Chapter 33

***Alex’s P.O.V***

I slammed my fist on the table making it shake and creak. 12 pairs of eyes turn in my direction. My head was pounding and I really didn’t want to hear anymore bickering. I had been on edge for weeks and honestly, I was ready to rip someone’s throat out. I looked around at everyone and then focused on the two men standing in front of me.

“Explain something to me. You two had 6 months, 6 months to sort out a treaty that was agreed upon by both packs. Today, you were meant to be signing that treaty and you are telling me THAT YOU HAVEN’T GOT ONE?!” I was yelling by the end of the sentence.

Both the men dropped their gaze and bowed a little.

“Queen, it’s not that easy. Our packs have been enemies for generations. We can not just create peace in 6 months” Alpha Walter spoke first. He was the Alpha for the Stone Creek Pack.

“I agree with Walter, Queen.” Alpha Cowan added. He was Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath in. I cursed in my head and clenched my jaws.

“So the death of 70 of your pack members hasn’t given you enough willpower to want to find a way to make peace, Alpha Cowan.” My words come out as an accusation.

Both the Alphas looked up at me at once. Their eyes held fear and sadness.

I had spent 3 weeks trying to sort out how this had happened. How 70 people died in an ambush by rogues. How?!

***3 weeks prior.........***

After marking Clark, we spent the next few hours locked up in my room exploring each other. I loved the fact that Clark was so rough and controlling in bed. As the Queen of the South, I was always making decisions, always controlling things. Kona thought that giving Clark control made us look weak. But after a few sessions of Clark throwing us around into positions I had never heard of, she was very happy to comply.

Our sexual adventures came to an end when dad sent an S.O.S signal through the pack link. There was a rogue attack on a pack further south and I had to go urgently. Clark and I hadn’t finished our mating and he had no training which meant I couldn’t take him with me. So before leaving, I put Ash and Ethan in charge of his safety and Esther in charge of Natalie’s safety. Matt was livid about having to leave Natalie alone. He had completed the process and it was meant to be easier for him since he could connect with Natalie. Even so, he acted like a lovesick puppy and pouted the entire drive.

What I thought would be a 3-day trip quickly escalated into 3 weeks. I was going crazy. I had only seen Clark on video chats and it was definitely not enough. His body had started to feel my emotions and I had Ethan start his training. I could feel his anxiety about me being away and he complained that all he could feel from my end was how horny I was. He was worried that it was the only emotion I had.

Truth was that I had learnt to control my emotions and I knew how to manipulate the mink link. It was part of my training with Sensei Gideon. Clark was still learning a lot of things about me and my sudden travel had complicated things. In some ways, it was a good thing because Clark had the chance to understand how complicated my job and life was. I would go away on trips for weeks at a time and even though Clark would travel with me once we had finished the process, there were certain times I would have to go alone.

The boys were doing a good job looking after our mates while we were away. Clark and Natalie were always escorted anywhere they needed to go. No one at school knew about Clark and me and he wanted to keep it that way until the end of the school year even though I assured him we wouldn’t have any issues.

Matt and I had made the trip alone and that normally was okay. However, when we saw the bloodbath, I called in the headquarters warriors. I had never seen something so violent before and it made me wonder if this was the beginning of the prophecy….

**Current day...**

“70! You lost 70 pack members because the closest pack to you couldn’t cross a boundary line to come help you. This “generational conflict” you two have, cost you lives of people that look at you for guidance. That looks to you for protection. They look at their leader with the expectation that they are always safe! During this “generational conflict” the two packs have had, how many times have you had a rogue attack kill 70 people?”

“With all due respect Que-....” someone started speaking from the background.

“NO! No one was asked to speak” I barked standing and hitting the table so hard it cracked and the force sent my chair spinning across the floor.

“None of you saw the mutilated faces of dead children. The body parts of pack members laying across the floor of your packhouse! Pools of blood that those rogues used to paint messages on the village houses. When you’ve collected body parts with no identification, you will have the opportunity to talk!” I was furious.

The entire room went quiet. The last 3 weeks had been tough. All the things I had seen had scarred me for the rest of my life. I didn’t expect to turn up in that kind of situation. I had spent hours helping Alpha Cowan bury loved ones. He had a pack of 200. The death of 70, really shook them up. They all said that there were a dozen rogues. That many rogues together didn’t make sense. They either roamed alone or in pairs. That many together, something was definitely wrong.  Matt and I had also tried to follow the scent the rogues left behind so we could track which way they went but the hunt ended at the river where we lost the scent. I sent the warriors to search for a scent further but after 6 hours they came back with no luck.

