Chapter 22

Dad

We need to talk. I know you’re trying to avoid my call but I need you to call me back now

Please call me back as soon as you get this message

“Did the message go through?”

Marcellus nodded and pursed his lips, still staring down on his phone.

“What?” Dalton asked as he noticed the peculiar expression on Marcellus’ face.

“He left me on read.”

Dalton scoffed and laughed softly. “Typical parents.”

The Alpha wolf rolled his eyes, dropped his phone on the desk and leaned back in his chair, raising his hands up to run them down his face.

“What am I going to do?”

“I have no idea, man.” Dalton sighed, groaning lightly. “But it sounds like they think you’re going to go crazy without a mate or something.”

“So, what? They’re going to force a choice mate on me?” Marcellus threw his hands up in frustration, unbelieving of the fact that he was caught up in such a situation.

Everything will get solved if you just tell them that you’ve already met your mate. No one will try to force a choice mate on you then.

He made a point of ignoring his wolf as he turned back to Dalton. Instead of his Beta mirroring his anger and frustration, Dalton leaned back and watched him with a curious, strange expression on his face.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I agree that the council is completely out of order with trying to get you to take a choice mate.” Dalton hummed quietly before he continued, watching Marcellus intently as he trekked carefully over his words as setting off his Alpha was the last thing he wanted to do right now. “But you have been acting very out of character lately.”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Marcellus sighed as he held up his hands and resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he knew that none of this was Dalton’s fault. “I know that I’ve been a little all over the place and losing my temper a little lately, but we’ve already talked about this. Like I said before, everything will be back to normal soon.”

“Why do I feel like you’re lying to me?”

“I’m not lying to you.” Marcellus denied as technically he wasn’t lying but rather, omitting the truth. However, he chose to keep that little piece of information to himself as he knew that Dalton wouldn’t see it the same way.

“As your Beta, I’m going to say I believe you but as your best friend, you’ve never been able to lie to me so I don’t know why you’re trying to start now.” Dalton smiled softly though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Winnie is waiting for me so I’m going to head to bed now, but I’ll come find you first thing in the morning, okay?”

Marcellus sighed and nodded his head in gratitude, bidding Dalton goodnight as the door closed on him.

A few minutes passed as Marcellus sat in silence, doing nothing but staring straight ahead at the wall directly in front of him. his mind clear for the first time in the past week.

All of this can be avoided if you just tell them that you’ve found your mate.

Tell them what? Marcellus scoffed. That my mate is pregnant with another man’s baby?

At least it’s the truth.

I can’t do this right now. He shook his head and groaned, rubbing his hands down his face again but before the argument between human and wolf could continue, his phone started vibrating as a call came in.

“Dad? Why did you ignore my call earlier?” Marcellus demanded as soon as he picked up the phone.

Regardless of the fact that he was an Alpha and had been one for the past ten years, no one could resist turning back into a child when speaking to their parents.

“It’s nice to speak to you too, son.” His dad chuckled on the other end of the line.

Marcellus merely sighed in response and squeezed his eyes shut.

“I was in the middle of the TV show I’m currently watching and wanted to finish it before I picked up your call.”

“I’m really feeling the love here, dad.” He couldn’t but chuckle.

“As much as I appreciate you calling, it’s past midnight so I’m assuming you’ve heard the news?”

“Yes.” He replied dryly. The previous wave of rage that had swamped him had now passed and instead, he was simply tired and couldn’t wait for this day to end.

“I’m sorry, son. I have absolutely no say in this. In fact, I was only informed that this was happening a few hours ago. It was just before they called you guys up but we can both imagine why that was.”

“There’s really nothing you can do about this?” Marcellus asked, his voice laced with desperation.

“No, unfortunately. I’m not even involved in the decision-making process. Something about a conflict of interest.” His dad sighed, growling the last sentence as the Alpha wolf in him begun to rise to the surface.

“Conflict of interest, my ass!”

“My thoughts exactly!”

“Why has this turned up so out of the blue?” Marcellus groaned and fisted his hand again. “I’ve been running the pack without a mate for ten years now. Why do they care so suddenly?”

“I’m assuming there was a complaint. Any other reason doesn’t make sense as to why they would think you as unable to continue running the pack by yourself.” His dad hummed quietly. “Do you have any idea who may have sent in a complaint about you? And why?”

Marcellus audibly denied even though he had a nagging feeling about who exactly it may have been to have complained about him. While it didn’t make sense that she could formally complain about him – or even know how to go about the process – it was a gut feeling and Marcellus knew from past experience to trust his gut. There was also the fact that she was the only person that he could think of to have a valid reason to complain about him.

Much to his surprise, he wasn’t even the least bit angry toward her but instead, he was proud with how resourceful she was, as well as how brave she was to file a complaint against an Alpha wolf. Especially one that seemingly harboured a strong dislike toward her.

If his theory was correct, it would be so fucking ironic. Unfortunately, he had no way of finding out without asking her himself but with the way he had treated her, he wasn’t sure if she would be willing to speak to him ever again.

“What about Alpha Orpheus? He’s older than me and doesn’t have a mate either!” Marcellus knew that he sounded petty – especially since Dalton was currently snickering at him from behind his hand – but frankly, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Like I said,” his dad sighed. “I have no idea what’s going on or what the council thinks they’re playing at, but I’ll try and find out some information, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks, dad. I’d really appreciate that.” Marcellus sighed; defeated.

“Okay, son. Get a good night’s sleep. I’ll call you as soon as I find something out.” He promised before hanging up, leaving Marcellus all alone as his wolf had abandoned him for dreamland about halfway through the conversation despite the severity of it all.

Not for the first time in the past week, Marcellus went to bed in a sour mood.