Chapter 3

Aaron POV

“How the hell could you agree to this?!” I slam my hands flat against my father’s desk.

“Watch your tone, Aaron,” he warns me, “You do not want to challenge me.”

He gives me a stern look as he takes in my stance. I lean back from the desk and back off slightly. I may not agree with his choice right now, but I don’t want to force an alpha challenge.

At only twenty-two, I’m ready to take responsibility for the entire pack. Becoming alpha is an honored role that I take extremely seriously. I have been preparing for it since I was old enough to understand the position in the pack. As his firstborn, my father has been training me to lead my entire life. But he doesn’t want me to need to challenge him for the right. He wants to hand the position to me when he thinks I am ready for it.

Which will be the day I find my other half.

In other words, he won’t let me take the position until my wolf and I are whole. An Alpha cannot lead without his Luna, and since I haven’t found my mate yet, he doesn’t believe I should take the position.

I honestly understand his viewpoint. The pack is strongest with a Luna. She’s the heart of the pack and balances out a lone Alpha. My Luna is my equal in everything and the one I will love. I need my mate to become a great leader and to have a great love.

But it’s been four years since I’ve been able to feel a mate bond and it’s still been silent.

Shaking my head slightly, I refuse to let my mind go down that road. I may not know when, but I will find her.

“I’m not going to need to challenge you,” I scoff at him, “You willingly sent a Lycan’s soul into hunter territory. Once Phoenix finds out what you did, he’s going to kill you.”

“I didn’t send her anywhere. This was Ashlyn’s plan, and she was going to go into the hunter group either way,” he tells me.

“Doesn’t mean you should have helped her,” I want to roll my eyes, but I can’t show him disrespect right now, “Do we know if she got Phoenix out?”

I might be pissed about him hiding secrets from me, but I understand the need for Ashlyn to want to protect her soulmate. Phoenix has been our pack’s Lycan ambassador for almost ten years now. I watched him fall in love with his human soul. They never deserved to be separated the way they have been.

He leans back slightly in his chair. The old wood creaks slightly against his massive size, “The scouts we sent picked up both of them along with a few other shifters at the rendezvous point. They’re driving to Lycan territory for their daughter immediately.”

“Alright. I’ll go find Zach and Thatcher. We’ll head over to the hunter facility. Even if it’s completely burnt down, we can still scour the woods to see if any of the survivors are still around,” I tell him.

“Will you now?” he raises an eyebrow. He tries to give me a stern look for overstepping, but it only lasts a few seconds. He knows I’m ready to become Alpha, “Go find your betas. The scouts leave for the hunter facility in an hour.”

I smile at him and tell him I’ll call him from the site before I head out of his office. Walking down the hall, I head towards the main living room. The same one most of the pack uses as a rec room since most of the pack who lives in the pack house are all teenagers and twenty-somethings who haven’t found their mate yet.

Moving closer to the room, I hear Zach and Thatcher immediately as they argue over the videogame they are playing. I smile at their childish behavior. Something that will probably never change.

Zach and Thatcher are both sons of my father’s beta, causing us to spend our entire childhoods together. We trained and studied together. Over the last few years, we have become the leaders in the pack forces. We are the ones my father sends to hunt rogues and to go into hunter territory. We work as a perfectly in sync team. Once we turned twenty-one, we started also taking on the responsibilities of our parents. None of us might be able to officially take our positions, but that doesn’t mean we are any less pack leaders.

The three of us have always been inseparable. It’s no doubt for anyone that they will become my beta and gamma when I take the position of alpha. But we don’t know which one will become my gamma and my Luna’s protector.

I have to find her first.

Thinking about my mate causes a pause in my movement. Most alphas find their mates around eighteen. I was so sure I would find her that day too that we threw a huge party and invited every wolf pack we could think of. Almost a thousand wolves showed up. I knew of at least five different mating matches found that day because of the event, but it didn’t happen for me.

My mate never showed up.

I’m starting to lose hope that she ever will.

I feel my wolf growl in my mind at my words. He never likes it when I insinuate that our mate isn’t out there.

Pushing forward, I enter the living room. The twins immediately drop their argument and stand when they see me. I know my face is showcasing the serious nature of what our next mission will be.

“We’re going into hunter territory. We leave in one hour.”