Alpha Kowen
"What the hell!"
"Hey, why don't you look where you're going?" The words came out spontaneously from his lips when someone collided right into him.
Instinctively, his quick reflexes took over as his ears picked up the first crack of the glass as it crashed into the solid surface. Before he knew it, he caught the woman in his arms, before she followed the same fate as the shattered shards on the slippery floor.
"Wait! That scent."
Her scent.
His nose twitched as it detected a familiar female essence, wafting in the air.
The perfume she wore was different as he subtly sniffed the woman still cradled in his arms. But he easily recognized that peculiar scent that had haunted him since that night.
"I'm sorry..." She repeatedly apologized for the trouble she had caused. But before he could say anything, she pushed against his chest.
Without even looking at him, she wiggled her body off him and fled.
As in, she ran off as if her ass was on fire, not caring if she bumped into someone again. From the look of it, she appeared to be trying to run away from something or someone.
"Hmm!"
Why did she smell the same as the woman from the other night?
"Because IT IS HER." An upheaval erupted inside him. "Dum, dum!"
"Hey, there's no need for name-calling." Reprimanding his wolf for acting like a child.
"Well, if you stop acting stupid, then I won't be calling you one. Now, go get our mate." Kael demanded as if he had authority over the matter.
"I told you..." He sighed exasperatedly. "She's not our mate." But his eyes couldn't stop following her— his every nerve urged him to go after her.
"But don't you feel it. There is something about her." Kael insisted.
"So? It's nothing. Without the mate bond, she doesn't mean anything." He countered. Still, he kept his ground. Unmoving. Steadfast. Resolute.
Nonetheless, he could not help but wonder what about her drew him to her. This time, he could not blame the drugs. Clearly, he was not under the influence of alcohol or any intoxicating substance.
Therefore, why was he still attracted to her? Why did he still feel this strong connection between them? Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?
Curiosity. Interest. Lust.
"I don't know about you, Kowen. Mate or not. I believe she is special." Kael stood on his conviction.
Although he agreed that Kael might be on to something, he still had his doubts about the mate thing.
At any rate, if she was that girl from the other night, he had to find out who she was.
"What are you doing? Go after her." Kael yelled inside his ears, urging him to move. To run after her.
But—
"Kowen, why are you still standing there?" A sultry voice sliced through his thoughts, reminding him that he was here with someone. "Our table is already ready. And father would be arriving soon."
The soft hand that touched his arm made him stop in his tracks, preventing him from going after the woman, who had just disappeared behind the kitchen door.
"Shall we?" The woman asked as she tried to get his attention.
"Kowen, what are you doing? We're losing her." Again, Kael rumbled through his thoughts like a child who was throwing a tantrum.
"Give me a minute, Tyra. I have to deal with something real quick." He held her palm in his, patting it on the back. "Why don't you go ahead. I'll be right there."
Quickly, he pushed her away.
Reluctantly, she complied. "Don't make me wait, ok, honey." Tyra, who arrived with him, affectionately skimmed her fingers along his jawline before turning and striding toward their assigned table.
In turn, he pivoted his eyes to his phone and dialed a number. "Nash, I need you to do something for me." He instructed his Beta to review the restaurant's CCTV footage to identify the woman who bumped into him.
"If that was her, we need confirmation." He was not about to jump to a conclusion. "In the meantime, why don't you behave and keep your thoughts to yourself. Can you do that, Kael?"
He didn't need his wolf distracting him from tonight's dinner.
Trust him.
Kael could be pesky. Annoying as hell, if he wanted to, especially if he let him.
"What was that all about?" Tyra asked as soon as he joined her at the table, wiggling her finger at his phone and prying with the conversation he just had.
"Just business." He answered nonchalantly. "Nothing that concerns you." Not caring if he sounded rude.
"Anyway, what are we doing here, Tyra?" He went straight to the point. "Where is your father?"
Alpha Dean had asked him to meet him here tonight to discuss something urgent. What he didn't expect was that Tyra would be joining them.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he found Tyra already waiting for him at the entrance, leaving him with no choice but to escort her to their table.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" She asked, batting her eyelashes and biting her lips seductively.
