A Mother Before A Mate
Chapter 10

I wake to little hands on my face, and to Molly's smiling face. I love her so much, and I stand by my decision. She is meant to be mine. I look at the clock, and it says 7:11 am. The games start at 10 am, but registration starts at 9:30. They are also having a breakfast buffet at 8:30 am at the packhouse, but I'm not going anymore.

I want to avoid seeing my mate as much as possible. He doesn't want me and I need to move on, and I don't need to make it harder on myself. I'm still going to Games Day because I've worked too hard to hide away and not participate. As the second strongest female warrior in this pack, my scores will increase Cold Moon's overall score.

I'm going to go, and fight, and run. I'm going to use the pain I feel and turn it into anger to be even better. It's early, so first things first, I take Molly to go change her diaper and get her dressed. I grab the tool bag and take 20 minutes to convert her crib into a toddler bed. I don't want a repeat of last night. Molly and I head down for breakfast and I make some scrambled eggs, toast and I cut up some bananas.

"How's my princess this morning?" Lev asks, when he walks into the kitchen.

"She's good. Completely unaware of the panic she put us all through last night," I admit, and Lev chuckles and gives Molly a kiss on her forehead. "You're not going to the buffet breakfast?" he frowns.

"I figured I wouldn't make things harder than they need to be," I say while pushing my eggs around on my plate.

"You're still going to the games, right?" he presses.

"Definitely. I've worked way too hard to not compete. I love this pack and I'm not going to let them down." I say firmly.

"Good! I'm glad. You work too hard to throw it away for someone who doesn't appreciate both of you. So, who was your mate? Was he a warrior?" Lev asks.

"I have no idea. I know his name is Jack, and he is big and he looks strong, whoever he is," I respond.

"Last name?" he presses and I shrug.

"Did you learn anything aside from his first name?" he asks, eyebrows furrowed. I can feel my cheeks turning pink.

"Oh gross, Lex!" he groans.

"The mate bond is intense, okay!" I add with my head down.

"Well, I'm going to go to breakfast, and if I happen to come across a Jack, I'll give him a piece of my mind. Hopefully I get the right Jack," he says with a smirk. "HA HA, funny!" I smirk.

At 9 am, I get some high-waisted black leggings, a black sports bra, and an oversized black hoodie on. I'm not wearing any colour, because I don't want to stand out at all. I do my hair in two french braids to keep my hair out of my face, and I pack a diaper bag for Molly.

All the activities are held outside today, and the child care ladies have a nice sized area fenced off, and they have a dozen people watching the kids, so we can grab our kids if we want in between our events. I pack some water and protein bars in a sling bag for myself. For more free novels, visit Narugi.com It's 9:30, so I get my trainers on, and Molly and I head out. I drop her off and then flip the hood of my hoodie up, and head to the registration line. The available events are:

Women's Fighting Human Form

Men's Fighting Human Form

Women's Wolf Form 300 meter run

Women's Human Form 100 meter run

Men's Human Form 100 meter run

Men's Wolf Form 300 meter run Men's Log throw

Women's Log Throw

Beta and Gamma fighting.

I sign up for everything for women, except the log throw. Because of my higher rank as a warrior in our pack, I will skip the first few rounds of fighting. For the runs, we can go in between other events, and they time our score and put it on the leaderboard. At the end, the top 5 compete in one final race.

The top 5 in each event are awarded points towards their pack. First place is 30 points, second gets 20, third gets 10, and 4th gets 5 points, and 5th gets 2 points towards their pack. At the end, the pack's are ranked and the top 3 packs are posted. It's nothing official or anything. It's just for fun and bragging rights.

I look at my watch and it says 9:47am, so I head towards the 100m human-form race. I get in line, and because I am early, there are only 10 people in front of me. I replace out they are letting 6 people at a time race, so they can get each person's time. Men and women can run at the same time.

They have two leaderboards, one for women and one for men. I sit in my spot and stretch. I'm number 11 in line, so I'll go in the second heat. It's finally 10, and the first heat starts. They get ready, and when the whistle blows, four men and two women take off running. When they are done, we wait for the timekeepers to relay the times, and put them on the board.

I pull off my sweater and toss it on top of my bag. In our heat, we have three women and three men. When the whistle blows, I run. I feel strong and fast. I beat everyone in my heat, even the guys. I'm happy about that. I see my time is 11.03 seconds. My name goes to the number one spot in Women's. Not that impressive though, because only 5 women have raced so far.

