Chapter 18: Explaining Everything

-Rogan-

I walked to my office on the next floor, where Rhys, Marcus, and a few others were already waiting for me. People that were part of my inner circle, and who I knew I could always trust. It was clear Rhys had already told people what was going on, and those closest to me had come to get some answers. Some real answers. It was clear they couldn’t believe this. Their own alpha was tied to a hunter, and he was not rejecting her. I wished it was so easy, but sadly, there was a reason why you didn’t just reject your mate, or why it was so hard. We were soulmates after all. At least the Goddess believed so.

“Tell us it is not true,” Gary said.

I had known most people here since we were kids, and while Gary was someone who had joined the pack a little later, I still trusted him with my life.

“It’s true.”

I closed the door behind me, just as everyone started to yell and shout, saying that it couldn’t be, or asking what I was thinking. I just let them get it out, as I walked over to my desk and fell into my chair, sighing deeply. Finally, I held up my hand telling them to be quiet.

“Okay, that is enough!” I said.

“You can’t really be serious,” Mel said.

She stood to my right, a little further away and looking so damn shocked.

“I am …”

“How?!” she asked.

“I wish I had an explanation,” I said. “But we all know we don’t get told why our mates are chosen. Some of you know this.”

A few of them looked at the ground, knowing what it was like finding your mate and how it simply couldn’t be explained how we fell so fast for them, or why we did.

“She is going to kill us,” Marcus said.

I shook my head.

“I won’t allow it.”

“So, you will kill her if she tries?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, hesitating a bit, and I knew it shocked them because I would always before meeting Serena, have said yes. Now it was a little more complicated.

“She won’t hurt anyone. I will make sure of it.”

“You invited one into our home!” Mel said.

“I know! And I wish I could just let her go!”

“Then why don’t you?” Will asked.

“You know why. Could you reject your mate?” I asked.

Will looked away. He stood in front of my desk, his arms crossed over his chest. He was one of my best warriors and had found his mate in a lone wolf, he had met a few years ago. It had been a little difficult for the pack to accept her. Lone wolves were often on their own for a reason, and it was hard for pack members to accept outsiders so easily. We were protective of each other, but eventually, Sarah had become part of our family, and now they had a little boy together, another member of the pack.

“That’s not the same. It is not like she was a rogue,” Will said.

No, that would have been even more difficult. While lone wolves of course could have done something to either be thrown out of a pack, they hadn’t been found guilty of killing another pack member. That was how you ended up as a rogue, or if you violated another pack member in a grotesque way, such as rape. Lone wolves could just either have been born into the lonely life or maybe decided to leave a pack, or maybe they had stolen something. They normally hadn’t violated the pack in any way. Sarah had been born into that life. Her mother was a lone wolf, who had a child with another lone wolf. She hadn’t done anything evil.

“I know.”

“Yours is a hunter! Which is ten times worse,” he said, and his dark eyes locked on me.

“I know!” I shouted.

“Then get rid of her!”

“I can’t!” I yelled. “I simply … can’t.”

”Why not?” Mel asked.

”My wolf won’t let me.”

“He won’t?”

I shook my head.

“Every time I tried he would find a way to stop me. He thinks we can change her,” I said. “And … I have agreed to it.”

“Why?!” Marcus asked.

“Because I need to try. If I can’t … then yes, I will kill her. For the safety of the pack, but it might just mean the end of me too.”

Everyone looked scared at each other. It seemed like they had forgotten what it might cost me. All they could see right now was what a threat Serena was. They had forgotten the consequences of rejecting the Goddess’s gift or violating it.

“Fuck, Marcus said and sat down in front of me.

“That about sums it up …”

“So now we have to keep her alive to keep you alive,” Mel said.

I nodded.

“But I will do what is necessary, if I can’t change her,” I promised and looked at every one of them. “I will always put the pack first.”

“But we might lose our alpha then,” Gary said.

I slowly nodded.

“Perhaps. Yes …”

Everyone turned quiet, just thinking it over.

“Why a hunter?” Hannah asked.

She was another fighter of mine. Very strong. One of the best of my female ones. We didn’t have a lot of female fighters. It was not that long ago, that we changed the law about training our females. At least those who wanted to be trained. We had to after we almost went extinct.

“I wish I knew,” I said.

“Could it not just be a test?” Mel asked.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe, but my wolf is determined to hold onto her, so I find it hard to believe.”

“She will try and kill you,” Rhys said.

I nodded.

“She already tried.”

“Or she might run away,” Marcus said.

“I know, which is why I handcuffed her to the bed.”

That made some of them smile a little, and I was glad to see I could make the tense situation a little less tense.

“This is really some fucked up shit you have gotten us into,” Gary said.

“I know …”

“What about Julianna?” Mel asked.

Everyone looked at me rather intrigued.

“Honestly … I have no idea what to do with her.”

“What if you succeed in changing her?” Hannah asked. “What if she no longer is a threat? Will you accept her as yours?”

I sighed.

“I’m not sure I really have a choice.”

Everyone started to talk again, but I quickly silenced them.

“Enough!” I said.

“You can’t get mated to a hunter,” Will said.

“I can’t really get rid of her either. If she changes, and she no longer is a threat, then why not?”

“Even if she does change,” Will said. “It doesn’t change the past. That one has killed before. I guarantee it.”

Yeah, she most likely had. Those who were out in the field had always blood on their hands, but so did I. How many hunters hadn’t I killed? How many hunters had the people here not killed? If Serena changed, then I hoped we could both look beyond the past, because as my mate, I would only want her and no one else.