All the Alpha’s before me had their eyes lowered. They had been called for an urgent council meeting so we could talk about strategies to ensure this attack didn’t happen to other packs. The only problem we could find in Alpha Cowan’s pack was that they were a secluded pack with not very good relations with their neighbouring pack. They were an easy target. Unfortunately for Alpha Cowan, 6 months before the massacre, a peace treaty had been proposed but it never went ahead due to pack differences.

The way his packhouse and the village houses were tossed, the rogues were looking for something. We were still yet to determine what that was.

“Queen, if I May speak please?” Came a voice.

I looked up to see Alpha Bruce looking at me. I nodded.

“I think Alpha Cowan’s pack should relocate. Whatever those rogues were looking for, if they haven’t found it then they might come back. It’s not safe for them there”

“I agree with Alpha Bruce. I’m sure we can find an area for them somewhere close to a stronger pack in case of another attack” Alpha Reed spoke.

“What?! That’s a horrible idea! Why would you put other packs at risk? If they are the ones the rogues are after then I wouldn’t want them near my people” Alpha Harry chipped in and there were a few nods in agreement.

“Calm down everyone, there’s no proof that Alpha Cowan’s pack was a target. Maybe their location was a target or someone in particular and things got out of hand. We can not assume the whole pack is at fault” dad spoke. He had come down for the council meeting. He after all was the Alpha of the Danton pack.

“Sorry Alpha Danton, no disrespect, but not everyone has the Queen living in their packhouse providing extra protection.” Alpha Harry rolled his eyes.

“Wow Alpha Harry. I never expected you to be so bitter. I’m sorry I won’t fuck your son. I would NEVER mate with an asshole like him.” I hadn’t told anyone here about Clark. Until he was trained and we had finished our mating, I didn’t see the need for anyone outside the pack to know. Truth be told, I was actually scared of what would happen if my enemies found out. I wanted Clark to at least be prepared to defend himself in case something did happen, not that I’d let anything happen to him.

“That is not what this is about!” He yelled at me.

I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms.

“Since you dare to raise your voice at me, I’m sure you have a very logically explanation”

“I-...My apologies, Queen. I didn’t mean to speak to you like that. I meant no disrespect. All I meant was that the Danton pack has an advantage with you being there. We all don’t have that advantage if something happens” he bowed his head.

I heard dad chuckle next to me.

“What you laughing at old man?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I can not believe my 18-year-old daughter is bossing around Alphas that are twice the age of her father. It’s just funny to watch. Make me laugh every time!”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at the crazy old fart.

Alpha Harry had a point and I knew I couldn’t get mad at that. Fuck sakes. I took a deep breath in and held it.

****He has a point. What do I do now?**** I mind linked Matt. He was downstairs listening to the meeting through our link.

****Only thing I can think of is HQ. There are enough houses around the HQ to fit Cowan’s pack. We could relocate there until this situation cools down. I mean that’s where you are meant to be based anyway.****

He was right. HQ was the perfect place.

“Alpha Cowan, how quickly can you get your pack sorted to relocate?” I turned towards the grieving man.

“Give me a couple of hours and we should be good to go. We lost most of our possessions in the attack, there’s not much for us to pack.”

“It’s settled then. In light of what Alpha Harry has said, it is an advantage having me around. So, I’ll be moving Alpha Harry’s pack to HQ. There’s enough room in the packhouse plus the outer houses for them to stay in. Until we can figure out what’s going on, they will stay there, with me. I’ll move back into HQ and if Alpha Cowan’s pack was the target, then I’ll be there to help him. If not, then I’m at travel distance to anywhere I am needed. That’s the whole reason HQ was made where it is.”

I saw heads nodding and agreeing to the plan.

“That’s a really good idea sweetheart,” Dad said, smiling at me.

“It’s settled then. Alpha Cowan, I’ll bring in my warriors to help you move. Take what you need. Stay on alert just in case. I’ll head back up and gather my belongings and I’ll meet you at HQ”

“Sounds like a plan my Queen” Alpha Cowan bowed before he and Alpha Walter walked back to their seats.

“Anyone else have anything else they want to talk about while we’re here?” I walked over and grabbed my chair.

****YES! We get to go home. Natalie will be so excited.**** Matt rejoiced.

****Hang on Romeo. Don’t say anything yet. Maybe we can surprise them****

****Oh even better**** he let out an evil laugh.

I sat back on my chair and pulled out my vibrating phone. Clark was calling. Fuck!

