Chapter 21

ALPHA MARCELLUS STORM

Marcellus was in the right mind to call Justas and Raphael back just so he could get his questions answered but with the way Dalton was looking at him right now, it appeared that he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

“Do you know what time it is?” He hummed quietly as his Beta took the seat that Justas was previously occupying.

“I could ask you the same thing, Mars.” Dalton snorted as he jerked a thumb toward the door, pointing out the fact that he was holding meetings in his office despite it being nearly midnight.

“Well, I needed to apologise for my earlier behaviour. That’s what I was talking to Justas and Raphael about.” He sighed and ran an embarrassed hand down his face, cringing just at the thought with the way he had overreacted in front of his mate.

“Yeah, you were acting really strange.” The Beta added cautiously, aware that Marcellus had lost his cool over this exact topic not even an hour ago. “Can I ask what all of that was about?”

Marcellus pursed his lips, rubbing a hand down his jaw.

“I’d rather not.” He chuckled lightly; his lips stretched out in a grimace. “I’d rather not talk about it. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Fair enough, but I’ve never seen you so prejudiced against humans before.”

“That’s exactly what she said.”

“Who?”

“Anastasia.” Marcellus murmured quietly, his lips twitching at the corners just at the thought of her.

Dalton frowned lightly as he stared at his Alpha and friend, surprised by his reaction toward the human that he had been engaged in a pretty lively screaming match not even an hour ago. However, before he could ask him about him, Marcellus had a question to ask.

“What did you want to talk to me about, Dal?” Marcellus asked casually, hoping to change the topic and shine the light away from Anastasia even though she was at the centre of all his thoughts.

“I just got a call from the council.”

Marcellus visibly perked up with a huge grin on his face.

“My dad called?” He asked, already reaching for his phone to dial his father’s number whom had joined the elders on the werewolf council last year after his mate and Marcellus’ mother had passed away.

“No, not your dad.” Dalton shook his head. “But you probably would want to give him a call after I tell you what the council had to say about you.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” He frowned at that, confused and with his fingers wrapped around his phone, not really sure if he was supposed to call his father now or not.

Dalton shook his head and chuckled, though the sound was far from humorous.

“Dal, what are you talking about?” Marcellus hummed in question as he dropped his phone on the desk and reclined back in his seat, prompting Dalton to explain.

“The council think that you’ve been running the pack by yourself for too long.”

“I haven’t been running the pack by myself. I’ve been running it with you.” Marcellus snorted as his lips twitched at the corners. “Did you tell them that?”

Dalton pursed his lips as he grappled for the right set of words that would perfectly explain the situation while causing minimum damage but when he couldn’t find one, he sighed and exhaled heavily, bracing himself to be on the receiving end of a fit of rage with what he had to say.

“I did try, yes, but that’s not exactly what they meant.” He murmured quietly, purposely speaking in a riddle in a desperate attempt to buy himself some more time.

“What is it, Dal?” His frown deepened as he stared at his Beta, searching his face for the answer to his question since it was apparent that Dalton was struggling with his words. “Surely whatever they said couldn’t have been that bad.”

Dalton chuckled lowly and shook his head as he clasped his hands together. Taking in a deep breath, he braced his feet firmly on the ground in case he needed to quickly move out of the way after Marcellus digested the news, definitely expecting his friend to react negatively.

“They actually gave you an ultimatum.”

“They gave me an ultimatum just because I’ve been running the pack without a mate? That’s hardly anything to worry about. In fact, isn’t that something we should celebrate?” Marcellus snorted at the absurdity of it all however, he quickly grew concerned when Dalton failed to see the same amusement. “What kind of ultimatum?”

When Dalton physically struggled with his words, taking a moment to open and close his mouth as he thought of the perfect way to explain things.

“Dalton. What kind of ultimatum did they give you?” He asked again, taking the time to spend a moment enunciating each other, needing a solid answer instead of beating around the bush as Dalton was currently doing.

“They basically said that if you don’t find a mate soon, they’re going to remove you as Alpha.”

A moment of silence passed before Marcellus exploding, slamming both hands down on the table in a fate of extreme rage, unable to believe the word that had just passed Dalton’s lips.

“What the fuck! They can’t do that! They can’t take my Alpha title away from me.”

“Well, you’re in luck since they’re not going to do that.”

“What do you mean?” He asked quietly, still breathing heavily. “You just said they’re going to remove me as Alpha!”

“As long as you get a mate soon, they won’t take the Alpha title away from you.” Dalton was quick to explain without causing any more confusion, his eyes wide with worry with the dangerous shade of red that Marcellus was turning right in front of his eyes. “As long as you either meet your moon destined mate soon, or you take a choice mate, the pack is still yours.”

“They can’t do that!” Marcellus growled loudly as he slammed his hand down on his desk, uncaring of the way it shook at the impact as he purposely chose to ignore the part about finding his mate – either moon destined or choice. “They can’t fucking do that to me! They can’t fucking do that to the pack! We’ve been fine for the past ten years without a mate. Why would I need a mate now all of a sudden?”

“Mars, calm down.” Dalton exhaled as he reached a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, his mind lingering on the uncomfortable phone call that he had just had. “I said the same thing to them but they weren’t interested in what I had to say. Maybe it will work better if you talk to them yourself?” He suggested, his argument weak and his voice shaking slightly, growing more and more concerned the longer he stared at Marcellus.

Both Marcellus and his wolf growled loudly, slamming his fist down on the table one more time before he reached for his phone, having finally reached the end of his tether.

Already searching through his contacts, he didn’t bother looking up as he next spoke.

“I need to call my dad.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Dalton sighed as he slouched back in his chair, a worried expression on his face. “Do you want me to leave while you talk to him?”

“No, you should stay. I feel like I’m not thinking straight. I’m going to need you to jump in if things go awry.” An aggravated groan passed his lips as he clicked the green phone icon and watched it ring, having place the device down on his desk and on speaker.

The phone rang a grand total of five times before it ended abruptly.

“Do you think he’s asleep already?” Dalton dared to ask in a quiet voice, his eyes wavering back and forth between the phone on the desk and his Alpha who thankfully, had started to visibly calm down even though he was still breathing heavily and his hands fisted tightly.

Dalton was just glad that he was sat on the other side of the desk.

“I’ve never known my dad to sleep before midnight. He definitely saw me ringing and then hung up.” Marcellus frowned and continued to stare down at his phone as he shook his head. “I bet he knew I was going to call.” He murmured quietly, his lips curling down into a deeper frown.

“Try texting him.”

Marcellus nodded and did just that.