Chapter 7

Axel

My father had laughed about the theme Benjamin had chosen but I could see the appeal. It looked like everyone stepped right out of a fairy tale. I was sitting on the dais, my father on my right and Marianne on my left. Benjamin was standing on the edge, searching the crowds. My Beta was nowhere in sight. I saw my other friends though, Lore, Miles and Deacon were standing on the side, whispering as their eyes were fixed on the door. With the people and the music, it was impossible to hear what they were talking about.

Idris walked through the door and into the garden wearing his most expensive suit. He looked good, I turned to look at Deacon. He was practically drooling over him. I chuckled.

"Wow." My brother breathed, just at the same time Marianne intertwined our fingers together and held on tight. The crowd went silent and even the music had died down. I looked past my brother and my heart stopped.

Spencer.

Idris held out his hand for her, she placed her hand gracefully in his and stepped forward. She was wearing a light blue gown. The bustier was tight around her chest and waist, pushing her breasts up. The bodice was lace and see-through and the skirt flowed to the ground. Her hair was shorter than it was when I last saw her. Lycaon, it must have been five years. She looked even more beautiful than on the day she left.

My father and brother stepped down the dais making their way to them, to her. And it felt like someone had punched me in the gut at the possibility of her being Benjamin's Mate. I made a move to stand up as my father and brother had just reached her, and she hugged my brother tightly against her perfect body. But a hand stopped me. I looked to Marianne, who batted her eyelashes at me.

"Stay, my Alpha." She purred, her scent making my head fuzzy. "Stay and kiss me."

With my head delirious of her scent, I leaned down to kiss her. She was smirking when I pulled back, an almost evil smirk. The hairs on my arms stood up in warning from the look. I looked back to the crowd. My father was hugging her, lifting her from the ground. She laughed against his shoulder. When her ocean-blue eyes connected with mine, her smile faltered, but my heart raced. She looked away and towards my brother. He held out his hand and she nodded, smiling softly. He guided her to the dance floor with grace, he was smiling down at her. His cheeks tinged with a blush. My father was watching me as he made his way over. His smiling and happy face when he saw Spencer was gone. When he looked at me his face was hard, set in stone.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?"

"He doesn't have to, he's the Alpha." Marianne huffed.

My father ignored her, not taking his eyes off me. "She's your best friend."

"They haven't talked in five years. I don't call that a best friend." Marianne sneered.

"Shut up!" I snapped at her, my father's eyes twinkled at that, but my gaze drifted to Spencer. She was laughing at something my brother had said, tilting her head back. I could remember the last time I left love marks on her lovely neck. My cock hardened at the thought. I pulled my hand from Marianne's and stood up. I ignored her pleas to stay beside her.

I knew people were watching me, but I only had eyes for her. Five years. It had been five years. I knew my Mate was watching me, but my heart raced just for her, my Spencer. My brother stopped dancing when I came beside them. Her scent hit me like a freight train, that scent was the one that lingered on my father when he came back. I looked over my shoulder to the dais. My father was watching us intently. He had gone to see her, to bring her back. But why? Astrix didn't care about why. He purred her name inside my head.

Spencer. I want to see her wolf. He said.

Right, her wolf. The last time I saw her she was still seventeen, her wolf hadn't come out yet. She hadn't come home to celebrate it, as she decided to stay in England. I didn't sleep a wink that night, knowing the pain she had to go through on her first shift and how I couldn't be with her to calm her as she had done for me. Now she was standing in front of me, almost twenty-three years old. A wolf hiding underneath, a wolf that is probably as fierce as her human part. Astrix rolled on his back at the thought.

She inclined her head. "Alpha Axel."

No. She doesn't call me that. She's one of the few who I don't want to hear me calling that. Ever. I tilted her chin with the tip of my finger. "Never Alpha, Spence. You know that." Her ocean-blue eyes locked on mine, and I could barely breathe. "Would you like to -"

"Can I steal my Mate for a moment?" Marianne appeared next to me with more of a demand than a question.

"Of course, Luna." She inclined her head again. I hated how she bowed, that she thought she was less than us. My Beta came up beside her, not giving me or the Luna an ounce of his attention before he swept her into a dance, far away from us. My brother glared at us before he strode away. It didn't seem like he was her Mate. But maybe she had found hers in the years she was gone.

Astrix growled in anger at the thought.

She was mine. She was ours.

I watched her from the dais the rest of the night. Marianne didn't let me go for one moment. I watched how she laughed with our friends, with my brother and my father. How she danced wild and free with them around her.

She was mesmerising.

They all knew she was coming, and nobody had said a word to me. But I guess I deserved that. After the celebration, I ditched Marianne, who was practically begging me if she could stay in my room. I walked up to the window and gazed at the dark room on the other side of the street. She wasn't staying at her parents' house, I would have sensed her. But where was she then? I shouldn't be thinking about her, I had a Mate. But I couldn't help myself, I had missed her. More than I cared to admit. She was my best friend. I was pacing in my room, feeling restless and tired. Spencer. Spencer. Spencer.

Run!

Now? I asked Astrix.

