BEFORE THE GALA.

BEFORE HER.

KAEL'S POV.

“ Alpha? Something to drink?”The bartender’s voice sliced through my vast void of thoughts as he asked my preference of shot.“ Vodka.”“ Rough night Sir?” He had asked while fetching my shot.

“ Not that I mind.” He countered, “You seem a bit shaken up sir.”

Shaken up ?

Was that how I’d appeared to him? Had Julian’s words at the office gotten to me?

The promise of a woman. A partner.....What the hell? I seriously couldn’t be thinking about this, my empire needs more and I could definitely handle all and anything. The oppositions? I could bear it.

Shrugging my thoughts off.“ You could definitely say that” Taking the glass of shot from him, “ And I am not shaken up, just busy.” I said.“ You sure are Sir. The pack definitely appreciates the work done.” He said his back turned as he went to attend to another customer.“ Glad my rule sets a difference.” I said as I set the empty glass on the counter. Taking a look around the bar, it wasn’t one of the best but it was an establishment that had progressed under my rule. There really was something about things going well with you at the centre to give credits too.“Sup there man, how have you been?” The voice was familiar, turning, it was Eric's.“Dudeeeee! The hell have you been ?” I replied, standing to clap his back.“Been better. Here and there’s activities, you know.”“I sort of should know. How’s your mate? Any pup soon?” I asked, casually swirling the beer in my hand.His mood darkened. “There hasn’t been a successful pregnancy yet,” looking up to me, “But with your forthcoming marriage, it should all be well I hope.”“It should.” I replied to him.It was one thing to be pressured into a life like this, becoming an Alpha, and then another to be pressured into choosing a bride, and a mate for life. These things took time and ........a deal of patience, especially when conceiving and birthing in the clan would only be possible after my planting of a seed in a woman, my mate.“So how’s the selection going?” He asked. A question I can very well tell was as innocent as him just trying to care but it rubbed salt in wounds caused by my father, the traditions and the stupid Syndicate.“Well I guess. I just need to find a woman, that's all. I am in fact an Alpha, so who would dare refuse me or not want me?” I asked in bragging.“True though, Well, I’ll leave it to you to figure out what ‘woman’ to bed. I have a mate to take care of.” He replied as stood to take his leave.A mate to care of.Few people knew not the luck The Moon Goddess had bestowed on them with the provision of a mate, where for I would have to choose and live a loveless life.‘Alpha, your presence is needed at the pack house.’ Gregor said through the mind link.‘I’ll be down in a few.’ I said replying to him.If it wasn’t father related, The moon Goddess would be praised.“Well, I get to let lierg free to run tonight. There’s that to be happy about.” I said as I downed the last of the drink, paying up and set to leave.Work had me choked up for a while, either human affairs or a pack business, there was no time for me but a run through the woods, I’d long for it.“Come on, Lierg, have your feel.”The sounds of bones snapping, and then the feel of cool unrestricted air on my furs, this, a feeling I’d kill for.“Lovely of you to join us, son.” Fathers voice serenaded the atmosphere. There was the smell of food, clinking of glasses and sounds of men.Grabbing a change of clothes from one of the servants at the entrance, I disregard the greeting Father had beratingly given me. I had no plans to argue politics or packs, or a woman.Walking past the seated guests totally ignoring the celebration, as I moved heading to my solitude of a room,“ Welcome Alpha Kael, I am Alpha Diego Blackwood of the Sauna pack, and with me my daughter, your bride and chosen mate, Lilith Blackwood.”Hold the fuck up.That was more than enough to fault me to a complete stop. Chosen mate?“I think they really must have been a huge gigantic misunderstanding for I haven’t chosen anyone, yet alone proclaim her my bride.” I said, surprise and shock dancing on my face.Hands pointing to my father, “He had chosen for you and with your permission. So he says.” Said the Elderly looking man with grey hairs, but a body fit for an aging Alpha.My permission?“I gave no such permission for any union. Now, if there’s going to be a marriage and a consent has been given, I suggest you give your daughter’s hand to whoever has consented, because I did not.” I replied.‘You dare not insult my legacy, child.’‘Well, I wouldn’t have to if you don’t stop consenting or giving orders as if you were the Alpha. I am the Alpha now, I’d suggest you remember who rules this pack now.’ I replied to my father through the mind link.If he was going to accept proposals meant for a lifetime, without consulting me first, he might as well add the new woman to his collection of wives including my step mother.