"Tyra, I'm here for business. Nothing more." Cutting her off before she misled herself into believing that this was a date. Because it was not.
"Dean..." He cut Tyra off before she could respond, upon seeing the Alpha of the Silver Fang Order walking toward them. He quickly stood up, greeting the older man with a firm bear hug, a sign of respect in their pack.
But among humans, they usually avoided titles like Alpha or Beta. The last thing they needed was for humans to snoop around and become suspicious of their kind.
As much as the werewolves would like to live freely with humans as equals, it was just not possible. The difference between their kind and humans usually created a significant threat to their weaker counterparts.
Unfortunately, fear had easily led to misunderstanding, mistrust, and uncertainty— used as a motivator to incite war between the different species.
Therefore, their forefathers decided to keep their secret among themselves and live among humans, preferably in secret, pretending to be humans like everyone else.
"But, Kowen, aren't you here to discuss our wedding with my father?" Tyra leaned closer to the table, shifting her gaze between him and the man sitting right next to her.
"You know I never agreed to that."
"But..."
"I'm sorry, Dean, but I agreed to marry your daughter, Eliza. Not Tyra." He reminded both father and daughter of their previous arrangement.
His father, Alpha King David Caldwell, had entered an agreement with Alpha Dean Maddox to unite their packs through the union of their children when they came of age.
A marriage pact.
At that time, he was only twelve, and Alpha Dean's daughter, Eliza, was just five. Although they were still young, he already knew that there was a special connection between him and the young girl.
Therefore, he readily agreed to the marriage. Besides, Eliza might not be his mate, but he could always choose her as his mate when the time comes.
"But Eliza's gone. I want you to honor your promise and unite our two packs just like what your father and I had agreed upon." Dean insisted. "I want you to marry Tyra instead. After all, she is also my daughter."
Since Eliza died, he thought that the agreement between their fathers had died with her. He never expected that Alpha Dean would demand that he fulfill that promise by substituting another daughter.
"Can you give me time to think about this?" He didn't want to make a hasty decision, not when a lot was at stake.
Including his freedom.
Unlike humans, marriage in the pack was sacred. Divorce was never on the table. Only death or extreme circumstances could separate what was joined by the Moon Goddess.
"If there is nothing else, I'm leaving." He was about to stand up when Alpha Dean stopped him.
"Actually, I have another matter that I want to discuss with you. Tyra, why don't you go back home? I'll talk to you later." Dean dismissed his daughter, who didn't leave without expressing her displeasure.
"I'm sorry about my daughter. I blame Patricia for spoiling her too much." The older man shook his head, showing his disappointment at his daughter's juvenile behavior.
Tyra was Alpha Dean's daughter with his second wife, Patricia, who was the daughter of a Gamma Commander— one of the bravest warriors in their pack.
Unlike Eliza, who was the daughter of Alpha Dean and his human wife, Tyra was not a hybrid.
Tyra didn't have human blood. She definitely was not weak.
"It's fine, Dean." He casually replied, just wishing to drop the subject.
Although he was already used to Tyra's antics, he didn't know if he would really like to marry her. First of all, she was not his mate. Second, he didn't feel any connection with her.
Most importantly, she was not Eliza.
"She's definitely not Eliza. And she's not her." Kael interrupted his thoughts. "If you're going to marry someone, it might as well be Ms. Red Hoodie."
"Red Hoodie?" He almost laughed at his wolf's twisted sense of humor. "You know you're not funny, right?" Again, blocking Kael out of the conversation.
"So, what is it?" He finally asked, focusing on the man sitting opposite him.
As usual, he preferred to sit in the farthest corner of the restaurant where they would be secluded from most patrons.
So, no one could eavesdrop on their private conversation.
"It's about the rogues. Many of them are said to be missing." Alpha Dean reported to him, citing possible abductions. "There is a witness. He said that he saw a group of men wearing red hoods at the site of the last incident."
"Red hoods?" He blurted out the words that stuck in his mind. It was not the first time that he had encountered those words.
What was going on?
First, the woman who had slept with him.
Second, the woman who drugged him.
Now, men who were abducting the rogues.
Was that all a coincidence?
Well, he never believed in coincidences.
Come to think of it, those three might have some sort of a connection.
But what?