Chapter 41 Chapter 41
~ KEEGAN GRAY ~
"I guess these can wait till tomorrow." I shoved the paperwork aside and rose to my feet with a yawn and left the pack office to take a stroll before heading to bed.
"Alpha," Mason said as he approached me, "Alpha Vladimir sent a message regarding the Diamond pack. We'll need to prepare in order to assist them fight against the rogue attack that's predicted to happen soon. He wants us to fight against them as a team and not pay attention to grudges." He ended and locked his arms behind him.
A frown appeared on my face at the thought of meeting Vladimir again. "Okay. I'll inform Scarlett to select the guards that'll go."
"You're also going to be there, you know that, right?" He lifted an eyebrow at me.
"I'll think about it."
"According to the contract, you have to be there as well." He reminded me in a very calm tone that didn't piss me off.
I heaved a sigh. "I knew something was wrong with that clause. Anyway, it's fine. I'll try to remember it."
"Good evening Alpha," Diane, the guard in charge of watching over the omega greeted with a slight bow, " I'm sorry for interrupting both of you, but-"
"Shouldn't you be watching the omega?" I reminded her.
"Yes Alpha," a frown appeared on her face, but she didn't let it last for more than a second, "I was watching over her, but she's asleep now. You said I should be with her until she falls asleep." She explained. I had only said that because I had expected to be back to my room when she fell asleep.
"Okay."
"I'll take my leave now." Mason announced and turned to leave.
"I came here to inform you that Luna Kate would like to see you. She said if you don't come to her, she'll come to you, so you should meet her in her bedroom."
Why the heck did she want to see me? Did it have anything to do with the Ardolfs? "You can go." I permitted her to leave and walked away, contemplating on whether or not to head to Mom's room. Seeing her face was going to ruin my night, that was certain.
'Just head over to her, it might be important.' Drex chipped in.
I rolled my eyes at him. 'If it isn't related to the Ardolfs, I doubt if she has anything important to say.'
'You won't know if you don't go.'
He was right. As much as I didn't want to, I headed to the foot of her bedroom and knocked on the door.
"If it's Keegan, come in." Her voice sounded louder than I expected.
I opened the door and was definitely not expecting her to be standing right in front of me, folding her arms across her chest.
"It's a surprise that you came." She said, poker-faced.
"What do you have to say?" I spat. "I have other things to attend to?"
"Things like what? That useless omega?" Her words made my face squeeze into a frown, warning me that she was about to start spitting annoying words from her lips again. "I'll say this again and will remain on my word that you're spending unnecessary time and attention on that omega."
"Is that really what you called me here for?"
"Keegan, whether or not you like it, I'm still your mother and I know what's right and best for you. You need to avoid that omega. She's just a stupid and useless mutt, and don't even think of giving the excuse that she's your mate. Remember that mates are only useless and attach absurd emotions, a mate will only make you weak and make you lose all your lifelong achievements." A line formed between her brow.
"What is your problem, Luna?" my hands clenched into fists, a burning sensation was slowly rising up in my spine. "How long do you intend to control my life? Can't you just snap out of it already?" I hollered at her.
She flinched at my outburst but shook her head and let out a harsh breath. "You need serious help. You're letting this omega affect you. I'm not trying to control your life, I'm only trying to let you know what is right and what is wrong. I've raised you well enough and just how I wanted you to be, you're the perfect definition of the Alpha I wanted you to become, and you can't let an ordinary useless piece of trash destroy that. Are you seriously feeling any attracted to that thing?"
It felt like my head was being heated a thousand degrees. "Just stop this." I tried to sound calmer.
"Stop what? I should be telling you to stop it, stop whatever is wrong with you. If you think you'll be happy with a mate, think about the repercussions of being with that useless creature. How can the strongest Alpha be attracted to an omega?"
"I'm not attracted to her, I have no feelings for her, what is your problem? Can't you forget it?” I yelled again, holding my temples in frustration.
"Really? Then why were you so bothered about her yesterday? I've never seen you get so worried over someone before, what was that for? You troubled the entire pack over an ordinary thing? What do you want the pack members to think of their Alpha? That he's losing his mind over the pack omega that's supposed to remain the most useless slave in the pack? The same omega who had the audacity to reject the Alpha?"
My blood felt like it was boiling with something greater than fury. This made no sense, her words made no sense either, nothing about this made sense. It was such a waste of time speaking to her. I turned around and stormed out of the room, ignoring everyone on my way till I got to my bedroom.
The omega's scent filled the entire room, but was a bit fainter than normal. I flicked the switch on and advanced to the bed where she was covered in a blanket. Why was she sleeping on my bed when the couch was perfectly fine?