“Not now men. At least let us all feast before a decision is made.” My Step mother said in a way to alleviate the tension in the atmosphere.Her smiles fake, the twinkle in her eyes, a plan in action. For her to intervene, what would this union bring forth for her?“You have plans, Step Mother. Voice them out and stop the bullshit of a play you’re about to put on.” I said addressing her smiles and obvious active plans. I wasn’t a pawn to anybody, if a wolf like Eric’s could get a mate. I too deserve one, Cursed or not.Shooting to his feet as if his buttocks had been set on fire, “You dare not address your mother, my wife like that you insolent child.”I had no intention to face off with anybody or spare words but an insult.....this I’d been getting on a loop for days. Enough be it.“She is not my mother, and you’d better not raise your voice to your Alpha again. Son or not.” I growled, silencing every remark that had been planned as a reply.Everyone stayed put as if they were frozen.Until....The sound of her laughter rang out. Soft as milk to the skin, a caress of lovely tales to my ears.It grated my already angered nerves, striding to her seated position, “And what, pray tell do I owe to this laughter of yours? Or is something funny?” I asked her.“Well I’ve heard tales and rumours of the Son who was handed his position at the Volkov Enterprises and his position as Alpha.” Laughing it off, she continued, “I’ve heard of your little mummy tales. A witch for a mother and an Alpha of the greatest pack for a father. How.......befitting.” Clicking her tongue disgustingly, “now, you have to pick a bride and I was given to you and you reject me??”“Look Woman,” I say with fingers pointing daggers in her face, “My tales or stories of childhood are nothing to you to ponder on. And yes, my mother was a witch, the greatest of her kind, she“Is dead. Live on and stop mopping.” She said cutting me off.Her confidence unwavering, her stamina ungrated .“If you want to lead, look around you,” she said, hands moving around the individuals at the table. “You have to be a leader, show not tell. Power speaks measures. Don’t let your handed down properties define you.”“And who says they define me, woman?”Standing to face my gaze, she stood defiant, “I am no ordinary woman, and you will address me as I am called. Lilith Blackwood, not ‘woman’” She replied.She possessed power, she reeked of authority. Although a woman, she did send shivers down my spine.She was the type of woman Alpha’s would love to have as a mate.“Aren’t you fated to anyone, Lilith?”I said, calling her name. Testing the way it rolled off the tips of my lips.“I ...i umm....was.” She stuttered.“But?” Arching my brows at her.It was unheard of for mates to have more than one mate although it was possible, if The Moon Goddess favoured one, not like she had ever favoured me in any way.“He died in battle defending our home and pack from rogues. And I was ousted for not having produced a child for him.”“Well, life gave him a better and easier way out.” I replied, turning to head back to my room. This was enough sob story and arranged marriage drama for a day, more than I could take.“Why run away from your duties Kael?”She really wasn’t letting me off without a lesson or two, was she?Sighing, “There’s no running away and let me be.”Not waiting for another word to be uttered from her lips, I dash up to my room, leaving the guests to their chaos. _____________________________________________________“How dare you disgrace my daughter and I in front of your guests? you had said that he had agreed wholeheartedly to this union between him and Lilith here. Why the sudden change?”“He will agree to this union, I am his father, he listens to me besides, he’s just a child.”Their voices, I could still hear from the solitude of my room.I ??Still a child??Truly, if the fact that position had been handed to me should call for an insult spree, I’d rather take it off, I reasoned and my wolf growled agreeing with me.I was no longer a child. I was an Alpha and a leader. I had other things to attend to than.......petty power quarrels.Exhaling and inhaling the diffused air of my room. Lilac and gooseberries, my mom’s scent, it brought back memories of her and ill comments from people like my father and then .....“Could I come in ? It’s me Lilith.”Like Lilith.What could she possibly want this time, another reason to mate her or take her as one??“I just want to talk, I guarantee you that’s all I’ve come all the way here to do. Just talk.” She said, her voice sounding genuine as she stood at the other side of the locked door.“Your father or mine put you up to this??” I ask, merely throwing glances and words around as I collapse on my bed trying to get my fitting.