Eero’s perspective
“What do you mean? I am your mate now?” I stared at the Alpha's eyes. It was dark, and I couldn't seem to decipher the emotion behind his dark gazes… Was he mad? But why would he be mad at me?
“You are my mate, as in you have my mark, Eero."
It took everything in me to know that rolling my eyes in a situation like this would anger him. I remained patient even when my insides started to shake.
“I know that I had your mark. I could still feel the pain from it in my neck. I am asking you why?”
I had enough of waiting for him to open his lips and say something. Then I figured out that he would prefer to leave me and my question hanging.
“If others, not just the Alphas, but if anyone heard that you've given your mark to a breeder, they would mock and make fun of you.”
“Then I will kill them. Now that you have my mark, everyone in every pack must respect you the way they respect me. If they disrespect my mate in any way…”
“What? You are going to kill them all?”
“I will burn them alive. They will die screaming, and those whimpers of pain will be a lesson to everyone.”
Hearing that made my skin scrawl, I never wanted anyone to die because of me. That would be too heavy for my conscience.
“We are going to stay here for the night, but once the sun is up and you've made a recovery, we'll have to go back to my pack.”
“We have a pack that we need to wipe out, and I need to start working on it as soon as I can. They must pay for what they did to me.” I heard him whispering to himself.
I didn't realize it earlier, but after I looked around, I noticed it were just the two of us here.
“Alpha, where is Beta Caspian?”
“He will be back here soon and if he acts differently towards you, never let it bother you,” he said.
I wanted to ask why would the beta suddenly act differently around me, but I managed to put the pieces of the puzzles all by myself. The Beta was against the idea that his Alpha and his best friend gave up his true mate for someone like me.
Beta Caspian soon came back with wood in his arms. Rubbing two pieces of wood against each other, he started a fire that kept us warm.
“I am sorry,” I said to him in mind link. Being the Alpha's mate meant I could now talk to anyone from his pack through telepathy.
The beta remained silent.
“If there was something that I can do, you can tell me. I don't like the fact that I am tarnishing his reputation as well—”
“You said that we'd leave early to go back to our pack tomorrow, right?" Beta Caspian suddenly asked Alpha Claudius after he stood up in his spot.
Alpha Claudius moved his head once.
“I am going to sleep now. I need some rest too,” he said, walking out on us. Both the Alpha and I followed his trail, and then our eyes locked in with each other.
“You should sleep near the fire. It will keep you warm.”
“And how about you, Alpha?”
“Just do as I told you.”
“Are you going to stay up all night to be on watch?”
“I will wake up Caspian after an hour or two, so I can sleep too.”
I nodded my head at him before lying down next to the fire. But falling asleep was not that easy.
“Are we in the wrong territory?” Caspian asked a question to no one. He let the air bring that question somewhere else as the silence between the three of us stretched.
My eyes cautiously shifted from the house banner waving on top of one of the towers of the pack to Alpha Claudius, who was already fisting his hand.
“It’s only two days after we were ambushed by the Moon Rivers Pack. Instead of searching for us, someone usurped my throne, huh?" Alpha Claudius whispered to himself while he was glaring at the different heraldic flag.
He howled, and everyone within his territory surely heard that. Some pack members in the tower peaked through their small windows. I saw their eyes widen after they found the Alpha standing in front of the tall gate.
Not even a minute had passed before the gate was completely opened for us.
One of his head warriors welcomed the Alpha. But rather than displaying his happiness because the Alpha and the Beta made here back alive, the head warrior was trembling in fear.
Pointing at the new heraldic flag, Alpha Claudius turned his head first towards the head warrior, and then his eyes followed.
“Why there's a new flag hanging in my tower? What the hell happened here? Why are you here?”
“You are supposed to be going out of your way just to look for me!”
“A-Alpha.”
“You knew that we were ambushed and attacked by Ameo and his pack. Instead of searching for me or my dead body to give me a decent burial if ever I was really dead, you usurped my throne?”
“Alpha, allow me to explain ourselves.”
“All of you did this?” The Alpha continued like he couldn't hear the head warrior begging for him.
“Tell me! Who did this?!” He asked.
“Gamma Killian did,” he said.
Alpha Claudius started to laugh. He slightly turned towards Beta Caspian. They communicated in secret and the Alpha was blocking me from hearing it through the mindlink too.
“A-Alpha! Alpha, you are alive! Help me, please! One of the pack warriors r-raped me!” A girl whom I guess was about sixteen years old ran towards the Alpha's arm, sobbing as she tried to cover herself with her ripped clothes.