A Secret Alpha Mate
Chapter 23

(Benjamin)

"Daddy." Someone is pounding on my bedroom door. It takes me a second to realize that there is only one person who would call me that.

"Your daughter is here." I groan, shoving Julianna awake.

"It's too early." She mumbles and turns over to go back to bed

"It's too early." I yell, "Come back in a bit." What time is it anyway? The party went on until almost dawn and I bet the breakfast buffet wasn't even set up yet. I instructed Meghan to hold off on breakfast to let the visiting members sleep in.

Ah, Meghan, I sigh as I remember f*****g her from behind in the elevator last night after giving her the instructions to delay breakfast. Thankfully Julianna was asleep by the time I got back to the room so I could shower and avoid any of her annoying questions. "It's about my mate." Hailey whines. I almost forgot, her mate, Alpha Jackson of Moonstone, a better match than I could have ever hoped for. Julianna is suddenly awake and gets out of bed pulling on a dramatic flowing robe to open the door. I sigh internally, are all the women in my life destined to be over the top.

"My baby, tell me all about your night with the Alpha." Julianna pulls Hailey to a couch in our sitting room.

"I didn't have a night with my mate." She spits the word mate.

"Baby, I don't understand."

"He said he's not my mate, but Mom I know he's wrong. I felt it he felt it too, I just know it." Julianna makes eye contact with me and she looks worried.

"Baby, I don't understand." I interject, "What exactly did you guys talk about last night?"

"Well, I couldn't replace him at all last night, it's like he disappeared from the party, and I was so busy I didn't get a chance to look for him, you know everyone wanted to talk to me last night." Julianna nods in agreement.

"Yes, you did look lovely, you were the star of the party." She beams at her daughter.

"Well, I went to his room today, to you know, finish the mating process." She tugs at the bottom of the robe she was wearing and pinch my nose, I do not want to think about my daughter mating even if it's to a powerful Alpha. "Go on, honey." Julianna encourages after Hailey doesn't say anything for a while

"Well, he said that he found his mate but it wasn't me, and he doesn't know who she is and she's gone or something. I don't know it doesn't make sense. Could I still be his mate? Maybe he's confused. How does he know he has a mate if he hasn't seen her?" I'm confused by this, as well. How would he have known who his mate was then, maybe they were mates but they didn't have a strong bond, I'm not sure if that could happen?

"Did he say anything else about who he thinks his mate is?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "Not really, just that he still needs to replace her. So I guess she's around here somewhere, I don't know." Julianna goes to rub her back.

"I'm sure this is a misunderstanding, everything will be cleared up soon. Why don't you get ready for the day? We have guests to entertain at breakfast, and they will surely notice your absence." She smiles.

"Ok mom." Hailey heads towards the door, without any excitement.

"I'll talk to Alpha Jackson and get this all sorted," I promise. She nods and closes the door behind her.

"I don't understand." Julianna whispers, "I saw the way he was looking at her, I saw how he smelled her, I was right there next to you, Benjy." Benjy, I cringe at the awful nickname she adopted a few years into our marriage.

"I know, I know." I'm thinking now, "He did come up and smell the air around her, they locked eyes, it doesn't make sense. Unless." I trailed off trying to think, "Unless, it was someone else's scent, but why would it be on Hailey, whose scent could it be?" (Meghan)

As tired as I am I forced myself to get dressed for the day to make sure everything was perfect for the breakfast buffet. Honestly, I didn't want to miss out on entertaining any of the visiting pack members, maybe make Alpha Benjamin a bit jealous, show him that other ranked members wanted me, treated me as their own.

I'm finalizing the list of assignments in my office, sometimes this job can be really tiring when I hear a knock at my door. "Come in."

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, ma'am." I look up at a gorgeous man with dark brown curls hanging down over his dark green eyes. He pulls up his mouth into a smile and I see a dimple on his cheek. I vaguely remembered him from the party the night before, I wasn't sure how I could forget a face like that.

"What can I do for you?" I say standing up behind my desk, pulling my short skirt down, faking modesty.

"I'm actually looking for someone, and I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. I don't want to go barging in your work area or the sleeping quarters."

"And who is it you're looking for?" I give him a sly smile, knowing that he's already found the person he wanted.

"An omega by the name of Abigail, if I could just speak to her for a few moments that would be amazing." Abigail. I'm shocked for a second, he was really looking for someone.

"Uh, and what do you need with her?" I try to compose myself.

"Just a description of her friend, we're looking for someone that is very important to my pack." he gives me that smile again and winks this time.

I look down at the assignments and see that she's on prep duty, "Well you're in luck, mister." I leave the sentence open.

"My name is Lucas, I'm Beta of the Moonstone pack. It's a pleasure to meet you - "

"Meghan." I smile at him and cross the room until I'm standing in front of him, "She's actually in the kitchen now, I'll take you to her."

"Thanks for your help, Meghan." I lead her to Abigail who looks like she hasn't slept a wink, to be fair none of them looked like they had, but she looks especially frazzled. I wonder what this sexy Beta needed from her.

Lucas pulls Abigail away and asks if they could talk. Abigail looks at me and I reluctantly nod in confirmation. He pulls her outside the back door and I try to follow but the door closes on my face. I wait for a few moments until the door opens again. "Thank you so much, this is a huge help. We're alerting everyone in the area and Cam is on his way back to Moonstone, I promise we will replace her."

Abigail nods at him and gives him a broken smile. "Back to work then, Abigail." I shoo her away.

"Lucas, what can I get you for breakfast? I was about to have some myself why don't you join me?"

"Actually, I have to meet my Alpha in a few minutes. Mind if I grab a coffee for me and him and some of those amazing smelling muffins?" He points to where giant blueberry muffins are piled on cooling racks.

"Yes, of course, take anything you need." I make sure to emphasize anything, I don't think he's understanding what I'm offering.

"I'll see you at breakfast then later?" I ask, hopeful. He nods and turns to grab his coffee and muffins. Before he leaves the kitchen out the back door, he goes to Abigail and gives her a huge kiss on the cheek. She laughs and gives him a genuine smile. What the actual f**k is going on around here.