“Gentlemen, Ladies, I have to take this call. Be right back” I walked out of the meeting room and into my office.

“Hey” I answered, letting go of the breath I was holding.

“Hey, Babe. Guess what? I’ve got tickets to see Metallica! VIP tickets.”

“Clark, you called me to tell me that? Babe, I was busy in an important meeting, you could have just texted me that” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was doing that a lot recently.

“When aren’t you busy Alexandria? I haven’t spoken to you in 2 days and now that you’ve answered your phone, you're being rude. Why’d you even bother to answer?” I could hear the bitterness in his voice.

I sighed “babe I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot happening and-...”

“Okay well let me know when you have time for me ya?” And the call was cut off.

I closed my eyes and gripped my phone so tightly that I heard it crack.

I quickly looked at it and cursed. Great! Just great! I threw the phone against a wall and watched it smash even more.

“Wow” Matt walked in.

“He's already resenting me. I warned him I came with baggage and he warned me he wanted to know about my life first. Why the fuck is this so complicated?!” I yelled.

“Alex, calm down. It’s just about to get worse. You’ve decided to move to HQ. How’s Clark going to take that news?”

Fuck! I hadn’t even thought of that.

“Fuck sakes! Now I can’t even make decisions without thinking about how it’s going to affect him. You know what, maybe it’s good that he's mad. He can stay mad until I get all this sorted. Maybe he will find another mate and between Roy and Clark’s drama, I’ll just die!” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

The door opened again and dad walked in.

“Sweetheart, I think everyone’s ready to leave now. Shall we wrap things up?” He asked looking between Matt and me.

“Yes please, dad. Matt and I are going to head home. I’ll get the warriors to come over now to help Alpha Cowan and I’ll see you all later” I didn’t wait for his response.

I walked out the door and headed for my car. Matt was right behind me. He tossed me the keys and I got into the driver's side. We had been living out of the car for the last 3 weeks and all our things was already in the trunk.

“You sure you should be driving?” Matt asked as he got in.

I glared at him. He held his hands up.

“Yeah just checking”

I started the car and headed towards the Danton Pack territory.

It was a little after 6 pm when we finally reached the territory.

“Call Ash and see where they are” I ordered Matt.

He pulled his phone out and called.

“Yo Ash, where are you at?” He asked.

I could hear my brother.

“We’re at Clark’s place.” He replied. There was video gaming noise in the background.

“He wanted to pick up some stuff so we ordered pizzas and decided to chill here for a bit”

“Alright. Alex smashed her phone so just thought we’d check in” he replied, turning to look at me.

“Ohhhh who was she mad at?! That’s what, the 4th phone in 3 weeks?” Ash laughed.

“Shut up asshole! I’m going to rearrange your pretty face when I see you next!” I yelled.

“Haha! By the time that happens, you would have forgotten about this conversation” he laughed.

I pulled into Clark’s street and decided to park a few blocks down.

“Okay gotta go. Talk to you later man” Matt hung up.

“We walking?” He turned to me.

“Yeah. Let’s go”

We got out and I locked my car. The 2 mins walk to Clark’s was making me anxious. He was mad at me and I didn’t want the news of me moving to make things worse. We got to the main door and I pulled out the spare key he had hidden in the plant next to his door.

Matt opened the door and we walked in. Natalie was the first to see us. I quickly put my finger over my lips and shhh’d her.

“I’ll deal with you later, where’s Clark?” I whisper yelled at Ash.

He pointed towards the back where Clark’s room was.

I walked down the hallway and zeroed in on the noises in his room. He was opening and closing drawers.

The bedroom door was open so I quickly peeked in. He had his back towards the door while he packed clothes in his duffel bag.

“Going somewhere?” I asked, leaning against the door frame.

He jumped a little before turning and giving me his gorgeous smile.

“You’re home! YOU’RE HOME!” He yelled and rushed over to me. He picked me up and twirled me around.

“Yes yes, I’m home. Put me down” I yelled at him, laughing.

He put me on his bed and knelt in front of me.

“Oh babe, I’m so happy you’re home! I was dying to see your gorgeous face!” He shrieked.

I took a deep breath in. Here goes nothing.

“Babe, calm down. I’m only back for a few hours.”

I watched as his face dropped.

“I’m sorry babe. I have to be back at HQ in the morning. Things haven’t really worked out the way I wanted it to and-....”

