Chapter 16

Ms. Shadmon froze. "H-He, is YOUR mate?"

Lumae sighed, "Yes, Ms. Shadmon, he is my mate."

Ms. Shadmon then grabbed Dominic's hand, Lumae's still in her other, and pulled them towards a small tent. "In here, in here, quickly, before anyone sees you." She made sure that no one could see inside the tent and pulled us towards two small stools, "Please, sit."

Lumae and Dominic both sat down awkwardly. "So, Lumae, why did you bring your mate here, when he probably already told you about what his father did?"

"Because he's not his father, Ms. Shadmon and he's going to help me help your pack."

Ms. Shadmon scoffed, "What makes you believe that he isn't exactly like his father? That he wouldn't try to kill any of us at the first opportunity that he gets? We don't need his help, Lumae."

"Ms. Shadmon, Dominic is NOT his father. He won't kill you for as long as I'm here. You know he couldn't defeat me in a million years. If he tried to lay a hand on as much as a single hair on any one of you guys, I would personally sort him out. He doesn't have much of a choice either. It'd mean that he'd betray his mate, and we all know the consequences of betraying one's mate."

Ms. Shadmon sighed, "I know, but it isn't me who you must convince, it's our alpha, and you know how sensitive this topic is to him."

"Yes, I know Ms. Shadmon, but it wasn't Dominic who killed his sister, it was his father, and I'll make him realise that."

Lumae then stormed out of the tent, Dominic trying to follow her, but Ms. Shadmon placed her hand on his chest, stopping from following her. She then headed straight towards the circle of betas, standing on the opposite side of the alpha. "Ehem."

"So we can try to prevent them from-", the alpha stopped in the midst of his sentence, "Could you all excuse us for a minute, I think Lumae wants to have a word with me," all the betas then stood up and headed into seperate directions.

When they were all gone, the alpha gestured to Lumae to sit down. "So, what did you want to talk about Lumae?"

"Alpha Jake, I believe I could help to protect your pack for a while, but you'll have to promise not to freak out."

"And how do you plan on doing that, Lumae?"

"W-Well... You see, Dominic Mortez is my mate, and he agreed to help your pack under the condition that I only call him by his first name, and he really isn't anything like his father. His father was cruel and ruthless, but he's nothing like that, like AT ALL, and he wouldn't be able to harm anyone in your pack even if he tried, because he'd be betraying me, his mate, and we all know if one betrays one's mate, they feel excruciating pain until the mate forgives and that pain could even cause a wolf's death...," Lumae kept blabbering non-stop, in order to get her point across before Alpha Jake can reject her proposal.

"Lumae! Stop blabbering so much, I get it, jeez. I don't really have much of a choice. My people are in desperate need of protection and your mate offers it. Even if his father killed my sister, it doesn't necessarily mean that he is like his father. He's already done more than his father ever could, he considered helping us."

Lumae was taken aback at how quickly Alpha Jake accepted her proposal, "S-So you don't have a grudge against him?"

He sighed, "Lumae, in a time like this, I can't afford to have a grudge against him. Now I know you've already brought him here, you might as well just call him out already."

Lumae was once again shocked, but stood up and headed towards the tent, "Dominic, Alpha Jake told me to call you, he knows you're here."

He sighed, "OK then, let's get through with this."

He then followed Lumae towards Alpha Jake, who seemed quite calm, "So, Dominic, I hear you'd like to help us?"

"Yes, we can provide your pack with protection."

Alpha Jake thought for a while then spoke again, "Very well, but can you promise that no one in your pack will harm us?"

"Yes, they obey my every order, they won't dare to even think of harming anyone."

Alpha Jake smiled, "Then should we get going then?" Dominic grinned along with Alpha Jake.

Not even moments later, the entire pack had all their things packed up and ready to go. Lumae walked towards Dominic, "I'll be in the middle to protect the woman and children whilst you lead the line and Alpha Jake will be at the back protecting the older men."

Dominic didn't seem to like that Lumae would be by herself in the middle of the line. "Lumae, are you sure you don't want to walk behind me?"

She smiled, "I'm sure Dominic, you just focus on safely leading their pack to yours." Lumae then walked to the middle of the line, where Ms. Shadmon stood, keeping the playful children in check.

Not soon after, the entire line started to move. They were walking for almost 20 minutes, with only ten more minutes to go. So they made a quick stop for everyone to take a break. Especially the children, who lost their playful energy 15 minutes ago and kept complaining the entire way.

Lumae then approached Dominic again, "Welp it seems like you're now on the children's bad side, hehe."

Dominic chuckled, "Yes, it seems that way, but we still have a while to go. They can catch a nap once we get there, they might feel better then."

"Well they-", Lumae's sentence was cut short when a branch suddenly snapped in the distance, but it seemed that only Lumae, Dominic and Alpha Jake had heard it, and they all made eye contact, knowing that something was wrong.

Alpha Jake then gave a short whistle to let everyone know to keep quiet. Just then another branch was heard snapping and still only they heard it and made serious eye contact again.

Alpha Jake then quickly whistled twice to tell the pack to get into their defensive formation. The children huddled up in the middle, the woman surrounding them, then all the men surrounded them, forming a triangle, with Lumae, Dominic and Alpha jake each taking one side.

The next moment, they could all hear footsteps coming from all sides. Huffs of wolves, scaring the children. They could clearly feel eyes on them. Until it suddenly stopped and one presence, an extremely dominating presence, was felt.

Lumae could feel its eyes on her, she could hear its breath and smell its scent. She was preparing herself to fight, but the next moment, all they heard was a short howl and all the wolves surrounding them were gone.

They all now let down their guard and waited almost 5 minutes to be completely sure if it was safe. Alpha Jake then gestured with his hand that everyone could calm down.

Lumae, Dominic and Alpha Jake made eye contact again, wondering what had just happened, but they decided to continue on their path, not knowing why they weren't just attacked.