Something didn't feel right at all, something felt off. Was it her scent? Was it something else? I just knew something was off.
A strong urge to see the omega's face and maybe brush her hair away from her face in her sleep ran through me. Remembering Mom's words made me feel even more pissed off by the stupid urge.
"Omega," I tapped her to wake her up, but my hand sank into the blanket. It felt way too soft to be someone's body underneath the blanket. I lifted the blanket and tossed it across the bed as my eyes widened at the sight of clothes underneath it and not the omega. "Where the heck is she? Did someone come in to take her?" I glanced around but the windows were closed.
Panic ignited in me, but I stopped myself from raising an alarm due to Mom's words; it was going to be strange to disturb the pack over the Omega again. I increased my smelling sensitivity and could smell a trail of the omega's scent. I quickly followed it and it led to the back door. From the back door, I followed the trail of her scent to the pack garden, then someone else's scent also lurked around hers, it was familiar, but I couldn't define it.
"Where the heck is she?" I wondered, befuddled on whether or not to be worried. My eyes caught with my coat lying on the floor. I rushed to pick it up and the omega's scent was strong around it which confirmed that she had worn it.
Did she sneak out of the house? But why? 'What if she ran away?' Drex came up with his stupid suggestion.
'Are you out of your mind? She wouldn't dare!'
'She isn't treated as a queen here, why would you think she wouldn't run away? We have to find our mate before it's too late. Pay attention to the sound of her voice and strengthen your sense of smell!' His words made fear kick inside of me as my chest throbbed. The omega couldn't have run away, I wasn't going to feel good about that. She couldn't leave yet, at least not now.
I quickly headed to my car and placed extreme focus on my sense of smell while straining my ears to hear her voice but was distracted from hearing anything by my focus on following her scent. Though her scent was faint, I had to open my car window to follow it.
It took a while till I finally drove into a street and her scent became stronger. I could now hear her voice, accompanied by a familiar male's voice. Her voice led me to a restaurant and she was seated on a seat by the glass wall.
An anger-filled heat flooded my body system at the fact that she was out without my permission and made me get worried for almost no reason.
I stormed out of the car and into the restaurant, just in time to see her with Casper who said something I didn't pay attention to, but I heard, 'princess' as he bowed and planted a kiss on her knuckles. His gesture made her giggle with a blush coating her cheeks, but it felt like a spark exploded in my brain that he was touching her and kissing her hand.
Her eyes widened when she noticed me mid-giggle. She quickly pulled away from Casper as her hands began to tremble.
"Al-Alpha... you're... you're here." She stuttered, glancing at Casper, indirectly warning him that they had both called for doom upon themselves.
"Are you both out of your minds?" I was surprised that I didn't yell.
"I'm sorry Alpha, but I don't understand what you mean." Casper stared at me with his eyebrows raised in confusion. His confusion felt fake to me and made me feel like pouncing on him to punch him in the face multiple times. I stormed to them and the omega quickly stepped in front of Casper, still quivering like she was about to pass out.
"Please Alpha, I can explain. I didn't mean to break any rules by sneaking out or going on a date." She just confirmed that she snuck out and was on a fucking date?! That made me feel like a bolt loosed in my brain.
I grabbed her arm and stormed away with her, ignoring her explanations till I opened the car door.
"Get in."
"Just listen to me, please, don't punish me." "Get in!" I still didn't yell.
Casper walked out of the restaurant, staring at the omega with a small frown on his face.
"You'll kill me or something. I'm not going with you." She cried.
"Alpha, please calm down. Don't exert your anger on her. I didn't realize you didn't know. Why don't I drive her to the pack house while you try to calm down so you don't harm her?"
"Harm her? Why don't you get the fuck out of here before I break your bones?!" I hollered at him.
"She didn't do anything wrong, just be-"
"Enough, now!" I warned him. "Casper's right." She scrunched her face like realization just hit her. "I apologize for sneaking out but I'm not wrong for anything else."
"You're not permitted to go on dates," I was surprised that I still wasn't raising my voice at her, "I don't want you going on a date with a random dude."
"But why? Are you jealous or something? I should have the right to at least make this decision on my own, not based on annoying pack law." She frowned and wasn't trembling anymore.
"Jealous?" I chortled, taken aback by her sudden change in attitude and pissed off that she could assume I was jealous.
"Yes, do you think I'm your mate?"
I stared at her, completely unsure of how to respond to her. "Go with him. I'll head to the pack house." I slammed the door shut and turned around to get into the driver's seat. My head felt like it was burning. Who the hell did she think she was to think I was jealous of her and her stupid date? This madness has to stop and I needed to end it.