He raised his hand to stop me.

“Then why did you even come here if you had to leave again? Alex I can’t,  I can’t do this anymore. I crave to see you. I crave your touch. I want to be around you and it’s killing me not knowing how you are or where you are. It’s killing me not knowing if you’ll be coming back home. Babe, it’s not fair that you, my girl, have to go out there and defend yourself without me having your back.”

“Please don’t sound so sexist right now. Clark, I’m fine. I can’t take you with me. At least I can defend myself. I’ve trained day and night for 10 years. Training that I would never wish upon my enemies. You haven’t even shifted yet babe, you’ll get eaten alive. I just witnessed 70 chopped up dead bodies. Mutilated to the point that no one could identify them. After seeing that, you are definitely not coming with me.” I stood up and took a few steps away from him.

“I guess I was right. You should have waited to mark me. We should have given it more time and learnt more about all these things. What do I do now? I’m stuck here with a mark on my neck that belongs to a mate who has been mine for 16 hours before she disappeared for 3 weeks.”

“I’m yours, Clark! YOURS GOD DAMN IT! Just because I had to go away on a mission doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. I have responsibilities and I can’t turn my back on them for you. As for your mark, if you find it an inconvenience, then we can get rid of it.” I felt a lump in my throat.

Clark stared at me. He was searching for something in my face and I could tell he couldn’t find it.

“Get rid of it.” His words broke my heart. I felt a sharp pain pierce me. I was used to pain. I felt the tears building up in my eyes and I quickly blinked them away.

I walked over to him and stood directly before him. For a second, uncertainty ripped through me. Did I really want to do this?!

But the emptiness in Clark’s eyes told me there was nothing left to fight for.

“I, Alexandria Zadie Danton, reject you Clark Marshal Miller. The mark you bear shall no longer exist and will no longer be a symbol of our commitment. Do you accept it?”

Clark swallowed hard and nodded.

“Moon Goddess, with the power, bestowed on me, I claim the mark to be erased” I placed my hand over the area his mark was and watched the pain shoot through his face. He dropped to the floor and curled into a ball. Screaming in agony.

The door flung open and Matt bolted in with Ash on his heels.

“What did you do?” Matt asked.

“I did as I was asked.” I swallowed my pain and watched Clark twitch in pain. My whole body felt numb. I couldn’t move but I didn’t want to seem weak.

****Kona… Give me strength…****

I summoned my wolf and she took over numbing all my emotions.

“Is Nat coming with us?” I asked not taking my eyes off Clark.

“Yeah” was all Matt said. He looked down at Clark and then back up at Ash.

“Go pack her bags. I want to leave at the break of dawn. Ash stick around and keep an eye on him. He is no longer our priority, but he is a member of the pack, so his protection is our responsibility.” I turned to leave but stopped at the doorway.

“Clark, you and I are done. If you can not support me now, I don’t know if you will ever be worthy of helping me carry my baggage. 3 weeks was all it took for you to decide my life wasn’t worth having patience for. I may be able to erase your mark, but no one can fix my broken hymen. Something I had specifically set aside for my mate. So, thank you for breaking my heart and my hymen. I hope both those things were worth the frustration you were feeling.”

I walked out of his room and down the stairs. Ethan, Chris and Brendan were staying at the bottom.

“Wanna go for a run boys?” I asked and they all nodded.

“Matt, take the car” I turned and tossed the keys at Matt.

I walked out the main door and sprinted to the back of the house. Memories of the first night I had been here played in my head. As I got to the back fence, I stopped and looked back at the house. My eyes landed on Clark’s bedroom window. He stood there staring at me while holding on to the side of his neck. I thought about the night we had spent in my room. How much I enjoyed all the ways Clark fucked me.

Now it was all over…

****I’m sorry for the heartache Alex but you can not get weak right now. You have bigger problems on hand.**** Kona’s words snapped me out of my lalaland.

The boys stood next to me taking off their shirts.

“Once we get home, I want you all to take my bed into the woods and burn it. I’m not gonna need it anymore”

I climbed the fence and turned back to look at Clark one last time. He had tears sliding down his cheeks and it pinched my heart but he had made his choice.

I jumped off the fence and Kona took over right away, shifting my bones and letting me land on 4 paws.

I let out a loud howl and 3 wolves turned up next to me howling as well.

****Let’s go boys. The last one home is a rotten egg**** I laughed in the mind link before bolting into the direction of the packhouse.