Run! He repeated in a silent demand. So, I agreed. We transformed into our wolf form and ran for the forest behind our house. Astrix was running, fast. Faster than ever and I wondered if he knew where he was going or if he was just going where the wind took him. Then an overwhelming scent hit us and Astrix tripped over his own large paws and stumbled to the ground.

Mate!

No, we already have a Mate. And she doesn't smell like this.

Mate. Astrix growled again. He tilted his head and howled into the night, long, loud and full of hope. We waited. One minute, two. Then a howl called back so loud, it shook the earth beneath us. Astrix took off, faster than a speeding bullet. He ran until we reached the cliff and there she was.

Spencer's wolf.

She was sitting on a boulder, her white furry head tilted to the moon. She was gorgeous. Her fur was as white as snow from head to toe. And she was big, probably as big as Astrix. She looked at us, her eyes still that ocean blue. White was such a unique colour for a wolf. I'd never met one before, neither had my father.

"Mine!" We growled. Her eyes widened just slightly before she looked back up at the moon. We need to take it slow, she's still mad at us.

At you. Astrix huffed but he made his way over to her slowly, he sat down next to her in silence.

You're beautiful. I said through the mind link. She didn't answer, didn't even acknowledge I said anything. I have missed you.

She snorted in response. A funny way of showing it.

Spence-

No, no more talking. Just let Kai and Astrix get to know each other. Besides Malacai, we haven't played with a wolf in a long time.

I swallowed my words. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, to scream at her. So, many things I wanted to do to her. I shouldn't be thinking like this, not at all. Astrix nudged his head against her shoulder before he lay down to show his submissive side. He had never done that for anyone. Black against white. Kai looked down at him, a calculating look in her eyes. She leaned down and nipped his ear before she ran back into the woods. Astrix growled playfully at her as he chased her down. But by the Lycaons, she was fast. If she didn't have that white fur, we would have lost her in seconds. They ran around the woods for hours, just them chasing her. Only been able to catch her twice.

We whined when she walked away, leaving us alone in the woods as the sun began to rise.

Spencer

I loved seeing my friends and family again. I loved seeing Benjamin all grown up, he was very handsome and looked more like his mother than his father. But seeing him, Axel, it was too much. The moment I laid my eyes on him, he was deeply kissing his Luna. And I hated how my heart broke again, just like it did five years ago. And when he came over, alone, his scent hit me. It soothed something in me that was in knots for years.

He wasn't my friend anymore, he was my Alpha, so I inclined my head. The touch of his finger on my skin made my head dizzy. Knowing well enough what that finger could do. Kai roared at me when Marianne came over.

Fucking bitch! Kai had shouted. I was glad when Idris arrived and swept me up in his arms. I danced with my friends for a few hours before I crawled into the bed of Idris and Deacon's guest bedroom. My dress, the one Lore got for me, hung on the closet door. I was tossing and turning, I couldn't find sleep.

Go for a run. Kai suggested. Let us clear our minds.

I agreed knowing I wouldn't find sleep either way. We were running through the woods for half an hour when Astrix's howl reached us.

Kai whined. Play.

No, not with them.

She whined again. Please, I want to go play. He smells so good.

I relented, knowing she was going to whine the whole damn time if I said no. Besides, she deserved a little bit of fun. I heard them come up from a mile away, I just kept our backs to them. Even though Kai wanted to turn and pound on him before running off into the woods to play.

When they growled. "Mine." I stopped breathing, I looked at the black wolf in shock before I turned away. Kai had purred in response, but I reminded her it was impossible.

You're beautiful. He had said. He must have not noticed the markings on my chest. I didn't respond. I've missed you.

In my head, I laughed dryly, tears running down my cheeks. I snorted. I wasn't ready to talk to him. He had years to contact me, but he didn't. I wasn't in the mood to indulge him now, Alpha or not. So, I retreated to the back of our minds as I let Kai play with Astrix. Sometimes I send her a reminder not to take things too far. Kai and I enjoyed chasing them. But when dawn came closer, I needed to walk away.

Andrew came over with the laptops at noon. "I have to get them back in two hours." He said.

"Don't worry, I don't need that long," I said, opening the first laptop. I made quick work of searching the laptops from top to bottom. An hour later, I closed the second laptop and sighed. "Nothing." Andrew groaned; Idris was leaning against the counter frowning. "I need access to their phones."

"The only time they leave their phones alone is during dinner."

"What about the meetings?"

Idris chuckled dryly. "Axel doesn't want them anywhere near the meetings."

Huh, I never would have figured that. I always thought he would bring his Luna into everything. "Alright, dinner then. Andrew, you can distract them while Idris steals the phones and brings them outside where I will be waiting."

"Can't you just come to dinner?" Andrew asked.

"No," I shook my head. "Once I get the proof off the phones, and this whole mess is done, I'm gone."

Idris slipped into the seat next to me. "You're not leaving again, are you?"

"I have a life in London, Idris. A fiancé."

"But- we are your family."

I touched his shoulder. "You will always be my family whether we live close or on the other side of the world." I turned back to Andrew. "Get the laptops back. I'll be outside by seven." I stood up and went to get ready to meet with Lore.