially since our kind didn’t get their wolves until they reached maturity. I suppose my father had been too absorbed in his other dealings to truly care about the pack or its basic needs. So many had gone without even though the business records showed the pack could afford so much more. I looked over my sister and her worn clothing.
“We should go into Athens tomorrow and look for Doctor Evros while our mates shop. I’m sure Alina and my mate will be needing more than the small suitcase they came with and Giota is overdue for a new wardrobe,” I suggested.
“And toys,” Ninos whispered to Thea.
We reached the top of the stairs and turned into the Alpha wing. At the end of the long corridor were the double doors that led to the Alpha chambers. It was nearly twice the size of my bedroom, and the bathroom was massive. I couldn’t avoid dealing with it forever, so I decided to allow the contractor to strip it completely and remodel it with a new deep soak tub for two.
“A new tub sounds great. I’m going to need a large walk-in closet,” Odessa said through the mind link.
“Anything you want.” I opened the door to my room, and we entered.
“You know my brother is expecting me back sometime tomorrow.” Her tone was nervous.
“How could I forget.” It wasn’t going to be easy for him. Odessa was his only family. He was angry with me a few days ago when I left Olympus Blood Moon without her, and yet he also didn’t want me to leave with her either. He’d probably try to kill me.
“This was our mother’s pack and it’s only three hours away from his territory. It’s not like I’m leaving the country or moving around the world,”
Odessa tried to ease me through the mind link. “Listen to mate,” Haze told me.
“I just need to find my pajamas,” Odessa reached for her bag.
“I dropped them in the laundry chute, besides I have a no pajamas rule in my bed.”
“You have a no pajamas rule in your bed, yet you seem to be uncomfortable with someone seeing you without a shirt on?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never spent the night in bed with a woman.”
A brief flicker of shock passed over her face. “Are you telling me that last night was the first time you slept in the same bed with someone? How is that possible.”
“You’re my mate, it’s different.” She was also the first I ever allowed to explore my skin.
Understanding my mate may still be sore from our earlier activities, I reached for the light in the room and turned it off so that we could slip into bed. I was content just holding her against me for the night.
“We’ll see how you wake up in the morning,” Haze snickered, reminding me of the dry humping.