Seven men have raced so far, and the number one time for men's is 12.68 seconds. Out of these 12, I'm the fastest. It's a good start to the day. I head over to the wolf form races and see Cora on the way. "Hey, you!" She smirks at me.

"Hey!" I roll my eyes. I know she's acting like this because of the compromising position she found me in last night. I feel a sting inside when I remember how good it felt to be with my mate last night.

"I'm going to the wolf-form race, coming?" I ask her. She nods, and we make our way there. When we get there, the lineup is huge. There are probably 80 people in front of us. She mind-links me.

-So was he anyone special?-

-Nope. Just my mate.- I frown. Her eyes are wide and her jaw drops.

"Are you serious?" she asks out loud. I nod, but mind-link her.

-Yeah he followed me to the hospital and I didn't see him, but I heard him when he growled and slammed the door when he left. He's obviously not okay with me having Mol, so no one special to me.- I shrug and swallow the lump in my throat and she hugs me. "I'm so sorry, Lex!"

"At least now I know not to wait for him," I try and say optimistically, but she knows I'm hurting.

After nearly an hour, we make it to the front of the line. They wave us to the women's tents, and we walk into the large tent, undress and shift. For the wolf 300 M run, they have eight people keeping time. Cora and I are in the same heat, and we get into position with two other women and four other men. When the whistle blows, I run. I can feel the dirt crushing beneath my paws, and I'm in front of everyone. I see from the corner of my eye a wolf gaining on me, and I push even harder and give it everything I've got. I cross the finish line, and another male wolf is right behind me. Cora came in 3rd place.

When we get out of the tent, from changing, we check the leaderboards. I'm first in the women's with a time of 14.4 seconds. Cora is the 4th overall woman with a score of 15.7 seconds. I look to my side and see a very large man looking at the scoreboard. "You're really fast," he smiles.

"Thank you, you too," I smile back.

"Not fast enough, though," he says and my smile widens.

"It's almost 11, let's check out the fights," Cora says, and I nod.

Jack's Point of View

I wake up, and the clock says 8:45 am. I didn't get to sleep until really late. I ran for a few hours, and I hunted a bear. I needed to release some aggression. I still feel like my heart is being ripped out, and I have so much rage, but I have decided I need to accept this. She has a family with this guy. I need to keep my distance from her. Why did she kiss me, though, if she was with someone else? It felt like we were magnets, it was probably just really hard to resist.

I'll need to replace a Luna for my pack that isn't my fated mate. She'll need to be a fierce fighter, and I need to like her. I know I can't be stuck with someone like Sophie for the rest of my life. f**k! This would be so much easier if she would have told me, and never let me touch her, and kiss her. I keep thinking of the way she smelt, the way she felt and tasted. Part of me wants to replace this Gamma, and kill him. If he's what my mate wants, though, I can't be selfish. She just got carried away with me. I wonder if she told him about

us.

Breakfast is in 15 minutes and I'm famished. I have a quick shower and get ready. Alpha's aren't permitted to participate in any of the games, which sucks, so I don't need any athletic gear on. I throw on some jeans and a black t-shirt. When I came out of my room, my parents were clearly waiting for me.

"What happened to you last night?" Dad asks. I question whether I should tell them.

"Sophie was really upset that you left," my Mom adds.

"Sophie and I... not going to happen," I say flatly.

"Why?" my mother huffs.

"Oh, where to start... Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and her laugh. Ugh. She's selfish and spoiled, and weak, and not even that attractive. Do you want me bound to someone that I literally can't stand?" I ask.

"Of course not, son. We want you to be happy. You're more alone with a Luna you can't stand than you are single," my Dad answers.

"You should replace someone, though," dad adds.

"I will. I'm ready," I nod, and it fg hurts. I don't want a match. Not one fg bit. I want her.

"What changed?" Mom presses.

"I met my mate last night." Both my parents are looking at me with wide eyes.

"What happened?" Dad asks.

"Well, we had a very amazing ten minutes together, but then I found out she has a kid and family with someone else. She didn't wait for me. It's time for me to move on," I huff and drag my hands through my hair.

"Oh Jack, I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine the pain you're feeling," my Mom says while hugging me.

"I'll be fine. It'll just take some time," I tell them. I'm not sure if I believe that, but if I say it enough, maybe someday it'll be true.

"Let's get some breakfast!" I say while walking out the door. I head to the packhouse, and I can't help that I'm looking for her.

I crave seeing her and smelling her, but she's not here. I see him, though. Her Gamma. He's sitting at Alpha Jett's table. She's not with him, and neither is their daughter. I wonder why he would leave his girls' home. Maybe he knows about me and he's trying to keep Lexi away from me? But he looks pretty carefree and happy. That's weird. If she were mine, I wouldn't go to breakfast without her. I'd want her by my side all the time.