“Not everyone gets power handed to them, and my father doesn’t dictate my life or affairs, political or sexual. I am my own woman, not sure you would know anything about being your own person, would you?”I couldn’t see her face but the sarcasm intended was heard. No doubt, she really was her own woman, a different breed from the woman who had only warmed father’s bed and bore the disgusting smile as a trophy wife. One who was seated down stairs. My step mother.Lira Oswald, a gift from the God’s above to my father. Some say she was his law of surprise. A law used to pay a debt owed, letting fate decide, for you to pay with what you have but do not know.She had been married to my father, exactly 5 years after mother’s passing. Some say my mother had been a witch, some say she was a wolf with extra abilities which weren’t belonging to a moon blooded wolf. So......she was publicly executed by the Enforcer, Gerald Arivia, one who was responsible for maintaining the pack law and the punisher of law breakers, in this case, my mom as she practiced Witch craft.But that shouldn’t have made him remarry, more or less, marry her. Memories were nothing more than figments of imagination, most times I wished she were here, but I had done nothing to save her. Do I want a mother’s love now?“I assume your silence indicates that you’re thinking of our union, doesn't it?” she asked. Why was she persistent in this? What would she stand to gain from the union, a chosen mate.“I really am not in a mood for little talks Lilith.” I said discarding anything about this union, for what wouldn’t I give to be fated to someone and not just a chosen mate.“Oh, he remembers my name, how charming, Alpha Kael.” She cooed.Moving to the closed door to open it ‘cause if not I risk not getting a rest this night because a maiden wouldn’t spare me talks of a mate bond.“What exactly do you want, Lilith? We both know that I’m in no mood, nor would I ever be, to accept you as a chosen mate for me? So why bother?” I said, spitting out words that ought to reaffirm realisation into her.“ So now you do remember me silly?, and is that rejection I hear?”Asides the theatrics displayed, we both have known each other for long in ways our parents couldn’t imagine.“So why push on, knowing that I’d reject you? And I assume your mother had more urgent cocks to be filled in with, I suppose.”“I push on because you show the world a cold walled off Alpha or man but in any case a little bit of love didn’t hurt, or did it while you were buried deep in me?” She said dismissively as her hands raised rounding my necks as if to seduce as she closed the gaps between our bodies to mold into me, “besides, my mother has more pleasure in the arms of another than to wait for a man like my father, to excite her.”“Lilac and Gooseberries?? Your mother’s scents?” She asked observing. I replied with a nod.We hadn’t been friends but we had been partners of sorts, confidants. She, a woman for herself, one who had been neglected by her husband, but had killed him. Not that the public would ever know that she was his murderer, and I, a man who just wanted to bury his cock in a woman and let himself be.She knew more about me than I’d ever let anyone know, not even my perilous brother, Julian or my beta, Gregor. More reason why I didn’t want this union with her. She was a political woman, fit for a Luna but not far from betrayal if it benefitted her.Her gaze holding mine, seeking things that I couldn’t muster to offer, she sighed, letting her hands drop to her sides, “You know well to keep what is lost, lost. But I have no doubts that you would have made a great son to her and she, a wonderful mother to you and your brother, if she had lived.”Add to the list, her way with words but she was genuine this time. From the tilt of her head, to the way she held my gaze not in a quiet competition, but in a sorry way, as if to say, she wanted to comfort me.“What is lost is lost.” I say grimly. What if ?Just what if?Demeanour changing and her cunning self seeping back in, she rearranged herself, not like there was any activity that had been performed, “I’ll take my leave now, Kael and do reconsider our union. We both have things to gain from it, if not sexually, a child should do to free your people.”Yes it would, but I dared not say it out loud for fear that a point would be made and agreed upon by me with her. But the matter of it was of great importance.With a smile and a little bow as if I were royalty, she left. Leaving me to plunder my thoughts to plunder in.Julian’s claim of providing me a woman to be mated to.A union with Lilith, that each party had things to benefit from that unknown to the other.Each point, but the question remains, would I benefit from it, or would my head as heavy as the crown upon it be always a responsibility to my pack and be put first than my own wishes and desires?Closing the door, and retreating to my personal confinement for the day, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What would my mother have said to do, if she were here?”But she was long dead, so a question to no one and an answer not provided, I fell into the darkness that provides peace, forgetting the ruckus that might or might not take place down stairs with my Father’s guests.Kings do sleep, but danger and death were never from them, nor was it when it engulfed the scent of Lilac and gooseberries, My mother.How long till it came for me