He saw it now and sighed heavily “the one person she doesn’t want to have it.” he muttered.
“Correct.”
Slade stood there and stared at them all now. Would she have rejected him to keep her Beta title? He didn’t honestly know the answer to that. Then there begs the question of, if she did reject him, would he have kept her as his Beta? That would hurt every damn day, having to look at her as his Beta, and know she’d rather be his Beta, than his Luna.
Could he have lived with that if it was her decision? He didn’t honestly know, he’d liked her for a long time, longer than he had likely ever admitted to anyone, not even himself, he was just standing now inside the Alpha’s office, a place that would one day be his.
He had never thought about her not being by his side, standing next to him. In his mind she was always there. It’s what he’d always wanted, but if she, they, were gifted to each other. He thought about that. No, he wouldn’t want to see her every day as his Beta, it would kill him in all likelihood, so if she rejected him to be the Beta, he’d likely not keep her as his Beta. A double-edged sword and he knew it. Wanted her beside him always, but could now see why their fathers had done what they’d done, in pushing Hayden’s training forward and trying to remove her from her position before the full moon.
It was likely they were also trying to figure out how to keep her here in the pack, to get her to be the Luna to this pack, not just, the Beta, but with those Mate Bond laws, they could not actually tell him, or her, what they thought and try to push them together beforehand.
Because if they did and managed to convince them it was true, and both he and she accepted it, and she stepped down from the Beta position expecting to be the Luna. Hayden stepping up into that roll, and then they turned out not to be Mate’s at all. She’d never get her position back as the Beta, because she willingly stepped down, and then they would also probably be ruined by that.
Hell, he knew they would be, because if they had both been convinced of it, he’d have pulled her into his bed, before the full moon had set, and would have been having what he’d always wanted, only to find out they were nothing to each other. It would ruin everything.
It was the very reason why those very laws were in place!
Though he also knew that if he’d been here on the last full moon and scented her out while up there on the stage next to her, he would have been more than happy to hear his wolf growl the word mine at her.
He would never have rejected her, would have claimed her damned fast. So that no other could have her, and he’d see those eyes that he loved so much, look up at him every morning, but standing here thinking about it now. Her, as not just his Beta. Would she want that? After everything she had gone through, all the hoops she had to jump through, just to prove she could do the job, and keep her birthright? He didn’t know. He sighed she might not have accepted him as her Mate.
“Son,” his father touched his arm and brought him back from his own thoughts.
“The mating alliance?” He asked, wanting answers to that question. Why, if they thought Ori was his Mate, would he need one?
“An idea to put to you, in case she rejected you, so you can move on from her.”
“Removing her as my Beta?” He asked, though he was certain he now understood them and their line of thought, seeing their reasons why they had wanted to, and had removed her, from her position as his Beta.
“If she isn’t your Beta when you scent her out, there should be no issue with her accepting you as her Mate.”
“Nothing for her to fight with herself about, debate internally.” Anders told him. “Why, we pushed Hayden’s training ahead so quickly, so she could get used to the idea of not being a Beta, and be open and willing to accept being your Luna. We were just prepping for that.”
“You did it the wrong way,” Slade muttered. “You should have told me what you thought all along. I could have talked to her a month ago and none of this would be happening right now.
“We couldn’t, not with the mate bond laws. That would be considered coercion.”
“Then you should have just waited to see what would have happened.” He muttered, “but no, you just went about it in such an overbearing, I know best manner, when you don’t truly understand the girl, and now she hates us all, me included, you were worried she was going to reject me, to be the Beta. Well now, she will just reject me because she hates me.”
Oriana
She sat there at the bar in the nightclub just staring at the drink in her hand. She’d not gotten up and danced at all in the past, who knew how long, hadn’t drunk that drink either, couldn’t do it. And not because China wouldn’t allow her to, but she herself just couldn’t do it to that life growing inside of her.
The music was pumping and there were a good 100 wolves in here dancing and drinking tonight. It was completely packed, it seemed, but what else could she expect, for a Friday night? On the bright side, no one in here had bothered her at all. She’d been accidentally bumped into a few times and been apologised to as well for it. But that was about it. They were all just doing their own thing.
Ori pushed that drink away from her finally, across the bar and looked at Kent the bar tender, one of the owners of this nightclub. She knew he and his twin sister owned it, though she was up there on the stage doing her thing as the club’s DJ like always. They had the perfect brother-sister relationship, were not only close, but had gone into business together. Hell, those two had houses next door to each other.
They were both older than she was, in their mid-forty’s. Although you wouldn’t know it, she’d never once seen them fight, they were always hanging out and laughing, had the relationship she’d always wanted with her brother, but never got because he was more important to their parents. Understood she was actually jealous of them.
And not just them. Deep down inside she was jealous of all siblings that got along, something she just didn’t have, likely would have if Hayden had been born first, that was. Really wanted to drink that drink with that thought.
Kent smiled at her.”Something else?”
“I don’t want to get drunk, but I want to drink myself into oblivion at the same time.” She told him honestly. If she wasn’t pregnant, she would likely have just yanked that Wolfen loaded Tequila bottle from his hand and drank right from the bottle. She would be drunk off her ass so much so, that the day she’d had was obliterated from her memory. Till she felt absolutely nothing at all.
“I gotcha.” He smiled right at her, and she watched him make another drink, “human alcohol won’t even touch the sides Ori. Drink as much as you like and nothing.” He said as he handed her a new drink. The same as before but not Wolfen loaded. Even double shotted the human spirits.
“You drink that, still get the taste but no alcohol effects for you or your wolf.” He smiled at her and then strolled off to serve drinks to another.
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