I eat a full breakfast, and then I need to go for a run again. I have chest pains, and I need to do something or I feel like I'll explode and rip that Gamma's head off.

I eat a full breakfast, and then I need to go for a run again. I have chest pains, and I need to do something or I feel like I'll explode and rip that Gamma's head off.

When I make it back at around noon, I take another quick shower and force myself to head to Games Day to support my warriors. I train these warriors and I want to be able to cheer them on. If I'm lucky, I won't see my mate. I see a fenced area with kids everywhere and I can smell my mate. Her daughter must be in there. I can't help but make my way to them. Leaning against the chain-linked fence, my eyes search for her. There, I see her little blonde-haired blue-eyed cutie. She's playing in the sandbox with a little girl a few years older. She looks so happy.

I can't help but think how she would look if she came from me and Lexi, instead of him and Lexi. I force myself to leave. It hurts too much to think about. I make my way to a crowd of people. I can tell they are doing races in human form. I walk over and take a look at the leaderboards. Men's 1st place and men's third are both my guys. I smile with pride.

Women's First place.... Lexi Smith. Is it my Lexi? I feel my heart starting to race. I wasn't expecting her to be a competitor. Her time is 11.03 seconds. That's f*g fast. I stare at first place for a minute before I remember I'm supposed to be checking how my pack did. I scan down the list and 3rd and 5th are from my pack.

I head to the next station - the wolf form races. I check the women's first this time, wondering if I'll see Lexi's name on the board again. Sure enough, 1st place: Lexi Smith. It feels like a knife to the chest. I hope she's not a warrior. I don't think I could bear it if she was everything that I ever wanted. I've always thought my mate would be weak, just like my mother. I thought if I couldn't have my fated mate, at least my Luna would be a strong fighter. I make my way to the log throws, and I don't see her name on the board. I'm relieved. I head to the fighting area, where four matches are going on at the same time. 2 men's and 2 women's. I can smell her. I see the board and I don't see her name anywhere, and relief floods my body. She's probably just a strong runner. She's not that big either, so my heart is probably safe from being completely ripped to shreds. I see Zac and Kyle on the bleachers, watching the fights, so I join them.

"How are you doing? Your Mom told us about your mate," Zac confesses.

"Of course she did." I roll my eyes. "I'm fine," I lie to them.

"Let's replace you a badass warrior Luna, yeah?" Kyle adds. I chuckle and nod.

After watching for 45 minutes, the crowd is notified, "The men and women that have made it this far, are moving forward and will now be competing against the top-ranked fighters of each pack." "This is where things get interesting," I admit.

And then I smell her again. She's closer than she was before. I see a woman make her way to the ring. She has her hair in a bun, and she looks like she's strong and athletic.

She's in blue leggings and a blue sports bra. Then I see a woman in an oversized black hoodie with her hood on and carrying a small backpack. She walks confidently towards the other woman. She tosses her bag and slips off her shoes. She pulls off her hoodie, and I see she has 2 french braids, and she's wearing black leggings and a black sports bra. I see her perfect body. Her toned abs, and round a*s. It's her. fk. She's one of their top fighters? What the fk? "Damn, she's hot," Zac says.

I growl, and give him a death glare. The fight starts and Lexi looks confident and the fight is very quick. She tried to punch Lexi, and Lexi was super quick, dodging and blocking. Before I know it, the other girl is thrown onto her back and she has the wind knocked out of her. Lexi doesn't get on top. She just stands there and waits. Sure enough, 10 seconds go by and the girl's still lying there seeing stars, and trying to catch her breath. As soon as the fight is called, Lexi helps her opponent up. I can see on the board they are not from the same pack. She's just being nice. f**k! Why does she have to be so perfect?

"That was badass. Dude, seriously... If you don't go after that one, I will," Kyle tells me while staring at her and smiling. Lexi slips on her shoes and hoodie and grabs her bag. She starts to walk away, and then she sees me. Our eyes lock for a moment, and I tell myself to look away. It took me an extra second or 2 longer than I wish it would have, but I mustered the strength to look away from her.

Kyle looks at me, "If you don't want her, I'm going," he says while jumping off the bleachers. I grab his arm and yank. Hard. "What the hell, man?"

"Don't you dare talk to her... That's her," I rasp and his eyes widen.

"I... I didn't know. s**t. Sorry, Jack." She walks over two bleachers and sits down to watch the next fight.